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For People Crazy About 2D Animation!

Acme Punched! is for people crazy about 2D animation. It may be enjoyed by beginners and others, but it is aimed at animators who know already something about the process of animation and the basics of character animation. In large part, it will attempt to provide a deep look into the problem solving that goes on in my head as I work out a scene, often in step-by-step posts that I will sometimes enter in "real time", without knowing in advance what the outcome will be. Mistakes and false starts will not only be included but emphasized, so that the creative process of animation will be portrayed realistically. And, while my own bias is for 2D drawn animation, many of the effects and principles discussed here can apply to CGI 3D animation as well. I hope the blog will prove useful and instructive for all.

-Jim Bradrick

Saturday, May 21, 2016

No. 99, A Most Unusual Walk Cycle, Part 2

One of the drawings in the cycle, cleaned up and ready for inking.

In post number 95, we looked at five stages in the development of this walk cycle of an Old Man dragging his trunk through an airport.

Since then I have finished and cleaned up the animation, adding and refining things, and I want to show you the result.

First, here are versions 1 and 5 from the earlier post, so you can see how far it has come.

Version 1

Link to version 1
Nothing is right here but the legs, which will remain virtually unchanged right to the end. But it is a good place to start, and the uneven leg rhythm suggests complementary movements of the torso, left arm and head. I can see clearly what needs to be done.

Version 5

Link to version 5
By this time I have gotten the arm figured out to my satisfaction, but there are many other things I still want to add. That left arm now has acquired a hypnotic over-importance only because, unlike everything else here, it is detailed and finished looking, like a sharply focused element in a picture that is otherwise blurred. That is just what rough drawings are: unfocused images.

Version 6

Link to version 6
Now, everything is in focus, and the left arm is no longer the only thing one wants to look at.  I have added in such things as the thrust and turn of the head, the sleeve of his right arm sliding up and down the wrist, the movement of the tail of the jacket and the swinging motion of the necktie. Still, the original movement of the legs that is apparent in version one remains unchanged.

The Old Man in Color

How my character of the Old Man may look in the film Carry On.

I spent a day working in Animate Pro, inking this drawing and testing color palettes and learning how to do textures, until I came up with this image, which is close to how I want to see the Old Man in the final film.  Having a color concept like this will help me as I continue to storyboard the rest of the film.


Next: A Review of the Second Oldest--and possibly Worst--Animation Instruction Book ever published.


3 comments:

  1. It really comes out with them collours on the old man!.
    I really like the looks of it.

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  2. oh, and the leaning to the left it's good too, it seems loosen

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    Replies
    1. Yes, in working with walk or run cycles from a side view like this, it is easy to forget to do anything with the character's 3-dimensions and just treat it like a flat cutout. This is something that Flash and Toonboom cutout animation are kind of stuck with, and one reason I resist using that system despite its economic advantages.

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