Final Animatic

As one last post before the holiday, I thought I'd show my final animatic that was completed last week. I'm happy with the overall product, having drawn the frames and recorded all of the voices myself, only finding the sound effects elsewhere. 

Towards the end I feel I could have had a bit more movement to really show what was going on, although I did focus on this more in the earlier parts of the sotry like when Boomer is walking through the woods.

TVPaint - Extra Exercises

While I created these few animations a short while ago now, I realised I never posted them on my blog! I thought I'd share them, as I'm quite happy with the results despite each one being in a slightly sketchy unfinished style.

I also have an updated version of an earlier animation I posted. I lined it and added colour and shading. I think some of the lineart and colouring still looks a bit rough but I'm happy with the way the shading changes as the animal turns it's head.

TVPaint - Water Splash and Elongated Inbetweens

The last of our 2D exercises involved looking at the way water moves when something is thrown into it, and also at elongated inbetweens to get across faster movement in less frames. 

I found both of these exercises quite difficult when trying to tackle them.The first is the water splash. A ball is thrown into a pool of water and it splashes and ripples out around the ball. I struggled to show that the water was splashing out from all sides rather than just right and left. I tried to include a second smaller smash as the ball floated back to the surface too.

 

 For the second exercise, I found it quite easy to get the initial sketches down on TVPaint, and was happy with the way it came out. However, when I tried adding finished lines to complete the exercise, I was unable to achieve the result I was hoping for. Instead I tried a different route and tried just using colour without the lines instead. I think I need to try and polish this technique more.

 

 

 

Maya - Posing and Constraints

More recent 3D tasks on Maya include posing of the Mery model, and working with constraints. 

I enjoyed working with Mery to create a variety of different poses.

I think that the first couple of poses appear to be more stiff than the rest, as I was still getting to grips with how the model moved. I needed to put more focus into the movement of her shoulders and remember that some of the joints should only bend in certain ways. I was careful not to elongate her back or legs too much.

The last task we were given for Maya was to work with parent-child relationships and constraints. The model had to approach and pick up a box, and I made mine move the box's position and put it down again.

I'm quite happy with the constraints, having attached the box to the wrist, moved it, and then reset the resting position as it's put back down again. I think the walk up to the box looks quite stiff though, even though I tried to move his hips and shoulders to get a more human like feel. The way he straightens up the first time could also be a more fluid movement, as his legs straighten and then his back follows. It was also difficult to understand how the knees would move and where they would face as he crouched down.

Storyboards - First Attempt and Deep Script

A while ago now I had to create my first storyboard! The intention was to focus on speed and direction. Two 'things' had to be heading towards each other at different speeds, and I needed to think about how to portray this. I tried using the car in the background to show the slower movement of the dog walker, and then how little distance the walker covered in comparison to the character on the skateboard.

 

The storyboard I completed most recently was for a portion of a script. I had to use the dialogue and actions to create a scene. I wanted the think about different types of shots, including close ups, over the shoulder two shots, and long shots to get a better view of the whole scene. 

Stopmotion - A couple of updates!

It's been a little while since I did some stopmotion animation, so earlier this week I went back to try a couple of the exercises again in the hope of getting some better results. I tried the throw action again, as well as a normal walk cycle.

I feel like I got the timing for correct on this one, however I still think I need a bit more follow through in the action.

As for my walk, I'm much happier with the way it turned out. The previous attempts had more character, so I needed an example that was much simpler. The steps the puppet takes look more even and I think it is well paced. I managed to keep her from tipping forwards, and the feet don't look too floppy.

Stopmotion - Walking

For this weeks task, we had to move the puppets from one side of the stage to the other by making it walk. This was quite a challanging task in many ways. Tightening the joints on the puppet was essential at the start, although I still experienced some issued with falling over later on in the walk as the hips or ankle came loose. You can see where this happens as in some cases the clothes make large adjustments between frames.

