Hey, I'm using a new layout here, I think it's better than the super complicated thing that was before. It loads faster and you can scroll till the bottom, checking many posts at once.
And for today: Digital Animation, but the frame by frame type, so what is digital is just the medium. That is, no weird, great, uber-hi-tech involved on it.
I'm talking about the animation I began working on Photoshop the other day. The goat guy just standing there, when suddenly he sees or is told something, and then he goes away.
reaction change of pose - weights The beginning of a walk! - Yes, I thought that putting a character into a walking position was going to be a huuge deal, and it was not so bad at all.
Animation looks not so fluid for the last frames, I know, it just needs some more inbetweens, but I guess movement is already solved and understandable. Don't you think??
And now the next proyect will be:
SOME KIND OF DIALOGUE!
>I'll try to make some mouth gestures with a generic face :P
>But first I'll finish another walk cycle, this time a "double bounce" suggested by Richard Williams.
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As for sketching and drawing, I've been working mostly on concept art stuff, landscapes and such. Couple of sketches just to remember how this guy looks. I think the one on the right is a little bit off the model, the left one is just perfect ^^. A young dude with an innocent look, yet somewhat cranky - doubtful.
This are some of the things I've doing to improve my landscapes. The first one is a very quick sketch with color and light in mind.
The second one is something far more elaborated. It was done with the Goat Guy's story in mind. I thought of the city where he may arrive, at mid-day, with the sun coming from the right.
Image planes where really useful to give the illusion of depth.
And adding those tiny figures at the bottom really creates magnitude on the scene! (something I've been trying to do for a long while, with no success at all)
The Goat Kid animation (that dude needs a name) is ready!! Here you have it:
I had a great time working with this one. And I learned a lot too, I had to re-think and re-draw his ears because they were moving too slow, I worked a little bit more with his jaw, even the animation is quite simple there. I also added that cloth on his neck, which adds a lot to the overall movement; its flow.
I tried to do some line cleanup by tracing each sketchy-frame on a new piece of paper. I usually do not do this, and even I do prefer to not do it at all. It does takes time and some effort, and its a process which does not has to do a lot with animation, at least that's what I noticed. The animation is already solved by the sketch stage, loose lines are good enough to show the viewer what the character does. The cleaning process is more an aesthethics thing, something more involved in finishing a product.
I guess it is quite useful for a production, but for a student, not quite. It does gives a nice look and an easy read, but again, I prefer to keep exploring and trying animation things, than tracing everything over and over again.
And here is another tiny animation I began working on the other day. It's done in photoshop and has yet to be finished. Just keyframes and another two frames are done, but I think the movement is clear enough.
I'm wishing to add a nice "idle" before the movement, as well as a settle down right after it.
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And some non-animated stuff now.
I did some sketches just to practice poses, when the idea came to me: Why not interacting with the character while you draw it[him/her]???
It's quite fun, at least it adds something extra to the poses excersice, while you work with the character's personality and reactions.
Fun thing to do ;)
And here it is something I've been working on regarding digital painting:
Its an animated gif that shows the progress until now.
I was thinking on adding a background and some more light.
Time for a quick update (I must finish writting an essay...)
I've been working on an animation which involves a little bit more complex character than the ones I've done before.
I'm trying to achieve:
-a methodology to animate complex characters without going crazy
-good expressions
-good movement by understanding that there is no need to draw a huge amount of frames for the movement to look fluid, but use animation fundamentals wisely.
-Change in characters thought: curious - undelighted
What I like:
-I'm beginning to find really attractive and important the use of construction figures (spheres and cubes) to solve movement
-I could say my consistency from frame to frame has been improving
-his hands - simple = easy to understand
What I do not like:
-The overlap on the ears. When he is leaning forward, they take too much time to settle down.
-The end of the animation is too abrupt. I should draw some frames with his hands and ears overlapping, reaching a nice settling pose.
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This was a really quick animation in FLASH. It's quite nice to be able to check your animation on-the-go with the timeline playback, but yet, is not the same as animating on paper... There really is something special about it that digital stuff can't copy.
I can say, by trying out both techniques, why the industry has decided to stop making traditional animation... The sad truth is that it takes too much time to get it done right, from the acquisition of the knowledge to the production itself. I don't believe though, it is all lost, I like to think it is just the way animators are trying to be just like any other worker, the more they try to be like the others, the more the industry look for ways to make their work, which is not work but art, play within the rules of a market that aims to sell consumer products, and not art.
Anyways, I'll keep working on both techniques, 3D included ;)
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As for the 2D (the one that doesn't moves), here it is an illustration I'm working on. It has to do with my weird story thing where the Goat Kid and the Dog dude are involved.
I'm beginning to notice that if you take a topic, a proyect, and use it as an excuse to explore different art techniques and aspects (animation, illustration, 3d, design, storyboarding, writting) you can stay interested and enjoy the ride, everything while you create something worth showing.
My first Flash animation is done! And I think it looks very pretty :D It was done for a school proyect in which we were asked to created a demo of a business. Ours was a pet hotel.
I found that Flash is an easy software to use, you can play your animations instantly, edit stuff, use layers, etc. But what really makes this program, and perhaps any other, is the possibility to use basic animation principles regarding the tool or technique, to create well done animations.
In this case I did not animated any character, I just did animations for texts and shapes, more like motion graphics. But yet I did applied timing, some squash and stretch, some spacing, and of course, a narrative.
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As for hand drawn animation, I've been working with moving holds; Animations that remain almost static, but have some changes on them, like a tiny detail (hair, ear) To show that the character is alive, and not a cutout there.
In this case, the character moves way too much. I'd say its almost out of the moving hold category... but hey, it is my first try.
