Rookie animator, guidance?

[Lemmiwinks91]

Hello, As the title explains it i am semi-new to flash and animation. I have dabbled in and out exploring the interface and made a couple of walk animation (Side and front).
I have only tried frame by frame animation and not used motion or shape tweens yet. Also it is very basic atm...

Basically i will upload my recent work into dumpfiles and link it, but mainly GIF files so it's easier. I would appreciate constuctive feedback especially.
Also if you could suggest small but sensible animations for me to do attempt that would be great, something that can extend my skills and knowlegde of frame by frame animations.

Here is my Front walk cycle. (I tried mixing it up so one stride his hands will grip the other they won't)

Thanks in advanced :)

[M-Shack]

At 2/18/10 09:13 PM, Lemmiwinks91 wrote: Hello, As the title explains it i am semi-new to flash and animation. I have dabbled in and out exploring the interface and made a couple of walk animation (Side and front).
I have only tried frame by frame animation and not used motion or shape tweens yet. Also it is very basic atm...

Basically i will upload my recent work into dumpfiles and link it, but mainly GIF files so it's easier. I would appreciate constuctive feedback especially.
Also if you could suggest small but sensible animations for me to do attempt that would be great, something that can extend my skills and knowlegde of frame by frame animations.

Here is my Front walk cycle. (I tried mixing it up so one stride his hands will grip the other they won't)

Thanks in advanced :)

It's actually pretty good. I would say the only thing that you may want to add is some indication of his foot coming forward. You usually should be able to see the bottom of the foot as it comes at you, right before it steps down. Besides that it's good, I guess you could work on smoothing it out more and adding some more frames, but that is just to make it look smoother. I am not sure of what kind of walk you were going for, but i think the way the hands are moving makes it look like he's exaggerating the motion and kind of stomping or happy.. Maybe try not having the arm bend as much at the elbow.

If you want some things to do, figure out what you want to focus on. If you want to do more movie and story type animations, then focus on lip syncing, conversational animation and acting. If you want to do games or action then work on different types of actions like jumps, fights, crawling, etc. Overall just practice things you see done in the things you like (Movies, Video Games, cartoons, etc.) then try to put your own twist on it.

[V-K]

Hey not bad but why did you make him so fat?

[PBass]

It looks pretty good, but it has some flaws to be nitpicked at.

His up and down motion needs to be accented more, right now he only goes up as the foot on the left hits is on the ground, and he doesn't seem to have a down motion, but that's not always necessary in walks.
He also doesn't seem to have much lift in his feet, and it almost looks like he's dragging them a long. Bending at the knee and foreshortening the leg should fix this, and on the contact position of each foot we should see the bottom of the shoe.

Maybe since he's a heavier guy you could experiment with tossing his weight around from side to side. If you choose not to have a down position in your walk, I would toss around his gut to add vitality to it.

Other than those things, I really like what you have here! I love the way the arms and legs come in and around the body as they move.

Some other tests that you can do for practice:
Runs, Jumps, Skips
Lifting, Carrying, or Catching heavy objects
Dropping apples, paper, bricks, or flour bags
Emotion tests, Dialogue tests, Pose tests

Just about anywhere that you want to improve, try and think of a good test that will help you grow. Better yet, turn a test into a short flick and get some extra experience that way! Keep practicing and draw draw draw!

[Damien]

I really like the shading.

It's good lighting, you should make it more smooth +D

[Lemmiwinks91]

At 2/18/10 10:58 PM, M-Shack wrote: It's actually pretty good. I would say the only thing that you may want to add is some indication of his foot coming forward. You usually should be able to see the bottom of the foot as it comes at you, right before it steps down. Besides that it's good, I guess you could work on smoothing it out more and adding some more frames, but that is just to make it look smoother. I am not sure of what kind of walk you were going for, but i think the way the hands are moving makes it look like he's exaggerating the motion and kind of stomping or happy.. Maybe try not having the arm bend as much at the elbow.

If you want some things to do, figure out what you want to focus on. If you want to do more movie and story type animations, then focus on lip syncing, conversational animation and acting. If you want to do games or action then work on different types of actions like jumps, fights, crawling, etc. Overall just practice things you see done in the things you like (Movies, Video Games, cartoons, etc.) then try to put your own twist on it.

