🌸 Week 5: Sequence

At the start I made a storyboard to plan what I wanted my sequence to be like instead of using a couple of thumbnails as I felt like those wouldn't be detailed enough. I made sure to try and include everything that was mentioned on the task description such as invisible elements, perspective, ect alongside other things which we did this semester but which weren't neccesary for the sequence like a bouncing ball. I did have some trouble coming up with a way that I wanted it to end however decided to make it change back to a white screen so that the video could be looped.

To make the sequence a bit more interesting I decided to split it into two parts. The first part would be made traditionally and the 2nd would be digital.

Originally I was aiming for around 120 traditional frames however I ended up going way over. To start I made a guide on a spare frame of the layout so that I could have it under each frame while animating. I wanted to include invisible elements such as the wall on the left side and I also wanted to add some perspective at the start of the sequence with the ball bouncing towards the screen from a distance so I drew the lines to show where the ball would bounce.

When I had finished animating the traditional part of the sequence I had 218 frames. I added some loops by dublicating frames which brought the number up to 250 frames. Before I could start working on the digital part of the sequence I had to individually edit every traditional frame to remove the frame lines which were visible. After I edited the brightness and contrast in order to make the transition between traditional and digital less noticable and to make the "characters" easier to see.

(Prior to editing ⬇️)

After I started working on the digital part of my sequence using Clip Studio Paint. This part took a lot less time to make and it ended up being 173 frames (including loops).

Overall I'm quite happy with the final result however I do think that I could have done a lot more with the digital part of the sequence if I had more time. I also think that a few more loops would have made the digital part better.

🌸 Week 3: Bouncing Ball

To start I worked on making a simple ball bounce animation. I didn't make thumbnails for these ball animations and instead just sketched the ball size and bounce line on a spare frame which was placed underneath the other frames while using the lightboard to animate. This ball bounce ended up being 24 frames and overall I'm quite happy with the result however I think that an extra frame at the end would be good to add so that it doesn't look like the ball just dissapears into thin air and instead actually rolls off screen. 

Next I decided to try and animate a larger but still quite light ball which didn't bounce as much. As with the previous animation I did a guide on a spare frame and this animation was only 12 frames long. I'm not as happy with this animation as I think that I made it way too fast and it's not as smooth as the previous one. Alongside this there is also the problem of the ball not going out of the frame completely so in the future I'll be adding more frames to fix those issues.

The third animation I did for the week was of a bowling ball falling and shaking the ground. This was to practice the shaking effect that was shown in one of the video clips this week which helps showing weight of an object. This animation was 13 frames however I do think an extra 2 at the end would have been good to make sure that the bowling ball rolls of screen properly.

For the fourth animation I not only looked at how a ball should move while bouncing but also the way it slows down when rolling off the edge. This animation took 22 frames and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I made sure to use a lot of frames when it's tipping over the edge to practice spacing and to try and recreate how a real ball would slow down slightly before falling.

The last animation I did for the week was a simple ball bounce in order to practice animating the shadow. This animation consists of 12 frames and I think this animation turned out okay. The movement is smooth and I think the pacing is also quite good although the movement of the floor line is slightly distracting.

🌸 Animation 1A – Formative Reflection

 

Animation 1A - Formative Reflection

At the start of the course I found it quite difficult as I had to go back to working with just basic shapes instead of more complex subjects however after a while I really started to enjoy it. One thing which surprised me was how much you can do with just simple shapes and this taught me that you can make an interesting animation without any characters.

While working on the tasks I noticed that I was spending a very large amount of time on the initial rough sketches of the animation so if I got the chance to work on some of those tasks again I would spend less time doing that. I feel like I focused too much on the detail in those sketches instead of aiming to get the base movement down and adding the detail later, thus wasting a lot of time in that stage. Alongside this I spent a lot of time preparing paper for animating so I’m planning to work on future projects digitally in order to save time.

One thing that I found slightly difficult at first was doing the initial planning and research prior to starting to animate even if the final animation is quite simple. A couple of times I went straight into animating without doing thumbnails because I had a rough idea in my head and ended up getting stuck on how I wanted the animation to end or how I wanted the object to move which led me to having to redraw a lot of frames or restarting completely, thus wasting quite a lot of time. Since then I have learned how important that stage is and now do my best to spend some time getting my ideas down on paper and making sure I know exactly what I’ll be doing so I don’t repeat those mistakes again.

Two YouTube channels which I found very useful were AlanBeckerTutorials and Ethan Becker. AlanBeckerTutorials has quite a lot of good videos ranging from the 12 basics of animation to Adobe software tutorials which I found very helpful as someone who doesn’t have much experience using Adobe products. Prior to starting university I studied the principles of animation however his video helped me understand everything a lot better. Ethan Becker has made videos about making storyboards, designing characters for animation and breakdowns of animated scenes which I believe will be very useful in the future when we get to work with characters. Alongside these I have also found the books “The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation” and “The Animator’s Survival Kit” to be quite useful as they go over the basics of animation but also topics such as animating dialogue. Anytime I referenced something from either of the books I made sure to make a note in a Word file so that when I am uploading my work on my blog I could include the original too.

