The Animation Student
A blog about the neverending learning process in Animation
A blog about the neverending learning process in Animation
A bunch of of artists/animators come together to reanimate an episode of a cartoon scene by scene, a different animator for each scene. Each animator receives a random scene and can interpret it however they please. This was a non profit collaborative project. The final video will not be monetized in any way as respect for all of artists. Staging and Board Reimagining the Characters from Kirby Background Layout Animation After Effects is one of the most important softwares for Motion Graphic and Character Animation out there, and, since my practice is been based on drawing, I was really unfamiliar with it. With any new software, my best first approach is with a step by step tutorial. The ones I found more helpful were the ones by Jake Bartlett in Skillshare and for a week I dedicated myself to rigging puppets, and understanding the basic commands and timeline on a software I was running away from the beginning of my animating career. In conclusion:
Francesca and Lizbeth – Puzzle Pieces
Storyboard Pro - TVPaint ​ ​Direction, Production and Storyboard: Luisa Cruz (2nd year MA Animation) Animation and Character Design: Vasilena Kavanozova (Level 3 Animation), Victoria Povey (Level 3 Animation) What the animators say about the piece: "The conversation between the two mothers gives us an insight about their experience and after sharing their points of view it leaves us feeling uplifted. As we aimed to show precisely this in the animation we made the little birds complement each other and at the end fit perfectly under their mother wings as they shared a warm and fluffy hug." ​http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05mww3n
When I was given the opportunity to have another brief with Childrens in Need Charity and the BBC radio, I was heads on to making it. Practice is important not only in the technical aspects of animation but also at the moment of facing a production. Bsides, being a brief with only one month to get the animation to screen I was sure to be able to accomplish it if I followed a fitting schedule.
For this project I also worked in a team with two animators from third year, and assumed the role of director. At this point I already had experience doing several aspects of a production and since I had a deadline clear I organized every single task for the animators to be able to focus on animating. In our production meetings we discussed aspects of the work like design and story, and by the moment the animatic was ready, I jumped directly to work on the backgrounds and preparing the file for the final edition. Was the kind of project that requires a steady pipeline to be able to deliver what we already had promised to the BBC. In both briefs for the BBC many groups dropped in the middle of the production for not being able to finish it but personally, the experience to bringing something to screen is far more valuable as it shows the organization and the ability to compromise to the ones that made it possible to complete the animation in such a short time. ​ The experience of being a director was important in many aspects, one of them being that one of the future developments in a storyboard artists career is becoming director themselves and, in the guiding environment of the academia, it was the safest way for me to try this role I feel is too far from where I am standing right now. My major difficulty was communicating with the other team members as someone in charge, to be able to drive exactly what I envisioned and, as ALSO a flaw in my storyboard skills, is also not in the animatic. Even with the stressful nature of directing a short, I tried to apply what other with more experience directing told me. Having people to ask for advice in this aspect was one of the reasons we could deliver the animation.
The idea of interpreting this conversation about growth and acceptance with flowers came from the graphic relationship between potential, growth and blooming, that I found while listening to Suzy and Bridget talk about the potential they see in people and in themselves and the disappointment that often comes with it. This is the reason I choose to follow the growth of the pink flower, who is unsure of growing and blooming, something that flowers are supposed to do but when she had a bad experience with others, left her unsure about it. She fulfills her potential only when she finds a real friend, with whom she can learn from and bloom together, leading her to accept herself and finally open.
Release date
PROCESS
1. Beatboard I am a hands on drawer and I do make stories directly on images. Thinking about the beats in the phrases and even the palette I wanted to use to set the begining tone of the story while I was re-revising it. I wanted to do a short film by myself to learn bits of the entire process, i had a deadline and from the begining I visualized it to be able to work with minimal backgrounds and at the same time have my desired atmosphere of growing.
2. Schedule
I learnt the most important lesson: plan everything even the parts where you need to be flexible. It is by far the most important part, even more for the animation since each shot has its own value and you need more time for some, other are easier.
2. Studies
To get the story rythm, and later on the animation right I studied plants growing also to give a personality to my new beloved characters. Knowing the options for shots I had for the board and how timeconsuming it would be. Thinking several steps ahead is one of the many important things a director has to do so everything fits in the exact moment it is needed. Avoid surprises that can be a downfall for the entire project.
3. Storyboard and Animatic
My favorite part. Figuring out timing for some shots and being decisive about if something is needed or not. being as clear as I can. And several versions of each so it keeps working on, figuring out if the rythm is good or if some gesture is confusing. if it is not in the animatic it wont be on the animation, in my case I could make decissions while animating later on,because I was doing everything, but at the same time could see how it could be a problem for someone else. And fixing it. It is so important to be as clear as possible it also keeps on developing the characters and designs, being perceptive about it is the key.
4. DESIGNS
Character sheets and promts, how to make a character likeable and beliveable...and also them being flowers. I wanted to have a flower do lipsync and still move flowly and delicate to watch them grow.
Schedule PART II
Animation is the single most time consuming thing and it have to be carefully planned or you can throw away an entire afternoon when you dont have an entire afternoon to throw away. This is my animation schedule and marking the process every day is important. You need to be able to sit one day and say: i need to work more on this one so i may aliminate the entire background of one scene and it has to be so well planned that it can actually be done without comrpomissing the quality and general sense of the entire film. Having time to be flexible. Planing the most complicated things. Knwing when a background have to be done and knwing what to compromise. ​
5a. Animation
The acting the timing, it was all done in TVPaint and following a thinght well planned schedule. following that deadline was key to have it all done on time.