For my first walk, while I followed all of the steps with the legs, I think I failed to recognise where the body moves up and down. I also didn't quite get the pacing right, so the puppet seems to jog across the screen before slowing and coming to a stop. In a couple of instances, the foot looks like it's slipping backwards as the puppet moves, which shouldn't be the case.

For the second walk, I moved the puppet in the opposite direction. I exaggerated the movements a bit more, although this did mean I wasn't able to get in as many paces across the stop motion stage. On the second step I can see that the foot flops a little too much, making the action more cartoon like than realistic. In this attempt however, I feel I managed to set the pace better and also get each movement in the correct position so that the head goes up and down as it is supposed to.

Stopmotion - Anticipation and Follow Through

This week I completed our next stop motion task which was to capture the movement of the puppet throwing something. In this video there are four different attempts at the same action.

 

I can see a few things wrong with each of my tries, and I will talk about them here. I found that I needed to leave the puppet in each key pose for a longer period of time so that you can actually take in what it happening, and I failed to do this a few times. I needed more of a follow through motion too, which I think will require me to try this task again at some point in the future.

TV Paint - Head Turns and Walk Cycles

Over the past couple of weeks we've been stepping up in our animation and looking at some more difficult tasks such as head turns and walk cycles.

Below is my attempt at a head turn. I think it moves too far across the screen, and you can also see that the hat moves quite a lot in a way it shouldn't as the head turns.

Next I tried another headturn that was very different. I created a cute rodent/bunny character and made it sit in one spot while the head moved. It's common for a character to blink as it turns it's head, so I included this too. The foot on the right probably needed to come of the ground as it moved, as right now it's just sliding across the floor. I like the way I made the fur on the chest push up though, and the perpective of the ears as the head turns.

After the head turns, walk cycles were the next thing I needed to practice.

I created a very simple walk first, which I could then add features to make it into a character walking. I think I could have added more inbetweens to make the actions even smoother. I should also think about producing slightly different types of walk, as not everyone walks in the same way.

After making this initial animation, I went a bit further and made it into a fox. The face was harder to keep consistent I found, although I think this version has more personality.

Maya - Walking

This week we worked with a model of a little green man. With this, I was able to key frame out the movements for a walk, then add in the inbetweens to make the actions more smooth. I also included the secondary action of his eyes blinking on occasion in all of these videos.

The above was my first try at making the character walk. It moves a bit fast and the actions still seem a bit stiff.

Next I tried it again, this time starting from a stand still and coming to a stop. I included some squash and stretch on this one too to add a bit more personality to his walk.

After I'd completed a second walk, I thought I'd try make him jump from one spot to another. I think the jump itself is a little bit slow, but I'm happy with the way he lands and comes back up to standing straight.

Maya - 3D Animation

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been working with the 3D software Maya. We started simple by moving objects across the screen, and have now excelled onto adding squash and stretch and follow through.

The above video was my first attempt at creating a path for a 3D object. It involved creating a lot of key frames for each bit that needed to move, whether it was through translation or rotation. Some of the movements in this are a bit jerky, especially where the ball changes direction against the wall.

In the next task we had to concentrate on follow through. Not everything moves at the same time or finishes in the same way, and a good way to practice this is by looking at the tail of an animal. If I am to do this task again, I want to add more actions that will make the animal seem more natural. I could also increase the length of it's path, letting it jump around more so that I could maybe test out new movements.

Lifedrawing - Sessions 3 and 4

So I thought I'd share more of my life drawing work with you, since I really do enjoy it and I think it has and will continue to improve my drawing over time. These were done in two sessions, some from the October 5th, some from October 18th.

The first two pictures below focus on pose. The faster sketches were good to show the weight of a pose, where the body is shifting. The photo on the right is of my attempt to draw using negative space. I found this more difficult, having to focus on the shapes outside of the body.

 Below, the three poses show the action of the man opening an umbrella. It follows him through the movement in three steps. It was good to look at the way the body turns from these different angles.