Cheers, I will be working on it at the weekend becuase i have university interviews piling me down this week as well as deadline reviews. I will neaten it up and give him some more details so it's easier to understand which parts of his body are in which direction. I think i prefer motions which have some over exaggeration, i think it gives them more personality and character so thats probably why the arm swing is dramatic, wish i could say the same thing baout the legs. As well as working on this i'm gunna do another animation, something different.

At 2/19/10 01:36 PM, V-K wrote: Hey not bad but why did you make him so fat?

Thanks. I prefer that shape for a characters body for some reason, it has a more relaxed feel. Rather than a guy with a big upperbody because he would be all stiff. Personal preference i guess, but i will eventually do more body shapes and sizes.

At 2/19/10 05:03 PM, PBass wrote: It looks pretty good, but it has some flaws to be nitpicked at.

His up and down motion needs to be accented more, right now he only goes up as the foot on the left hits is on the ground, and he doesn't seem to have a down motion, but that's not always necessary in walks.
He also doesn't seem to have much lift in his feet, and it almost looks like he's dragging them a long. Bending at the knee and foreshortening the leg should fix this, and on the contact position of each foot we should see the bottom of the shoe.

Maybe since he's a heavier guy you could experiment with tossing his weight around from side to side. If you choose not to have a down position in your walk, I would toss around his gut to add vitality to it.

Other than those things, I really like what you have here! I love the way the arms and legs come in and around the body as they move.

Some other tests that you can do for practice:
Runs, Jumps, Skips
Lifting, Carrying, or Catching heavy objects
Dropping apples, paper, bricks, or flour bags
Emotion tests, Dialogue tests, Pose tests

Just about anywhere that you want to improve, try and think of a good test that will help you grow. Better yet, turn a test into a short flick and get some extra experience that way! Keep practicing and draw draw draw!

Kewl, thanks for nitpicking, edging out small details is what makes animations feel real and personal satisfaction is a must :) I will work on the points especially the knee bending because thats completly missing. Also he head bounce and contact point with the underside of the foot before it lands. As i said before.
I will experiment with the gut wobble but i doubt it will be anywhere near good, but its a fun idea and addition.

The falling items seem to catch my eye, maybe the flour or even a water drop/balloon if i feel up to the challenge!

Thanks for all the replys and i am always drawing :) lol

....

Side walk cycle, i didn't post this before because i put it in another thread before decidign to make this one, but am going to post it know simply because i might as well bundle it in with my thread now instead of later so i can keep it together.

Its ok, i skimmed a basic guide before this one and walked around my room.

LONG POST IS LONG...

[Lemmiwinks91]

At 2/21/10 06:14 AM, GayForGirls wrote: I really like the shading.

It's good lighting, you should make it more smooth +D

Ooops forgot to reply before.

Thanks, even though there isn't really a light source its so theres some depth and to make it easier to distinguish which leg or arm is at the back or front.
I think after i get it all correct and i've done a bit more animation i will clean up some of my stuff and make them smoother as well. I need to get nifty with the line tool as well to get some cleaner stuff.

...

I just did a water bomb falling and bursting. I think i need to make the water fly further but if i shrink the balloon and make some adjustments it would look more reasonable, im unsure so here it is atm. I deleted 3rd of the shots to make it flow more, i know realise i should of added more frames and up the fps. Maybe later

I tried colour and failed apart from making it look dodgy, It's my fault for using blue's on the water but im not used to flash colouring so help with that sort of area would be great, techniques etc...

[Lemmiwinks91]

I was bound to fail, didn't expect it tobe this early, sorry...

[Zyphonee]

Jim dandy, my friend, that looks really cute. nice application of shading and beautiful timing, the proportions are also nice and cartoony.

still, we have to discover the secret work here...

Foreshortening, congratulations, you all win a cookie or a brownie or w/e.

When his right are reaches the back, it almost looks like he was making a reach for his own butt, try to take a consideration of how perspective works a bit more in mind, and it'd be perfect. Keep doing what you do though pal, I like it.

[PBass]

At 2/24/10 02:38 PM, Lemmiwinks91 wrote: I was bound to fail, didn't expect it tobe this early, sorry...

It's not bad, but it feels like there needs more initial force as the water balloon bursts. Also, the water effect seems a little two dimensional and flat. Perhaps having the water fly towards the camera and the backdrop a little.