The next bit i had to tackle was up to when the camera cuts to a wide shot, I knew i wanted to have him scratching his chin (and not just so i didn't have to lip sync it) so heres the first attempt at up until he slams his fist. This was realy hard mainly because of how much both the arms change position and i had some trouble drawing the fist in his palm at first.

This is also the first time i had tried matching the sound.

I thought the audio went really well with the first few seconds but it's slightly out at the end, i wasn't too happy with the face scratch either so i changed the loop and went back to add more frames.

I noticed aswel that he doesn't look at Johnny for anywhere near long enough when he says his name, i went back and added a blink which also seemed to help with the anticipation.

Ha, it worked, was not expecting that. Have only lip synced the first part so far but it looked pretty good and it stays in time up until the camera cut. Now because it's getting closer to deadline the animation room is not as barren as it once was, this makes for not many line tests which is why i had to dive in with last few seconds however when it's synced with the audio properly it should look good. Am now adding more frames to the "Got Something!" line and lip syncing the rest.

Long Time No Blog

So i've been out of action for a while on the whole blog front, we have so much to catch up on! Is it okay if I go first?

A few days after i filmed the acting videos I actually sat down and tried to animate this little bastard, spent most of the first day sketching ideas for the key frames and getting used to drawing the characters on animation paper.

I filmed this quick 4 frame animatic just to make sure the setup looked okay and the exaggerated poses were working.

I was happy with these frames but was a hell of a long way off finishing and I was still not sure if I could actually link them together whilst keeping the volumes of the characters.

This next clip was another loose short one but would give me an idea of wether the characters were moving okay.

Well I absolutely hated the start, even though it was just key frames the rummaging around at the bottom of the screen looked awful, also there wasn't enough time before the sound kicks in to have too much activity. I did however really like how it looks so far when he pulls Johnny towards him.

Heres where I was trying to get the first third down to single frames and get the movement exactly how i wanted it.

I remember falling in love with his right hand when he sweeps it across, that was one of those moments where I realised it may not be a complete pile of arse as long as I kept at it.

There were a lot of mistakes in this bit though, the movement is so choppy when he rises and when his arm comes down over Johnny, also his eyes jumped all over the place. This was definitely a job for a few more frames.

Heres the updated version.

I remember being very excited by this one, it came to 3 seconds so I was pretty sure it was gunna fit with the first piece of dialogue and i was happy with the movement, especially the slight anticipation before he brings his arm down. Now all I had to do was the next 7 seconds, easy.

Now There's A Face For Radio

I've been having trouble with deciding which poses my main guy is gunna hit during this fateful 11 seconds. I now pretty much know how the story is going and the type of shots I'm gunna use but I wanted help with the expressions and how long he would hold them for.

Here's the part where I realise I blates should of been an actor, prepare to be blown away.

So what i learnt from this, apart from the fact that i need to take the bin out and clean the fridge, is that so many of the actions in this video only last a fraction of a second, it's gunna be tough to fit these in and have it still look good but i think it's do-able. Will have to be very careful with the timing.

Anyways here's number 2, this was to help with the lip syncing and the eye/eyebrow movements. Sorry it's a bit close, you may wanna sit back a little.

What I noticed in this is how much my eyes move around, i was changing what i was looking at every second or so. Must remember to not get lazy on the old peepers, have him keep looking at the object, at Johnny and to the floor if he's thinking for example.

Well that's the fun parts over guys, catch you later when I'm slowly dying inside.

Check My Squirrels

Well seen as though my last project was rabbits I thought I should go in a completely different direction with this one, but then i thought f**k that and did squirrels. I think I've managed to make a relevant idea for the clip but even if not heres my designs for the main character and Johnny.

With this first set i just wanted to get the main characters style close to what i wanted and make sure it could be divided into simple shapes, i really like the design i've come up with so far, it's gunna be hard to animate but i do have a few weeks. Will clean it up and do the other angles when i do the character sheets.

Seen as though this guy ain't gunna be moving i wanted a character that would be funny just by blinking or maybe chewing on nothing. This was easier to think of coz I just used the template of the main character and just made him stupider/cuter/more naive.

