This is perhaps one of my favorite projects. I really wish I could put it on my reel, but as is there are some volume issues in Granny's head that should be fixed, and a couple of my instructors insist that my Munch homage throws the acting. But I like my spry little butt-burying biddy, and really.....
ZOMG! from Sophia Vassilakidis on Vimeo.
..... you can't argue with Zombie Elvis.
Although it would be nice if flipbook didn't composite more than 2 levels into visual mud.
Sophia Vassilakidis' big, fat, greek ramblings on art & animation
Not much to mention beyond what we had discussed a couple days ago - based on your most recent animation.
ReplyDeleteThe ability to throw down timing charts on your keys as you go along is very important in strengthening your timing. It's a given that they won't always be correct, but they assist in keeping you from having constant, unchanging timing all the time. Try to push your timing.
Do you use a dope sheet? Or do you make your keys and then 'work out' the timing while pencil testing?
You've come a long ways from the 'rotoscopy' feel your work possessed early on. But remnants of it still remain. Your former experience with live-action is likely the cause. When you picture a movement, an action, an emotion, I'd think that you see the movements that actors are capable of, or that you visualize a scene as it would take place within this world. Animation is MORE than real life, however. We PUSH and PLUS real life. Real life is not the goal, but the starting point.
We can make an action stronger, make an expression present in real life convey an even stronger sense of the same emotion. With animation we are able to reduce real life to a shadow. That's my belief. We can bring the moon of real life and show that for the reflection that it is. We can pull it down. These are intangible thoughts, but it helps me a great deal to keep this in mind.
One other thing to help boost your timing. Every time you decide on an action for your character, think on and pick a focus. Think and decide on this before anything else - even before thumbnailing. Take a jump for instance. If you push the crouch and extend the duration, then push the peak of the jump by giving it a hang time/ or a floaty feeling, the two boosted actions may as well cancel each other out. Nothing will stand out that way. Pick a focus for your action and work the surrounding pieces to help push it even further.
Please try to use timing charts. Even should you choose to disregard them, I ask you to make a solid attempt once more. With time, and continued use, they will evolve to become a very strong tool.
Ah, I hope you're not one of the internet age that frowns upon literacy and reading. I don't believe you are, but I'm just giving you a heads up that most of my comments and replies tend to be rather lengthy.
I forgot to mention, but I think it would be useful for you to add the animation label to your demo reel. Or to create a separate animation post for it. I didn't think you had it on your blog at all for a while. If someone clicks the label to see your progression, it hurts you for them not to see your best work.
ReplyDeleteI just finished writing you a lengthy reply, but was somehow logged out of the session by the time I hit post. So, here are the cliff notes:
ReplyDelete1)Thank you for your feedback, David.
2)I use my own weird form of timing charts, but I will try to remember to use the preferred method next time, and will see if that helps.
3)Other long-winded stuff that I just can't bear to retype about animation habits I have or should modify (slavish devotion to video-ref; overcoming the fear of holds; learning that evenly spaced keys don't yield crunchy animation; etc.)
4)curmudgeonly grouching that you should hurry up and film what you have been working on and show it!
Thanks again for the feedback.
No problem! Hope some of it was helpful :)
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about losing stuff you wrote. Facebook has this unsavoury habit of refreshing while I'm typing out long responses. Only happens when they're long. ctrl+a ctrl+c has become second nature to me while writing stuff now, either that or I will just write it out on notepad or something beforehand.
Yeah, easy way to keep from replicating keys too closely is simply not to pause the reference. Just loop it and watch it a lot. You'll be keying out the 'feel' of it, rather than exactly what you are seeing.
And I know, I know. I have a feeling this is going to turn out like games that are delayed too long though. Expectations rise with time, probably faster than my skill growth lol.