Copy exercise

EVernier

I haven't animated anything interesting in a while, but I'll try to get some more personal work done. I used to do copy exercises in school and I decided I'd give it another go to study different styles of animation and get a better insight on body mechanics. This is for personal learning only and obviously, won't be featured in my future reels.

This is the work in progress for the first one, based on Richard Lico's work on Destiny 2 (https://vimeo.com/233521345)
I still have some poses to work on and make sure the arcs on the staff are good. I should probably make him move forward more at the beginning.

https://syncsketch.com/sketch/184956#239944

brucemoose

I'd do another pass on his main node there's a lot of sticking and stopping, before he lunges forward massively like that have him antic back a little to sell the weight. That's what's missing a bit that feel of weight and it's really hard to get right. I like the poses but initially I think he is covering too much screen space.

Have you tried Richard Lico's centre of mass script?



He uses that all the time, it's just a bunch of point constraints that are assigned to different weights in accordance with the body.

I tried one for a different rig and it works well, it seems complicated but its not too bad and it might help you adapt to his workflow if that's what you're looking to do.

AGoodFella

Cool. 

I'd say the attack at f25 feels a bit weak. It's not super clear what he's doing. His staff seems to travel in a straight line into f28 and then goes up. I would introduce the upwards motion earlier.

This is up to you but it would be cool if maybe at f33, he uses that upwards momentum to lift off the ground.  He does a horizontal spin in the air and then lands on f48 and uses all that momentum to deliver the final blow at f57. 

It's in good shape, I would just a pose strengthening  pass.

EVernier

@brucemoose I remember seeing that a while ago but I completely forgot about it. Thanks!

@AGoodFella Yeah I think one of the main problem right one is that it just doesn't read super well. I'll try what you suggested.

EVernier

I was able to get a few more hours into this and went over the poses.  I'll soon start posing the fingers properly as well as the face to get it out of its neutral expression. I added the jump (well, exaggerated what I had) suggested by @AGoodFella

https://syncsketch.com/sketch/184956#241592

AGoodFella

Much better, looking good.

Maybe there is a way to keep the momentum going. You cover a lot of space between f0 and f24. But then he is pretty much stationary f38. I don't know, it might be cool to see if you can carry on the forward's movement a little.

f14 - Could probably push this pose even more. Have eyes look at his target.

f37 - Think you spend a little too much through here before the jump. Might be able to take a few frames off and make it a little snappier.

f47 - Could make the jump higher. Up to you but you might hold the jump a little and get a quick squash and then unleash into f64. Have that as the finishing move so really power into that finisher. Could even get some nice smears.

This is up you and how far you want to push it from the ref or if you want to keep it ultra-grounded. Just some food for thought. It's in good shape.