Bitácora del Capitán

I created a tumblr days ago :   http://arturoarias.tumblr.com/

Thinking about this blog I decided to use it more as an animation journal [animalog], I think is more fun and useful in the long run.

Here I found another way of solving the hand movement. I was making just too much for such a tiny intention (getting a cup) I guess it looks more comfortable now.

Those are some of the planning pages I did for the animation below(still in progress). With those I figure out, before animating, what is going to happen, why and how. It usually takes me more than expected, arond 2 hours... haha, but I can tell you it's worth it. Doing a non planned animation is not that easy, and the results are often weird, and if you do get something good, you have no idea how you did it... That's why is nice to keep things organized.

Also, I have to admit I just love to draw poses and study them, you learn things from it: you research how stuff works, you put it in practice, and test it during the animation - if it works, good, if not, then do it again. That adds up a lot to your skill :P

Things spotted:
-I like how he turns his head
-It doesn't look so smooth - still running on twos (12fps)
-remember to add an overlap on those ears
-I do like the finishing movement of his left hand, not so much the beginning of it

That's it for this one. I should check the initial part of the hand and continue animating:
-when he touches the cup
-when he takes the cup to his mouth
-drinking

Seems to be a lot to be done! And its taking long, but I'm learning a lot of stuff in the process, and enjoying it too! :)

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Also, I did this other walk cycle. Really simple, treadmill movement.
I must say I do not like to animate walk cycles "on a treadmill" - I can't figure out the correct way the body moves and reacts to the step. It's weird to go the other way around like feet>legs>thighs>torso instead of the usual way, letting the torso fall to the ground because of gravity and use the legs to keep it from falling, all of that while the body actually goes forward. That's why I think doing the entire movement forward is better, but that's me.
You can do quite good and easy .gifs with the treadmill though XD

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Regarding the guy with the spilling milk and all, I'm done with that. But my scanner went crazy, went to buy a new one, and now all the frames must be scanned... and they are a lot, so I'm taking it slow, but it will be ready for the next post ;).

But here, have a simple pencil test for the guys movement. That's the final timing and acting.

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Aaaand Some art stuff and sketches that have nothing to do with animation, at least directly (but it makes you a cool artist yey!!! haha).

Wild dog references

Wild dog character

Those are some characters I did, used a different method this time, trying to keep the flow of ideas despite correct anatomy or any kind of technicality involved. I must say it worked!

Observation practice - Oils

I wanted to practice some light and shadows with just a grayscale palette. I never did such a study, at least with oils, I was too scared, but It's not that hard, at least with just two colors XD I'll add a third one on the next study and see what happens :P


Aaaand that's all for now!
Go watch The Croods, quite nice art and good story, I liked it ^^

Thanks for reading!! :D

Animated Update

A lot of stuff to update today!

Lets begin:
My Tea Drinking animation is still in progress.
I think it needs some changes, specially on the way he reaches for the cup. It's not natural enough, it's not even logical! XD

It's so dark because of the soft lines I used, but you can still follow the path his hand makes, that's what I believe is completely wrong.

I've been working on his head turn at the beginning, here it is:

That's it for this proyect. As I said, it needs some clean up and re-work.
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Time for some walk cycles!!
Here I have one that was done entirely on Photoshop, colored and all.

WalkCycle10
-I definitely prefer working with pencil and paper.
-MUST begin working with hips and shoulders to get body movement! = Rotation in and out
-Added a slight change on his contact foot, just to see what happens. It does not add weight, but adds reaction
-found out that the crazy lines are called boil = has a lot of it

The next walk cycle I've been working on [A huge one] has tree different views. Something more like an animated character sheet. This time I'm not translating the character, but moving his limbs like if he was on a treadmill. Not as easy as it seems!

Here is the front view / pencil test 

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And the new animation I'm working on.

This one is something much more story related. It is not exactly a huge story, but it tells something, at least more than just walking dudes.
The idea is that of a guy boiling milk, trying not to get distracted just to avoid milk from burning, but a fly will get in his way and bam! chaos will eventually happen. 

