Subspace Crocodiles

This week (month in the end) I spent way too long on something that isn’t that great or comprehensive. To practice shading I should’ve done multiple small things instead of very slowly shading in one random animation. The source of the light for this scene is definitely not clear.

As an extra mini thing though I also drew a cup.

Only made because I was going to an ‘anything but cups’ party and wanted to be smart about bringing something that both was and wasn’t a cup. Yet how is a picture drinkable from? By printing it and folding it around a sandwich bag.

There’s not a ton to this week. Just some straight-ahead slime/blob animation to practice a consistent volume and smooth movement (although the lines definitely get a bit inconsistent. I clearly need more practice)

I accidentally took a week off from drawing, and when I did draw it wasn’t much. Hands are just extremely intimidating

It’s people, characters, that I’m interested in animating most of all, so I need to get good at knowing what people look like and how they move. I began by following some advice on how to break down poses, which went alright as a series of quick exercises.

Foolishly I then jumped right into an in-person life drawing session (instead of learning some more detailed anatomy breakdowns). This was tough. There’s maybe a couple from here that are the beginning of a half-decent sketch, but I really need to get better at quickly mapping out the underlying structure, and just generally giving everything better form (before I even begin to move on to things like shading).

Drawing from a picture reference where I can take my sweet time is far far easier. It led to some ok sketches in the latter week, certainly better than my sketches of people in week 5.

My progress was a little slow these past couple weeks. But, I learned some important lessons. I started the week with a completely basic walk cycle, right outta the book

I then moved on to trying my own, with a little character, which was a mistake. I should’ve kept it all as simple as could possibly be to experiment with a variety of different walk cycles. Instead I made a guy, and then ruined him, like god

Look at the difference. His bounce. His lust for life. The pep in his step. GONE. After making the key poses on 4s I drew the inbetweens to put him on 2s, only to find that my inbetweens were too inbetween. I should’ve favoured the extremes of the key poses to keep that bounce and snap.

Lesson learned.

I only coloured the version on 4s. Offsetting the colour layer 2 frames slower to give an interesting effect (maybe)? It also acts as a kind of echoed interpolation, smoothing out the frame rate to 2s again.

Week 6: Foreshortening

The faces in particular are really taunting me. Also the hands and feet. 2/3 of those could use a week dedicated to them, and I’m not spending a week drawing feet.

Week 5: People I

Weeks 3 & 4: Water

Week 2: Fruit

Week 1: Circles