Practice Animation Series (Need feedback to improve)
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To really get into Animation, I need to practice a lot. I had been working on a small animated short which obviously wasn't turning out great due to my lack of practice (I have already made 4 animations before - can be found on the channel below). I decided to discontinue it and build my skills before doing anything like that.
So this is the Practice Animation series I am going to be continuing for a while.
I welcome all the questions and remarks or anything, really. I seek to improve my skills and I am dedicated to find and work on my weaknesses.
The Running Man | Practice Animation 001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BXc0NFwsEM
The Dancing Couple | Practice Animation 002
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WOeiwU_068
Fishing Fail | Practice Animation 003
(So before doing this animation, I went through those 12 basic principles. I spent enough time to animate these 350 frames and I'd say it was worth it. The result is much better than I expected it to be. )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQUbbvcccIc
So this is the Practice Animation series I am going to be continuing for a while.
I welcome all the questions and remarks or anything, really. I seek to improve my skills and I am dedicated to find and work on my weaknesses.
The Running Man | Practice Animation 001
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BXc0NFwsEM
The Dancing Couple | Practice Animation 002
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WOeiwU_068
Fishing Fail | Practice Animation 003
(So before doing this animation, I went through those 12 basic principles. I spent enough time to animate these 350 frames and I'd say it was worth it. The result is much better than I expected it to be. )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQUbbvcccIc
Replies
Replaced my old rig with this new one and it has certainly improved my animation.
Did you start from a bouncing ball?
I am going for a cartoon-ish style (which is most common in web animations). And I agree for the complete absence of principles in first two and it was only from third one I started adapting to those principles.
And no, I didn't start from a bouncing ball. I started from a bunch of solid cubes bouncing around (which sucked). I think I will do a bouncing ball, I should've done it earlier I think (whoops).
Here's another animation that I just finished.
How do you like this one?
Am I rushing? If yes, I will try to go back to basics and rebuild from there on.
For example, in your third shot, when the guy is on the boat, throws his spine back at the start but his hips stay in place. They don't move at all. If his upper body goes back, then his hips need to go forward to balance it out.
In the fourth vid, the run isn't working, the jumps are floaty and it isn't really working. I understand you're going for a more cartoony feel and you can get away with some of the stuff but there's too many things that stick out.
In your fifth vid, the walk isn't feeling quite right, his upper body isn't actually too bad, it feels nice. But when he goes to take a swing, he's off balance, and the stays off balance throughout the rest of the shot.
These are just some of the stuff that isn't working, there is quite a lot. Enough for it to be advisable to go back to the basics. It may be hard to hear, it certainly was for me but you need to start with the basics like a bouncing ball. Character animation is too damn difficult if you're rusty on the basics.
Start with a ball. Just have it bounce up and down a few times and loop it. Post it up on syncsketch.com and I'll do my best to help you out. I'm a beginner as well and I know how hard it is to grasp at first but with hard work and dedication, you will get it. My first anims were a lot worse than this.
Also, pick up "The Animator's Survival Kit" by Richard Williams.
Keep on going.
Alright I will go back to basics, I acknowledge my animations aren't working out and I am ready to do anything that can help it.
Also, I have already taken the book and went through it once ^_^
Oh, also, what should I do after the bouncing ball?
Harris
This will let you figure out the "rules in your universe" and stick to them. Once you've got a good grasp of this, then do an obstacle course with different weights.
Its a lot but this will give you a solid foundation to build off of. Might be worth checking out online schools as well.
Thanks for replying yet once again. I did some work on bouncing balls and weight shifting. I have come up with the following example of a yawning being.
(Inspiration from Joe Daniels)
His feet come off the ground when he stretches like he's levitating. If you're trying to have him come up onto the ball of his feet, I'm not reading it.
Smooth out the screen left arm, when he puts his screen right arm down and jerks forward, the screen left arm shoots out quickly, comes back in, hits a wall and then slowly drifts to its final position. Smooth all this out and loosen the arm up. Don;t have it hit a wall.
A common theme is that your stuff lacks balance. Watch these videos, he also has a lot of other awesome stuff on his channel:
Thanks a lot for really deeply analyzing my mistakes and letting me know. I really appreciate that ^_^
Also, thanks for references. I will make sure to go through them and come up with something new and better.
Harris
Here's the latest animation I made: