Prof. Jenna Spevack | Teaching Site

2D Animation: AD540

COURSE CALENDAR | WEEK 11 CLASS OUTLINE | Homework

Topics Covered in Class:

  1. Principles of Animation (10 min)
    1. Anticipated Action: Almost all actions are preceded by some anticipation of the action to follow. If done well, anticipation strengthens the action. Most of the time, the anticipation matches the action. Big anticipation-big action; small anticipation small action.

    2. Take and Double Take: A take is an anticipated action that not preceded not by premeditated movement, but by spontaneous or unintentional feelings, like surprise.
    3. Things to look for: When animating most anticipated actions, the animator will include drawings showing the following. See if you can find each by scrubbing through this animation and the animations above.
      • Recoil
      • Anticipation
      • Follow-though
      • Anticipation - Action - Reaction
    4. Posing: When posing characters for animation, start by analyzing what you want to convey with the pose. Is your character happy or sad? What is your character thinking? Is your character very confident or shy? All of these questions should factor into how you pose your character.


      Keep these things in mind when posing a character:

      • Balance -- The character should look balanced. Weight should be pretty evenly distributed throughout the pose.
      • Symmetry -- Many poses will have a very rough symmetry, but they should not have an exact symmetry. For example, If your character is resting its hands on its hips, one hand should be higher than the other hand, and the hips should be rotated slightly.
      • Exaggeration -- The key to really believable animation is to actually make unbelievably exaggerated poses.
  2. Animation Bible: An animation "bible" is a marketing tool aimed at a cartoon studio or television production company, but it's also used by the animator, director and producer to keep the animation consistent.

    The document consists of model sheets and color model guides for all characters, location and background drawings, lip sync guides, written description of the plot and individual characters. Consider a bible as an encyclopedia of characters, places, events, mechanisms, and themes related to your animation.
  3. Learning Activity: Assemble Animation Bible
    1. Layout your animation bible in Illustrator, In-Design or Quark.
    2. Your Bible should include the following pages:
      • Front Cover: Title, credits and contact info. [Example]
      • Introduction: Brief introduction to the animated story
      • One page for each character, including model sheet, construction sheet, color guide, and "biography" about each character. [Example]
      • Include location and/or background drawings if you have them. [Example
  4. Final Project Work
    1. Choose a Sequence
      Review your finished Storyboard and Animatic in Storyboard Pro and determine which section of your animation you will animate for the Final Project. Your sequence should be a minimum of 10 seconds. Try to chose a sequence that includes one or more of the following:
      • Physical Acting
        • Walk or Run
        • Punch or throw
        • Jump
        • Trip and fall
        • Bicycling, swimming or sports activity
      • Psychological Acting
        • Take or double take- some sort of surprise reaction
        • Emotional facial expression with lip-sync dialog and arm movements
    2. Stages of Planning Your Scene
      1. Think it Through: Don't start working until you've planned it out.
      2. Aims: Know what your characters are trying to achieve within the scene and how the scene fits with the other scenes. What is the purpose or intention of the scene?
      3. Options: Ask yourself what your options are. What are all the different variations and ways the action can play out? How will your character do what s/he needs to do and what type of mood will be conveyed?
      4. Personality: How is the personality of the character being expressed in the scene? Is it in keeping with the character?
      5. Clarity: What are you trying to say? Is it being clearly expressed in cinematic, graphic, and performance terms?
    3. Setting up your scene
      1. Set the Document Settings to 720px x 540 px, 24 fps
      2. Import your Character Model for reference.
      3. Create timing charts for the main actions in the scene (including overlapping actions) and also for any additional actions, such as secondary characters, props or background actions.
      4. Setup your first animated action on a named layer and begin drawing your key drawings. These key drawings should be created on specific frames, based on the timing chart you have created for the action. Your key drawings should have strong silhouettes and should follow defined lines of action. (See Posing)
      5. One of the most important elements to good POSING is a readable SILHOUETTE. Each of your key drawings should have a strong pose.
      6. Once you have your key poses set, test the timing of the animated action. Even though it will be rough, you should be able to get a sense of the timing.
      7. If you have other characters or actions happening at the same time as your main action, create another layer and repeat the process.
      8. Once you have all your key drawings for each character or action, see how they will interact together. When each action is linked together in a sequence we get phrasing. You want your overall animation to communicate a varied phrasing of action. It will be boring if all actions or movements within the scene happen at the same time.

Homework

Please have the following ready for review:

  1. Finished Animation Bible.
  2. Printed Storyboard
  3. Quicktime Animatic
  4. A sequence chosen for your final project with well-posed keyframe drawings, lines of action, and timing charts.

 

*Some images and video from Animators Survival Kit, Toon Institute and Brian Lemay