2D Character Animation (12 Principle of Animation)

1. SQUASH AND STRETCH

This action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as it moves. Also squash and stretch is useful in animating dialogue and doing facial expressions. How extreme the use of squash and stretch is, depends on what is required in animating the scene. Usually it's broader in a short style of picture and subtler in a feature. It is used in all forms of character animation from a bouncing ball to the body weight of a person walking. This is the most important element you will be required to master and will be used often.

2. ANTICIPATION

This movement prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to perform, such as, starting to run, jump or change expression. A dancer does not just leap off the floor. A backwards motion occurs before the forward action is executed. The backward motion is the anticipation. A comic effect can be done by not using anticipation after a series of gags that used anticipation. Almost all real action has major or minor anticipation such as a pitcher's wind-up or a golfers' back swing. Feature animation is often less broad than short animation unless a scene requires it to develop a characters personality.

3. STAGING

A pose or action should clearly communicate to the audience the attitude, mood, reaction or idea of the character as it relates to the story and continuity of the story line. The effective use of long, medium, or close up shots, as well as camera angles also helps in telling the story. There is a limited amount of time in a film, so each sequence, scene and frame of film must relate to the overall story. Do not confuse the audience with too many actions at once. Use one action clearly stated to get the idea across, unless you are animating a scene that is to depict clutter and confusion. Staging directs the audience's attention to the story or idea being told. Care must be taken in background design so it isn't obscuring the animation or competing with it due to excess detail behind the animation. Background and animation should work together as a pictorial unit in a scene.

4. STRAIGHT AHEAD AND POSE TO POSE ANIMATION

Straight ahead animation starts at the first drawing and works drawing to drawing to the end of a scene. You can lose size, volume, and proportions with this method, but it does have spontaneity and freshness. Fast, wild action scenes are done this way. Pose to Pose is more planned out and charted with key drawings done at intervals throughout the scene. Size, volumes, and proportions are controlled better this way, as is the action. The lead animator will turn charting and keys over to his assistant. An assistant can be better used with this method so that the animator doesn't have to draw every drawing in a scene. An animator can do more scenes this way and concentrate on the planning of the animation. Many scenes use a bit of both methods of animation.

5. FOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING ACTION

When the main body of the character stops all other parts continue to catch up to the main mass of the character, such as arms, long hair, clothing, coat tails or a dress, floppy ears or a long tail (these follow the path of action). Nothing stops all at once. This is follow through. Overlapping action is when the character changes direction while his clothes or hair continues forward. The character is going in a new direction, to be followed, a number of frames later, by his clothes in the new direction. "DRAG," in animation, for example, would be when Goofy starts to run, but his head, ears, upper body, and clothes do not keep up with his legs. In features, this type of action is done more subtly. Example: When Snow White starts to dance, her dress does not begin to move with her immediately but catches up a few frames later. Long hair and animal tail will also be handled in the same manner. Timing becomes critical to the effectiveness of drag and the overlapping action.

6. SLOW-OUT AND SLOW-IN

As action starts, we have more drawings near the starting pose, one or two in the middle, and more drawings near the next pose. Fewer drawings make the action faster and more drawings make the action slower. Slow-ins and slow-outs soften the action, making it more life-like. For a gag action, we may omit some slow-out or slow-ins for shock appeal or the surprise element. This will give more snap to the scene. 

7. ARCS

All actions, with few exceptions (such as the animation of a mechanical device), follow an arc or slightly circular path. This is especially true of the human figure and the action of animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. Think of natural movements in the terms of a pendulum swinging. All arm movement, head turns and even eye movements are executed on an arcs.

8. SECONDARY ACTION

This action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. Example: A character is angrily walking toward another character. The walk is forceful, aggressive, and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk. Also, the possibility of dialogue being delivered at the same time with tilts and turns of the head to accentuate the walk and dialogue, but not so much as to distract from the walk action. All of these actions should work together in support of one another. Think of the walk as the primary action and arm swings, head bounce and all other actions of the body as secondary or supporting action.

9. TIMING

Expertise in timing comes best with experience and personal experimentation, using the trial and error method in refining technique. The basics are: more drawings between poses slow and smooth the action. Fewer drawings make the action faster and crisper. A variety of slow and fast timing within a scene adds texture and interest to the movement. Most animation is done on twos (one drawing photographed on two frames of film) or on ones (one drawing photographed on each frame of film). Twos are used most of the time, and ones are used during camera moves such as trucks, pans and occasionally for subtle and quick dialogue animation. Also, there is timing in the acting of a character to establish mood, emotion, and reaction to another character or to a situation. Studying movement of actors and performers on stage and in films is useful when animating human or animal characters. This frame by frame examination of film footage will aid you in understanding timing for animation. This is a great way to learn from the others.

10. EXAGGERATION

Exaggeration is not extreme distortion of a drawing or extremely broad, violent action all the time. Its like a caricature of facial features, expressions, poses, attitudes and actions. Action traced from live action film can be accurate, but stiff and mechanical. In feature animation, a character must move more broadly to look natural. The same is true of facial expressions, but the action should not be as broad as in a short cartoon style. Exaggeration in a walk or an eye movement or even a head turn will give your film more appeal. Use good taste and common sense to keep from becoming too theatrical and excessively animated.

