Pencil test (in GIF format)

[ThJ]

Part of a rough for the ending cut of a Flash movie (I'll vectorize this). This has been lipsynched, and he's saying "Hello! Wait a minute!". Y'all have to excuse me if this stinks, but I'm self-taught. Don't view this in Mozilla.

UPDATE: Added some more to the animation. Now he's also saying "What's wrong with you people?". I might change his eyebrows.

[evandaeman]

i'm digging this.. good work

[Graphiteman]

Not bad. Alot of good things happening. Timingwise the zip-in is good but from the bottom I don't buy it. Nice mouth animation...it isn't popping like simpson mouths, seems to transition nicely. Nice facial expressions. .. The "what's wrong with you people" if he is thinking about what is wrong, then the pupils may be in the upper corners of the eyes as one does when they think and a head tilt to the side may help.His waitaminnit pose is a little weak due to twinning and drawing ability. In fact I'd say your animation ability is stronger than your drawing....which is still darn good for just starting.Study at the Preston Blair books and also find examples of Mickey Mouse from the 40s.
Overall your drawing needs asymmetry, tapering, and perspective but it is charming pose to pose animation.

[ThJ]

Not bad. Alot of good things happening. Timingwise the zip-in is good but from the bottom I don't buy it.

What do you mean? You think it would be better if he jumped in from the side?

Nice mouth animation...it isn't popping like simpson mouths, seems to transition nicely. Nice facial expressions. .. The "what's wrong with you people" if he is thinking about what is wrong, then the pupils may be in the upper corners of the eyes as one does when they think and a head tilt to the side may help.

I changed that, but I made it "frustration" not "contemplation".

His waitaminnit pose is a little weak due to twinning and drawing ability. In fact I'd say your animation ability is stronger than your drawing....

I could've tweened that better. If I had used my regular "solid limb" style I probably would've been able to handle that. I switched over to "stretchy" a few weeks ago, so I'm still a bit unclear on physics.

which is still darn good for just starting.Study at the Preston Blair books and also find examples of Mickey Mouse from the 40s.

Well, I guess Preston Blair's Cartoon Animation is all right, if that's the one you're referring to. Larry's Toon Institute has helped me more, though.

Overall your drawing needs asymmetry, tapering, and perspective but it is charming pose to pose animation.

Asymmetry? I'm still stuggling with the *symmetry* here, mister! Keep in mind that I picked up drawing again 1.5 year ago, after not having drawn since I was 11 years old (10 year break). All I could do back then was to draw Donald Duck's head. I don't think I possibly have produced more than 5 seconds of animation in my life, and that's probably a bold overstatement. It would be fun to be able to animate characters like this or this one day, but for now, I simplify my drawing when I animate. As for perspective. I can handle it, but again, too much to think about. Tapering? I can do it, but see previous sentence. It's funny how you can read a tip from a professional, but you can't actually utilize that tip until you've reached a certain level.

[Graphiteman]

I take it back. By your examples you can draw. I know becasue I have the same problem drawing and animating well at the same time. The trick is maybe to animate in a "flurry of drawings" and worry about the details (drawing,timing,numbering,exposure,volumes) later. Old time animtors such as Norm Ferguson and Emery Hawkins did this technique as well as many others to this day...just to get a feel for movement. I did some thumbnails of what I mean. I don't know if they'd work but it shows my searching process. What I am looking for myself are shifts in weight, reverses in the line of action, asymmetry (anti-twinning), headtilts, expressions etc.I said "twinning", not tweening as so aptly explained in this e.g from The Illusion Of Life:


Here are my thumbnails. I hope you can read what I wrote about "tapering" as I wasn't commenting on animation but design theory. Nevertheless your examples were great of what you can do.

[ThJ]

Thank you for the excellent examples. I guess the trick would be force yourself to ignore the details until the very end. I always start out doing something to the effect of that when I animate. I wouldn't be able think in fluid motion if I didn't. It's a rule I try to follow, but I often fall for the temptation of breaking it, ironically out of impatience.

Tapering? You mean like this?



But... I want him to have pants. I don't know much about design theory, other than that I have more than a few of them myself.

[Graphiteman]

I always start out doing something to the effect of that when I animate. I wouldn't be able think in fluid motion if I didn't. It's a rule I try to follow, but I often fall for the temptation of breaking it, ironically out of impatience

Knowing the rules (none of them absolute) is half the battle. Just keep drawing and animating.

[Daniel Poeira]

Originally Posted by ThJ

Don't view this in Mozilla.

I wonder what you meant by that. I'm using Mozilla Firefox and your GIF ran perfectly.

Nice work by the way, can't wait to see it colored and sounded.

[ThJ]

Originally Posted by Daniel Poeira

I wonder what you meant by that. I'm using Mozilla Firefox and your GIF ran perfectly.

Some guy viewed my animation in Mozilla Firefox, and started critting my bad timing. Then, later, he viewed it in Internet Explorer, and took back everything he said.

Originally Posted by Daniel Poeira

Nice work by the way, can't wait to see it colored and sounded.

Thank you! If it's allright with my friend Corey, I'll post the entire Flash movie when it's finished.

[madaman90]

I go to Animation school where teachers are some good and some bad. I do believe that all of the techinical aspects of fixing this scene have been covered by Graphiteman....I think. It's pretty cool of him to go through this much trouble of helping to make animation work, so my hat's off to you

On the other hand, I do believe that you should keep an open mind as to HOW YOU WANT the actions to work. I have a great animation teacher for my final year at my school and I chose him to be my thesis advisor because I do believe that he can help me visually get ideas across that I may not have thought of before or did not know how to execute.

However...
I do have a hard time agreeing with every staged scenario that comes my way. I do think my teacher's ideas have merit, and they do tell the story or action that I am having difficulty conveying, but ultimately.....what I am saying is that you should decide for yourself how you want to do this. That is what makes animation great. It's terribly nice to get ideas, but always remember that YOU ARE THE DIRECTOR.

Again,
I think Graphiteman is a hell of a guy for helping you out in this way and I totally agree with his take on how to fix things, but if there is anything that I dare say in this discussion of animation assistance is that you take what works for you and fill in the rest as I hope he will agree; it's your film, not his.

I think that he did. I glanced across the thumbnails of his stuff, they defintely solve problems and address the animation theroies that many are not familiar with. I can't express enough how right he with this material!

The real point of this post is to you and everyone who wants to make animated films:

Always remember that you are the director. Input is a great thing to get in this industry of animation, but let input be that which helps you get your ideas across. Do not tell someone how they should do their film, even if your idea is better than theirs. Techniques are timeless, but ideas are not limited to what Disney has to offer. Be original. Be alive. Be smart enough to learn from people and listen to what they have to say, but never let their ideas be yours.

I'll shut up now

L8r,