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DaniDragongal — Floppy Ears (Animation Meme!)
#animation #catboy #furry #furryart #animationmeme #animationgif #animation_gif #animation_meme #animationmemes #kenomomimi #furrycharacter #kenomomimiboy
Published: 2019-11-19 22:23:36 +0000 UTC; Views: 778; Favourites: 47; Downloads: 0
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Watch it with sound on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzs55b…And watch the speed animation for it here: youtu.be/-Akl7uig9ZE
Okay wow this took a really long time, 200 hours in fact! I'm really proud of it, and I'd love to finish it someday. But lining and coloring take much longer than the sketching I've completed here, so I don't know when I'll be capable of devoting enough time to work on it. But I would really appreciate and tips or critique, thank you!
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Comments: 37
Hello again! I’m back to give you that critique I promised! I’ve already basically introduced myself, so I’m just gonna jump right in, if that’s alright!
Firstly I just wanna commemorate you in animating this meme frame by frame. That’s a ton more work than many other animation meme’s I’ve seen (not that theirs is bad, just less time-consuming) and it’s made even more difficult and time-consuming since you’re animating it all on ones! Most animators work in twos to cut their workload in half, but by animating at 24 drawings a second, it’s much more smooth and fluid, and I absolutely respect that. That being said, there are a number of ways I feel you can improve upon your work.
The biggest thing that jumps out to me as being off in the meme is the timing of the hits. I know where the hits are supposed to land based on the beat of the music, but they don’t hit as well as they could. There are a few reasons for this.
Firstly, I noticed that in your speed animate, each of your extreme poses hit right on the beat of the music, but when animating to sound, you want the visuals of a hit to be a frame or two before the actual sound hits. It isn’t intuitive, but if I remember correctly, it’s because of anticipation. People see faster than they hear and seeing a character bounce before the hit sounds will prepare the audience for the sound. Lip sync syllables are also animated in the same way. While you animated right on time with the audio, it feels a bit delayed, and if you move the lip-sync one or two frames earlier, it will feel more accurate.
Another reason has to do with the fluidity of your style of animation. While I know a lot of it is your style, things feel a bit too floaty for me. It’s hard for the eye to rest on anything because everything is always moving, and it feels as though it’s moving at the same speed, and that’s everything to do with the arcs. In your speed animate, I noticed that you do not map out your arcs before animating in-betweens, and I think that really hampers your control of the movement.
Out of curiosity, I broke down arcs of the tip of your first character’s left ear and this is what I found: sta.sh/0vx3scdej65
The timing of everything is pretty uneven and off. The spacing between each of the points of the ears should flow into each other much better. Another thing of note is that it looks like you’re trying to use a smooth-in and smooth-out motion for the ears, which isn’t the type of motion I would use. The ears follow the head, so it’s really a whip action, meaning, at the start of the action, it will be slow, while the action will end in a snap. Frame 8 should be much further from 9 to really get that snap action that will solidify the beat. Same with frame 15 and sixteen. Conversely, at frames 1 and 10, the frames afterward should be really closer to them.
Here is my interpretation of what the arcs should look like with all this in mind: sta.sh/03yl3dfrquu
The spacing would flow much better and would give a good snap.
There are also a few spots in the animation where a movement wouldn’t follow a perfect arc and would shift in strange ways. To improve this movement and get the timing correct, I would highly recommend drawing out your arcs before continuing to in-betweens. The way I’ve found works best is to go to an extreme drawing and draw the arcs for the previous frames in a different color. Then switch your viewport from “camera” to “drawing.” In the drawing port, onion skinning goes to the next frame while ignoring any blank frames. I find this useful so I don’t have to keep adjusting the onion skin’s range to see the frames I want. Though, do keep in mind that playback doesn’t work in the drawing port, so you will have to switch back to the camera port in order to playback your animation. Once you are done animating, delete the colored arcs and you’re good to go. Of course, this is my method, so you may find a different and better way of doing things.
Finally, I feel your animation would be much more solid if you added more pauses. As I touched on in a previous note, the eyes need somewhere to rest, and if everything is always moving, it’s hard for the audience to process the movement. By this, I don’t mean stopping all the movement, but holding parts of the body for a few frames at the extremes. Extremes are the most solid posing, so let the audience see them!
I want to end off by saying a few things that I noticed ane appreciate about this whole thing.
The smear frames!! I hecking love smear frames, and I’m so glad you use them! Multiple arms are the best, haha! I also love how much effort went into the mouths and lip-sync. As a person who loves animating lip-sync, it warmed my heart~
And that’s all the critique I can really give for now!
So, this was my first critique, and I will fully admit that I am much better at drawing then I am at writing and explaining things, so if anything needs clarification or a more thorough explanation, I am very much happy to give that. Also, apologies for any spelling or other grammatical errors! Also, thank you for letting me do this! I've always enjoyed reading your critiques and it feels so strange critiquing you back, haha! But it was a ton of fun, and really taught me a lot about how I animate! So, I hope you find it helpful too! Good luck in your animating!
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Aaahhhh thank you so much, this is so fantastic and detailed, and very much appreciated!
As someone who's been writing a lot of critiques I think I feel a similar way reading this as you did writing it! This was also stunning for a first critique, you definitely have a talent for this as well as drawing!
It's great to finally get an idea of how these things should work, and I'm exited to apply the advice you've given me to my future animations. Timing is sort of lost with my "guess and check" method, so having it described in such a detailed way with the ear and other movements is an enormous help!
I also hadn't realized how distracting it would be to have too much movement. There has been a lot of talk online about tweening and lazy animation, how movement is good and you should include as much as possible... I was also making so many changes because movement masks the inconsistencies between frames, so I figured I could make my work look smoother and more consistent by adding so much the viewer would be distracted... Sounds a lot more deliberate there, but it was subconscious until you pointed it out haha. I'll work on finding a balance in the future. That's also why I animated in 24fps, but I'm not sure I'm ready to do that again anytime soon...
I'll also have to look more into arcs and how to apply them, I didn't realize much besides the key frames were important, but that's what happens when you don't take the time to properly teach yourself I suppose...
And it's good to find someone that likes smear frames and lipsync as much as I do!! They're so much fun because they exaggerate and add so much life to an animation! I have a mirror next to my desk that I used to reference the lipsync so I was just making a bunch of silly faces while mouthing words and having a blast while doing it! Definitely good times...
And once again I'd like to thank you so much for the critique, it was so thorough and well written, I'm actually inspired to go back and aply these to the animation!I just have to find the time now lol. I really appreciate you finding the time to write this for me, you're totally awesome! I hope I can do better in the future and learn from all the wonderful advice you've given me!
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AAh! You're super welcome!!
And, omg! Thank you so much! I'm so glad to hear that! When I saw your animation, I just had so much to say, and knowing you did detailed critiques made me confident enough to try my own hand at it! I'm very glad I did!
I'm so glad I could help! Timing is always the hardest thing to master in animation. Heck! I still have a ton of issues with it! I'm glad the charts helped! I'm personally a visual learner, so I wanted to throw in a chart to really show what I was talking about, haha!
It's funny, right? 
Also, on the 24 fps front, I totally get it
I was lucky I had a few teachers tell me what I'm messing up at, haha! I'm just spreading the good word
YES!!! Those two things alone are my favorite parts of animation! I was introduced to smear frames by watching the Loony Toons cartoon, The Dover Boys, in class, and if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it!! There are some amazing smears in there that still get me! If you watch on Youtube, use the "," and "." keys to go frame by frame, I promise it's a blast
And SAME!! I can't help but do the same faces as the one I'm drawing, haha! I should also have a mirror at my desk, that'd really help, and I'd get to see exactly the faces I make while drawing, haha!