5b. Backgrounds
I wanted to play with the minimal but feeling that the flowers were prt of something bigger, growing and realizing their enviorment is part of the entire journey. Having them ready at the same time as doing the animation to be able to put it all together on time was a challenge, that is why in the boards the background were mostly color blocks, and this one being the final scene, it was about the flowers having more around them.
6. Composing
make sure to have everything correctly named and knowing exactly how a scene will go. Back up files and learning how to organize archives not only for yourself but for the software you will be using.
When all is done...
I learnt lots and lots and every time I think about my process I learn a new thing: -The animatic is the single more useful thing and i have to b clearer and more eficient and I can ramble during hours about this. I amglad I did this one in the most ortodox way i could manage because now i see how each step relates to the other. - Schedule, knowing how you work and how yoru team work is something you learn and also apply - Never fall out of lve with your project, i may be new but i can but love the process and even tho i see its faults I also can appreciate things i see, and at some points only the cheer emotion of seen it with colour with background or two scenes together was the only thing that saved me from frustration. And that is something you have to learn. - Listen to others and learn what to compromise. ​ Character Thinking. Animation inbetween done in photoshop of the three first keyframes All the keyframes with the timelines.
If something i enjoy of learning in traditional drawn animation is the habit of numbering the frames. (and it also makes timing easier) .Passing a weight between characters. Even tho I like the subtle things in this one, overall I am not happy with the movement itself. It has too many inconsistencies. But I want to name what Chris calls housekeeping.
For working with two characters it is necessary and make things easier. Having two timings make thing messy, but the moment I know what I am doing I can worry about inbetweening. Also timing the small actions such as the grabby hands or the gentle push of the object to child; has a lot of acting by itself and acting is something I really like to do (that is why i am still stubbornly wanting to be an animator, even tho I am slow animating). This week task: Lifting a heavy object. I find myself driven to traditional pen a paper, light box and pencil test animation. It makes thinking about the timing, planing the movement more tangible than being able to try it all the time, like it happens in digital animation. Even with the weird snaps in the neck and the nailed knee, I can tell that my guy, this guy is lifting something. Thinking about the movement beforehand was Incredible important. As an illustrator terribly driven to comic for almost a decade, I am used to braking down movements focusing in how it is more logical, and for animation, I plan and plan the keys, maybe that is a good thing now that I am starting. Also getting use to draw the thing you are going to draw seems REALLY useful, mostly if you want to think about movement and no how you were drawing hands or heads or something. I took some of the characters of Percy Jackson and the Olympians book (that I recently read) and decided to design them and make animated head rotations to see how the designs and the style would work animated. Also as a practice to get use to TVPaint software setting myself a goal of making two characters a week in any free time I got between university projects. Rough design of the characters from the book: Animation: This can be the first time I've been animating human characters and not faceless puppets for animation practice. I was aiming to improve:
-Working myself around the shapes of characters I designed fir animation made me realize that the construction is essential to keep consistency, even in the details. -Testing how the design is fit for purpose was a really important practice. Having to decide abandon details or solve curly hair. -The face feature I found more difficult to keep in consistency were the eyebrows. Until I realized how the layers worked on TVPaint.. - It started taking me 3 hours getting satisfied(~ish) with the rotation and at the end I could work it in around 1 hour. Reference: I took video reference for makings believable limp and not make it look like an animation mistake, that can happen quite often with limps) Video reference -> making the walk cycle a Loop -> add details I made a quick sketch of any variation I could think for a corpse. Main Selection: I choose the designs that where closer to what I was looking and more appealing. I like the idea of this magic - spirit light inhabiting a corpse For Animation: testing the pipeline Thinking about the animation, how I had a deadline to submit it and that I could only work in photoshop I tested for a way to color while saving the major part of inconsistencies and to make no background. Animation Clean up: It is a long process, but the best way is to go by steps in all frames While doing it, I keep checking how is it looking without any background and also correcting things I find looking weird from the previous steps. (I think it could be more efficient with some adjusts from the beginning) Screenshot of how I animate in photoshop. The Key is having the correct actions in the keyboard and a lot of patience for keeping the layers organize The Mask of the Necromancer The mask is an artifact used to revive a corpse moving it by its bone; the mask generates and artificial breath of life that inhabits the corpse until it falls apart or the mask is taken away. Details: TVPaint practice with walk cycles. Getting used to new programs. TVPaint is really versatile but sometimes it makes it really difficult. So it is better to make repetitions. Same story with walk cycles, and using some reference for them. 25 fps in ones These are in two's Now with some performance from Jim and Bee. (father and daughter).
3 weeks project to make an hybrid 1 minute animation short between 3 people. It must include DEATH PRE PRODUCTION
AUDIO SYNC AND FRAME BY FRAME ANIMATION Flash Intro CUT OUT TWEENING Flash fills frames and using a path in flash for animation
AFTER EFFECTS PIPELINE Composing, animating (animating with nods) and exporting.
TV PAINT INTRO AND ACTING EXSERCISE TV paint as a digital software developed for traditional animators First approach, practice and understanding techniques for animation. Working with sound, different media and setting booths and cameras for stop frame techniques. - Software: Stop Motion PRO (Eclipse) SAND ON GLASS Stop Motion Pro and Stop Motion Booth CLAY ANIMATION Developing craft skills and working with audio
BOILING AND MORPHING (group project) Traditional 2D Animation LYPSYNC AND CUTOUT ANIMATION Approaches to animation
|
Archives
January 2023
INSTAGRAM (@linipik)
|