Bitácora del Capitán

I created a tumblr days ago :   http://arturoarias.tumblr.com/

Thinking about this blog I decided to use it more as an animation journal [animalog], I think is more fun and useful in the long run.

Here I found another way of solving the hand movement. I was making just too much for such a tiny intention (getting a cup) I guess it looks more comfortable now.

Those are some of the planning pages I did for the animation below(still in progress). With those I figure out, before animating, what is going to happen, why and how. It usually takes me more than expected, arond 2 hours... haha, but I can tell you it's worth it. Doing a non planned animation is not that easy, and the results are often weird, and if you do get something good, you have no idea how you did it... That's why is nice to keep things organized.

Also, I have to admit I just love to draw poses and study them, you learn things from it: you research how stuff works, you put it in practice, and test it during the animation - if it works, good, if not, then do it again. That adds up a lot to your skill :P

Things spotted:
-I like how he turns his head
-It doesn't look so smooth - still running on twos (12fps)
-remember to add an overlap on those ears
-I do like the finishing movement of his left hand, not so much the beginning of it

That's it for this one. I should check the initial part of the hand and continue animating:
-when he touches the cup
-when he takes the cup to his mouth
-drinking

Seems to be a lot to be done! And its taking long, but I'm learning a lot of stuff in the process, and enjoying it too! :)

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Also, I did this other walk cycle. Really simple, treadmill movement.
I must say I do not like to animate walk cycles "on a treadmill" - I can't figure out the correct way the body moves and reacts to the step. It's weird to go the other way around like feet>legs>thighs>torso instead of the usual way, letting the torso fall to the ground because of gravity and use the legs to keep it from falling, all of that while the body actually goes forward. That's why I think doing the entire movement forward is better, but that's me.
You can do quite good and easy .gifs with the treadmill though XD

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Regarding the guy with the spilling milk and all, I'm done with that. But my scanner went crazy, went to buy a new one, and now all the frames must be scanned... and they are a lot, so I'm taking it slow, but it will be ready for the next post ;).

But here, have a simple pencil test for the guys movement. That's the final timing and acting.

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Aaaand Some art stuff and sketches that have nothing to do with animation, at least directly (but it makes you a cool artist yey!!! haha).

Wild dog references

Wild dog character

Those are some characters I did, used a different method this time, trying to keep the flow of ideas despite correct anatomy or any kind of technicality involved. I must say it worked!

Observation practice - Oils

I wanted to practice some light and shadows with just a grayscale palette. I never did such a study, at least with oils, I was too scared, but It's not that hard, at least with just two colors XD I'll add a third one on the next study and see what happens :P


Aaaand that's all for now!
Go watch The Croods, quite nice art and good story, I liked it ^^

Thanks for reading!! :D