Squash and stretch exercise

SQUASH AND STRETCH

Using the idea of squashing and stretching within a ball bounce worked particularly well. Considering that with a ball of plasticine, you can change the appearance and texture of a ball by keeping its volume the same. Overall, this worked well both in a vertical drop and showing it bouncing around. Where in this experiment, I was playing with ideas of how much elasticity to give the ball, when animating similar things I should take into account the weight and texture of whatever I am animating to give an audience the right impression of whatever I may be animating.

Timing

CHARACTER BLINK

With these short animations I learned about the timing that is a crucial element when drawing each frame. The initial blink which I drew worked well using 6 frames to depict it. The next clip could have used some improvement with the movement of the character rocking in the chair. To improve in the future I should consider using a reference video of someone rocking in a chair because the character's movement in relation to the chair looks slightly inaccurate. The fudging of timing in the animation helped to make the movement more like my imagined scene when storyboarding but there is room to improve.

Who am I?

Who am I?

Why did I choose to study on this course?

I have always had a passion for illustration, particularly in designing characters and environments. This branched out into animation after looking into the processes studios use particularly in stop-motion. Therefore, being able to give the characters I design substance, make them move and create an environment for them is very appealing to me and would hopefully create visually pleasing work.

What do I want to learn during my time on the course?

Although I have made a number of animations, I would say that my talent largely rests on designing characters and puppet making. Within stop-motion, I would like to learn to build sets and build puppets by casting an armature in silicone (in the same way Laika studios create their puppets). Collaborating with a textiles student for example would be very interesting too because they could make miniature clothing for an animation. I would also like to understand more about computer generated animation as I am not overly competent with computers.

What are my strengths?

*Illustrations/character design
*Creative thinking in general
*Puppet making with plasticine etc.

Things I want to improve:

*Computer skills
*Set building
*storytelling
*Applying audio and general timing

What ways will I evaluate my progress?

I will evaluate my progress by keeping a chronological file of my films and work. Through my blog I should be able to reflect on each one and improve every time. Aiding this will be group crits where I will get outside opinion on my work from my peers.

Character turnaround & Storyboard

Character Turnaround and Poses

When satisfied with the character I designed, which explored drawing different variations of faces and colour schemes etc, I drew a number of dynamic poses to further build up an idea of who my character would be. This was good because it helped me build up scenarios and build more of a background for him. An element I could improve on is giving the character consistent proportions as to make it hold up more when it comes to animating.

TURNAROUND

DYNAMIC POSES

6 PANEL STORYBOARD

Using photos I took as a reference, I drew a simple storyboard but tried to show these actions in a comic strip style. I think the depictions clearly show the events I want to happen when I animate this scene. However, I need to overlay another piece of paper to depict camera movement and I should consider the size and dimensions of a screen when storyboarding so I know how much I can fit in frame.

MOTION DRAWINGS

LINE OF ACTION

FLESHED OUT MOTION

SPOT COLOUR

BLACK AND WHITE

FULL COLOUR RENDERED DRAWING

REVIEW

Working my way up to drawings with detail, starting with line of action drawings helped me to observe form and the way some features can be exaggerated or simplified to aid effectiveness within animation. For example, when I depicted a javelin throw it was effective to show the motion in one swooping line because it puts a sense of force into the action I am drawing. An element which could have gone better as I worked my way up to more detailed drawings was to keep in mind this element of keeping a sense of motion in my drawing. I think this did work with my fleshed out motion drawings where I converted real life people into characters. However with the later drawings I could have been more selective and put more life into them.

I am Gabriel Plant and this blog is to document my work both drawing and animating.