Walk cycle

So here it goes. This guy is kicking my trash. I can't seem to figure out the walker actions. Let me know of any suggestions.

Angry Mcgee

Here we go, it's not much but ya

Work in Progress Update

Having a hard time timing out the head. Let me know what you think.

Awesome Book

This book is really awesome. It is a bunch of animators talking about the way they go about creating animation. I hope you enjoy it.

http://squeezestudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Animation%20Insiders%20-%20EBOOK.pdf

So here is the video of my walk cycle so far. I finally got it to upload to youtube.

Wee-lil' Alien Guy

So here's my "wee-lil" alien character for the walk cycle. He was inspired by the doodle below; the one with the spaceship.

Character

So I thought that I would create this old guy in Illustrator. So here is what I have so far. I have created different layers to allow some movement but we will see how good that will look i guess. Still think that I am going to do this one hand drawn though.

Character

Ok so lame Idea's for a character so I upped the anti? I want to go with the big guy meh

Nostalgia. I guess.

Here is my first attempt at a walk cycle about 3.5 years ago when I was apart of the animation club here on campus. I hope that I have gotten a little better since then. I guess we will see in time.

Flour Ninja

Ok, my video loaded on facebook but not on this post, here are my characters I'm considering for the walk through. I want to do the lurpy one, the hyper one or the bigger lug sad one. :)

Character Design

So here is a Character design for the walk cycle. Let me know what you think.

Flour sack WIP

So here is what I have been able to get done so far. Still working out the timing with certain things but I think that it is coming along. Let me know what you think so far. I hope the video works. If not I will put it on youtube and then embed it.

In the Box - Flour Sack Animation

Flour sack is struttin' along, when he stumbles upon some kind of crumpled up cloth, like . . . flour sack skin! He steps over and shuffles backward into a strange box. Examining the box, he picks it up and starts to crank the lever on the side. Suddenly, whammo! Some crazy freakshow flour sack from the brain of Steven King pops out and it's all over for this poor, lost soul. He's just another "splatter" on the sidewalk of life. Hope you enjoy ; ).

Meeting on Saturday night?

Hey guys I was thinking that it might be easier for me to get some work done if i were to be up on campus more so I am going to try and be up here this Saturday in the evening. If this works for any one let me know. I am open for any suggestions on a time. If any one else would like to make it I can try and reserve a room in the library for us. Good luck and happy animating.

New animation mentor student showcase

They have the new student showcase up at Animation Mentor. Here is the link:

http://www.animationmentor.com/showcase2011/

It has some really good stuff in it. Enjoy.

Pencil Test Depot: Andreas Deja on Frank Thomas & Glen Keane on Ollie...

Here are some cool interviews from Andreas Deja and Glen Keane. They give some great advice. Enjoy.

Thought of You- by Ryan Woodward

This is one of the coolest animations I have ever seen. Beautifully done. Thanks Ryan for sharing this with the world.

Flour Sack

So here is my rough thumbnails. So one sack is out in the middle propped up by a box and the other sack enters stage left. The flour sack comes into scene and walks up to the other sack and checks it out. It then takes the sack and dips it as if to be dancing.  It then gets to enthusiastic with a twirl and ends up twirling the sack off camera. A big plume of dust enters from stage right. The flour sack goes from a "oh no" gasp to sad and depressed state and then walks off stage.

Ninja Sack

Here's my basic concept for the flour bag, Ninja theme, training. He flips in, goes through the classics shuriken, kunai, the logs ( he runs across the second) finishing he walks off but get's stabbed by another sack that's been hiding it sinks leaking sand as the other sinks back into the wall.

Here are some notes that I found while on the internet. Hope you like them.

Animation Notes from Ollie Johnston

Reference: These notes come from Course 1 at SIGGRAPH 94, "Animation Tricks".

When I was an animator at the Disney Studios, I had a xeroxed list of simple notes from one of the great Disney animators, Ollie Johnston, pinned to my drawing table. The list was originally written down by another great Disney animator, Glen Keane, after working as Ollie’s assistant for a few years.

These notes have been an inspiration to me for years. Even though they were meant for hand-drawn animation, I believe that they still apply to computer animation.

1. Don’t illustrate words or mechanical movements. Illustrate ideas or thoughts, with the attitudes and actions.

2. Squash and stretch entire body for attitudes.

3. If possible, make definite changes from one attitude to another in timing and expression.

4. What is the character thinking?

5. It is the thought and circumstances behind the action that will make the action interesting.

Example: A man walks up to a mailbox, drops in his letter and walks away.

OR

A man desperately in love with a girl far away carefully mails a letter in which he has poured his heart out.

6. When drawing dialogue, go for phrasing. (Simplify the dialogue into pictures of the dominating vowel and consonant sounds, especially in fast dialogue.

7. Lift the body attitude 4 frames before dialogue modulation (but use identical timing on mouth as on X sheet).

8. Change of expression and major dialogue sounds are a point of interest. Do them, if at all possible, within a pose. If the head moves too much you won’t see the changes.

9. Don’t move anything unless it’s for a purpose.

10. Concentrate on drawing clear, not clean.

11. Don’t be careless.

12. Everything has a function. Don’t draw without knowing why.

13. Let the body attitude echo the facial.

14. Get the best picture in your drawing by thumbnails and exploring all avenues.

15. Analyze a character in a specific pose for the best areas to show stretch and squash. Keep these areas simple.

16. Picture in your head what it is you’re drawing.

17. Think in terms of drawing the whole character, not just the head or eyes, etc. Keep a balanced relation of one part of the drawing to the other.

18. Stage for most effective drawing.

19. Draw a profile of the drawing you’re working on every once in a while. A profile is easier on which to show the proper proportions of the face.

20. Usually the break in the eyebrow relates to the highpoint of the eye.

21. The eye is pulled by the eyebrow muscles.

22. Get a plastic quality in face — cheeks, mouth and eyes.

23. Attain a flow thru the body rhythm in your drawing.

24. Simple animated shapes.

25. The audience has a difficult time reading the first 6-8 frames in a scene.

26. Does the added action in a scene contribute to the main idea in that scene? Will it help sell it or confuse it?

27. Don’t animate for the sake of animation but think what the character is thinking and what the scene needs to fit into the sequence.

28. Actions can be eliminated and staging "cheated" if it simplifies the picture you are trying to show and is not disturbing to the audience.

29. Spend half your time planning your scene and the other half animating.

30. How to animate a scene of a four-legged character acting and walking: Work out the acting patterns first with the stretch and squash in the body, neck and head; then go back in and animate the legs. Finally, adjust the up and down motion on the body according to the legs.

Hey everyone. This blog is going to be a place to post assignments and projects to receive critique and create a dialogue outside of class. We would also like any kind of helpful information that you might come across to help further teach or show the principles of animation.