Character Animation
Animation Research
Animation is making a rapid display of a sequence of images that do not really differ from each other, such as a flip book or and animated GIF, with animation, models take a whole new dimension.
The first type of animation was to draw it down on paper, after that it would be traced or photocopied onto a transparent acetate sheets.
3D animation is a digitally modelled and manipulated mesh, this includes plenty of vertices that are connected by edges and faces and this gives the look of a 3D object and sometimes the mesh is given a skeletal structure.
One example for animation is a 5000 year old burial
Numerous devices that successfully displayed animated images were introduced well before motion picture, most of these devices could not project their images and could only be viewed by one person at one time.
In 1914 an American cartoonist Winsor McCay released Gertie the Dinosaur, character development in drawn animation.
So i took the "deathly" appearance of the Nazgul and threw it in my original idea and made my own little Grim Reaper.
Numerous devices that successfully displayed animated images were introduced well before motion picture, most of these devices could not project their images and could only be viewed by one person at one time.
In 1914 an American cartoonist Winsor McCay released Gertie the Dinosaur, character development in drawn animation.
2D Animation
2D animation figures are created or edited on the computer using 2D bitmap graphics or created and edited using 2D vecter graphics. This includes automatic digital versions of traditional animation techniques.
2D animation has many applications, including analog computer animation, Flash animation and PowerPoint animation.
The cycle of 2D animation is:
Pre-Production
Sketch: Basic drawings of things you want to be animated.
Storyboard: The story planned out and wish to be animated.
Animatic: Animated storyboard.
Production
Drawing: You draw out the main character, different poses and miscellaneous pieces you wish to animate.
Animation: Animating the scenes for the sequence you want or GIF.
Post-Production
Composting: Special Effects- The visual tricks and mechanical effects.
Output: Film, TV and Games- The final animation put out on Film, TV or Games.
Rotoscoping: Rotoscoping is an animation technique used by animators to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, when realistic action is needed, photographed live-action movie images were projected onto glass panel and re-drawn by the animator.
Mind Map
Roto-scoping is an animation technique used by animators to trace over motion picture footage frame by frame, By tracing over an object the artist makes a silhouette that can be used to extract the object from the scene for use on the background.
I was not able to get my flip book on the blog but a flip book is a basic technique of animation where you have paper or some post stick notes and draw a frame on each one a flip it backwards to make a animation.
Walk Cycles
In animation a walk cycle is a series of frames drawn in sequence that loop to create an animation of a walking character. 
Besides the normal legs moving back and forth, there are many more details necessary for a convincing walk cycle, like animation timing, movement of the arms, head and torso.
A walk cycle is broke up into 4 points:
Contact.
Recoil.
Passing.
High-Point.
These four poses and a handful of in between drawings constitute a walk cycle . The single most important frame of the four is the contact pose. Once you draw it you have already determined 80% of the rest of it, if you make a mistake on your contact pose, it can be very difficult to correct it later.
Key Frames.
Key frames are in animation, its a drawing that defines the start and end of any smooth transition. The drawings are called "frames" because their position in time is measured in frames on a strip of film, a sequence of key frames shows what movement the viewer will see, whereas the position of the key frames on the animation.
This is my pivot animation technique, once i did the pivot, i developed it further and animated the mouth, the arm and "RAWR"
This is one of my life drawings of our technician, we had 7 minutes to do a drawing of him.
I was out of my comfort zone while doing this in biro-pen although, i found that pencil is alot better then biro.
Vladimir Propp
Vladimir Propp broke up story into sections. through these sections he was able to define the tale into a series of sequences that occurred within the Russian fairy tale, usually there is an initial situation, after which the tale usually takes the following 31 functions:
1.) Absentation- a member of the hero's community or family leaves the security of the home environment.
2.) Interdiction- A forbidding edict or command is passed upon the hero.
3.) Violation or Interdiction- The prior rule is violated, therefore the hero did not listen to the command.
4.) Reconnaissance- The villain makes an effort to attain knowledge needed to fulfil their goal.
5.) Delivery- The villain succeeds at recon and gains a lead on the intended victim.
6.) Trickery- The villain attempts to deceive the victim to acquire something valuable. They pass further. aiming to con the protagonists.
7.) Complicity- The victim is fooled or forced to concede an unwittingly or unwillingly helps the villain.
8.) Villainy or lacking- The villain harms or injures a family member.
9.) Meditation- One or more of the negative factors covered comes to the attention of the hero.
10.) Beginning counter-action- The hero considers ways to resolve the issues.
11.) Departure- The hero leaves his homely environment to go and fight against the struggle.
12.) First function of the donor- The hero encounters a magical agent or helper.
