Experimentation: Teacher Walk Cycle

I've taken some time to properly realise this shot in Scene 2, in which the teacher is shown walking down the classroom handing back test papers. The angle is a bit odd, and I've been struggling to figure out the walk cycle. 

Animatic: Scene 2, Shot 2

Early walk cycle test 

My initial test of the walk cycle without any reference footage was not anatomically correct at all. The legs moved unnaturally and it looked awkward. Because of this, I took some reference footage to get a sense of the body position. 

Version 2 of keyframes

Using my initial round of reference footage, I created the above version. I was still not happy with it however. Through conversation with one of my peers, I found that the position of the feet and the timing of the actions wasn't as resolved as I wanted it to be. In the initial reference video, I didn't include the arm movements, so I struggled with timing the foot movements and the arm movements together. This resulted in a lot of trial and error, and no resolutions I was happy with. 

So I recorded another round of footage of myself performing the actions, this time handing out papers to desks and walking towards the camera. I rotoscoped some keyframes in Photoshop, which gave me a much better sense of the body's movements and interaction with its surroundings. 

Rotoscoped keyframes

Rotoscoped version

After testing various methods of animating this walk cycle, I'm much happier with the appearance at this stage. I think during cleanup some more development will take place. 

I've changed the character design slightly to include boots, as this reflects the reference footage I recorded. When trying to draw the ballet pumps on the character, it kept coming across as though the character was walking on their tiptoes. I will need more experience animating walk cycles and foot movement to better understand how to animate flat shoes. Due to my time constraints, I simply chose to change the character's outfit. In future, I would like to have the flexibility in my drawing ability to animate any type of shoes. 

Research: Panic Attacks in Animation

Content warning: the media below includes themes of mental illness, panic attacks and self harm.

My film features a panic attack experienced by the protagonist Sunny. They are overwhelmed by being misgendered at home and school and their difficulty with their school work. In my animatic I have depicted the animatic with an experimental animation style, using messy lines and odd shapes to represent the loss of control and normality in that state. I've had a look at how panic attacks have been represented in other animated media to get some ideas about how to best represent it in my film. 

Cindy J. Aaronson, What causes panic attacks, and how can you prevent them?, 2020

The video above uses inverted colours to visualise the feelings of confusion or unreality during the moment of a panic attack.

illymation, Panic Attacks, 2019

This video uses swirling colours to represent the confusion and cyclical thoughts during a panic attack. 

Karla Monterrosa, 18 years old and I think I'm having a heart attack, 2018

This video uses a flashing array of objects, shapes and colours to represent the racing thoughts of a panic attack. 

All of these animated videos use the medium of animation to represent feelings that are difficult to otherwise represent visually. The each use different techniques to capture the feelings of confusion and uncertainty that accompany anxiety and panic attacks, such as inverted colours, swirling colours and shifting shapes. 
In my own work, I am experimenting with how I can represent these feelings in my character to represent what they are feeling. 

Research: Background/Environments

In developing my backgrounds for my animated film, I've been looking at how other animators develop their own backgrounds for animated works. I've looked at feature films by Studio Ghibli, animated television shows by Cartoon Network and Disney Channel, and independent animators including students at Gobelins L'Ecole D'Image and Victoria Vincent. I have also included some videos by independent animators showing their work process. These videos gave me some insight into what one should and shouldn't include in backgrounds, and how to make them flow with the rest of the animation. 

The screenshots from various animated works below have been selected because of their particular use of colour, composition, lineart and detail/simplicity. I'm looking at how the characters interact with their surroundings, how much detail can or should be put into a shot, and how to keep shots interesting and dynamic. 

Studio Ghibli, Kiki's Delivery Service, 1989

Studio Ghibli, Whisper of the Heart, 1995

Studio Ghibli, Whisper of the Heart, 1995

Studio Ghibli, Howl's Moving Castle, 2004

Cartoon Network, Steven Universe, 2013-2020

Disney Channel, Gravity Falls, 

Gobelins, Contretemps, 2021

Gobelins, Contretemps, 2021

Gobelins, Golden Hour, 2021

Gobelins, Golden Hour, 2021

Gobelins, Louise, 2021

Gobelins, Louise, 2021

Victoria Vincent, Floatland, 2018

Videos on developing environments for animation: 

Experimentation: Colour Scripts

 

Scene 1

Scene 2

Scene 3

Scene 4

Scene 5

Scene 6

In a lecture about colour theory, I was introduced to the idea of a colour script, in which an artist captures the mood and colour palette of a scene in a rough image. We looked at Lou Romano's colour scripts for Pixar animated films. In these we can see the mood of each scene/section of the film, and this gives us another look at the way storytelling is deployed effectively through colour in the film. 

