This week I have started work on the principles of Animation. We learned how to apply Timing, Weight and Stretch & squash. I applied these principles to some 2d Animation - animating a ball, then a 'cubey character.'




Looking back at this I definetely think it could be improved by adding several more frames. Its a bit too quick and lacks realism...

I took more time to produce more frames for my bouncy cubey character:



I'm much happier with this :-)

After completing these 2d exercises I had a shot at using Maya to do the bouncy ball thing. I'm glad to say that I feel fairly confident with using this software but obviously a long way to go before getting to pixar levels...





We also started some life drawing this week which I really enjoyed. We did some quick blind drawings then using circles to show the figure. After this we learned about the basic shapes that the body is made up of, I found learning this useful to keep in mind whilst drawing figures.

Next week I look forward to experimenting with Pixellation. I enjoyed watching the videos that Derek showed us - "Roof Sex" by PES - a very funny portrayal of Sofas having sex on a roof. The bedwetter was really good as well - showing a man still in bed but travelling around a lot. Theres some clever scene change bits...

The Bedwetter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc0m74dsLTw

Roof Sex: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aodpb3vFU0&feature=PlayList&p=8DF92209E38C3A26&index=0&playnext=1

Enjoy!