Arcs, apps and more bouncy balls!

So I've been itching to get my Wacom to use this week as it has just been sat gathering dust for a bit. So today I downloaded a trial version of "Ultimate pen" which is basically an app that lets me scribble over my other programmes, so its hand for animation arcs etc. It's been very handy to quickly plot out some animations and just litter the page with helpful timings or notes.

Oh here's a blocked out test I'm doing, its another popular practice, its another ball, but this time its going down the stairs! I'll upload the finished version soon along with some samples of different weights.

Stay tuned for more tests and some of my anatomy study sketches!

The next few weeks

I'm back! Yes I'm fully aware no one knew I was gone, or that I'm "here" even so to speak. Anyways, moving away to study in solitude means travelling is necessary if I wish to see the misses. Not that I mind but it usually means a week out at a time from study, a welcome rest mostly yet I am usually gagging to get straight back to it by the end of the week. Arriving back now at this point in the month means I am left with a little more than a week to start and complete a 11 second club entry. Now as much as I hate the idea of leaving a gap between what I want to be a full years worth if entries I have decided not to force it and concentrate on my drawing from now till the next competition starts.

For the remaining time I have chosen the following subjects:

- the human skeleton: understanding a realistic framework to my characters
- muscles in motion and giving the illusion of force
- general break down of the body parts and muscle groups.

It's clear I need to spend time studying each section till my own drawings match the standard of my reference drawings.

During this next week I will also be balancing my drawing studies with more animation exercises, yes more bouncy balls as well as some studying on lighting and rendering a scene competently in Maya. I still have loads to improve on, animation wise before I hit the top scores in the 11second club, but it wouldn't hurt to spend some time making my vids look pretty whilst I'm not going too heavy on the maya projects right now.

Going to be a busy week, can't wait!

Paul out

Bouncy balls

So, as part of my back to basics I have ventured way back to the bouncy ball. Its strange that motion can be studied through something as simple as the bouncy ball. Timing, weighting, squash and stretch, they are all in there. So i've been animating a ball, doing a quick render and gradually seeing where the mistakes are being made. In my first go I failed to even out the middle pose and as a result the rest was a bit off, I also used too many keys when the ball was landing, giving it a speed up and slow down effect, which was very odd. So i've had a play around with the poses and made sure I kept it all on 2's this time round.
One by one i'll pulling the tangles out of the knotted string that is my work flow.. Anyways, below is a quick playblast of the last ball I did. It's all stepped, it's actually nice to see one of my animations flow so well in stepped. I know its just a ball but still.. I guess I'm easily impressed!






More work on the basics to follow

Stay choooooned, Paul out.

Animation tests: Reviewing and absorbing the basics

When drawing, I'll often challenge myself to draw a picture that I know I won't be able to render to any impressive standard. Later after a degree of practice I will choose that exact same theme to create another picture to compare standards. I though it was time I initiated something similar with my animation, even if its just something simple like one limb moving in a certain way. The whole point of these exercises or tests is to focus back on some of the basics or principles of animation that I can often neglect in my work flow. It may often sound tedious to go backwards but its definitely worth it to discover small epiphanies within the timings and spacings of motions. After recently being tasked by a tutor to go back to the bouncy ball I have been inspired to follow some other vids on basics, when searching for such things its never too long before Richard Williams pops up. I have been re-reading through some notes and going through lecture snippets on youtube and the latest test i have dabbled with will certainly help loosen up my creativity with poses. So far my 11 second club entries can be a little too boring and seem as though clinging to a more realistic approach. I need silly and wild, perhaps I need to look into films such as "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs and other similar comedy styles.



So heres a playblast of the test I had a go with. I had to tweak one of the extreme poses to get rid of what looks like a a dropped frame feel. A slight adjust of the elbow at its highest point made the movement blend more. The point of the exercise was to open up to extreme posing, so on the frame previously mentioned the elbow is hyperextended in an impossible position.

More of these to come soon, gotta keep cracking on for now.


- Paul Out