Sunday, May 24, 2009

more practice



Just messing around, trying to get some different expression into some moves.

One thing I notice now that I've been animating fairly regularly -- and this applies to any kind of art I've ever done. There's a certain Art Making Mode that I sometimes go into... a super-patient mode where I'm completely unaware of the passage of time or of anything beyond what I"m doing. And when I go into this mode during animation, that's when I get really good results. I was in that mode when I did the Skull Love clip (well, the last 2 thirds of it anyway) and when I did the One Good Yank mime thing. But I was a bit impatient when I did the shrug tests.

You can see the difference. Watch Skull Love... notice at first things are pretty rough, but it smoothes out as I go.

I think it's alright that my sketches are a bit rough.... I was improvising, just messing around and making stuff up as I went... in some cases I really didn't even know what the next frame would be till I touched the puppet. I think the shrug tests were a step beyond what I've done before in terms of difficulty because I was aiming for expression, as opposed to simply putting the puppet through the motions smoothly. The 2 shrugs are very different (and yes, as Prosser mentioned on my YouTube page, it IS difficult to shrug without collarbones!). I don't like the weird head shake on the second one... it didn't work the way I wanted it to. And everything after that is weird too... doesn't match the aggressiveness of the beginning of the shrug. But I thought I'd go ahead and post these attempts anyway. Hopefully in the future I'll do some more successful ones. But there's no failure in practice -- the whole point is just to keep myself animating and trying things that are beyond my comfort zone.

There are a couple of false starts included, and at the end of the clip I tried an idea for how to get Hoppy across the room really fast. He needs to move like a jackrabbit on speed, but with those short little legs I need to find some alternative way to get him there.... if I actually animate the legs using ease-ins and ease-outs for every step he can't go fast enough!!

Not quite there yet, but it's a start. I'll try a few different ideas as I progress.

10 comments:

Lady Euphoria Deathwatch said...

Hi Dark,

Have you thought of trying smoke and mirrors.

You know, like in cartoons, many legs at one time or a smoke cloud obstructing the view. I think that the speed thing is going to be the time for putting in an illusion.

Some things just can't be worked around, and short legs just might be one of them.

You need no ideas on what you have in that clip because you said it all yourself already.

Think about the illusion of speed and try it again from a different angle. The hurky jurky thing isn't working. Even just moving him in a blink with the proper sound effects might do the job depending on the situation.

Hope something comes to you soon.

Euphoria

Edwound Wisent said...

(^ grrrr.. yer gwahnah git me all riled up into discussing after effects, blurried smears, super slow toe pointing into swift 4 frame whipe outs to move 5 feet!

(^ short legs have NEVER been in Speedy Gonzalez's way.

.. you may need a stunt double for certain effects shots tho.

(^ and hey. these "tests" may not be what you were WORKING ion..
but have greeat merit as outtake shots and or other applications like if hoppy where asked..

(offscreen ) " hey there sport.."
hoppy reaction !: "what?"
(^ offscrean " guess what?"
HR#2: "....wwhhhAUUHHHhht?!"
(^ offscreen cutoff of reaction whisthkid's voice giggling "ch ch chu cCHICKENBUTT!!!!tt tt tHee heee hee hee!"
((^ and with that hoppy does the bounce take to zip away from the lolligag.

(^ end sound take on thisun.
yer welcome.

Darkmatters said...

Yeah, I've definitely considered the multiple legs thing. I even thought of actually making extras and sticking them on for those frames! or maybe I could shoot extra frames with the puppet in exactly the same pose except the legs and then superimpose.

If necessary, I could fall back on the trick I used back in the Introducing Skulkin clip, where I just didn't show the legs at all.

I like the idea of just popping him all the way there in one frame... no in-betweens at all. That might work.

Thanks for the input you two!!

Sven Bonnichsen said...

There's a whole book on that "Art Making Mode" you mentioned…

"Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Read it years ago, recall it being quite good. (It's well-respected, whether or not I'd like it now, I guess.)

http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Classic-Work-Achieve-Happiness/dp/0712657592/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243282880&sr=8-4

Darkmatters said...

In the books on physical theatre I've been reading there's an emphasis on building up your stamina... doing longer exercises even when you're tired and sweating. Apparently it helps you to remain in the flow longer and longer.

With this in mind, I want to work on longer animation sessions. I want to develop my attention span so I can maintain that patience for hours on end.

Edwound Wisent said...

(^ okay then: do THE SNEAK:
(^opposite of the quick scoot.

(^ try to ssssllllooowwwwwllllyyyy. streatch puppet as far out as possible: .
like taking 11 seconds to take one step..
1/3rd millimeter per single frame..
..
andThenzipotherFootRestofBody backTogetherAllInto a squwunnchBall.

think tippytosilent or 88 frames per second.

slowmotion animation is a grewler.

the liklihood of lights fritzing out or body parts breaking.. gravety hastles.
or te easy fumble of a frame will keeell yooo
or? try lip syncing to a reverse sound track.
that was the FIRST thing I EVER got to witness .
many of the eyeblinks ended up backwards

(^ remember to stretch: and take care of bodily functions first:

and try to remember to sip fluids every 15 frames.

or just study "Road Runner Wile E Coyote Stop Look And Hasten"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYTWnjFqTDk&

jriggity said...

Liftin those animation Weights man!!!

Your getin HUGE.

Keep um comin man.....Inspireing to press play.

jriggity

Shelley Noble said...

That's great advice, Brian.

federico said...

Beautiful exercises Mike! And the character is great too. Congratulations.

FleaCircusDirector said...

Perhaps all that is needed on the wizz is a very small amount of leg movement to change it from a slide to a run, the viewers eye will do the rest