3D Bouncing Balls

Our first task in 3D was to animate a ball bouncing across the screen:

Whilst experimenting, I attempted to give the ball character and emotion, emulating a sigh and despondent movement:

Stop Motion Pendulums

Our first task in stop motion was to create two pendulums, one free-swinging and one mechanical, as well as a heavy ball dropping to the floor.

Free Swinging:

Mechanical:

Heavy Ball:

2D Head Turn and Take

Next in 2D we were tasked to create a head turn, followed by a surprise take, with an attribute such as hair or long ears with which to demonstrate overlap and followthrough. To begin with, we had to create a turnaround showing front, profile and 3/4 views of our character. I decided to revisit my character Noelle, previously seen in A Walk Cycle, But Not.

Noelle turnaround.

First I worked out the basic movement of the head as it turned, and then recoiled in surprise.

I then added detail with the face and eyebrows, giving the character expression.

Next I drew out Noelle's hair, giving it drag and followthrough separate from the movement of the stiffer head.

Finally in the roughs stage, I sketched out the pupils, exaggerating their shrink to emphasise the character's shock.

I then inked the animation:

And lastly I added colour.

I am pleased with this work, however I know it is not as good as it could be - there are a few slightly odd movements in the top of Noelle's hair, particularly as she first comes to a stop after turning, and some inconsistency in the size of her eyes and the edges of sections of hair. I am most pleased with my final sketched version of this piece, and may revisit the inking and colouring stages in the future.

2D Hand Turn

This week in 2D we have been animating turning hands. We started by creating rough sketches of the front, back and side of a hand, using our own as reference, and decided on the timing.

We then created a new layer and drew a traditional cartoon hand, like that of Mickey Mouse, still based on our initial sketches, and inbetweened the turn.

When I was happy with my rough animation, I moved onto my lineart.

Finally I added a little colour to the finished animation.

2D Flour Sack Weight Lift

Our next task in 2D was to show weight in an object by having it be picked up by a flour sack.

I began by sketching out key poses and adding some inbetweens.

I then finished inbetweening my rough animation and got the timing to a point that I was happy with.

Next I inked the animation, creating clean lineart.

Finally I added colour to the animation.