Critique for Animation Demo Reel Pieces

avocadoraptor

Hello! I'm interested in improving my character animation skills in Maya. Here are a few pieces I plan on putting in a demo reel. I'd appreciate any pointers!! Thanks for your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1ODbZc2lfk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPKJ6fME0Zs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-Xzzckjx6s

AnthonyAnimation

If you upload to syncsketch it's easy to leave feedback. You have a decent start. My best advice starting out is to look at reference/act it out. Especially pay attention to the center of gravity (hips) as they really drive the whole piece. Nail down the feet so they aren't sliding and watch for knee pops.

_adamturnbull

Hey, good start. Here are a few things I noticed on my first couple of watches.

Video 01 - There are a lot of leg pops happening where you are over stretching the character and keeping his foot flat on the floor. Try raising his heel to compensate or bring his hips down a little. It's also hard to tell what he is supposed to be doing, is he sneaking, or just walking, I'm not sure what the idea is before he picks up the sack. When he picks the sack up you could either parent the sack to one of the hands or add more frames as it looks a little floaty at the moment.

Video 02 - This has a nice movement to it but again there are more leg snaps happening when hips are raising too high. His leg should straighten but not to the extent it is now. Does the rig have the ability to raise the heel or bend the toe as that would help a lot rather than his foot always being straight. There is also a weird section on his left leg at the 0:02 mark where it goes back - then forward again - then continues going backwards. Check your curves in the graph editor for any weirdness at that point.

Video 03 - Again, its hard to tell what is happening at first glance, is he dancing? It looks strange that his feet are pivoting from the center as feet generally pivot from either the heel or the toe. If the rig has this ability on the foot controls I'd use those instead depending on what you want him to do.

Great start though, keep posting! Also, if you could post these to syncsketch it would be easier to leave notes - https://syncsketch.com/

avocadoraptor

Thanks for all the critique! I really appreciate it. Sorry for the late reply-I'm trying to make time to make the corrections by next week. I uploaded the videos to sync sketch-please let me know if anything else would help!
https://www.syncsketch.com/sketch/144689#170174

Video 01 - My intention was to show that he was first entering/bounding in the scene, then sneaking (I realized that when I have him twiddling his thumbs in mischief, it's not that obvious, so I'll try emphasizing that), then excited/gasping to be so near the sack. Hope that clears up the idea-in hindsight, it's quite confusing! Thanks for the parenting idea-I really should have done that!

Video 02 - Thanks for the leg and frames tips! I was trying to figure out how to get the toes/heels to bend, but I unfortunately wasn't able to. I'll keep trying, though!

Video 03 - Got it, thanks-I'll keep in mind the bit about the heel/toe pivoting. I was using this video of the charleston dance for reference as context https://youtu.be/jUqRAUxip4U?t=1m46s

Thanks again for the prompt and great replies!!