The Mutts

This is the character sheet for an idea The Mutts. Of course I still cant post any of the character bios or script because my word document isn't compatiable :(

Character movement Sheet

The animals are all going to move in the same way and they will not be able to bend or stretch in unnatural ways. I want them to look quite stiff.

Character sheet for 'Safari'

PAIN!

I did work for blogs at home using microsoft office word but the university is using an older version and they arent compatiable. So i have pages and pages of work on my USB that I cant upload. Also blogger is not uploading any of my images
:(

Team Hero Continued

This is the style that would be used in the animatic. I have posted a short piece of animation that shows one of these characters in action. At present I cant seem to submit an image i made of all the Team Hero characters simplified. Blogger.com keeps reporting an error when i try to upload.

I love graphics tablets

A graphics tablet brings art and animation closer together. It means that you can combine good animation tecnique with artistic flair. Most animators are artists at heart and have probably spent their lives holding a pencil. Being able to simulate the action of using a pencil as a piece of hardware is an ingenious idea. Before I bought a graphics tablet i was having great difficulty using a mouse to animate. It feels unnatural to move around the software packages and trying to draw with a flat hand using a mouse. The leaders of graphics tablets are Wacom and they are generally very expensive to buy. I bought myself a cheap one by Trust and so far it hasn't given me any problems. I have been using it for about a year and a half now and it has been an invaluable tool. I use my tablet to colour in Photoshop and it has been very useful in packages like ToonBoom. Like traditional animation it means you can draw directly into each frame. It can be more time consuming but in the end the work pays off and it looks better. It steps the animation up a notch rather than using simple shapes.

2D vs 3D

2D vs 3D?

Its not easy to decide if i prefer 2D to 3D. I enjoy the drawing process of 2D that packages like Toonboom can provide. I enjoy drawing and i get to express this when I use ToonBoom. When it comes to watching animation I tend to find that 2D animation will pay alot of attention to story due to the fact that their graphics will not be as flashy. Using traditional methods like cut paper can also be alot of fun. However it can be more difficult because to make a smooth animation each frame has to be hand made and moved only slightly. No matter how good the animation is a good story is the most important part. 2D could be considered more expressive in the sense that the animatior has more creative input. However, 3D is also an amazing medium. 3D CGI is fast becoming standard in all feature films worldwide. When we watch films like Beoulf, it can be hard to tell that objects are computer generated. 2D and 3D cannot be chosen one over the other. Films like Monster's Inc demonstrate the way 3D CGI can replicate realistic materials such as hair.
There will always be people who prefer one medium of animation over the other, but I cannot choose.

Walk Cycles

Walk cycles are important because they are generally a fundemental part of any animation. If a walk cycle is done well it can make an animation look very good. However if it is done particularly badly, we also notice. A bad walk cycle is so easy to spot because we see them everyday around us. When animating there are many tutorials to show you the correct movement of a standard walk cycle.

However a standard walk cycle is not useful in al kinds of animation. Depending on the character the walk will have to be modiied to suit their individual personality. For example the character Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit had a very individual walk. Her movement amplified the sexuality of the character. The movements are very slow and sweeping with small steps. A walk is just another way that an animator makes their character look more realistic. A walk can also be used to determine how a character is feeling ie. dragging feet, excited running. The weight of each step can really help show this and the posturing of the character's body. The frames should be closer together and speed up before a foot impacts the ground. If a character is tired the legs will lift slowly off the ground. This technique is particularly useful when depicting older characters with reduced mobility. This is done particularly well in the animated feature film, Howl's Moving Castle. There are a great range of character ages and when the elderly walk there is great attention paid to the small steps and shuffling.