A change of focus: The Art of Action Animation

I've been busy lately and although I haven't made time to blog about it I have been busy animating away and making future plans. I am currently on pause with my mentored studies and will be forced to go it alone for now whilst I come up with the dosh to continue. So whilst no one is telling me what to do and how to do it I am going to concentrate on the fun stuff. Lately I have been really getting back into animating action. When watching a film or episode of something It can really get annoying to see a punch thrown with no real force behind it or seemingly no impact. Too many action sequences have no weight to them and the contacts are far too light.

So from now on I will be using this blog to study method of creating action sequences that are visually pleasing. To do so I wont just be brushing up on getting the basics of weight, timing and spacing down, I will be looking beyond the animation side and study current examples of good action sequences. I will be focussing in on areas such as; Character weighting and structure of strikes, reactions to impact, use of camera motion to add impact as well as the practicality of certain strikes within a real life situation ( A roundhouse kick is rarely the answer). 

I intend to study the different martial arts, their pros and cons, different weight distributions and styles of movement. I will also pick out a few of my favourite action sequences in attempt to recreate them and possibly improve upon them.

For those of you who are reading, my intention will be present my research and findings in resulting videos and hopefully pass on my preferred methods of delivering a convincing fight to the fellow aspiring animator.

Stay tuned, first video to follow soon!