13.) Hero's reaction- The hero responds to the actions of their future.
14.) Receipt of a magical agent- The hero acquires use of a magical agent as a consequences of their good actions.
15.) Guidance- The hero is transferred, delivered or somehow led to a vital location.
16.) Struggle- The hero and villain meet and engage in conflict.
17.) Branding- The hero is marked in some manner.
18.) Victory- The villain is defeated by the hero - killed in combat.
19.) Liquidation- The earlier misfortunes or issues of the story are resolved.
20.) Return- The hero travels back to their home.
21.) Pursuit- The hero is pursued by some threatening adversary.
22.) Rescue- The hero is saved from a chase.
23.) Unrecognised arrival- The hero arrives, whether in a location along their journey or in their return,
24.) Unfounded arrival- A false hero presents unfounded claims, this may be the villain.
25.) Difficult task- A trial is proposed to the hero - riddles, test of strength.
26.) Solution- The hero accomplishes a difficult task.
27.) Recognition- The hero is given due recognition.
28.) Exposure- The false hero is exposed to all of the anguish.
29.) Transfiguration- The hero gains a new appearance.
30.) Punishment- The villain suffers the consequences of their actions.
31.) Wedding- The hero marries and is rewarded for his struggle.
Vladimir Propp's character theory is that there are eight types of character:
The villain- that fights the hero.
The dispatcher- whom is the the character that makes the villain known to the hero.
The helper- who helps the hero on his/her "quest".
The Prize- The hero deserves her throughout the story is unable to obtain it because of some evil, maybe the work of the villain.
The donor- The character who prepares the hero with weapons or armour.
The hero- the character who reacts to the dispatcher and the donor, defeats the villain and resolves the wrongs he had committed.
1.) Absentation- a member of the hero's community or family leaves the security of the home environment.
2.) Interdiction- A forbidding edict or command is passed upon the hero.
3.) Violation or Interdiction- The prior rule is violated, therefore the hero did not listen to the command.
4.) Reconnaissance- The villain makes an effort to attain knowledge needed to fulfil their goal.
5.) Delivery- The villain succeeds at recon and gains a lead on the intended victim.
6.) Trickery- The villain attempts to deceive the victim to acquire something valuable. They pass further. aiming to con the protagonists.
7.) Complicity- The victim is fooled or forced to concede an unwittingly or unwillingly helps the villain.
8.) Villainy or lacking- The villain harms or injures a family member.
9.) Meditation- One or more of the negative factors covered comes to the attention of the hero.
10.) Beginning counter-action- The hero considers ways to resolve the issues.
11.) Departure- The hero leaves his homely environment to go and fight against the struggle.
12.) First function of the donor- The hero encounters a magical agent or helper.
13.) Hero's reaction- The hero responds to the actions of their future.
14.) Receipt of a magical agent- The hero acquires use of a magical agent as a consequences of their good actions.
15.) Guidance- The hero is transferred, delivered or somehow led to a vital location.
16.) Struggle- The hero and villain meet and engage in conflict.
17.) Branding- The hero is marked in some manner.
18.) Victory- The villain is defeated by the hero - killed in combat.
19.) Liquidation- The earlier misfortunes or issues of the story are resolved.
20.) Return- The hero travels back to their home.
21.) Pursuit- The hero is pursued by some threatening adversary.
22.) Rescue- The hero is saved from a chase.
23.) Unrecognised arrival- The hero arrives, whether in a location along their journey or in their return,
24.) Unfounded arrival- A false hero presents unfounded claims, this may be the villain.
25.) Difficult task- A trial is proposed to the hero - riddles, test of strength.
26.) Solution- The hero accomplishes a difficult task.
27.) Recognition- The hero is given due recognition.
28.) Exposure- The false hero is exposed to all of the anguish.
29.) Transfiguration- The hero gains a new appearance.
30.) Punishment- The villain suffers the consequences of their actions.
31.) Wedding- The hero marries and is rewarded for his struggle.
Vladimir Propp's character theory is that there are eight types of character:
The villain- that fights the hero.
The dispatcher- whom is the the character that makes the villain known to the hero.
The helper- who helps the hero on his/her "quest".
The Prize- The hero deserves her throughout the story is unable to obtain it because of some evil, maybe the work of the villain.
The donor- The character who prepares the hero with weapons or armour.
The hero- the character who reacts to the dispatcher and the donor, defeats the villain and resolves the wrongs he had committed.
This is my basic sketch for a neutral character, i was going for a corrupted knights armour further more, i decided to do a design for both sides, good and bad.
This is one of my experiments for my character design.
