New animation

[Animus]

Hi!

 

Been away from animation for quite awhile.

I liked the sound file of 11 second club this month,

so I have been playing with Barry Zundell's Will model

I got from his excellent animation CD.

 

The text : "You see... TV is power. The power to lull, and to pacify. And then when all eyes are glazed, and all minds are jelly... power to hold the world in your fist."

 

My eyes are glazed, and my mind is jelly, after a few hours,

11sec_oct02.mov

Feel free to comment, still lot's of time.

 

Michel

[John Bigboote]

Hey lookin good! That's a tough crowd...those 11 seconders! You'll get people who nit-pik you to death but can't animate a damn themselves...I entered last month...came in 120-ish out of 140! BAD! It's fun though! I know you are going to add more mouth motion... I want to see the mouth become more pronouncedly 'OPEN' for this dialogue...even if you have to alter the model.

 

I am entering again this month---I hope...and am taking it as an opportunity to try out my long-rusted 2D chops -doing it ALL in Flash...

[Animus]

Hi John!

 

I have entered the 11second club 3 times so far,

and never made in the first half.

Still is a good practice frame.

I don't like lipsync so much but the voters judge it very seriously

So, I will send my animation, but I don't care about the ranking so much.

 

And there are not many threads about animation on the forum.

 

Michel

[John Bigboote]

HERE is my WIP... since it's Halloween. I am going with a 'Frankenstien' theme...and using the dialogue to lampoon the cable companies. (I know- I know... OVERKILL for the 11 sec 'a-hoes') The first part is mostly done, the 2nd part is really roughed in for now...that's a fistfull of cash at the end... it was gonna be a TVremote control...but I read the 11 sec forum and they are all talkin about the fist/remote idea- so it's not very original. This has been ALL done in Flash so far, that is my goal...to learn how to use Flash as a 2D cartoon app better.

 

EDIT: I reworked the 'Cable Company' sign at the front... the gate was too detracting from the castle...

11sec_OCT2009.mov

[Animus]

I like it very much! Great cartoon style, I love your drawing and composition. Keep going, it works.

It sure looks like fun to draw the animation, I know nothing about Flash, and I feel I'm missing something.

It's mostly 2D clips that won lately, and there are really good ones.

I have no idea what software they use to assemble all this; are they using Flash?

I think it's great that all methods of animation can be submitted.

 

Here is a little update after a few more hours of work.

TV_power.mov

 

Michel

[HomeSlice]

Really nice start. I agree about the lip sync. For something like the 11 second club, it seems important to make it more snappy/less mushy.

Maybe the facial expressions could be much more exaggerated too. Especially the eyes. If you can create a pose so you can make the eyes physically larger at certain points, that would help too.

Adding eyebrows might also help to make his facial expressions more apparent.

[John Bigboote]

Looking better... are you thinking of adding maybe a TV set as a prop? I have an old retro 50's model if you need it. I think that most the REALLY talented 2D animators on the 11 second club animate the 'old-fashioned' way...pencil on paper. Then they'd scan it in fRAMExFRAME and make a movie of it in After Effects/Premiere/FinalCut/Vegas... Last month's winner was really powerful, it looks like pencil/paper to me.

 

http://www.11secondclub.com/competitions/september09/winner/

[Animus]

Thanks Holmes! I am aware the lipsync is not convincing, I might start it over since I have time to practice.

I agree eyebrows will help a lot. I had not tought of creating new poses, it's a great idea, not only for eyes,

exagerating the jaw could him a less rigid look too.

 

Thanks Matt! Yes I could use a TV set, I would change the beginning of the clip, and have a better introduction

to the subject.

So it's all the traditional way with the scanner; I wonder how much work that represents,

compared to 3D animation. You can easily create new characters every month[assuming you can draw],

something that would be too much work in 3D.

 

Michel

[HomeSlice]

HERE is my WIP... since it's Halloween. I am going with a 'Frankenstien' theme

Mr BigBootay, love the Frankenstein theme

[bighop]

Very nice animation. Did you make that model? Very cool.

