Daniella Golt Animation Improvement

[ezekielxii]

Hello! Please help me improve my art! I am a 2D generalist with an avid interest in animation and concept art.

Annnd I've been recieving comments saying please publish finished work so I figured I'd better find some other place to post my WIP animations, aha. :)

This is a little animation of a mouse dangling from a rope I started yesterday;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReNEtEvqGDM

And another of it walking through a scary forest. This one is a little out of date since I have been working on it for a few days but advice is still appreciated!
https://youtu.be/cJqlXWL3-rM

[Blounty]

Very nice movements and good timing on both, would love to see it cleaned up aswell. Do you have anything longer to show aswell?

[cuteboy99]

At 8/3/15 05:17 AM, ezekielxii wrote: Hello! Please help me improve my art! I am a 2D generalist with an avid interest in animation and concept art.

Annnd I've been recieving comments saying please publish finished work so I figured I'd better find some other place to post my WIP animations, aha. :)

your frame by frame fine! the question is were you think you need to improve?

[ValterValyun]

Great work so far! If you want to improve your animation to the next level, what I would suggest for the first one --

During the "sigh" part, the head action's a bit stiff and flat. First, you could work a bit on your ease-in's and out's because right now it is evenly-spaced. Second, as it sighs, you could give a bit more arc movement. And third, which may not be necessary, is exaggerate the mouth shape as it does it sigh. It's doing a heavy sigh, show it that it is.

For the 2nd animation, it looks like it still needs a few more in-between's, but it is a work-in-progress. Again, the head action in the first part, ease-in's and out's are still needed. However, there needs more anticipation between the head-turns into its dashing-into-its-pathway part. And I also recommend another anticipation at the part when it pauses at the tree and then jumping over (assuming it still wants to check if the coast is clear).

[ezekielxii]

At 8/3/15 07:37 AM, Blounty wrote: Very nice movements and good timing on both, would love to see it cleaned up aswell. Do you have anything longer to show aswell?

No I don't. :/ I spent the last year doing 3D Animation (And suffice to say I am now very sure that is not my area) So my 2D has suffered. I'm working on my portfolio this year so I'm focusing much more on it now.

[ezekielxii]

At 8/3/15 07:39 AM, cuteboy99 wrote:

At 8/3/15 05:17 AM, ezekielxii wrote: Hello! Please help me improve my art! I am a 2D generalist with an avid interest in animation and concept art.

Annnd I've been recieving comments saying please publish finished work so I figured I'd better find some other place to post my WIP animations, aha. :)

your frame by frame fine! the question is were you think you need to improve?

Well, my last 2D lecturer always told me I had trouble with ease in, ease out and also told me to focus on creating good poses, which is what I try do now. My biggest issue is impatience I think. I like to see the main movements right away so I end up speeding through the anticipation, which means my animations always feel a little too fast to me.

[ezekielxii]

At 8/3/15 09:06 AM, VLanimate wrote: Great work so far! If you want to improve your animation to the next level, what I would suggest for the first one --

During the "sigh" part, the head action's a bit stiff and flat. First, you could work a bit on your ease-in's and out's because right now it is evenly-spaced. Second, as it sighs, you could give a bit more arc movement. And third, which may not be necessary, is exaggerate the mouth shape as it does it sigh. It's doing a heavy sigh, show it that it is.

For the 2nd animation, it looks like it still needs a few more in-between's, but it is a work-in-progress. Again, the head action in the first part, ease-in's and out's are still needed. However, there needs more anticipation between the head-turns into its dashing-into-its-pathway part. And I also recommend another anticipation at the part when it pauses at the tree and then jumping over (assuming it still wants to check if the coast is clear).

Thank you for the advice on the first one I'll get to work on that!

For reference, here is the updated 2nd animation, although I'm going to change it so there isn't so much of a pause as it makes the leap since it makes the action seem clunky and slow in my opinion. Any advice for this version? And to be clearer, there will be two characters in this. The idea is that an owl will swoop down to the right and cause the mouse to become startle and jump away. I plan on extending it after that, but I'll cut to another shot after it leaps behind the tree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55vQoqiOSMI

Also, noob question but is there a way to embed the videos to the thread?

[ezekielxii]

Also, noob question but is there a way to embed the videos to the thread?

Ack Nevermind, I see you just click the link and it shows up. >_>

[ValterValyun]

Well, for embbing links, I do not know how to do that, but I have a feeling it has to do with html settings (which I'm a loser in coding).

2nd attempt for this animation, I can see the anticipation at the tree, however I don't think the jump-scare part before leaping over that branch is necessary. Maybe just crouching down, looking scared, as the owl swooped in and then leap over the branch is simple enough. Plus, it may give a bit of contrast for the viewer's eye with subtle-to-fast pace rather than jump twice in the same moment.