You're so very welcome!! Thank you for the wonderful response, too!! It made the essay I wrote feel totally worth it! And Awh!! I'm so happy to inspire you! I can't wait to see more animations from you and how you'll apply my words to them!
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Heyo! Sorry for the *incredibly* late response
I've been very hard at work on a new animation for a Multi Animator Project and have been doing my best to work on the timing and the positions based on the chart. But I'm using wings this time... so it's a bit different and a little more interesting...
Your advice has been of great help though! The whipping effect looks a lot more pronounced in the one I'm working on, and I'm only moving certain pieces at a time to let the eyes rest some more. Overall it's going really well and I've had a blast, so thank you once again for the wonderful tips! I hope to finish it soon to see whether or not you'll like it as much as I do!
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You're totally fine! I totally understand, haha!
Oh man, Ive always wanted to work on a MAP, they sound like so much fun
But Im so glad my advice has helped! Arc charts are definitely difficult to get the hang of, so I get that. Hopefully they make timing easier though! Im so glad the whip action is getting better though! Its a good movement that adds so much snap
I cant wait to see it!!
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They really are! I keep impulsively joining them ((the new part is coming out tomorrow )) and they're really good for experimentation!
I think I did really well with the arcs this time around, and I'm looking forward to seeing what you think about it!!
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Ah! I'll have to join one to finally see how it's like! All I need to do is find some time XD
YESS!!! I'm looking forward to it
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Oh I understand that feeling, time is the bane of my artistic existence lmao
And I'm glad, I hope I can live up to your expectations
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Right?? If I had more time, I would rule the world tbh, lol
I'm sure it'll be great! I believe in you!!
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Wow, I read the "I Move!" on the thumbnail, this is a lot of movement!
Cheers to you for tackling and completing something so ambitious! All your characters have a unique and quirky sense of charm
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Oh hehe yes, I want to make every frame completely unique!
Thank you very much, I'm glad you like them!
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AAAHHHH THANK I'M GLAD YOU THINK SO
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Oh, I love all the details on this!!! I can really tell how much work and dedication you put into this! I love how smooth and expressive everyone is!
I can totally try my hand at a detailed critique if you'd like! I've been studying animation for several years now, and studying this in-depth would really help me (and hopefully you as well, haha) It'll take me a few days to have the time get to it though
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Thank you so much, I'm glad you like it!
And I would love a critique, I'm learning animation through trial and error, sort of inserting the principles of animation wherever I think they might work
So getting advice from someone who actually knows what they're doing would be awesome!
And if we're both being helped, double awesome!
For the time being it isn't super important how long the critique will take because I sort of put this animation on hold, but since it's on hold I'd be able to make edits to this rough sketch thing without it being too much work
So if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask, and I did link a process video in the description if you want to see how I made the animation
Thank you once again for the compliments and the offer, I'm excited to see how you think my work might be improved!
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Of course!
Absolutely! I can tell you, you're doing great for trial and error; much better than where I would be by myself! 
Heck yeah!
Sounds great! I should have time Thursday, but if not, I'll get to it sometime over the weekend
Those videos are great resources, thank you! Also, we both use Toon Boom Harmony, so I can use jargon exclusive to it! (It's also great seeing the differences in our processes and how we work!
You're super welcome! I'm very excited to get into it!! Hope my insight will be helpful for you! 
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I'm excited for what advice you can give me!
It's extra good you use the same program because it's a bit advanced (pun intended
I'm super excited as well, this'll be great!
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You're getting really good at your animation! I like how smooth the movement is and that there's not a single frame that seems out of place. You're becoming quite the animator at this point and I hope you continue to get better too!
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Thank you so much, I'm really glad you like it!
I'll do my best to keep getting better... animation is difficult and time consuming, but the payoff is fantastic!
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You're welcome. 😊 It can hard work but very rewarding too.
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