Author: Ekin Ayca Demirli

with George

This week began with a feedback session focused mainly on our pendulum and bouncing ball animations. Based on the feedback, I made a few small adjustments to the squash and stretch, as well as the rotation. For the pendulum, I was told that my animation didn’t look very natural because I hadn’t applied the offsetting technique George mentioned last week. Once I implemented it, I realised how much of a difference it made. However, we were also reminded not to rely too heavily on this method, as it’s just a quick and convenient solution depending on the project. I’m sharing both versions below — with and without the offsetting applied.

After the feedback session, we talked about one of the 12 animation principles, anticipation. Anticipation is the preparation for an action to give the audience a clue as to what is happening next to make the action more realistic. I think it can be best explained with the example of throwing a punch. You don’t just punch someone straight from your chest — you first pull your arm back and stretch your body backward before delivering the hit. In fact, this backward stretch can even be exaggerated to emphasize the power of the punch and show how angry or intense the character is.

Finally, we received our new assignment for the week — the jumping ball with a tail. George shared a few reference videos with us, which I used while planning my animation, along with some additional references I found on my own. I feel like I’m getting better at planning my projects, thanks to the 2D animation tool I discovered.

While working on the ball with tail animation, I used the motion trail tool I discovered last week, which turned out to be very helpful. It allowed me to clearly see the path of the ball’s movement and adjust the spacing and arcs more precisely, making the overall animation smoother.

with Ting

This week, we started by reviewing some of the juicebox animations we worked on last week and gave each other feedback. Some animations had issues with timing and spacing, while others had problems with the arcs. The main objective of the juicebox assignment was to clearly communicate the weight of both juiceboxes by adjusting the timing and spacing.

Following the critiques, we discussed acting in animation.  This is best described as acting is reacting.  In animation, a character’s movements involve more than just completing actions; they are also about reacting to what is going on around them.  Every movement, pause, or emotion should feel like a response to an external force, another character, or an internal drive.

A character’s actions represent their personality, and each movement should portray that characteristics.  Between all of these reactions, the animation should appear to be breathing, complete with realistic pauses and timing.  Every movement is the consequence of deliberate decision-making, which gives the performance meaning and clarity.

For the next assignment, we had to give character to our juiceboxes. I reviewed the key elements we had discussed and then began working on the assignment. I decided on a goal: a race. The full juicebox’s goal is to land before the empty one. The scene begins with a look between the two, checking if the other one started to fall. Right after landing, the full box looks at the empty one, realizes it made it first, and then jumps to express its joy.

The objective is to land first.

The full juicebox has a competitive personality.

By looking at each other, they show that they are considering the right moment to let themselves fall in order to land first.

For exercising the golden pose, we had a sad or regretful golden pose assignment. I started off with a reference pose but then I improvised to experiment with the rig. Here is the reference I used and the pose I did:

with George

This week we received feedback on our bouncing ball animation we did last week. Turns out I messed up the arcs. But thanks to that I found out about a tool called Motion Trail on Maya which is really useful in order to follow along your planning for the project.

For our next assignment due next week, the pendulum, we first went over the overlap terminologies: Follow-through, Successive Breaking of Joints, Drag, Lead and Follow. 

Before I started on the planning, I looked into the Animators Survival Kit about the subject. I used some of the drawings from the book as references, as well as the reference video George shared with us.

I also discovered a 2D animation app to use for my plannings. Here’s my planning for the pendulum.

with Ting

This week, we made up for the class we couldn’t do last week as well as this week’s class. The main topic was the golden poses. We began by understanding what a golden pose consists of.  A golden pose consists of a clear line of action, a readable silhouette, balanced weight, strong appeal, as well as exaggeration and asymmetry. It should express the character’s emotion and intention in the most effective and visually engaging way.

To practice, Ting asked us to analyze the golden poses in a clip from an animation. For this assignment, I chose my favourite animation movie: Inside Out. Here’s the clip I analyzed.

I analyzed Joy’s movements frame by frame, which helped me gain a clearer understanding of the key elements that make up a golden pose.

Another assignment involved posing a body rig. I will be sharing my pose as a silhouette to see if readers can guess what action it’s performing.

We also got feedback on these assignments this week. She told me to push the pose more (exaggerate). That’s what I’ll be doing for next week’s pose. As a small hint, I’m sharing the reference I found for an angry pose.

We also covered weight in animation, along with timing and spacing, which I applied to the pendulum animation for George’s assignment. 

This was our first class of the week. After the usual introductions: the tutor, the class, and ourselves, we went back to basics: the bouncing ball. In the small tutorial, we explored the graph editor, learning how curves work, as well as timing and the fundamental principles of animation. 

We were then asked to plan our own bouncing ball animation, which required gathering references. Since I had already completed a basic version of this exercise in the past, I decided to approach it differently by choosing a tennis ball. Its unique bouncing quality demanded a different type of planning and a more specific set of references. 

Here’s the references I found and used for my planning:

I also learned that The Animator’s Survival Kit is an essential resource, so I ordered the book, and it arrived today. I’m really looking forward to exploring it.