[EndoScorpion]

At 8/3/15 09:41 AM, ezekielxii wrote: Well, my last 2D lecturer always told me I had trouble with ease in, ease out and also told me to focus on creating good poses, which is what I try do now. My biggest issue is impatience I think. I like to see the main movements right away so I end up speeding through the anticipation, which means my animations always feel a little too fast to me.

You can get the main movement quickly by drawing out the key frames (or poses) first, space it out to get the rough timing, then breaking it down by adding inbetweens. That way you will get a feel for the movement almost straight away, and the rest is just fine-tuning it. Don't be scared to move frames around on the timeline to get the exact timing and smoothest movement.

I think the mouse being scared in 'WIP run #2' is good - it is what follows that doesn't seem right: The mouse seems to pause a bit and pull back, as if ready to jump behind the tree. I don't think it needs to pause for as long and could almost go straight into the jump after a very short anticipation.

I do think the scared look is needed though as it shows the mouse is aware of the owl and is taking an action to avoid it. I assume the owl will swoop down pretty fast after that, and if you didn't have the mouse looking scared, audiences might miss the owl completely. Kind of a "blink and you miss it" moment. Thus why we have anticipations in the first place - the audience will anticipate something coming from the right side of the screen that is scary to a mouse.

Other than that... good job. You already show a talent for animation, and even these WIPs look better than a lot of stuff on this site. Spend a bit more time on them -- fine-tuning the timing, and cleaning up the lines -- and you'll be good to go.

Finally... patience is a vurtue for animating. It is a long process. Hopefully you can hold out long enough to produce a finished animation. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

[ezekielxii]

Thanks for all the advice so far! I'm cleaning up lines now;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8DB7Z88QBo&feature=youtu.be

Also this is what the background will look like in the final

[ezekielxii]

I've cleaned up the lines, now I'm on rough colouring!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMUe4xQKd7w

[frede170601]

It looks nice with colors :-) Keep up the good work

[ezekielxii]

another wip! I didn't have a pc over the weekend so I used tracing paper. Though I'm afraid my traditional animation isn't very consistent. Working on timing. Feedback appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itGdjESEQVQ

[maficmelody]

Key poses look great, silhouettes are clear, and I see subtle arcs. Appealing animatic overall.

I feel that making a critique on your animatic's timing isn't fair at this point because I'm sure you're still adding character nuances and there are at least 2 different school of thoughts about character animation.

1) "Old School" big 'D' way: 24fps, on ones, timing director needs character to pick up flower reflectively, 6 seconds of animation.
2) "Meat 'n Po'tates" way: 24fps, on twos, ch1 gets flower, you have 1 second. In fact, motion tween it. All of it. Fix in post.

These are extremes and examples not contingent upon any non-specific demands nor relevance to any story script, blah blah bla

The question is how far do you want to go with this test. This can be timed, amended, and turned into a short film with 3 acts and character arcs. Or a squash n' stretch test. What's the goal?

At 8/13/15 08:20 PM, ezekielxii wrote: another wip! I didn't have a pc over the weekend so I used tracing paper. Though I'm afraid my traditional animation isn't very consistent. Working on timing. Feedback appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itGdjESEQVQ

[ezekielxii]

At 8/14/15 05:01 PM, maficmelody wrote: Key poses look great, silhouettes are clear, and I see subtle arcs. Appealing animatic overall.

I feel that making a critique on your animatic's timing isn't fair at this point because I'm sure you're still adding character nuances and there are at least 2 different school of thoughts about character animation.

1) "Old School" big 'D' way: 24fps, on ones, timing director needs character to pick up flower reflectively, 6 seconds of animation.
2) "Meat 'n Po'tates" way: 24fps, on twos, ch1 gets flower, you have 1 second. In fact, motion tween it. All of it. Fix in post.

These are extremes and examples not contingent upon any non-specific demands nor relevance to any story script, blah blah bla

The question is how far do you want to go with this test. This can be timed, amended, and turned into a short film with 3 acts and character arcs. Or a squash n' stretch test. What's the goal?

At 8/13/15 08:20 PM, ezekielxii wrote: another wip! I didn't have a pc over the weekend so I used tracing paper. Though I'm afraid my traditional animation isn't very consistent. Working on timing. Feedback appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itGdjESEQVQ

This is pretty much just a short piece i will be putting in my portfolio- to see how two very different characters interact with the same object. I.E. while Marie-Lou (the mouse) is petite and a little chubby, so she finds it impossible to lift the rock without hurting herself, Kanor (the lizard-man) is pretty strongly built and muscled so he finds it pretty easy to lift it out of the ground. And usually I do 24 fps on twos, but I hand draw each frame.

