Rookie's Edits and animations

[The Rookie]

Hey, so I figured with the amount of panel shuffles and edits I do, it would be a good idea to start posting some stuff here rather than the panel shuffle thread.

So today I was pretty bored, so I decided to play around with animating some stuff and ended up with this rough Flora animation.

Despite being pretty rough, I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out.

[asphere8]

It's pretty good. If there were one more frame between the step and the leg raise for the next step, it would look much smoother.

[FrogSteaks]

Those images of Flora look like the ones from Tom's how to draw digitigrade legs guide. Did you use that for reference?

[minime]

Looks great Rookie, keep up the good work.

[prototype99]

looks good! just... maybe speed it up slightly

[The Rookie]

Those images of Flora look like the ones from Tom's how to draw digitigrade legs guide. Did you use that for reference?

Yep, it seemed like a good place to start. The Flora model I used also came from Tom's charter sheet/ colour tutorial, but I had to do some digging through the archives to find some hands and feet to get it work.

I might go back and add a few more frames and clean it up a little when I have some more free time, but I'm glad you guys liked it.

[The Rookie]

Keith needs to stop taking these bets.

[prototype99]

that is brilliant XD

[amenon]

Yes! That's beautiful

[FrogSteaks]

You forgot the maracas.

[Vintage]

http://i.imgur.com/kG8BfNL.gif
Keith needs to stop taking these bets.

Have a cookie for a job well done:

[The Rookie]

Also, it looks like we might have another case of the hovering tiger in the second last panel.

Rookie, here's a new project for you.

Little known fact; tigers are excellent air benders.

Couldn't quite get what I wanted to do originally to work, but I hope this is ok.

[The Rookie]

Combination of boredom and practice.
I'm getting faster at making these things, although I can't do anything particularly difficult yet.
For the moment I'm just happy to animate a handful of Tom's Deviantart Archive.

[TinyVoices]

I need to post in epic thread so I can remember to visit.

[bond84]

      I'm from a community that does a lot of animations, so a fair warning. None of what I'm saying is hurtful, mean or anything along those lines in terms of harshness. I actually am trying to assist. Personally I'm glad somebody told me these things when I started, and I need to find somebody that would do it for me again.

      And I apologize ahead of time for a wall of text and then some.

      Now that that's out of the way, without further ado...

      This one for an animatic is actually quite well done. Arms need to move with the legs in tandem, and perhaps make it more obvious of the leg crossing. "One in front, other behind". I had to watch it a few times to catch it. The head moves a bit too sporadically as well, the line in which it stays isn't in tandem with the entirety of the animation. When the leg goes down in one frame, it the head stays at an even level, then at the next it moves much too higher than the last. It just gives it a weird choppy feeling, that can be fixed easily by adding a rotatory circle on which the head should lie.

      The eyes I actually like when the move to the side, it looks smooth but you may want to ease it out, which I show lower down. Start it a bit slower, speed it up in the middle, then slow it down again at the end. The eyebrows however were what bugged me straight from the start. It looks unnatural for the eyes to move to the end of it's path, and then the eyebrows to go down. They should lower when the eye is just starting to slow down.

      The head bob isn't too rough, but it is in comparison to how smooth the eyes moved.

      Never be afraid to add more frames, it's easier to take away in the final product, than it is to add.

      Try to move it in a circle, or move the facial features up slightly when he brings it back, then down again when he exhales. Speaking of the exhale, Start it with the puff of air, just like the eyes, when it's just starting to slow down, and lastly, the puff of air should start fast and slow down to almost a standstill before being removed. I have zero quarrels with the final expression and the mouth movement. They could use more detail but then it wouldn't flow as well with the rest of how the piece works out. Matched with that expression and with the very small mouth movements, as well with how it "feels", it's well done. As well as the shape and look of the mouth when he exhales.


      Like the eyes and the "Air puff" of the second one, this one would look smoother with just a bit of easing.

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Easing example in text

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||_|_|__|___|_____|_____|___|__|_|_||

Where "|" represents the image per keyframe.

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Easing example in animation

The smaller grey lines are every other frame.

      Notice how they get to the same ending and starting point at the same time, however the top looks more exaggerated, more fluid.


      Can't say I have many gripes with this one. Perhaps just the arm movement, seems slightly unnatural, too blocky, and perhaps "Tipping" the cup to make it more obvious she's drinking, though that can be easily overlooked.

      For the most part these look better than when most people start anything in terms of animation, some small fine tuning and these will look more than wonderful. Don't be afraid to fail either, people are too attached to the idea of quitting and just going with whats easy after a short while of redrawing the same frame, time and time again.

An day spent on handful of quality frames, is better then an hour of shoddy work.

      And I'm not saying in the slightest your work is shoddy, it's something a friend told me when I first started animating and kept showing off stuff that was high in frames, but nowhere close to the quality I could put out.

And once again, sorry for the wall of text. I'm in high hopes I was at least of some help, and I look forwards to see more of Tom's still life drawing brought to an animated, moving look. Gives it more character.