#expression changes

Start Over / Go Back / Add Coffee Can to RRRT

This is a gif I came across on Facebook, it’s from one of my favourite animated TV Series Gravity Falls. I believe this is a rough set of 2D traditionally drawn frames that plan out the movement of the character Dipper Pines. This is a great example of a really well-done expression change, it’s a very detailed and informative plan, that includes, for example, where the light from the candle would hit Dipper’s body as he turns and it falls. Other than that it was a lot of exaggeration both in his features, the way he swings his body and drops the candle, perfectly matching his determined but awkward personality. I attached a gif of the final version of this movement to compare and is very close to the plan. 

Continuing my research into expression change for my 3D Digital task, I thought these three videos were helpful in showing what good 3D Digital expression change looks like, as well as thinking about what I want my 3D Digital expression change to be. I am planning so far to have a bored expression into a sort of disgusted/shocked impression into anger, possibly including a double take before the disgust/shock if I have enough time. 

In the same workshop that I worked on my third sequence with Ralph, I drew two more frames for my first self-portrait expression change sequence. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the same pencil I used in photoshop to do the previous frames, so it looks a little different which is frustrating and is why I didn’t do any more frames. To get around this problem I think I will do all of the frames on the photoshop I have at home which has the right pencil, then put it into TV Paint if I need to. Alternatively, if that doesn’t work out I can start again on TV Paint or leave it as it is.

I think these key frames show the emotions clearly with good dynamics. I think I could have made the principles of animation I wanted to include more clear, for example, timing and a slow blink to show myself processing the shock.

This is the mutoscope video I was missing, lucky one of my coursemates had a video of it in action that she kindly said I could use. My series of drawings go past very quickly and they’re a bit difficult to describe but hopefully, I will get the pictures themselves back and be able to a take a picture of them for my blog. 

While researching blinks I found Aaron’s Art Tips and because I found them super useful, I had a look at some of his other videos, in the process I found this one. This video is all about clear expressions and he talks about the key to this being the very simple and exaggerated expressions we did as a child. They are clear and effective so it is important to remember these clear expressions when creating our own, more complex designs. Another surprising comment he made was ‘the more detail you get the more messed up the stuff you put on these iconic faces, the more deluded the expression will become’, I hadn’t really ever thought of this but it’s a valid point. The animator Aaron Blaise is known for his work on Disney classics such as Aladdin and The Lion King, his simplification of animals and humans, with their clear expressions have resulted in classic characters that really engage with our emotions.