- Walk Cycle
- Run Cycle
- Jump
- Idle
- and if time allows; a basic lip sync test
With this in mind I start the process of pondering what type of characters I wanted to create. Since the focus of this project is for me to learn how to animate in After Effects I decided that the character needed to be detailed enough to illustrate my technical abilities but not be designed in such a way that it then became a distraction.
By establishing these standards before placing my pencil on to paper I'm certain that it allowed for an easier design workflow. The reasoning for wanting to create 2 characters was to establish a broad variety of personality with each animation. It had been decided before this stage that both characters would most likely be opposites; large and small, skinny and fat. It was these types of pairings I think would best demonstrate my abilities. To accomplish this I started with drawing random shapes which I imagined to be the basic shape/torso of the character. By drawing these shapes I can already start to imagine what type of personality each shape would have and how they might walk, would they walk briskly with their arms swinging from side to side or would their walk be slow with each foot dragging behind the other?
Having created a page of shapes that I was fairly happy with and imagining what type of personality each shape would have I re-drew shapes that I found interesting enough to further expand on being a potential choice for a character.
I tried to vary my design when it came to creating different characters. I feel as if the majority of these designs are similar, the emotion seems to vary between each one but overall I think I can try to expand a bit further with their look. Perhaps this similarity derives from how each shape or posture can directly tell a person how a character is feeling. An example would be the shapes that are straight with a slight bend to the right have been drawn walking in a positive and strong manner, each one with a happy or smug look on their face. The shapes bent the other way though seem to look depressed and sad. Whilt these are biased due to what was drawn over these shapes as a creator these lines were what had come to me naturally without thinking too deeply on it, the right being proud while the left being depressed.
Realising this as I drew I tried to pick a shape and push the bend either way to see how the one shape would look both happy and sad. I wonder if adding clothes or hair might help force a change of expression.
I especially like how a few seem to have a spring in their step while others drag their feet behind. This perfectly captures what a Friday afternoon and a Monday morning can be for the typical office worker.
I tried to be more aggressive when it came to designing some of the later characters. While they do look interesting it doesn't seem to entice me as previous characters had.
Happy with this batch of designs I'll continue to ponder whether clothing or any additional details should be added by the time I go to finalise my design.