FAO : Year 01 : Animation Toolkit Checklist

Here are a few links with tips about putting your showreels together. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKchlSGxsp0

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/motion-graphics/13-tips-for-creating-best-animation-showreel/

https://www.creativebloq.com/inspiration/4-of-the-best-animation-showreels-to-inspire-you

https://www.creativebloq.com/audiovisual/perfect-showreel-top-tips-9134570

http://blog.animationmentor.com/6-tips-from-recruiters-who-look-at-your-animation-demo-reel/

I'd like to see your best pieces tastefully edited together into a demo / showreel. I'd also like to have a compiled list in with your showreel post with links to all of the sessions from my classes so I don't have to try and search through all of your blogs looking for tasks that might or might not be there.

Below is a detailed checklist of your tasks through the year. On your blogs I'd like to see them clearly labelled with the session number and containing your final animations, breakdown shots / onion skin stills, reference footage (where filmed), and your written pieces describing the principles involved and how you found each task for your learning development.

01 : 22^nd September 2017

Software induction

Morhping : Face – food – animal – back to face : Each held for 6 frames then 24 frame transition between.

02 : 29^th Septmeber 2017

Timing & Spacing :

Coin x 2 – One evenly spaced, the other with ease-in and ease-out

Pendulum x 3 – One on a straight line to show why it wouldn’t look right, one on an arc evenly spaced, one on arch with ease-in and ease-out.

03 : 6^th October 2017

Squash & Stretch, Arcs, Weight, Timing & Spacing :

-       Cartoon bouncing ball

-       Realistic bowling ball

-       Realistic Tennis ball

-       Realistic ping-pong ball

-       Animator reviews : Lotte Reiniger, Don Hertzfeldt

04 : 13^th October 2017

Follow through, Secondary, overlapping animation :

-       X 3 : Add features, clothing, hair, tail, floppy ears, etc. to last week’s cartoon ball turning it into a character with secondary animation.

-       Animator reviews : Bill Plympton, Richard Williams

05 : 27^th October 2017

Halloween scene using ALL of the animation principles used so far, plus interesting background layers.

06 : 10^th November 2017

Simple walk cycle – march time

07 : 17^th November 2017

Self Directed Study – Completing previous tasks.

08 : 24^th November 2017

Silly walk cycle + reference footage + breakdowns / onion skin stills.

09 : 1^st December 2017

Standard run cycle + onion skin breakdowns.

10 : 8^th December 2017

 Jump with reference footage and breakdown images. 

-       Jump as high as you can to show anticipation, arcs, weight etc.

11 : 12^th January 2018

Find a piece of audio from the 11 second club, use an x-sheet to plan out your audio and character action. Draw out your mouth shapes in time to the audio using your x-sheet as the timing guide.

12 : 19^th January 2018

Add blinking, facial expressions, character and action to your 2D lip sync piece from the previous week.

13 : 26^th January 2018

Exercise : without filming for reference, figure out the action of throwing a ball as far as you can, then animate this using straight ahead animation. The purpose of this exercise is to show the importance of using pose to pose animation and how straight ahead probably won’t give you the best results when trying to animate certain types of things.

14 : 2^nd February 2018

Abstract visuals to music using straight ahead animation. This exercise is to give you an example where straight ahead animation can work well. Use lots of layers, mix up softwares such as photoshop, animate, after effects and premier pro. Choose any piece of music you wish as this is just an educational exercise, and make the visuals striking to watch.

15 : 9^th February 2018

Flour sack animation – show character, weight and performance without any added features to the bag. At least 30 seconds in length.

16 : 16^th February 2018

Select a new 11second piece of audio – make the x-sheet for the vocals and action in readiness for 3D lip syncing.

17 : 9^th March 2018

Using the drawings from  the Monday 5^th march life drawing session, and my approximate frame breakdown sheet shown in class, start to draw Robin moving from one pose to the next in the similar drawing style you used in the life drawing session. This is a pose to pose animation method. You have the key poses from the drawing session, this is where you fill in the in-betweens using your practice of timing, spacing, weight, arcs, contact points etc. If it doesn’t look right when you play it back, then go back in and tweak it. There’s no limit to the amount of tweaks you can make - if it doesn’t feel right, do something about it.

18 : 16^th March 2018

Continuation of the life-drawing animation task.

19 : 23^rd March 2018

3D Maya lip sync – see video tutorials for setup instructions.