Animation Fundamental Exercises

Yeoh Wen Jun ( 0334234 )
Animation Fundamental

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INSTRUCTION

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LECTURE & EXERCISES

Week 1

25/8/2020

In the first week, we were given a brief on what we are going to do for this module this semester. We also went through the MIB during the class. Our lecturer for this course will be Mr. Faizal and he showed us his work during his college time. He also let us know what he is expecting in our work. As this is the first class for this module, we learn the most basic knowledge of animation which is the 12 principles of Animation. Good animation should always apply all the 12 principles. The quality of an animation can be defined just in 10 seconds, says by Mr. Faizal. To make sure we understand the 12 principles, we were asked to do our own research and write a short summary of the 12 principles. 

Below is my summary of 12 principles of animation:

Other than that, to start an animation of course we need a character. We were asked to explore and create 5 characters based on different shapes by using Adobe Flash or Animate. (rectangular, cylinder, cube, sphere, and so on...) 

Below are my 5 characters:

Fg.1.0 5 Characters based on different shapes

Week 2

1/9/2020

In this week's lecturer, the 5 types of animation were being introduced by Mr.Faizal.

The 5 types of animation:

1. Traditional animation - animators draw every frame to create the animation sequence.

2. 2D animation - creating rigs for the characters, move body parts individually.

3. 3D animation - playing with puppets rather than drawing.

4. Motion Graphics - usually for ads, commercial, does not require of body mechanics or acting.

5. Stop Motion - done by taking photos of objects and compile all of them.

After the lecturer views the 5 characters that we submitted last week, we were asked to explore with more different types/styles of character. Below is my exploration:

Fg.2.0 Character styles exploration

Other than that, we were also asked to create a chibi style character. A demo was shown by Mr.Faizal during the class. We also needed to show the side view of the characters. He also showed us some examples of the anatomy of the chibi character from Pinterest.

Fg.2.1 Example of the anatomy of chibi character from Pinterest

Under consideration of the final project for this module and Film studies & Cinematography, I decided to create a local Chinese character who looks like a village boy. Below is my chibi Chinese boy character in front view, side view, and back view:

Fg.2.2 Chibi Chinese boy character

Week 3 

8/9/2020

This week, Mr.Faizal gave us a demo again on how to create a character. After he viewed our work, he suggests us to refined our character. He also picked few of our classmate's characters to show us how to refine them. There 2 videos from YouTube were shown by the lecturer during the class. We learn the fundamental animation which is post to post through those videos. Mr.Faizal only show us part of those videos as they were too long.

As mentioned, this week we were asked to refined our character. I think my character is already kind of acceptable and due to heavy work from other subjects, I decided to not refine my character. Other than that, we need to try out post to post animation on Adobe Animate. We were asked to create bouncing ball animation. Below is my bouncing ball animation:

Fg.3.0 Bouncing Ball 1

Fg.3.1 Bouncing Ball 2

Lastly, we were asked to explore at least 10 pose/gesture and draw it with only lines.

Fg.3.2 Gesture exploration

Week 4

This week we learn the way to apply one of the principles from the 12 animation principles which is stretch and squash. Other than stretch and squash, we also learn the timing. We were asked to finish 3 types of bouncing ball during the class and we need to apply the principles. The 3 types are slow in, slow out, and all even halves. Below are my progression and final outcome:

Fg.4.0 Slow out progression

Fg.4.1 All Even Halves progression

Fg.4.3 Slow in progression

Fg.4.3 Slow out bouncing ball

Fg.4.4 Slow in bouncing ball

Fg.4.5 All even halves bouncing ball

Before the class end, of course, we were given homework. Below is the list of work that we need to finish before next week.

Students need to refine their own character design which they have been created and developed in 3 different stages:

1. Character model sheets - 4 different position Front, Side profile, Three Quater, and back with 3 different color scheme suggestions.
2. 10 different action poses no coloring needed
3. 5 facial expression half body/medium shots position

Below are my works：

Fg.4.3 Character model sheet with colour scheme

After finishing this piece, I realize that I shouldn't paint it manually by using paintbrush tool as the colour became strokes and I can't change the colour in one click.

Fg.4.4 Character with different pose

Fg.4.5 Character expression

Fg.4.6 Character expression

Week 5

This week we're given Basic walk cycle exercises after a demo by Mr.Faizal. 1. post to post animation method 2. Classic motion tween features for the character motion from point A to B 3. create a static background style to compose with the character concept environment Creativity is based on the out understanding and needs to apply timing sheets for the animated task. Fg.5.1 and Fg.5.2 shows the example of work that Mr.Faizal demo during the class.

Fg.5.1 Walk cycle demo

Fg.5.2 Jump cycle demo

After the class, I rewatch the recorded tutorial video and try to start my exercise. I decided to use the character that I created for the previous exercise as he will be my main character for the final project. Below is my work for this week exercise:

Fg.5.3 Running Cycle 

After showing Mr.Faizal my work, he says that my cloud looks weird and I can add shadow for the character. Hence, I filled up the cloud and shadow for the character. Actually, I was planning to add some highlights for the body of the character too. But due to the heavy workload, I decided to skip it as this is just an exercise.

Fg.5.4 Running Cycle Revised

Week 6

After viewing our work for last week's exercise, we were asked to make a 360 degree turn around of our character. Basically, we are going to use the front view, three-quarter view, side view, and back view that we did before to do it. After that, we learn about lipsync voice acting. We were given a demo during the tutorial section. We learn how to draw the lips for a, e, i, o, u. Mr.Faizal mentioned that every animator has their own style for this. He does show us some and we can actually explore it more by ourselves. Below are my work for this week's exercise.

Fg.6.1 Character turn around exercise

God damn right lipsync voice acting exercise:

Mr.Faizal suggested me to use the brush that I use for the previous exercise as the brush stroke texture makes it more unique than this one. The previous brush that I use is charcoal brush and it is more suitable for my character as he is a Chinese character.