i was so fortunate to take cynthia hogan's 2D character animation class this semester (cynthia is absolutely amazing, both as an animator and person). we had to choose a character from a film to animate, and i chose sawyer from cats don't dance, a favorite of mine as a kid. then we chose sound clips from our character's voice actor/actress (mine was jasmine guy) and animate scenes of our own using that character and sound clip. finding and editing the clip was actually one of the hardest parts for mine in particular.
due to some file format issues and some computers being exchanged, i sort of, um, lost my first animation (*aaarrrgghh!!*) .....but then i found it! the paper version, at least. so i re-shot it, though the timing wasn't perfect since i'd readjusted it when i first shot it. however, it was the best i could do with the limited time i had, so here it is.
the second and third animations were to include a hook-up, or a shift of camera in one scene ("hooking up" one shot to the next).
keep in mind, i hadn't animated since i took the intro class back in '09 and this was my first time animating to a sound clip. my shapes are all over the place. when she critiqued it, cynthia attributed this to the fact that i was drawing like a clean-up artist, rather than an animator. ah. that was the key. i wish i would have known the difference before i animated it. meh, live and learn. after i shot it, i realized i totally could have taken away one of the poses because it moves really fast. but i only got one chance to shoot it and that happened to be right before it was due, so, c'est la vie.
even looking at it now after having turned it in a few days ago, i know i could go back and make it SO MUCH BETTER. but i did what i could with the time i had to spend on it. someday this knowledge will make itself manifest in some brilliant project i work on. anyway, here's what it is for now:
even though the outcomes could have been much better, i'm seriously excited that i learned so much. and i'm stoked to apply it in the future.
for dave's concept art class fall 2010, we did jack and the beanstalk. i took the story and made it completely my own, which was fun. so, the characters might not look like the typical jack and the beanstalk characters.
had (still having) lotsa issues with mr. king man
scott's suggestion: left two could be the same person
totally had these done before class. sorry for the digital delay and terrible scanning quality!
so. i took intro to animation with kelly loosli...3 summers ago. i was already in illustration, and took it because murphy wanted me to take it with him, and i'm so glad i did! (sidenote, murph was all worried about making it into animation, but he totally got in and he's amazing at it! currently on a mission in buenos aires, argentina. i'm so proud of my friends :D)
i'm taking gesture drawing right now, and will be taking more animation classes too.
for class, we worked on our animations. had to sketchbook a lot. watched documentaries about amazing animators. studied cartoons for research. so. great. (!)
we also learned the principles of animation (these notes are straight from my class sketchbook):
1- timing --number of frames and their spacing over time
2- squash and stretch -- deformation of an object in motion
3- staging -- presentation of information in a way that is readable by the audience
4- straight ahead -- animate starting at the first frame and going chronologically
5- key framing -- animating the extremes in motion first, then putting in the 'tweens'.
6- slo-in/slo-out -- objects must ease into and out of motion (acceleration/deceleration)
7- anticipation -- preparatory movement before action
8- arcs -- natural, elliptical pattern of motion
9- follow-through -- usually main body of action. combination of movement through it's normal cycle
10- overlapping action -- main body of motion may have other elements connected to it that have to catch up to it's motion.
11- secondary animation -- main action, is defined by secondary action
12- exaggeration -- accentuation of motion
13- appeal -- aesthetically pleasing to the audience
14- solid drawing -- ability to consistently draw the same object, maintaining the same relative shapes and masses of that object. make a 2d object accurately look 3-dimensional.
in the intro class, we did solely hand-drawn animation, pencil tests, which were way fun and way frustrating. anyway, i recently found my animations from that class!
the first assignment was the bouncing ball. to my complete surprise and happiness, kelly praised mine in the class critique. however, i'm pretty sure my classmates upped their game after that, whereas i think i probably slacked off, as i wasn't trying to get into the animation program. i still worked hard, though! i don't think the rest of the animations weren't as well-done, but here they are!
this is my final project, where we could do what we wanted as long as we incorporated some of the principles of animation. i don't remember specifics, but i was excited about this freedom. however, sadly, i got incredibly sick the last two weeks of the spring semester--when it was DUE. as i recall, i was either in bed or up, being, well...actively sick. but i did the best i could under the circumstances:
we also did a walk cycle, but i disliked mine so i didn't post it :) instead, here's my favorite. the flour sack. it was the second assignment, i think, and good to do after the bouncing ball, because it's basically like two bouncing balls on top of each other, with personality and story. it only had to be 3 seconds, and the sack had to fall somehow. 14 seconds later, with something like 175+ frames (individual drawings), i was done. i still would have liked to slow it down in some areas, but simply lacked time. it's my favorite, which is why it's last. :]
welp, there they are! stay tuned for the next post (i think it'll include two concert reviews!)
