Rotation 2: 2D Motion Graphics

1.1 The 12 Principles of Animation

i) Light Ball

Strength & Weakness: I feel the overall impression that it is a light ball is achieved by the arcs of the movement and the subtle stretch of the ball at its peak and squish at its impact. On the other hand, I feel the consistency of the timing could be improved in which there is a point in the middle where the ball declines at a faster rate than the rest of its course. This decrements the fluidity and naturalism of the motion and alternatively makes the movement feel forced at points.

ii) Heavy Ball

Strength & Weakness: I was pleased how the initial drop appeared steep and the ball mildly jumps back up, as it amplifies the impression of a heavy ball. I also felt the timing for this sequence was a lot better and controlled. However, I did initially add a stretch in the beginning but I would take this away to build on this illusion of weight. Moreover, I feel the ending unnatural as the ball abruptly stops, to alleviate this I would have liked to keep the ball ‘rolling’ forward as a real life ball would.

iii) Ease in & Ease out

Strengths & Weakness: While there is a clear difference in the fluidity and naturalism of the motions between the three squares, I struggled to initially really tell if the shape is actually easing in and whether I have taken it too far with the ease in or not. While it was easy to apply this function on Aftereffects it was hard to notice if I was actually making a difference to their motions. I would assume the eye to recognise this is bound to come with practice overtime.

iv) Arcs

Strengths & Weakness: This was by far the easiest of the principles to accomplish on Aftereffects as we just had to adjust the curvature. To expand on this, I could play around more with the timing possibly making it slow at the peak as well as adjusting the form of the circle so it stretches as it moves across the screen, enhancing the illusion of movement and liveliness.

v) Squash & Stretch

Strengths & Weakness: This was my least favourite outcome of the remaining samples. While I understand the principles of squash and stretch, I couldn’t tell if the squash should be faster than the stretch or vice versa. Ultimately, I struggled to correlate timing with this principle to concoct one solid fluid motion.

Workshop 1 Reflection: Using Aftereffects was difficult at first but after playing around with the tools I began adapting and enjoying the process. The software feels partially intuitive once becoming familiar with some of the basic functions. I found controlling timing and the curvature of the arcs to be the most difficult part of Aftereffects as its a more tedious process to achieve your desired outcome yet I intend to practice this in my free time. Nonetheless, this workshop also gave me the opportunity to review and refresh my mind on the 12 principles of animation as I’ve touched on them in my foundation year. I hope to explore and apply more of secondary action, overlapping action and follow through as based on my previous works over the years, my characters and setting lack that naturalism. Additionally, I still struggle to distinguish these principles when watching some animations, hence I hope to familiarise myself more with them by looking into ‘The illusion of life Disney animation’ by Frank Thomas. The more I make it a habit to imbed these into my work, the more intuitive and instinctive it will become in my future projects.

1.2 Animating on Photoshop

I loved animating on photoshop and using the Wacom pad. I struggled at first processing the basic controls but I actually found more intuitive than aftereffects and once I retained the basic controls I felt confident I could animate a basic animation. For this particular test sequence, I loved how the motion of the skirt turned out it felt very fluid and natural alongside the buoyancy of the hair. To improve I would have liked to exaggerate the movements to an extent to amplify the playfulness of the sequence and align with the flamboyancy of the jump movement. Overall, I was very pleased with the final outcome and looking forward to using photoshop for future animations. On a side note, I was enthralled by the test sequences of my peers in which they inspired me to push the boundaries of the jumping figure for example by using colour or adding wings.I may test out new ideas of my own as an extension to this project.

Tutor Feedback (refer to figure 1.1 & 1.2):

In terms of the heavy ball sequence, the initial drop could have been steeper and a little bounce at impact could have been more defined. In relation to the light ball sequence, timing could be more consistent and think of the energy acting on the ball more thoroughly and pragmatically for example at the peak of the arc, the ball should be perfectly round as opposed to stretched as there are equal forces acting on the ball. For my squash and stretch, consider the volume of the ball, for example in squish state the ball should expand/disperse more horizontally (the mass is consistent but compressed). Finally, for my photoshop animation sequence, the volume of the skirt could be more consistent but the motion overall is very fluid and accurate especially since I adapted the skirt to consider the shape of the knees, enhancing the naturalism. Additionally, the hair movement is accurate to expand on this an additional bounce could be added when the figure lands to show a more follow through movement and insinuate the hair is settling down. Finally, to advance the realism of the sequence at the figures peak the ends of the hair could age more dispersed. Overall, very well done.

