Blog Post 3: BABY STEPS

It seems that we're just about at the halfway mark of the project, which means I'd better have made some real progress. Fortunately, it seems I have. Let me show you a GIF file I created:

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***... DRUM-ROLL PLEASE...***

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Actually, many of you may have already seen this on social media of some sort. Sorry if I killed the suspense for you or something.

To some of you, this may not seem like much. However, I was completely caught off guard by the amount of detail and precision required in making a high-quality stop motion image. You may recall from my first blog post that I had previously attempted making my own video game and also me saying that the animation was crude; I now know why that animation was crude.

For an animation to look like it is in motion, certain parts of the subject have to remain relatively stationary for the whole product to look fluid. It's like how one object is moving relative to an object at rest (we meet again, 8th grade science class). In my video game, each frame's size and shape was too different from the others, so the final look of the animation was rather sloppy; my character simply looked like he was having incessant spasms. In the GIF animation above, I used several tricks to make the motion seem more natural.

I first had to think of the overall look of the character. To do this, I found a very helpful video that had some important tips on drawing teenagers. You might notice some common traits between the video and my own design.

In the picture directly below, I drew different versions of the character, initially starting with the boy in the baseball hat that appeared in what I think was my second post. Close-ups on the face (like those shown below) may or may not be included in the animation since they are a good way to show emotion.

Now, there is once again the challenge of maintaining a steady, smooth animation. To keep the postures of the characters consistent with each other, I used tracing. In this next picture, I used a desk light to show the outline of a figure already drawn on another sheet of paper.

To the right of the clear outline is a faint figure from the paper underneath. At this point, I partially traced the face. From each frame to the next, most of the upper body stays in the same position; I move the legs to give the impression of walking.

Here's another picture that shows the first two figures I drew juxtaposed side-by-side. It's hard to see here, but on the first figure, the right leg is extending forward, while the left leg is extended forward on the second figure. In the animation reel, these two frames will be at opposite ends and will show one leg moving back and forth.

After drawing six figures, I outlined them with a fine-tip marker made especially for animation. One note I made to myself was to try outlining finished figures beforehand next time so that the figures I'm trying to trace over are easier to see.

These are scanned copies of the drawings.

After cutting each figure out digitally (I'm not going to do this in the final product, but this is a quicker way to demonstrate the stop-motion concept directly), I inserted them into an online GIF file creator. I also tried this out on a video editor, but video files are inconvenient for posting on Blogger. I set the frame rate to 10 frames per second, which is slightly slower than 12 fps (what I originally intended). I might use 10 fps because entering 12 fps in a video editor is too much of a hassle. Also, 10 fps will take up slightly less space as well as less effort.

Here is the complete reel, in order from beginning to end. When the whole reel is finished, it repeats itself.

And finally, here is the GIF file again.

Since I know the process of drawing these moving figures, the rest of them will be much easier. I've already started with a few others, and they are coming along much faster. I think I will use the same GIF file method just to check if they look smooth when put together.

I was simultaneously working on some background designs. Here are two ideas for a city background. I drew a stick figure on each of these to show the relative size of my character (the one I just finished) to the whole background. My background will be much larger than letter-size paper, and I've found the paper I will be using for the final video. There will be two other backgrounds, both of which I have planned as well.

Only now have I realized how disorganized my shelf is in the background. Piles of material from middle school have accumulated there, and I somehow decided all of it would be useful. Maybe I should have done organization as my genius project...

The background music for the video is nearly complete. It has a sort of French vibe to it, as it utilizes the accordion (computer-generated audio) and a waltz rhythm. I have adjusted the tempo (speed) to 180 beats per minute so that the audio can easily be matched up with the video (each measure will last one second).

These are some other noteworthy resources I saw this week. They will probably become relevant at some point down the road, although I haven't used them yet. I'll keep them for reference.

Drawing emotions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVrw24fYOIs
Drawing houses: http://www.how-to-draw-funny-cartoons.com/cartoon-houses.html


It seems my animation has taken its first steps. Look out for any updates, which are sure to come sooner this week.

"Au revoir!"