When i started making my character i was debating either to go for a villain or hero, so i did designs for both of them.
I kept my hero design as an experiment however i kept developing my villain.
My final character for my character animations development:
I started with a vague image but i got reference from the Nazgul from lord of the rings
Once i started on the main design of it, i just used a basic soft, low opacity brush and just started brushing up and down, once i got the shape i liked, i added a light shade of grey around the good and inside the rim of the hood,and expanded outwards from the hood.
The problems i came across for this section were just getting the right shape for the hood and upper torso, afterwards i needed to find the right tone of grey to emit a faded light through the mist behind him.
On this section, i added the red eyes on his robe, the reasons why i added the eyes are to show the victims that my character has taken.
To do this i got a low opacity white brush and made a simple eye shape on the robe and fill the eye with a darker shade of white and make the red iris and add a black pupil then duplicating them.
The problems i came across while doing the eyes was again to get the shape right.
After adding the eyes i wanted to add more detail around the hood so i got a darker shade of grey and lightly added it around the rim of the hood to the moon glow can shine of it.
Lastly i wanted to add a faded face within the hood, to do this i searched google for the colour of rotting bone and used it on a low opacity brush to make the skull in the hood, once i made the face i started on the teeth, for the teeth i got a shade of grey and made the teeth.
I used the triangle shape for the hood to give and evil look as well as using an angler shape for the eyes to make it even more evil.
I used the triangle shape for the hood to give and evil look as well as using an angler shape for the eyes to make it even more evil.
Again i used the Nazgul as reference to my character, the main reference i took from this was the head, the head of the Nazgul looks like a skull so i took the idea of the skull and used a cream shade of the skull and applied it to it.
For my animation i started with the face, i made it fade from the hood after that, i made the eyes blink, my character is a villain, the problems i encountered with him were the eye animation, this was difficult because i had to put them in random order to blink while having the face fade in and out.
For my storyboard, i started with a void opening meanwhile as you watch the void, it begins to open slightly open and open, it also begins to get lighter and as the darkness is about to be forgotten, my character emerges and covers it in his darkness.
This is my Final animation.
Evaluation:
The requirements for this project were to get a 10 seconds animation done as well as having my character involved in it, i made my character who was a grim reaper crossed with the Nazgul i also had influence from lord of the rings as well as having influence from the German expressionism project by using black and white to create my character and animation.
I came up with my idea by doing experiments drawings of hero and villain characters however i chose the villain because of the evil aspect to him, the edgy feeling to it however i did like the concept of the grim reaper as a villain character, this links with the Vladimir Propp theory, i took inspiration from this by using his character theory mainly involving the Hero and Villain part, using this as well as doing mind maps of what "Villain" means and what shapes give a evil vibe.
Once i finished all of my research i began doing experiment drawings of heroes and villains, using different shapes and colours to see what goes with what, after doing some drawings i found the villain characters were better both in colour and design aspects as well as, i did a pivot animation and walk cycle to get to grips with animating to better myself for the larger objective, the materials i used to do all of these things were mainly Photoshop however i did life drawings to go with it as well as roto-scoping, i used these because i found them more easier then other methods, the reasons behind this are that with roto-scoping i find it to be more accurate with detail because you trace over a image and keep repeating it to make an animation, the method can be long and tedious but worth it in the long run, while making my animation i used Photoshop's motion tab to create my animation because it was the only animating software i was comfortable with and knew how to use also i was able to make changes to the design as i go, while i was animating i worked in "ones" making an animation in ones allows it to go faster with fluid movement, i did this because i wanted my animation to have fluid and consistent movement throughout it, doing this sometimes makes the "persistence of vision" this is where you have the the illusion of movement however while making my animation, i made small movements by each and every frame to give it that consistent and smooth quality.
While doing this project i have learned a lot of different terminology such as: Roto-scoping this means tracing over a live image to make an animation from it and Ones and Twos, if you work in ones, your animation will be quicker then twos because you do not use the same image in succession however, Twos is the opposite where you use two or more of the same image to make it slower.
For the animation my influence for it was bits from the German expressionism project with all the black and white colours as well as Nosferatu with the black and white and the actions preformed without sound made the actions more impacting to the viewer, this was what i was trying to go for, when i was making my character i did not have a set idea so i did some experiment drawings and designs and picked one out i liked and developed him further, these choices made the animation become action heavy where you have to really look.
The main problems that occurred was the design process, making the character and adding the further detail to make it look better.
I was happy with my animation but i would of liked to add audio to give it more of a creepy feel to it, my favourite part of the animation where the flash went off because it was out of no where and it makes you jump and the part i did not like was the ending was not the best, i feel like i could od better.
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