1.3 2D Animation Project

(i) Moodboard-Calm

In this mood-board I wanted to induce a calm tone alongside celestial imagery. I drew inspiration from the mythical oriented illustrator Nicole Gustafson. I love the galctical gradient like colour palette she uses and her approach to world building is very imaginative hence I intend to possibly apply this to my work. My eye is mainly drawn to the colours and this beach or forest like setting. I plan to experiment with ideas surrounding hot air balloon’s or reading or even celestial spaces.

(ii) Initial Ideas

(iii) Pre-Production: Storyboards

When storyboarding my initial idea was to follow this bird on a journey to delivering a book to a girl and they would read it together in this mystical forest. While I liked the compound curve composition of the opening scene, I was struggling to find how I could instigate a shift in mood. I thought perhaps the bird could drop the book on the girl for humour but felt this was too absurd and out of context. With regards to this, I decided to simplify the storyline and take a more minimalist approach by having the scene remain as a wide exposed shot the entire time and have a girl sitting on her car resting as she looks up at the sky. Then suddenly a mystical creature flys across and she is perplexed and confused. I am going to attempt to distinguish this shift in mood through the characters movements, added audio effects and overlayed filters.

(iv) Aesthetic: Colour, Texture and Shapes

To ensure I attain my desired aesthetic I decided to plan out my colour palettes, shapes and textures. With that said I explored two colour potential colour palettes but settled on the second palette. The first palette was very vibrant and the colour tones were too dominant alleviating the calm tone I wanted, alternatively, they evoked more of a joyful and ecstatic emotive response. The second palette consisted of more balanced warm and cool tones and were softer triggering more of a calm ambiance. In terms of shapes, I wanted to have fun with organic shapes through the foliage in the background to cohere with the nature oriented sound effect (this is how I also further tested my colour palettes). I initially thought of going for softer and curved shapes fr the calm tone but felt this didnt harmonise well with the more harsh tone of the audio. Hence I went for more of a sharp shaped foliage. To balance the more angular shapes in the foreground and maintain the calmness, I decided to balance this out with a fluid like curved shape of the cloud in the background. Finally, I initially thought it would be intriguing to use straight ahead animation in the closing scene to transform the foliage in the foreground into corals to align with the mystical monster but decided that this would be too ambitious within the time frame.

(v) Adobe After Effects

Using aftereffects was initially difficult as I was getting adjusted to the tools but once I was familiar with some of the basic functions I felt it sped up the animation process immensely. I applied the ‘Position’ function to move the mystical creature across the screen. I wanted to apply arcs but was struggling to make this consistent across the entire shot and it didn’t come out how I wanted it. I also played around with looping for the monsters movements. Finally, I wanted to make adjustments to the audio and saturation/ filter of the closing scene but was struggling to navigate this on the software. I feel I would have been able to experiment more given another day. Nonetheless, I enjoyed using the software and being exposed to the different routes and possibilities my animation could take.

(vi) Final Animation: ‘Out of Touch’ by Nadine Moussa

Strength & Weakness: I feel I managed to create an aesthetic to my piece in terms of the softer pastel tones and the method of block shading that I applied. I ended. up drawing a lot of my inspiration for the foliage/forms and the female character from lofi music as their imagery is very calm and simplistic yet very transcending and full in a sense. Additionally, I believe I have set a calm tone to the piece as initially intended however I feel this remained consistent for the duration of the animation. I wanted there to a be a shift from reality by the end of the piece and I feel this was not achieved. I initially attempted to add an adjustment layer to the closing scene to play with the filters of the background to induce this other worldly ambiance but I was struggling to navigate aftereffects. Additionally, I would have liked to hold some poses for longer but that came to a matter of restricted time. Moreover, I was relatively fond of the composition in which the foreground and background give this illusion of subtle depth and the exposed wide shot depletes any anxiety as the viewer doesn’t have to anticipate anything but I feel the depth could have been exaggerated a bit more. Furthermore, I would have liked to apply arcs on after effects to the pathway movement of the monster and bird to enhance the naturalism and make the movements more fluid. While I attempted to do this I was struggling to apply the arcs how I wanted on aftereffects. As an extension, I would have liked to layer additional sound effects to the closing scene to amplify this shift and accommodate for the movement of this mystical monster. Finally, I acknowledge that I have developed a stronger understanding for some of the animation principles but I feel my ease in and ease out could be improved for the birds and mystical monster to increase the naturalism and make the piece feel less rushed. In addition, while I applied ‘arcs’ through the characters movements they feel more robotic so I intend to practice this principal more in subsequent projects. and play more with exaggeration to thoroughly communicate the emotion of the subject.