[Riot Art Contest] Josh Melnik - Shaco
Howdy!
I'm Josh, an animator working in the greater Toronto area and I have a bunch of free time this month, so I am going to lay it on and see what I come up with!
I've chosen shaco for the contest, as I feel he still has changed the least over time, and could use something fresh. I will be using a rig I purchased from Long Winter Studio ( http://longwintermembers.com/ ) for my entry. I will update this thread later today with some blasts, but for now here is my face pose, for my own inspiration!
I'm Josh, an animator working in the greater Toronto area and I have a bunch of free time this month, so I am going to lay it on and see what I come up with!
I've chosen shaco for the contest, as I feel he still has changed the least over time, and could use something fresh. I will be using a rig I purchased from Long Winter Studio ( http://longwintermembers.com/ ) for my entry. I will update this thread later today with some blasts, but for now here is my face pose, for my own inspiration!
Replies
I liked the walk, and here is my blocking.
Shaco is evil. He wants to kill you, and he wants you to know he is going to kill you. He will slowly walk straight towards you... never breaking eye contact all the while waving the knife he plans to stab in your back... Every step closer his bells toll out the fleeting moments you have left.. You wan't to run but you dare not look away. Right before he reaches striking distance-- he vanishes.
GIF: http://i.imgur.com/igFnzcD.gif
(not sure if the gif is running at the correct FPS, but it's close)
Look forward to the ultimate
Need to see more!
Some kinks still need ironing out-- he looks to be sliding a little in the Game perspective?
I still haven't touched the head at all. I am not sure if I want it to remain almost static in world space or "slither"...
The gifs! ->
I will try and finish it up tomorrow. I got a little carried away with the front view and the other sides need some extra polish. C&C welcome!
He looks like batmans joker, can't wait to see your final animation.
Keep it up and make it sick
Not as much time today but I wanted to polish it off for now and come back in a couple weeks, after I stew on it a little. I doubled the length and added slight variations to try and make it look less "cycle-y". I may still be a little too subtle with some changes.
I tilted his head a little so it looks better from a top down view, and the side neck is just broken but I think I may leave it-- just a rig limitation.
Here are the four views. Frame rate is a little bit off, but close enough.
Comments and critique always welcome! Thank's for all the comments so far! Can't wait to get the attack going.
Only minor things i'm picking up on are a few knee/leg pops, more obvious in his right leg.
There doesn't appear to be any overlap or not enough on his back hand on one of the cycles. I understand you're trying to keep things asymmetric but maybe that needs a bit more movement?
Then the last thing i would look into is the arcs and spacing on the held up dagger. Feels a little jerky atm.
So minor polishy stuff really. Awesome character walk, very creative.
Howdy howdy. I have been really busy but found some time here and there to pose out a couple ideas I had. I wanted to so something with his blink strike but more visually interesting than a simple vanish + stab. I tried a few things, sketched even more out but...
I like this idea the best:
It isn't fully timed out, I want to really push the hang time and have some really punchy spacing on all his leaps/lands. There is a reason he lingers on the target dummy, but I haven't roughed it in yet.
The ending he will have a little bow / flourish, to add a little more character. I'm still not happy with his flip off of the dummy, so I want to nail that down first.
C&C always welcome!
I am loving the fundamentals in this piece.
It feels very "Ultimate" as well, good antic, solid movement, heavy impact and a concise end.
Keep it up man
Thank you every one for the kind words! This is a small update, for posterity. Just a lot of tweaking, more break downs... Some timing changes and better spacing-- even though it may not read until splines.
I have the ending bow roughed in but the arms still need work as he lands there.
Game view: http://i.imgur.com/FBM4zE3.gif
Front: http://i.imgur.com/vZWpGBv.gif
C&C Welcome!
*edited and removed direct gif links for data saving!
I've been working on splines, it's getting close to where I want it. I will probably finish off my walk tomorrow, then come back to this with fresh eyes for polish.
I spent a lot of time doing a ton of different "top of dummy" stabs.. My initial idea was a temper tantrum style freak out but it was looking either poppy or too fluid/not enough force.
The gifs:
I want to go over, clean up the elbows / lines of action on the arms. There are still some pops to smooth out with the IK/FK changes.
I don't know if his dagger spins(to get into and out of stabbing position) are reading, so any input is appreciated!
I will probably need to speed up the end bit, I am torn between his slow settle and what the game would require for a post attack animation.
Cheers!
The attack is done!
Video link, for proper 30fps:
[vv]113635798[/vv]
I have made a couple changes post video upload, mainly tweaks to spacing / a couple stronger arcs. Subtle things for polish, probably only obvious to myself. Also a better antic on the jump off the dummy to make it look less jaring.
I will update later this week with my final walk changes. Not much different there, just smoothing actions and slightly stronger poses.
Cheers!