Week 4- Watching the details, reading in between the lines

Hi guys!

Sorry I haven’t been able to share much as often as others have! I’ve been really busy lately!

Today I just finished my thirty second animation. Well, that’s the rough sketches, of course. I made sure that I had all the keyframes in place so that I have a general idea of what the animation will look like. However, I still need to use this whole week to my advantage in order to do the finished product. However, it’s looking rather nice so far!

While animating I tend to critique myself a lot as I’m  going, and I feel that it makes the process a lot longer than it should be. Of course, while that could be beneficial in some ways, it’s really bad for me too. When I’m on a tight schedule and I NEED to get something done, the eye placement in the storyboard shouldn’t matter. I need to make sure that everything that I do is on schedule and ready to go when I need it to be done, and I think that’s one of the most stressful parts of animating.

However, though I AM saying this, I definitely do think some critique needs to be in order when doing the final product. If one line is out of place, you instantly have a jerky frame. Even if it’s just for a millisecond, the eyes notice that. It’s insane, we catch things so fast, details are so important to us. However, I can definitely see myself improving with fluidity.

Something that I recognized that I need to study more in this case that I didn’t consider studying before is some anatomy. I need to study how the jaw changes when the head turns, or each and every moment that the eye begins to blink, open, partially open, closed, partially reopened, opened. I need to watch the way a wrist twists or the way a shoulder rotates forward when you put your arm up. It’s a lot of details that I just really wasn't prepared to think about.

Another thing is making sure that when animating a person, the movements are not robotic. However, I believe that it takes years and years of practice in order to accomplish this. As an artist, I know how difficult it is to bring life and emotion into a single image. Now imagine putting 900, 1800, MILLIONS of frames in a life-like state. It’s nearly impossible, or at least, that’s how it feels. I know I won’t make a perfect animation, but I really do believe that this taught me something about both my animation and my artwork. I need to sit down and take my time, be patient. If I don’t have it now? Perhaps I’ll get it tomorrow, perhaps I’m missing something. Sit down, read, watch a video, animate more. Really, though, it’s more the personal experience that we have to gain. It’s not simply something that can be taught through youtube or simple things like that.

Oddly enough, I respect that.