1st year (2nd Semester)
Assignment: Animation Narratives
Task- For this assignment, I was to create 4 short animations exploring different emotions/personalities.
I began the progress by researching the fundamentals:
Research
I thought it was a great start by looking into the 12 principles of animation to help bring personality. As shown in gifs below, I have tried to demonstrated/experimented each principle:
1. Squash and Stretch 2. Anticipation 3. Staging
4. Straight Ahead/Pose to Pose 5. Follow Through & Overlapping Action
6. Slow In & Slow Out 7. Arcs 8. Secondary Action
9. Timing- Space between the frames is important to convey the right feeling/character.
10. Exaggeration 11. Solid Drawing
12. Appeal- make it look interesting without overdoing the details.
Body language -Characteristics
Below shows my basic understanding of conveying a personality in a walk after researching books, articles and using what I already know:
Artist Influences-
Art Babbitt was a great master in walks- going out of the norms, experimental but still having some bit realism.
Characters with unique walks who stood out to me:
Goofy's backward feet walk, Jessica Rabbit's seductive walk, Spongebob energetic walk, Mr. Bean comedic walk etc.
Techniques - These are some of the techniques that I will try using:
Full animation- unlimited changes for smoother actions.
Limited animation- using limited changes to the model to convey action.
Rotoscoped- tracing over a motion picture footage to achieve a realistic action.
Principles:
Basic notes of a standard walk that kept in mind:
People tend to lean when they walk- (they fall then catch themselves)
The slower the walk the more balance you are.
For better understanding, using the info. I redrew out the steps as shown below:
Animating:
Standard walking
Animated in 12s. 24fps
In order to give it some personality, I need to understand the basic components of a 'normal' walk. Therefore as shown below, I've started by creating a 'standard' walk:
Short animations:
Tempo- For my timing, I've used Richard Williams' rule as a guide.
Image- The Animator's Survival kit (2001)- Richard Williams p. 110
Animation 1- sneak
Image/Reference: Cartoon Animation (1994) -Preston Blair p. 24
Aim- For this walk, I decided to go for a sneak walk. The method I used was having a reference behind the model and then move the model into the right place. After getting the basics down. I started adding more personality to it by slowing it down, stretching it out and exaggerating the stretch of the hips etc. This shows that the character is an extra cautious person but with a playful aspect.
Final:
Animation 2- Graceful walk
Image/Reference- Savvas Karampalasis's heel video
Aim- For this walk, I wanted to create a walk with a model vibe, by having it in heels, and adding a similar element to Jessica Rabbit's smooth seductive walk. In order to capture the likeness of a person in heels, I've referred back to a clip by Savvas Karampalasis as well as other videos of models in runways etc. After getting it down, I've made the model stretched out to emphasise its light graceful steps. I've also added a secondary action where I've made her trip but then quickly recover without being affected to reflect how the character is so poised.
Final:
Animation 3- Art Babbit
Image/Reference- The Animator's Survival kit (2001)- Richard Williams p. 126
Aim- For my 3rd walk, I wanted to study Art Babbitt's iconic Goofy walk. For reference, I used Richard Williams' step by step of the walk as my guideline to replicate it. Then using some of the 12 principles again to change how I wanted the character to be express as. What I was going for was a character who was feeling delightful on their way to work therefore, I tried to use the squash and stretch principle to exaggerate the bounce and curled the toes etc.
Final:
Animation 4
Aim- For my last animation, I've gone for a more spontaneous walk. The method I've used was to reused my standard for my base and then start altering the spacing, timing, posture etc. As shown below, I've added anticipation at the beginning, kept its knee low, drag the feet behind to give it weight, face it down and slow it to create a low-energy, old and hunchback character.
Final:
Reflective post:
For this assignment, we were to create 4 short animations using a walking rig provided for us. This was a great chance for me to learn the basics of animation before diving into other complicated stuff in the future. For started I had no knowledge of how to construct a walk. Therefore, I had a lot of research to do before I can start adding personality to the walks. It took me a while to understand it at first but after getting it down it was much simpler than I made it. I didn’t face many problems besides keeping the animation as smooth as I can which, I think I tackle it well.
In those four short animations, I tried to explore as much as I can. It was a fun task to see how slight changes to the model could turn into a totally different character. There is so much more to explore and an artist who really inspired me was 'Art Babbit' who went out of boundaries. He really influenced me to continue to break the rules to discover unique ways to express a character. I've learnt a lot since the beginning of the year; taking this new information, I will continue to build my knowledge of animation.
Feedback:
For my feedback, my educator (Alec) said I had achieved some good attempts and that the sneak was the best one carried out. He also mentions that the tired walk should maybe be a bit slower and droopier.
He continues, that Art Babbit walk was a nice idea but needs a bit more time spent on it to make the action clearer and I should keep in mind when showing off walking animations, to make the loops longer so the viewer has more time to read them. For further improvement, I should look into Keith Lagno videos on Youtube.
Bibliography/Research
Videos-
Endlessreference (Youtube)
Game Dev Academy (Youtube)
AlanBeckerTurtorials (Youtube)
Savvas Karampalasis (Youtube)
Books-
The Illusion of Life (1981) -Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston
The Animator's Survival Kit (2001) -Richard Williams p. 107-
Digital Character Animation 2 -George Maestri p. 205-
Cartoon Animation (1994) -Preston Blair
Websites-
https://socialmettle.com/what-does-your-walk-reveal-about-your-personality
https://www.littlethings.com/walk-style-personality-quiz-speed-strides/1
https://thinkinganimation.com/walk-cycles/