Weird Drawings

This is not a quintessential journal for me to write. But given this is meant to show my learning process I thought It might be relevant to talk about how I’ve been using extra drawings to improve my animation.

I’ve been  doing preparatory drawings to figure out landscapes

Poses

 

Positioning

 

Testing out with partial-stick figures.

Or just testing small movements using stick figures.

 

I also write out animation nots on some of them. Specailly if they were just being used for small changes,

And for testing and developing faces, facial expressions, and what angle the face should be at

 

 

I use many of of these things to make simple drawings. But they are beyond valuable when making Keys. The big drawings that act as the bedrock for each new piece of animation. The Keys are what make the animation what it is. Morgan tells me in the old days it would take an animator years before they made their own keys. You’d start out doing someone-else’s inbetweens and then move up tp breakdowns and passing positions. A Key Animator was as important as both these people even if he made fewer drawings.

I might not have the skills make real Keys, but I have no choice but to make both Keys and inbetweens and everything between those two. Let it not be said I don’t do hard work.

 

I have found rather than trying to make perfect Keys it is best to make lots of messy drawings (including but not limited to the types shown above) that in time can be sculpted into what I call a “Messy key”. Brutal drawings not unlike those of Leonardo or Henry Moore. These Messy Keys feel less like drawings than acts of sculpture. I feel myself carving and chiseling into three-dimensional space with my pencil and paper. It is laborious work. But when it is done I have something that looks right in all the important places, and that I can easily trace over to make a final Key. Occasionally the Messy keys are good enough to be used in the animation itself. Here are my Messy Keys.

 

Sometimes messy keys ar needed even mid animation. Like here when I was animating the downwards swing in two arms getting ready to embrace someone.

If I may brag, I think some of these are or have lead to some of the finest drawing I’ve ever done. Or maybe i’m just going crazy from all the work.

 

And Just to give some context. Here’s how over time all these things come together to make something worth looking at

Starting

A bit of detail

And now its a real Key

 

Even really simple drawing can be invaluable.

When I was doing my woman walking a a three-quarters angle In was able to plan her movements with these two arcing lines representing how her feet would move (Which strangely, do look a bit like shoes)

Simple, but beyond useful. I asked Morgan and drawing out arcs like this is a really useful thing to do when animating and planning. There’s a line at the bottom of each arc with a Capital C and a number next to it. These represent her feet making contact with the ground at the end of the step. Again. really useful. But so damn simple!

 

And after what feels like a lifetime of drawing, my 2B grade pencil has been used so much it’s too small for me to hold anymore. Look at it!

 

It’s been quite the year.