MACA Year 1-2

During week 7 of the course, we were being introduced to more basic principles of animation. Body acting exercise was the next challenge. The choice of models for animation were very limited, which in the beginning I thought was annoying, but as I progressed with exercise I realised that given models were built very geometrical and that made it a lot easier to execute the movement. I decided to choose the blockiest model consisting mostly of rectangular shapes, and in order to focus the body language better, I removed the face completely. Exaggerated silhouette proved to be a better tool to communicate the body acting.

Animal walk cycles

Quadruped walk was by far the most challenging animation exercise for two reasons: firstly, if you don’t have pets you have to search up online video references of animas. However different animals, even though having 4 limbs, still walk differently, with different offsets in step patterns etc. Different dog breeds also walk differently, with different paces, as well as widths of steps. Secondly, animal bone structure is totally different from human so to try to replicate animal movement, even when trying to walk on all fours, you are still going to be unsuccessful because human joints bend in completely different directions compared to animals. To help us with exercise, 3 dogs were brought to campus ( 2 small dogs, 1 big dog) for us to make observations on their bone structure and make live sketches.

Non-quadruped walk includes birds, bats, snakes and fish. We haven’t studied it yet in detail, but it can come in handy as a lot of these animals include animals of follow through and more human-like body elements (like bird’s wings).

Human Walk

During Week 5 I was introduced to the physics of human walk. Animating human walk can be both easy and hard: pros are that you always have a reference (aka yourself) and cons are the problems that come with self analyzation of mundane movement. When we, humans, start to think and analyse the movements that we perform unconsciously, suddenly all the fluidity transforms into stiffness and it starts to look unnatural. A walk can be a powerful tool to convey character’s personality and emotions. A crooked slow and stiff walk can be defining features of an old/grumpy/introverted person. On the other hand, forward leaning, chest-forwarded and wide stepped walk can be indicative of a dominant/confident/happy person.

It was important to first practice the walk cycle where the figure moved in one spot and then go to the formative exercise which is the mood change. a figure had to walk on stage, react to something and then in the changed mood walk off stage.

Lift/Push/Pull

This exercise started with learning the joint types and the centre of mass of the human figure as well as the principles of animation and how to communicate the weight/resistance of an object. The line of action and the bean structure of a body really helped with difficult angles and twists. Acting classes also helped me to exaggerate movement more, to make it more distinct when translated into animation. Filming yourself performing an action really comes in handy when you need to get a better view from all angles.

Character design and Premiere Pro introduction.

In Character design class I started the exploration of Stanislavski method of creating a character from scratch. From establishing the background and story using 7 questions. I started off with doodling around on paper, creating random characters and trying to imagine them being in a setting. it helped me to start thinking of these characters as of already existing ones from tv series. After some thinking and experimentation I finally decided to create a character from a familiar environment (which is 90s Russia) and started building her visual map.

Week 2 was focused on follow through action that helps to make animated character’s elements more fluid and dynamic. A follow through can be a ribbon attached to a stick, hair, clothes, etc. This allows to show weight and material of a particular element when engaged in action.

Week 2 also focused on line of action and drawing a body. In acting class we explored different ways of movement, and how it can be portrayed more effectively in animation. Creeping, running, crawling, bending. A more successful construction of dynamic poses is achieved when using acting video/photo references.

Bounce and Fall

Week 1 in Character animation course started with exploring basic principles of animation. The bouncing ball is the first exercise that helps to get a grip on the gravity of an object, texture and weight. It also encouraged me to start using TVPaint. In my sketchbook I made notes on the useful features of the software and how to get started on it. I also made some sketches of my experimentation that I did in class using a bowling ball and dropping it to the floor to see how the velocity of the ball changed in mid air and how far it would bounce back.