Look Guys, Another Project Thing.

Right next mission time, we each took an 11 second audio clip that had been taken from random films and we've gotta do an animation that syncs with it.

This is gunna be freakin' awesome if I get it right, this is exactly the kinda project i wanted and coz we've got a month to do it I wanna do all the planning and prelim work properly for a change. I know the biggest challenge for me is gunna be getting myself to actually do the work on schedule as I'm a lazy bastard and we're being left alone for a fair bit.

Heres the clip I've ran face first into. Quick explanation first though, i don't know how to put just sound clips on here so I've had to put some highly relevant footage with it, hope it ain't too distracting.

I chose this one firstly coz It's pretty funny but It's also quite ambiguous so it was hard coming up with a final idea when so many would of fitted. I like the seriousness in the voice and the fact that there is another character mentioned without a speaking part so i would have complete freedom with him.

I think I've decided on a final idea and I'm just doin' the character designs at the mo, will try an get em' up shortly.

Aaaand Were Back.

And i did'nt even need to turn it off and on again.

So anyway, like i said this is the first jump and the good old backflip, hopefully.

I really liked the squash an strechin' in this one, and the anticipation from the first landing into the flip is good. I really wished i had worked his arms more when i look back at it now though, i tried hard to make the feet move well and not just end up as legs but when he is at his peak and when he's dropping his arms should be way more exaggerated and move higher back.

After this i went back to key frames just to make sure everything after the backflip including the sneeze looked okay, heres till the atchoo.

Gazuntite. Like the big sneeze here, not sure the angles of the character are particularly accurate but it still looks good me thinks.

This is after the inbetweens have attacked.

*Spoiler Alert* He falls on his arse.

The main thing i got from this is that i really need him to hang in the air for longer on his 3rd leap, he's supposed to look all graceful an that. I went back and added two extra inbetweens for that bit, i tried just doubling it up but it looked all choppy and not like a glide. I also had to make him delay for longer before he sneezes.

After this though i realised i had 'F' all time left and i couldn't do any more tests until i finished. This meant i was pretty much animating blind from here to the end, it was like being a maverick renegade. Heres the finished package.

I'm really happy with this, cannot believe it's only ten seconds but i was desperate to use singles. There's definitely a few things i would change like the ground disappearing once he jumps up and if i hadn't run out of time i would make the transformation a bit slower and more grotesque. All in all though i think it's a good display of what i've learnt so far.

Im sure it's only gunna get harder from here but Jesus christ animation is a bastard, a fun bastard mind.

The Name "6 Week Project" Is Highly Misleading

So we had to make a film that was between 10 and 20 seconds (naturally mine leans towards the ten second mark) and it's meant to showcase some if not all of the principles we've learnt so far, for those not paying attention we've got, squash, stretch, timing, spacing, exaggeration and anticipation. After much deliberation I went with a cute wittle bunny, i though it was about time the animation world had one of these.

This is the first test i did which is literally 5 frames doubled up but i wanted to see if the first arc worked also i wanted to make sure i was pushing the exaggeration without it lookin' weird.

It's pretty hard to catch but i like his pose at the top of the jump, in earlier versions in my sketchbook i kept the feet below his body. This looked a lot better later on aswel though coz i gave him some extra hang time in this pose and it worked well for the anticipation.

Ere's the test of the full first jump and the back flip..........

.............. or at least it would be if Blogspot wasn't being a moron and not letting me upload videos, I guess I'll try again later

In The Words Of Van Halen.....

I was gunna talk about how this was blatantly the hardest thing I've had to do since i got here but i started animating my 6 week project today and it's absolutely crippling me.

So heres the finished, second hardest thing I've done

Im pretty proud of this one, i think I've managed to get a fair bit of anticipation in here throughout, unfortunately i did have to use double frames to help with this quite a lot. Wish i had taken longer and animated the slow downs, especially when he's hanging in the air. It does also look a bit like he's taking off rather than jumping, i feel good about blaming a badly planned arc for that one.

The time has now come for all mini projects, our last week long animation is supposed to demonstrate anticipation, another one of the sacred principles of animation.

