Bruce Weight Lift

Here is the main animation exercise I had the chance to do at my time at Nexus - with my attempt to capture the good old weight lifting test with a small twist. Big thanks to Mark Davies and Michael Greenwood for all their help and feedback on this.



It may not be perfect with many parts that could do with some further refinements, but I’m pleased with what I’ve achieved so far as it’s come a long way from its first incarnations. I now feel much more confident in how to approach animation which will hopefully show in my future projects.

Environment + Blocking Animation

Apologises for the slow update, I've been working away getting my scene set up, reading up some animation techniques and resources (see at end of post); and embarking on some first steps of animation myself.

To reiterate, the members of Tribe 17 are performing a ritual amidst a junkyard to attract nature's fireflies which in turn power them. Tribe character A, being a 'witch doctor' figure, leads the ritual and will be the focus of animation. Character B will manually operating the pile driver, striking the junk to create sparks that attract the fireflies; where character C will form the makeup of worshippers and perhaps even a drumming accompaniment. And ideally, at the very end we will see a lone firefly enter some parts of junk to awaken a new 'junk' tribesman to the group.

Here is the setup of the scene where the animation will take place. There will be a number of establishing shots, which will cut to close ups of animation matching with the sound. I also intend to have some duplicates of the secondary characters B and C to help populate the scene, which slight variation should be simple enough to add to the models if necessary.





I've begun experimenting with the secondary animated characters B and C first to build up my confidence for the main character of animation, where I've started by blocking some of their key poses before animating fully. The first is pulling the rope to operate the pile driver, and the second is kneeling with some worshipping type motions. As such, its pretty rough as the keys are simply stepped at the moment moving from pose to pose.



Once I have more blocked/animated parts done, I will be able to start cutting clips together into a previs form to match with the original track of Soundscape 17.

Whilst establishing my scene and getting my hands stuck into the animating, I've also been looking at some resources to help me on my way. The 11 Second Club has some great resources on their site, particularly the 'Helpful Hints' section hosting a number of great guides when it comes to animating - so be sure to check them out.

I'm still reading through them, but some I found a good read so far are:

The Top Five
Why We Block
Back and Forth
Put It There
Giving Yourself Permission

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) is one of the first feature films to combine live action with traditional animation. An important and critical success, the film marked a resurgence in animation.



Set in a world where cartoon characters interacted with human beings, the plot follows a private detective who investigates a murder involving a famous cartoon character known as Roger Rabbit.



Not only did the film bring life to one of the most iconic animated characters including Jessica Rabbit, the film also featured cameos from many famous cartoon characters including Mickey Mouse to Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck to Donald Duck; the only film to feature Warner Looney Tunes and Disney characters together.

Jessica Rabbit



Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse



Donald Duck and Daffy Duck


The impact of the film marked a resurgence into the American Golden Age of animation, where previously the world of animation suffered a lull during the 1970s and 1980s. With the passing of Walt Disney himself in 1966, even The Walt Disney Company was questioning the future of a animation. The risky venture of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, provided the breakthrough in animation that was needed in reviving a global interest and new-found recognition into the world of animation.

Without its presence, animation would simply not be the same as it is today in regards to the techniques developed and the revived prominence into the entertainment industry as feature films.

Cantankerous Walk Cycle

A walk cycle with the tone/mood of our story element, so in this case, a 'Cantankerous' walk cycle.



I tried to emphasise his movements with a stomping motion, wider swinging arms and a hunch. With more inbetween frames and perhaps not so straight edges in the legs, would help smooth the animation as a whole.

Hand Drawn Walk Cycle

First attempt at a hand drawn walk cycle animation. Its not perfect, but I am quite pleased with the results coming out better than I excepted, as well as making a small but essential step in understanding the practices of animation.



Initially, it was quite tricky to get started, as you don't realise how many motions are actually involved when walking, it starts to become a fairly complex process when translating this to paper. Even then, this is just a basic walk cycle, where tone and mood would affect the walk cycle quite substantially adding another layer of thought and consideration to the entire process.

La Planète Sauvage (1973)

René Laloux's La Planète Sauvage (1973) or Fantastic Planet, is a strange and captivating sci-fi tale delving into wild themes and concepts that are simply mind-bending.



Humans, now known as 'Oms', are under the tyranny of the giant humanoid race known as the 'Draags', where they hold little regard for 'Oms' and keep them as domestic pets. The thought is quite unnerving and yet the Draags behaviour is not too dissimilar from our own in their cold and calculating rationalism.



The drawings in particular are quite intriguing with the imaginative concepts of Laloux's strange world, where the animation bears a quirky aesthetic that is brimming with atmosphere. One can definitely see how this might has inspired many contemporary examples of its kind.



Overall, I quite enjoyed it as a captivating tale, if a little bit disturbing. The animation is just over an hour long where you can view the entire film on youtube in a series of 8 parts.

Trailer


La Planète Sauvage (1973) Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys8AkwMRvgo

Hand Drawn Bouncing Balls Animations

Some hand drawn bouncing balls to practice animation techniques. Here the challenge was to convey a convincing movement that the reflected the respectful ball material. So a Rubber ball with squash and stretch, a Ping Pong ball that is light and bouncy, to a Bowling ball that carries weight with no bounce.

I think the Ping Pong ball works best.

Self Object Morph Animation

An experimental hand drawn animation using symbolic objects from the letters of our name. So, as follows:

L for 'Lightbulb'
E for 'Easel'
O for 'Orange'...

I also made it loop with only three objects. Hope you like!





It was good to do this to not only learn from mistakes, but to gain confidence when committing to our full hand drawn animation. Consisting of around 35 individual frames, one quickly develops an appreciation for hand drawn animation in the time and dedication it demands, where the results are (hopefully) surely worth it.