For another piece,  we worked on black paper with chalk to study the way the light hits the body. I liked curving my lines to give a feeling of three dimensions, as well as trying to show the perspective and the ways the leg is further in the distance.

 

Last but not least is one I really enjoyed working on. The use of brown paper starts you off with a tone that is familiar when thinking about skin. It allows you to work around it with darker tones and also apply light sections where white paper wouldn't allow you to. One thing I know I have to work on though is the curve of the back, as the human form is rarely straight and it can become habit to make it that way. 

Stopmotion - Touching Your Toes

For the first time today I was able to use the stop motion puppets we have available to us. The little guy I had is apparently named after 'The Milkybar Kid', and I suppose I do see a resemblence. The task was to animaate the puppets touching their toes, and I did this multiple times to try and get the best result. All of my outcomes have pros and cons.

This was the perfect opportunity to practice follw through. To do this, I needed to think about how the head would move first, to look down at the ground, then how the arms would follow. Then the body would bend and move

One difficulty I found was keeping the clothes in a similar condition throughout the animation. I had to touch the puppets to move them, and it was very difficult not to edit the shape of their clothing from shot to shot.  

Getting the timing right was also quite difficult. I think attempts two and three are too slow, whereas my last attempt seems to have a better speed. A problem with my last attempt though is how I nudged the camera with my arm halfway through and had to readjust it's position. I continued anyway but I know that I could have started over. In my second attempt I like how the arms swing when they reach the floor.

As well as doing the task, I also tried making the puppet wave and gave it another action of picking up a ball. It's short and simple.

TVPaint - Jumping cube

A task I had to complete was a jumping object. I had to think about squash and stretch, keeping the volume the same as the subject moved from one point to another. I found getting the perspective for the turns at the beginning quite difficult, although I think the animation came out quite smooth in the end.

 

 I have also had more time to do my own animation exercises and here is one of them.

Stopmotion - Cannonballs and balloons

Today I worked on my next stop motion task. I found the balloon exercise to be quite challenging, but after multiple attempts I can see improvements in my work. As a warm up, I chose to do the heavy object first.

I did this one a few times as it was quite a short animation to make. It had to fall fast and not bounce too much, as the weight of the ball stopped it from doing so.

From here I moved onto making the balloon.

The above video is of my second attempt. I found it difficult to get the swaying motion and the correct speed for the movement of the balloon. I think the later swings are a bit too fast for a balloon movement, however you could also consider the fact there might have been a breeze. I'm quite happy with the way it bounces once it hits the ground.

I feel like I was able to achieve better swings with the balloon in my third try, spacing the frames closer together at each direction change. I think the whole thing could be slower though, to get a real feel for the object I'm meant to be portraying. The bouncing at the end might be over exaggerated.

Beginner to 2D Animation

So today I went to the studio used my time to work on TVPaint. I'm new to this program, so it was good to do some more exploring and tackle a couple of tasks. In our session at the end of last week we focused on making a bouncing ball. It doesn't include squash and stretch but I had to concentrate on the spacing of each of my frames. One thing I need to improve is the size of the ball and keeping it constant throughout the short animation.

 

The next thing I tackled was the bouncing of a ball in a 3D space, in this case a box or a room. Again, this didn't include squash and stretch, but I added colour, shading and shadows to add depth to the environment the ball is bouncing in. If I am to do this again, I would try different directions. The direction the ball bounces towards the end doesn't quite work, so I'd need to consider my canvas space a bit more when working.

  

This next animation is something I had a bit of fun with after completing my set tasks. I wanted to create a character shaking it's head, so started with a very simple face. I slowly built it up into more of a human figure, and while the sketch is very rough, I enjoyed making it and practice is always important.

Stopmotion - Pendulums

The first animation task I have completed this week has been a pendulum in stop motion, shot in twos. There are two versions, one where the swinging is natural and the other where it is mechanical, like in a grandfather clock.

