2D Animation Week 1

28/8/17 Week 1 
Kamal Afiq [0330643]
2D Animation
Week 1

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Lecture Notes

Week 1 Introduction to 2D animation
Our lecture today centered around the very basics of traditional 2D animation. We watched a short video called 'Duet', an animated short created by the brains behind 'Tarzan'. In it the animators demonstrated the 12 basic principles of 2D animation. These basic principles are the foundation of 2D animation, and together they help create the illusion that a series of changing drawings and frames really are living breathing movements.

The 12 principles are as follows:

1. Squash and stretch gives the illusion of weight and volume of action
2. Anticipation prepares the audience for a major action
3. Staging presentation of an object so it is clear
4. Pose-to-pose and straight-ahead the first consists of a few key drawings set throughout the scene, straight ahead animation starts from the beginning and progresses through time.
5. Follow-through and overlapping when the main part of a body stops, all the other parts try to catch up. Nothing stops at once. It is like anticipation, but at the end.
6. Slow in and Slow out more drawing at the start and end. The character eases in and out of the action.
7. Arcs most movements happens in arcs, to give animation better flow.
8. Secondary action an additional action that helps reinforce the main action
9. Timing more drawings creates slower animation, less creates faster crisper actions
10. Exaggeration maintaining reality, but presenting it in a more extreme form
11. Solid drawings taking into account forms in 3D space, giving them volume and weight
12. Appeal the charm and charisma of an action

The 12-principles are also demonstrated in the animation 'Duet' below:

• Solid drawings 0:26-0:32 the girl's floating
• Slow in Slow Out 0:33-0:38 the girl's rolling
• Staging the only actions present in the animation are the characters and their immediate surroundings
• Appeal the characters move with a bounce and grace akin to traditional Disney films
• Exaggeration 0:51-0:54 the boy hugging the puppy
• Anticipation 1:12 the dog heaves itself up before jumping off the rock
• Timing the animation moves back and forth between speed and pace
• Secondary action 1:18 the birds fly away as the boy runs around
• Pose-to-pose and straight ahead no clear way to discern which method is used 
• Follow through and overlapping 1:52-1:56 when the girl stops moving, her hair continues to fly around
• Arcs the characters general motions are in arc, the camera moves around in an arc throughout
• Squash and stretch 2:20-2:22 as the girl moves off the stage, her form becomes stretched and distored, to show speed and movement as well as form

 

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Instructions

Flip-book Exercise
Our first exercise was to create a simple flip-book animation that has a character rotating, breaking and moving. We had to do it on a small notepad or sheets of paper.

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Work Processes

Flip-book Exercise
Mine was quite rough and simple. I first designed the character. I settled upon a robot with servo-tentacle like arms and added strokes across its body, so as to show depth and which way it's facing.

Character design. The bottom designs were the latest. I drew the character in a variety of different poses and directions to ensure I could tell where he was facing.

I then proceeded to mockup a couple of rough key scenes which I'd use as a base. The type of animation process I decided to use was straight ahead because I wasn't really sure myself how many frames I needed for the animation to proceeded the way I wanted it to. I initially though I wanted him to come out of a box and do some parkour, but I felt that was a bit ambitious so I dialled back the actions a bit.

The planning sheet. The exercise was relatively simple so I just used a single note sheet to plan everything out. 

I had small robotic person fall from the top of the page to the bottom. As he got up, he looks around and runs to the left side of the page where he tries to do a back flip. He fails and smashes himself as he falls over. He blinks and looks towards the reader, and raises his hands in an ironic thumbs-up. 

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Final Submissions 

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Feedback

Flip-book Exercise

I showed Mr. Hafiz the finished animation, and he seemed quite happy with the movement and appeal of the animation.

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Reflections

Flip-book Exercise

I was happy with the final product, considering I did it in such a short span of time. I did realize though that the quality of my drawings tend to change between frames, and my character slowly changes size throughout the animation. These are things I'm gonna have to look out for when I do more animation in the future.

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Further Reading

'The Illusion Of Life' by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas 

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References & Bibliography