COURSE OF STUDY / MAY 2016

Character Animation Bootcamp

Here is a selection of the project and solution I have done at the Character Animation Bootcamp at School of Motion. A 6-week intensive course where I learned about the principles of character animation focused on motion graphics animation there doing Character animation in After Effect. I learned anything from principles like “pose-to-pose,” anticipation, more about Disney’s 12 principles of animation, tips and tricks and a lot more.

We were getting anything from teaching, inspiration, background knowledge, materials and a lot of assignments. We were attached to a personal tutor who gave personal critique and feedback on or solutions. Most of the assignment was split up into two parts where we would only concentrate on “poses” on the first on and animating in the 2nd.

All materials in the projects were given so we could focus on the character animation part.

Learned: Rigging & Character Animation Technics & Knowledge in After Effects

My Process

00 Evaluation

Before the course started, we were given an evaluation assignment so there could get an idea of our level and we would have something to compare with at the end to see how much better we had become. In this assignment, we should animate a way that a character would avoid getting the “thing” in his head.

I could defiantly see a big approvement in my character animation skills from this before assignment and the last.

01 Poses

The first principle understanding we need to understand was the importance of good silhouettes most of the time a good indication of a good pose (key pose). So the first assignment was focusing only on making poses with out thinking about animating it.

02 Jumps

One of the most essential and necessary things to understand is how you make a believable jump. This was my accomplishment.

03 Walk Circles

The next discipline was “walk circles”!

Because as a character animator you will be challenged with making and understanding the basis for “walk circles” all the time. And for being able to make different variations depending on the mood, style and attitude are nearly essential to understand the fundamental principles of character animation.

04 Run Circles

The “run circle” is a kind of a mix of a “walk circle” and a jump. So it was a natural next thing to learn in the course. And to start learning how to combine the different principles with the foundation of almost every movement in character animation.

05 Thoughs

The next principle to learn was a throw. We got challenges with the understanding of weight, anticipation, and reaction. As Chaplin said: “Tell the audience what you are gonna do, do it, and let the audience know that you have done it.” Which is the foundation of how things work in the real world and therefore as well in animation.

06 Scene with Olly

The last and biggest assignment in the course what to combine the knowledge we have learned to make a “longer” animation where we use all the principles we had learned in the course. This is what I came up with.