This is just the first part, where he lights the stove. Trying to get the right timing and some acting here. No dialogue.

Simple character to avoid distracting on form and focus on animation.

I think that's all for now.

Thanks for reading! :D

Drinking Tea . Animation

Have a blue devil

The guy-cat that drinks tea - Work in Progress
Since walk cycles are not everything in this life, I decided to do something different. This time I'll work with a simple animation in which a character interacts with an object in an environment. Those three elements will make me focus on how to use background layers, thinking about animation in parts and checking the overall animation over and over until the desired movement is achieved.

It's going to take me a while to finish, as well as a lot of effort. It actually looks more complex than those walk cycles, but if you think carefully, its almost the same: extreme positions, timing, spacing, shapes and volume =P

I'm using an almost generic character; again, what I want to achieve is movement and a way of solving animations.
Until now, I've found that good planning and concentration during the animation process can really boost the overall quality. Also, doing some previous studies regarding issues like anatomy and form can help a lot.

Here, have a look at the beginning of this animation The guy-cat that drinks tea - non walk cycle themed XD.

Please, let me know what you think ^^ 

Any further progress will be shown here, right now I have some extremes and breakdowns set up. 

And, since this is an animation blog, have a walk cycle!! XD 

I tried to make this one with a sense of volume. I guess this is the first one showing the character with something else than a dull profile. 

WalkCycle 8

Done on 8's - also known as cartoon walk 

Better Walk Cycles and extras

Three more Walk Cycles were done the past few days. Here is what I found:
It seems to be easier to animate through the "straight forward + pose to pose" method suggested by Richard Williams in his book The Animator's Survival Kit. It's much more easy to keep the flow of actions, that resulting in better animations, not so robotic, plain or dull. The sack animation is the best example, walk cycle 6 and 7 were done thinking about that too. 

Walk Cycle 5 - 

Something like a march, focusing in altering the passing position.

-line is too dirty

-the head dances all over the place (same with ears)

-Nice push on the hips

-Head looks fixed to it's body = no weight. Since it moves at the same time and points to same direction as torso's movement, it looks like if there was no neck at all. 

-there is a tiny delay when he throws his foot to the ground (step) --> try to make the foot rotation faster (right now is too much ancle)

Walk Cycle 6

A sad walk Cycle, trying to look for the possibilities on acting. I tryied to portray the sad body, tired feet, a head that is left to its weight, and slow moving arms. In the end, nor the arms or the head were done correctly...

-I like the sad like delay on the step

-arms do almost no arc : they look stiff

-head movement is not well done, head should follow after, not during nor before torsos' movement.

-perhaps HOLDING HIS HEIGHT AND THEN LETTING HIM GO DOWN QUICKLY COULD PORTRAY SADNESS IN A BETTER WAY:

-head bounces more

-body looks weaker

-arms do a small "boing"

Walk Cycle 7

I decided to do this Standard walk to try out some things:

To build the animation "by parts", that is, focus on just one thing at a time, and then go through the frames over and over. First I solved the head and body, then right leg, then left leg, and then the arms. Worked out quite well. Perfect to be combined with straight forward+pose to pose. 

I also gave special care to how I drew the lines, not in such a loose manner this time. 

-there is arc on arms!

-head bounces right after the down - gives some weight to it

-try to bend arms a little bit more just when they reach maximum height (down) and delay

-there is a frame from down to passing position, in which his foot gives the impression of hitting the floor. - KEEP FOOT ARC IN MIND!

The TINY SACK DOING A TINY JUMP AND STUFF

This one was born to try out some ideas regarding poses and filling the drawings between them by straight-ahead methors. That gave the animation a lot of flow. Also made me think about the different arcs of movement that have to do with each of the character's masses / details.

Here is another rotation excercise, this time slower and a little bit more complex. The box shifts a little by the end.

aaaand for the extras, here you have a W.I.P. pic I'm doing ^^