[ezekielxii]

At 8/13/15 09:40 PM, Doomhammr wrote: Honestly, you're miles ahead of most of the Portal artists. You just need to bring it together into a polished final animation. NG needs more female artists as well.

Thank you very much! And yes I really need to bring something into a polished piece. Hopefully my lecturers will approve my film to be 2D for my final year at uni and I will start posting wips of that up here too!

[ezekielxii]

I'm having some trouble with Toonboom, how do I make the blending modes work? All the other effects except blending seem to be working...

[ezekielxii]

I believe I'm done with this clip for now, but if anyone has any critique or suggestions for things to work on in future animation please go ahead. : )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB5EFEEsy_8

[ezekielxii]

Working on a walk cycle for my films protagonist. Criticism appreciated! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjHm6vnIqRM

[SuperBastard]

At 10/9/15 08:47 AM, ezekielxii wrote: Working on a walk cycle for my films protagonist. Criticism appreciated! :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjHm6vnIqRM

Watch the spacing on those ears. They're moving at an inconsistent rate throughout the walk cycle and it makes the character look like it has a violent tick.

The walk cycle itself is also quite basic. I'm not really getting much of a sense of the character's personality, which is something I believe a walk cycle should be able to convey. The animation is okay mechanically, but you might have to break some rules and test some things to get that personality in there and make it really shine. Without knowing how your character should act, I'm afraid I can't come up with any suggestions for you on that front.

Keep up the good work though, the things you've done thus far are pretty solid!

[ezekielxii]

New Piece I'm working on!

https://vimeo.com/144320115

[ezekielxii]

Update:

https://vimeo.com/144565555

:)

[ezekielxii]

Livestreaming! I'm making a six legged dragon walk cycle! http://original.livestream.com/greysycamore

[snickity]

At 11/14/15 12:29 PM, ezekielxii wrote: Livestreaming! I'm making a six legged dragon walk cycle! http://original.livestream.com/greysycamore

dammit, i missed it. you have to announce these things in advance :D

[ezekielxii]

That's a shame!

Heres some more drafts..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8gYYBYVLlc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3abVWGBPvws

[ValterValyun]

At 11/17/15 04:58 AM, ezekielxii wrote: That's a shame!

Heres some more drafts..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8gYYBYVLlc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3abVWGBPvws

As impressive as attempting a walk cycle of a six-legged creature, the back two legs look too much in sync together. You might want to look on how a spider walks for reference and work it out from there.

The first one however is well-done; just that there's one frame on the head that kinda jerks a bit abruptly.

[ezekielxii]

Thanks for the feedback from before! :)

A looping fanimation i started yesterday;
https://youtu.be/bLjsJDCkFZ8

[ChillyCheese]

At 12/18/15 05:14 AM, ezekielxii wrote: Thanks for the feedback from before! :)

A looping fanimation i started yesterday;
https://youtu.be/bLjsJDCkFZ8

This is really cool, especially for a one day test. Mind going through your process?

[ezekielxii]

At 12/18/15 10:37 AM, ChillyCheese wrote:

At 12/18/15 05:14 AM, ezekielxii wrote: Thanks for the feedback from before! :)

A looping fanimation i started yesterday;
https://youtu.be/bLjsJDCkFZ8

This is really cool, especially for a one day test. Mind going through your process?

Thank you very much and sure, I can go through my process!
Usually, I start by doing a quick storyboard using thumbnails or doodle some poses on paper. After that I go into Toonboom and draft out my key poses. It has bitmap support so I can use this nice pencil texture that feels very organic, but I imagine by making a vector brush very thin you can get the same sketchy effect in Flash or other vector only software.

At this point its a lot of going back and forth between keys and making sure I like the composition of each pose. I try not to use onion-skinning, instead flicking back and forth between keyposes and eyeballing new ones, a technique I've found really helps to learn how to keep consistent volume throughout the animation.

After this I try to figure out my timing (This is the part I need to improve on most, I tend to lose track the speed of my animations when I work on them for very long.) and this is pretty experimental and tends to fluctuate while I'm drafting.

When I'm mostly happy with the timing and key poses, I create a new layer and start inbetweening. (This may be working against me but I only work on one character at a time so things don't get messy or confused).

And then I leave it alone for a few hours or a day, because usually I see mistakes after I leave my work alone for a while.

As for the cleaning stage, I set the draft layers to a very very low opacity so it doesn't mess with my eye for volume and do key poses first, then in betweens. :)