[Animus]

Very nice animation. Did you make that model? Very cool.

Thank you! No I didn't make the model, it is Barry Zundel's from whom I bought

a DVD on animating a couple years ago; that's the model he used for his tutorial. Nice tutorial, by the way.

Still available(sold) at http://stores.lulu.com/barryzundel.

 

I have added a prop(TV), eyebrows, and some facial improvements(I hope).

TVpower03.mov

 

 

Michel

[robcat2075]

That's a good start.

 

I think you could loosen up many of the poses by using the shoulders more, especially when raising or lowering an arm.

 

Right now they seem to be mostly staying in their default symmetrical pose.

 

You have quite a few symmetrical poses with the arms. Although we do that a lot in real life, animators will ding you for that.

 

One common tactic is to put a prop in one hand so the character CAN'T do those mirrored poses and has a visible reason not to.

 

 

Why does that character remind me of Michael Rennie from "The Day the Earth Stood Still". Is that his voice?

[jason1025]

Great work!

[Animus]

Thank you!

 

I did animate the shoulders, in a few moves, and it does loosen up the guy.

I will go to animate them throughout the clip, it's something I tend to forget,

good observation. I'm aware of the symmetrical poses, I have a hard time

getting a good punch when I try something else, maybe because that is what we do

when we act something quick. Good tip, the prop in the hand, I don't think I want

a remote control though. Something to work on, thanks!

I don't know who is the actor, it's from "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman",

never watched that show. That voice is clear and powerful.

 

Michel

[itsjustme]

Very good start, Michel! Good luck in the competition!

[thekamps]

Great start.

I think a little work on the arcs will make a big impact.

As he first moves forward, lead with his shoulder (down then up and closed to open).

As he side step, add a dip...that sort of thing.

You also might want to break up the tweening, timing wise and with a little variation.

Keep going.

[Animus]

Thank you!

 

Those tips are useful, because after a while, I get hypnotized and don't know

where to work and improve. I haven't paid enough attention to the arcs so far,

I will refine that.

 

One thing I didn't mention is that I use Mark's 2008 rig. Thanks Mark!

 

Michel

[steve392]

Nice animation ,looks good

[John Bigboote]

I am going to upload my 'retroTV.mdl' to the CONTRIBUTERS CUE forum... I also will provide a staticy indian head test pattern you can apply to your screen if you want it...

[Animus]

Thanks!

 

Cool TV!

 

Michel

[John Bigboote]

Did a little more finish to my 11 second 'Frankenstien' entry. Still need to ink-n-paint the last frame...next week. I know they will beat me up on the lipsynch...they always do...it should be called the '11 seconds of lipsynch club'. Let me know what you think--- still plenty of time to dink on it... (as if!)

11sec_OCT2009.mov

[HomeSlice]

Did a little more finish to my 11 second 'Frankenstien' entry.

That's great Matt. It reminds me of something I might have seen as a kid watching Saturday morning cartoons. For some reason, I am more prone to overlook issues in an animation done in a rough style, such as this one. When watching animations that have more visual polish, I find myself being more critical of little issues.

[robcat2075]

Did a little more finish to my 11 second 'Frankenstien' entry.

 

For some reason, I am more prone to overlook issues in an animation done in a rough style, such as this one.

 

I like the design of that.

 

You should have a slight zoom in to the main scene, when the two halves at the opening part to the sides, to look more like a multiplane camera move.

 

As a scene maybe the big crit would be that it's all "on the nose", meaning he's doing exactly what he's saying without any subtext.

 

The head turns are SO rough that they are hard to follow. I think they call that "line boil" when the line is darting all over the place.

 

I'm not sure about the light toon-lines.

[John Bigboote]

Thanks Holmes! I've worked as an independent animator for many years with literally no training or any outside influences...so over the years I have taught myself innumerable 'bad habits' that I just cant break... but my style is sort of unique and I can get stuff done rather quickly.

[Animus]

I have put a couple more hours, not sure it's getting much better though.

Thanks for the tv Matt.

TVpower04.mov

 

Michel