My favourite part of the process would definitely be creating the animation although I also really enjoyed producing it and seeing how it plays for the first time. Previously I found the production stage quite unpleasant as it took a very long time to take pictures of all the frames and I had to hold my phone myself which often resulted in some frames not lining up properly due to my hand moving however the animation kit changed that. Since I received that kit producing has been a lot easier and the quality of pictures also improved greatly thanks to the animation rostrum and the led lamp.

At the start of the semester I aimed to improve my traditional animation skills as in the past I mostly focused on digital animation and I believe that I have achieved that. To do that I mostly animated on paper which helped me explore different ways I can achieve certain effects with only a marker. This has taught me that I don’t have to rely on digital tools as much as I used to and I think that my future digital animations will also be a lot better because of this experience. Overall I am quite happy with the work I produced.

🌸 Week 4: Primary & Secondary Action

This week the task was to make an animation where a ball is the primary action. For the first animation I decided to attach a tail to a bouncing ball which moves in a whip-like motion. To start I sketched out a few thumbnails in my sketchbook (picture at the bottom of the page) so that I knew exactly what I was trying to achieve and then drew a guide on a spare frame to work on while animating similarly to what I did last week. At first I focused on animating the ball and once I had finished that I sketched on a very rough shape of the tail. After recording the frames to make sure that the tail moved correctly I went back over it with a pen and added more detail such as the spikes on it and the moving hair on the tail-tip. I also gave it a shadow to practice how it changes with the tail and also to practice what I learned last week doing the ball bounce shadow. The animation is 17 frames and I think I did well. 

For the second animation I decided to focus on a ball rolling from side to side with antennae on the top which swing with it as it moves. To start I did the same thing as for the first animation and made rough thumbnails in my sketchbook followed by a guide on a separate frame.This animation was 24 frames. Originally I thought about just having a blank ball however I decided to make half of it black in order to make the rolls a bit more noticable. I think it looks okay however if I would remake it I would definatelly make the anttenae move a lot more as they look quite stiff in this.

The last animation I did for week 4 was based on the example we were shown by Dermot O'Conner although I did change it slightly. I don't like the end result and there are a lot of issues which would have to be fixed the next time I attempt something like this (such as the ball not touching the ground properly) however I still think that this was a valuable learning experience.

🌸 Week 2: Light to Dark

The first animation I made for this week was the one above of eyes opening and closing. This animation only took 12 frames and I really like the final result. At the start I made a couple of quick thumbnails in my sketchbook to get a brief idea of what I was hoping to animate and then made a detailed guide of all the eye positions on a spare frame. Doing this helped me greatly and I saved a lot of time while animating since I didn't have to think about where I would be placing the next row of eyes in the next frame. 

I was a bit confused about the task at first however after finishing the 1st animation I realised that it didn't fit the criteria so I made 2 really simple animations which did.

The next animation I made was a squiggle that changes from black to white when it goes through the lines on the sides. As with the previous animation I started by sketching some rough thumbnails and then made a guide on a spare frame to show how the squiggle will move. The final result was made using 12 frames and overall I think it turned out alright although the slight movement of the lines as the animation progresses is quite distracting.

The second animation which I did for the brief was a simple circle which switches colours. I didn't do thumbnails for this animation as there was barely any movement so instead I just made a quick frame guide. I tried to make it look like the top layer of colour is ripping open by drawing some threads when it's opening up at first however I think if it was a bit slower then it would be a lot more noticable. I didn't like this animation as much as it's too simple and during a few parts a couple of extra frames are needed to make the frame change less noticable.

After doing 2 animations which fit the brief I decided to do something else but still only using black and white. I made an animation of a blob stretching and dividing in two pieces which later rejoin. As with the previous animations I did some thumbnail sketches however I didn't do a frame guide as I felt it was a bit uneccesary for something so simple. I believe a few extra frames when the pieces are dividing and then when they're separate would look quite nice but overall I think I did an okay job with this animation.

The last animation I made this week was a simple black and white animation of a candle being blown out but not completely so it lights up again. I don't like it that much because I feel like it's too fast and the darkness closing in is a bit too stiff so in the future if I was to remake this animation I would definately use more frames to make it smoother and work on pacing.

🌸 Week 1: 12 Frame Animated Loops

 

For the first loop I did an ostrich walking from left to right. I started by sketching out some small thumbnails in my sketchbook (pic at the bottom of the page) and later  sketched out the rough frames of the animation, using a rectangle for the body and lines for the neck, head and legs. After I recorded it and was happy with how it moved I went back and drew on the details with a pen. Doing the leg animation gave me a bit of trouble but I think it turned out okay although a few extra frames would make it a lot more smooth.

I also did an endless tunnel loop to practice objects moving towards the viewer. I made this the same was as the previous one by starting with some rough thumbnail sketches and then moving to creating a rough animation. Originally I was planning to just keep it black and white however I thought that adding colour would help create the illusion of the image moving forward. Overall I think it looks nice although I could have made it a little longer.

Next I decided to practice animating a face to practice facial movement. I also made the shoulders rise a bit to make it a bit livelier. I didn't make as many thumbnails for this animation however I don't think that had any negative effect on the outcome as it's very simple. This loop was really fun to do and I really like it but I think it would look a lot better with a few extra frames.

After doing some traditional animation I decided to make a rough digital loop. I made the one above of a girl waving. For this one I decided to leave most of the image static and only focus on animating the hair, arm and shirt. I think it turned out quite well although the arm looks quite wonky so in the future I will look at video reference to make it look more realistic.            

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