The video above isn't of my first attempt. It took multiple tries to get to this point, as practice is the best way to improve. I think I could have exaggerated the slow in and out a bit more in this, although I did try to space the coin to get the effect and I think I achieved it. During the exercise, I had to fix various things. One of these was shadows across my work, which could have easily been caused by my hand and arm, as well as positioning the coin incorrectly and making some parts slower or faster than they needed to be. By facing these challenges, I was able to explore more with Dragonframe, the software I used to create this, and correct my work to make the movement more fluid.

The above video is of the mechanical motion. Each placement of the coin is evenly spaced, and as with the example of the clock, the arc of movement isn't as rounded. In the above video, after reviewing it later on, I can see how I've left in shadows at the sides of the video. In the future I need to be more careful with this, as it can't happen in professional work and lighting needs to stay constant throughout a shot.

Bouncing Balls and Walk Cycles

So, last week I was set a task to take a few video shots. The first one I had to study was the movement of a bouncing ball across the screen. I took multiple shots so I could capture different arcs of movement of the ball, and used these videos to trace over and review the action on paper. You find that as the ball slows down towards the top of it's arc, there are more frames in that section. The more frames, the slower the action. As the ball descends due to gravity, there is a lot more space between the balls in each frame.

I was also able to capture a few videos like this one. I think I'll need to consider observing some more exaggerated movements, but being able to go through a walk cycle frame by frame is very useful. I'm excited to be able to put this knowledge to good use when I learn more about the software I will be using. Below is a diagram I'm sure a lot of people have seen before, but it's simple and a good place to start.

 (Williams, Richard. 2009. The Animator's Survival Kit. London: Faber and Faber Limited)

Toy Adventure

The first project I was set as part of my course is a small study of a toy in various environments. It gave me the perfect chance to explore my new area and also got me back into the swing of observation and sketching. My toy was a rather small raccoon/red panda plush, although for the sake of this mini project, I've turned her into more of a character in the scenes I have chosen, thinking it would give a little more life to my drawings. I have a couple of examples to post here

It was a good opportunity to try out a few different perspectives, which I think I've managed to achieve in a few of my sketches. I could have probably investigated a bit more with mediums, as I stuck to pencils for these, although I did enjoy adding colour to he second one.

Returning to Life Drawing

I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to life draw three years ago, but returning to it now is like having a fresh start and it's so far been fun to pick up again.

Our first session didn't go as planned, with the model calling in sick. That didn't mean we wasted time though, and we tried to make the best of a bad situation by drawing other students and also the resident skeleton. Looking at the skeleton really gave me an insight into the structure of the body, especially when looking at the 3D shape of the chest cavity.

(20/09/16)

I attended a second session today voluntarily to get some more practice. The three hour session meant we were given four seated poses and then two reclining poses to draw. Here are a few of my pieces.

Proportions and depth perception were key for the scenes I was trying to draw. On the bottom right, I created two seperate drawings of the same scene after finding I had shortened parts of the models body. This told me I need to pay more attention to distance and measuring so I can draw an accurate form. Today I learned that I should also try drawing larger, as many of my pieces are small and I might find it easier to get in the necessary detail if I work on a bigger scale. On the bottom left, I found it quite difficult to find the correct positions for the feet, but with charcoal being quite forgiving, I was able to keep trying until I managed something that looked more correct.

A Little Introduction

   I guess the first thing I should do after starting a new blog is introduce myself. My name is Eloise Gardner, and I'm currently a first year Animation and VFX student at Falmouth University. I've always been interested in art and storytelling, and having the opportunity to combine my love for both through this medium really is exciting. I'm bound to learn a lot and gain new skills over the coming months and years, and hopefully I can put that to good use.

(Here's a little self portrait of me, so you have an idea of the face behind the blog).

Thanks for visiting and hopefully I will do a good job at documenting my progress here!