We had to show a character jumping and concentrate on the extreme poses, it's pretty much the bouncing ball task with arms and legs. I got ridiculously excited about this project though once they showed us some clips from Tom & Jerry and realized how awesome all the actions are and how every frame is freakin' hilarious.

Heres my first slice of pie which is mainly the key frames with a few imbetweeners.

I quite liked the poses I had lined up so far but i thought i could push them a bit further, the first pull back and the crouch before he jumps could of been more expressive.

This one has the same keyframes but the movement up until he jumps is all finished, for now.

I like what I've got so far, the little step before the jump was so hard though, not looking forward to walk cycles. From now on i shall only draw cars or slugs. Need to work on the timing when he pulls back but me thinks its lookin' good.

More balls anyone??

I wanted to do summat a little more ambitious than a ball bouncing so i landed on doing, wait for it, two balls bouncing!!

Tried a heavy one and a super one at the same time but like a moron thought it would be a good idea to have them bounce off each other aswell. This is where planning and key frames come into their own, thanks guys.

Heres the first encounter.

Oh my god it's hard to make balls collide. Wasn't happy about how quickly the bowling ball drops off the ledge so i went back to fix this and finish the super ball.

I call this one "please work you bas**rd!"

The name didn't really help, the bowling ball looks pretty stupid throughout, the pacing is off on the ramp and it comes to a stop way too suddenly. Hopefully the pretty small ball will distract from that. Gotta keep doing more planning, free-styling is not cool when two objects need to interact.

I'm Havin' A Ball

So we have to animate some balls bouncin' all over the place, small ones, fat ones, some as big as yer head..... sorry. Doesn't sound too exciting and the reason for that is because it isn't but it's a good way to get our heads around some of the old principles of animation such as timing, spacing and squash and stretch.

Heres my first attempt with just the key frames and a few in-betweens  

Thought this was lookin' alright so i added in the rest of the frames, i had done another test before the final one but it was obviously so crap it erased itself off my memory stick. 

Heres the latest, shot in singles with all the frames.

I really like this one, i think it hangs in the air maybe a bit too long on the last bounce but it still looks good, lets call it artistic license. 

Face-Off

"Nah i don't need to plan it out better than this, it'll be fine",

I truly hate myself for saying these words. Tried to go back and add more to the crying and angry bits but because of the tear i randomly put in it was impossible to add more frames without messin' up the speed. Managed to get round the same problem with the bit of steam coming of his head when he's pissed though, just had to make it hang in the air a bit longer. I only managed to add 2 frames and black out the mouth, i also shot it closer.

Here it is.

Kinda wish i'd pushed it further and taken more time over it, Im happy with the speed though and i think the transitions to the different emotions are pretty smooth. Gotta plan it more next time and when i think Ive pushed it enough slap myself an try again.

Exaggeration Mini Project

This weeks trial was to create a face that would change expression a few times then go back to neutral, I'd go so far as to say Im a fan of faces so i was pretty happy with this.

Spent a while drawing people in the class then went home and tried to work out a face that would be fun to play with, apparently it had to look like someone but i seem to have ignored that so I'll just say it was meant to be me after Chemo.

Heres my first go at a smile.

Was pretty happy with this but tutor man said it needs to be bigger (more exaggerated i assume) and i just so happen to agree. Have tried to make the rest of the expressions better and will come back to this one tomorrow.

This is what my first go at the full cycle looks like

Once again i quite like this but it speeds up in parts and i think i can push it a bit further, I'll try adding a few frames tomorrow and see how that tastes.

First post, also known as 'The Flip-book Mini Project'

So I've only gone and been and went and done a blog coz apparently we have to (and i secretly want to). Need a place to put all my crappy little video project things, seemed like as good a place as any.

A week ago we had to make a 100 frame flip book then capture it on film, we were working in groups of 5 and all our films had to lead on from each other. We decided to include a bomb in everyones and since i had already decided i was gunna use a Pirate this worked out well for me. Heres the thing i spat out.

This was too slow, didn't flip, wasn't 100 frames long and barely merged into anyones video. But she's still ma baby girl.

Next time i wanna take more time and get up to 12 FPS instead of the 6 i used for this, also not use lined notepad paper.