I guess the fix would be too add a lot of frames between each particular movement. Like spreading out his tiny actions into a 10-12 seconds scene.
And the daily sketch. I'll keep working on this one to make it more... clearer XD
It's finished! My multilayered animation it's done.
For this animation I did learned a lot of things! From x-sheets to layers, to some timing, and some movement design.
Let's write a little bit about it ^^
The Conception of the Idea - (not that is a great idea, but you get it)
I began working out something like a happening, or anything a character would react to and move because of it, so I chose a guy trying to heat milk.
First I took that sentence: a guy trying to heat milk but a fly pesters and made some thumbnails. Really small drawings trying to tell the story, something like a storyboard but more rough and simple than that.
I noticed I could "throw" any idea and see how it looked on camera, then choose if it worked or not.
rough thumbnails
bigger thumbnails
On those bigger thumbnails I laid down the idea in a clearer way. I also began to think about the layers that were going to be used, by identifying what moves and what doesn't.
character expressions and design
I know the character is not great but the process is the same, so I worked with a simple character sheet just to be sure how he looked.
Planning the Animation
As many authors state: plan before you animate! And so I did XD
I began to think about timmings and worked with some home made X-Sheets / Exposure Sheets.
In the ACTION column I drew something like an animation curve which shows me where changes are made on the main character or main action. On the layer columns (1,2,3,4,5,BG) I write the layers that . That helps a lot in postproduction and during frame capturing (scanning, photo). and dial, which is not used since I'm not adding noises yet :P
It helps a lot to really see how much time something happens. It's a nice way to actually look at seconds on paper.
With this sheets I also figured out how to make fire to loop right after the guy fired it up.
The fly is also planned here: where does it enters (p2,117), where it goes out of frame, etc.
the 12 / 24 thing
The "12 frames, 24 frames" animation thing is quite clear while working with this X-sheets too! Here I can decide where I need to work on "24 frames", while working in 12fps as a base, that's why I first write frames in twos (1,3,5,7,9...) Making frame economy possible, and just adding the ones where needed. (1,2,3,4,5,6...).
animation / movement Design
After timming and the entire animation has been planned, I proceed to animate, working with keyframes, breakdowns, extremes, contacts, etc. And leaving inbetweens in the end. ( I mostly worked frame by frame this time, just did some straight ahead on the hand I believe.)
During the animation process I found something interesting: It's not just about working out simple inbetweens that go from point A to point B, there is movement onevery frame! That's why I decided to draw this sheets, with some sequential drawings and weird stuffs like flows, timming notes, etc.
the dodge movement planning
This one was fun to do. At first I drew the entire sequence, shot it, and noticed it was not working at all... that was before some planning was done. I then worked out some ideas with animation basics (left part of the page) and then worked out the flow of his head (center). I've found it's quite usefull to actually study how the character, or object, moves within space and within time.
overall planning of poses
This one helped a lot to explore what the character was going to do and how. It may look like a storyboard too, but without frame. It's just a sequence where I see how the character changes from being numb to being angry.
At the bottom right I did some explorations on how the fly was going to invade his personal space :P
simple layout
This layout helped me to draw keyframes in place.
Well, I think that's pretty much all for that animation. It was great to learn animation stuff, to see how movements must be designed, tested, and redesigned, and it also helped to work out a nice pipeline to concieve, plan, animate and write about, an animation, no matter if it is small or huge.
Yes, that's right! I decided to learn some flash.
A couple of opportunities appeared and they require Flash knowledge... Also, I believe is not the tool but the animation what matters, that's why I'll learn flash too ;)
Here is what I did yesterday.
I found some nice ways to mix traditional animation to the weird flash timeline. It seems that if you take those basics, you don't need a huge amount of tutorials to get it.
I've noticed also that Flash is great to animate graphics and 2D cutout stuff. Makes it look very design-like.
DO NOT LET FLASH SOLVE TOO MANY INBETWEENS!!! - Yeah, had to write that somewhere. It reminds me to not use too much "tweens" to solve animations. They just end up being too mechanical.
Ohh, Flash is also a good and quick way to test basic animation stuff like spacing.
You can make nice timing tests too ^^.
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In other topics. I'm working with a little animation for school. I was thinking on doing it with 3D stuff (Maya, etc) Did a test and this is what I got:
Not too far away from what I wanted, but I decided to do it with Flash and in 2D instead. The final version will be done soon! :D. Here is a screenshot ;)
This one is a quick animation I did, trying to practice the straight ahead method of animating something. I also wanted to make some wider movements than just walks or turn arounds.
The planning on this one was also quick, but useful, here is what I did before animating:
I came up with the idea of a flour sack jumping by trying out some wierd or fun possitions for it.
I then planned the overall actions it was going to perform, craeting what I guess is called a layout.
Here I figured out how the sack was hanging from the rope, its timing and spacing. I payed special attention on the way forces moved through the body and to the rope. A flour sack is intended to be alive, giving it the possibility to create movement, or "create" forces. Its not just a stiff haning object.
fall tests.
And here is the video:
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And some illustration work.
I just finished my little devil pic. Decided it was too large, so I croped it.
It's finished!!
I know it's not clean or colored, but the animation is finished.
This was an excercise to understand how to use a simple background. Make a character do something else than walking, learn to study a certain pose or movement, and an overall scene construction.
I really like how it turned out.
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and a sketch I did at school.
Tiny update this time, I know, but I must scan other two finished animations, I'll upload them in the next days :D
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 ^^
Couple of sketches just to remember how this guy looks. I think the one on the right is a little bit off the model, the left one is just perfect ^^. A young dude with an innocent look, yet somewhat cranky - doubtful. 