Lou Romano, The Incredibles, colour script

With this in mind, I put all of my colour script together to look at them in the context of one another. I may still make some tweaks to the mood, but this gives me the ability to see my film from a distance and imagine what it might look like by the end. I can also imagine what colour palette is needed when I design and create my backgrounds. 

Colour scripts all together

Research: Grease Tool in Blender

I came across this tweet in which an artist uses Blender's grease pencil tool to create a 3D object by drawing. I'm really interested in the potential of this way of creating backgrounds and animations. It might be useful to experiment with and consider how characters might interact with a three-dimensional environment - sort of bordering on research into hybrid animation. 

https://twitter.com/ukasz_rus3k/status/1475897845379121167?s=20

https://www.blender.org/features/grease-pencil/

Reference: Character Designs, Poses and Expressions

In developing my character designs and reference material for my production bible, I've been looking at how other artists develop their own pose and expression sheets. 

Anatomy: 

Anatomy reference sheet

I used this sheet in developing my turnarounds, checking that my figures conformed to the anatomical guidelines above. This enabled me to confirm the proportions of my characters and create more accurate turnarounds. 

Expressions: 

Facial Expression Sheet

From these I'm able to gauge what expressions I could include in my own sheet, and what level of expressiveness to include. Looking at this expression sheet, I can see how some facial expressions contort the face, and what areas to focus on, such as eye shape, eyebrow position, and mouth shape. 

Poses: 

Character Pose Sheet

This pose sheet shows a variety of expressions and poses, and the way emotions are expressed through different poses. In my own pose sheets, I am incorporating emotion and feeling into my characters' poses. 

References:

Catrinella, L. (2017) Character Pose Sheet. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/VRWyg (Accessed 11 December 2021)

Medlej, J. (2021) Human Anatomy Fundamentals: Basic Body Proportions. Available at: https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/human-anatomy-fundamentals-basic-body-proportions--vector-18254 (Accessed 5 December 2021)

Wong, E. (2013) Facial Expressions Buddy Sheet for comics/cartoons. Available at: https://www.deviantart.com/darkspeeds/art/Facial-Expressions-Buddy-Sheet-for-comics-cartoons-359562676. (Accessed 9 December 2021)

Background Research: Steven Universe

 In developing my backgrounds for my film, I'm looking to the style of Steven Sugar's background illustrations for the Cartoon Network show Steven Universe. 

Steven Sugar - Illustration of Steven's room

Version of the background as it appears in the show

I'm looking particularly at the shape language and gentleness of the lineart, and the naturalistic colours. The way certain details are simplified in a stylised way is particularly effective for animation, and to evoke the tenderness that I wish to achieve in my film. 

Animator Research: Victoria Vincent (vewn)

 Victoria Vincent or vewn is an animator and illustrator from California, USA. She makes short films with a distinctive style using shifting lineart, sharp colours and pointy corners. 

Victoria Vincent, Twins in Paradise, 2020

Vincent's films use a simplistic art style to tell engaging and profound stories dealing with a host of issues, such as grief, addiction, loneliness, and coming of age. Her use of inconsistent lines, jumpy animation and unrealistic proportions creates a childlike effect, which contrasts greatly with the subject matter of her work. 

Victoria Vincent, Floatland, 2018

In terms of the practicality of producing animation, I find her work inspiring as well, showing that an animation doesn't need to be complex, highly detailed and realistic to be successful. Her work prioritises story, mood and tone over "quality" (detail and realism). As I'm considering producing my own animated film, I find myself looking at Vincent's work and considering how I can incorporate this looseness into my own film, and perhaps there's a line to be drawn between totally focusing on making the film look realistic and totally focusing on the story. 

702 Presentation

 https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_BAz7dsO-CeOqgFBdH6rmWARw6iqqpP0x9eN39KG6C0/edit?usp=sharing 

Research: Story and Character Development for Animation

Still from Story and Character Development for Animation by Andrew Gordon and Nathan Stanton

This 15 minute course on LinkedIn Learning shows how a Pixar Story Artist, Nathan Stanton, and Directing Animator, Andrew Gordon, work together to storyboard an animated short. They show their research process in developing a film noir style story about animals in a pet shop taking on a gangster. Together they watch some films to study the style, character designs, behaviour and composition, and visit a pet store to study the behaviour of the animals and interact with them in person. 

This is an interesting approach to research, looking both at primary sources and the real world to gather inspiration and knowledge.