11. SOLID DRAWING

The basic principles of drawing form, weight, volume solidity and the illusion of three dimension apply to animation as it does to academic drawing. The way you draw cartoons, you draw in the classical sense, using pencil sketches and drawings for reproduction of life. You transform these into color and movement giving the characters the illusion of three-and four-dimensional life. Three dimensional is movement in space. The fourth dimension is movement in time.

12. APPEAL

A live performer has charisma. An animated character has appeal. Appealing animation does not mean just being cute and cuddly. All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic, villainous, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will capture and involve the audience's interest. Early cartoons were basically a series of gags strung together on a main theme. Over the years, the artists have learned that to produce a feature there was a need for story continuity, character development and a higher quality of artwork throughout the entire production. Like all forms of story telling, the feature has to appeal to the mind as well as to the eye.

http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_principles.html

Critical Thinking ( Task 4): Packaging proposal

Problem Statement

Packaging serves as one of the most influential form of communication with consumers since it provides a first hand experience for individuals. However, there are lots of packaging that is not suitable for its product and the design not convincing to the audience.


Aim

1. Minimizing the waste in order to save more material
2. Design the packaging suitable for the product to make it more interesting  which will attract the audience
3. Design the packaging appropriate  for the specific audience
4. Make sure the product is safe when it is transported

Objective

1. Use a recyclable materials for the packaging
2. Use suitable colour for the design which will attract the audiences attention
3. Use suitable materials to make sure the product will be secure
4. Make sure all the labels and information is well placed on the packaging

What's Wrong with the Packaging?

1. The product can easily fell off from the packaging because the the side of the packaging is not covered and this will cause the product easily get damage.
2. The packaging has too many colours. Too many colour makes the font on the packaging not visible and will make the packaging unappropriated with the product. Colourful packaging only suitable for toys.
3. There are no brand on the packaging. Brand give a lot of impact on the packaging because brand is the core of attraction. A well known brand will easily get customer. Without brand, customer will not know the origin of the product.

Problem Solution

1. Use transparent plastic paper for the packaging. The product can easily damage if it gets wet. So instead of using cardboard that can easily get wet, I change the material by using transparent plastic paper.
2. Use suitable colour on the packaging to make it looks attractive and suitable with the product. This also helps to make the fonts on the packaging visible
3. Apply the brand of the company on the packaging. So that people will know which company the product belongs too.
4. Apply  a spring like function on the cover so that even if it fell, the product will bounce back because of the spring.

20th Century Design ( task 1)

Instagram

 

Tast:

Working in groups use mobile phones and cameras to capture footage and explore how sequence works.

Method of Investigation (Task 4): Shadow proposal

      Aim

      Shadow has always been a support  to an art piece. So my aim is can shadow be an art of its own.

      Background and Significance

Before the period of Renaissance, paintings hardly showed the concept of three-dimension give people a one flat plane feeling with several squeezed layers. There was no depth. Looking back, some of us would probably hardly be convinced that people before did not have the idea of the "space". They saw what was in front of their eyes, they painted it down simply being faithful to their eyes. The idea of three-dimensional space itself has been gradually evolved for thousands of years, there was no solid feeling therefore people didn't have a great emphasis on the light and shadow which are two essential elements forming gradation, creating the "space"

Emotion in a painting is achieved from the sensitive use of light and shadow in the subject. Without its effects paintings often look flat and bland yet it is something that many artists find quite daunting. The Impressionists pioneered the use of light and shadow in painting as they attempted to capture light as seen from the human eye. Camille Pissarro and Leonardo Da Vinci were two of the famous artist involved in the Impressionist movement.

  

      Shadow play or shadow puppetry

     an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated figures (shadow puppets) to create cut-out figures which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen or scrim.

     The cut-out shapes of the puppets sometimes include translucent color or other types of detailing. Various effects can be achieved by moving both the puppets and the light source. A talented puppeteer can make the figures appear to walk, dance, fight, nod and laugh.

      Shadowgraphy or ombromanie

    art of performing a story or show using images made by hand shadows. It can be called "cinema in silhouette". Performers are titled as a shadowgraphist or shadowgrapher.

     The art has declined since the late 19th century when electricity became available to homes because light bulbs and electric lamps do not give off good shadows and because cinema and television were becoming a new form of entertainment. Shadows are greatly defined by candlelight; therefore hand shadows were common in earlier centuries.

      Chiaroscuro

      use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modelling three-dimensional objects and figures. Similar effects in cinema and photography also are called chiaroscuro.

     Further related specialized uses of the term include chiaroscuro woodcut, for coloured woodcuts printed with different blocks, each using a different coloured ink; and chiaroscuro drawing for drawings on coloured paper with drawing in a dark medium and white highlighting.

      Experimental Design and Method

              Before I start my experiment, I need to choose an object to support the shadows. The object need to have angle and easily drawn. For the object I made my own object which is a cube. I used barbeque stick to make it and stick it together with glue.

              For my first experiment, I used a flash light and face it at the cube to show the shadow of the cube. However the experiment was a fail because it is like a normal image which concentrate on the cube not the shadow. It has no response to my aim which was can shadow be an art of its own

.

              For my second experiment, I placed the cube on a paper. Then, from a certain perspective  angle I draw a continuous image of the cube to make it as of it the image on the paper came to life with the help of the shadow. From what I can see, the image that I draw on the paper was like a shadow. So I get the concept of shadow came to life.

Figure 1

     The unique part of this experiment was, it can only be seen in one perspective. For what I can say, this experiment was a success.