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Inkthinker — More of the usual
Published: 2007-02-23 11:28:50 +0000 UTC; Views: 5919; Favourites: 83; Downloads: 1832
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Yeah, another bit of samurai action. I'm having some fun with this one just being more polished, but I'm really feeling like the whole samurai/ninja thing is tired. I'll probably wrap this one short (if I do much more at all) just so I can move on to something more interesting (but probably still revolving around swords and such, 'cause I plan to wear a groove in this niche).Who do you figure I'll cut down?
Easytoon, 40 frames so far, 'bout 4 hours, plays at 25fps (interval "8").
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Comments: 45
wow. this has got to be one of my fav anims of yours. must take alot of practice to be this good.
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I suppose so, but I don't really think about it... I pretty much wrapped my life around my work, so I practice every day as a matter of business and a sorta mad drive for improvement. It's really not healthy, but after the first 10 years it all kinda blends together.
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nice! though theres something that doesn't make it as fluid as the others... but it's not that bad
If your going to finish it and since you asked for who to loose... hmmm... let the longhaired lose. hehe I just got my long hair cut so for me it would be symbolic!
anyway for a quick question... do you draw each frame in the first try or do you sketch something first to get the movement and then add details and such later?
...wow that was a long comment...
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I almost always sketch in something to give me a guide before I go for the final.
That's less often, in Easytoon, 'cause there's no easy way to do it, but speaking generally about drawing, I am ALL about the necessity of structure, and that's often achieved with a little sketching before you go to the final lines.
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okay. there is a way to put in frames between other frames in easytoon but as you say it's complicated
thanks for answering my question!!
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There's a button on the top row that creates a new frame and places it in the stack prior to the frame you're currently on. So if you draw a frame, move forward and draw another (with frame 1 appearing in blue), and click the new frame button, you end up on frame 2 (with frames 1 and 3 onionskinned as red and blue lines). Wheeeeeee, math!
If you haven't got the latest build (1.9.5), you can get it here: [link]
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ah thanks for the tip! and yes! gotta love math
thanks for the link also!
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as usual awesome work but alhtough the hand and head motion seems extremly fluid and lively i felt a bit off with the rigid backs there was a certain overall stiffness to it don't you think
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Yeah, it's not my strongest.
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yeah but it's still pretty strong though
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I never hear it often enough.
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Out of all you works I really enjoy the ones you do I samurais battling!!
I marvel at you skills!
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Yeah, the samurai thing is a bit tiring.
I say short hair wins. He's got wits enough to keep his footing rather than rolling around on the ground.
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Heh... you're the only one rooting for that guy, I think.
The rolling dive seemed like a logical evasion to avoid the lateral slash from the rear. Turning to block it wouldn't work because of the angle, and ducking would just risk the strike descending from above. A lateral dash away from the blade might have worked, but it wasn't so good for the camera angle.
Part of what I was messing with here is that I wanted to do a fight where the combatants evade rather than block, so I'm avoiding any move where the swords actually clash.
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Well, longhair does a nice iai nukitsuke (draw-cut) so I see Sensei's book has had a little influence already! I do suppose I identify more with short hair because I wear my own hair short, and I'm too damn old to be rolling around on the ground...
The move does make sense from that point of view, and is very dynamic. Still, when handling 3 foot long razors, one should try to keep their feet as much as possible!
Excellent work, I like seeing how your thought processes flow through this. But what's the next step?
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Possibly nothing, as I realised about partway through these frames that I ought to be applying the same principles I was messing about with here to content that's a little less familiar.
Let's face it, samurai are a little played out in popular culture, at least to the point where if you're going to use them in something it ought to be for a good reason. My good reason (aside from the fact that I like the mythology) is that their clothes are loose enough to get away with some things when doodling rough animation, but really... I should pick on something new.
I'm glad you dug that initial draw... I wasn't actually looking through the book at the time (so I can't vouch for stance or details like that) but yeah, the idea that the draw should be lethal and lightning-fast was definitely in the forefront.
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Indeed... the samurai have become a cliche' in popular culture; that certainly doesn't mean that they serve no purpose, however. They are the epitome of the heroic concept, so lend themselves easily to stories involving conflict, good vs. evil or simply a clash of ideas. They are an easily recognizable icon of power, life and death, contrasts and conflict.
So... moving to the less familiar... perhaps the next project will feature your well-endowed rogue, or even some creature like a dragon or chimera.
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*shrug*
Who knows? I make this stuff up as I go.
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great animation! i will watch to see what you do next.
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personally i love the samurai stuff that you do
they're so much fun to watch!!
hmm but if you wanna do something different... You can do something like Prince of Persia, a dude jumping from places to places and doing all kinda cool stuff.. almost like free running
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That's not a bad idea, but it's highly dependant on environment, which is difficult to do in Easytoon.
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hmm yeah, that's true :/
maybe you can only indicate the surface he's holding onto or standing on?
no buildings or anything, just random surfaces he lands on that appear out of the white background?
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It's something I might try in another piece... like, maybe it's set in a foggy mist.
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would like to see that!!
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cool stuff, i wish i could do that. if i could i would make a ninja fight a samurai but make it last forever~!
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The first 2-3 swipes were a bit too fast for my eye to track. I'm sure some sound FX would sort it out, though.
Love the movement.
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That's the effect I was going for... in color there's a couple tricks that can help define the path more effectively, and sound would fill in the gap.
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you make awesome animations. Hm...tough question on who's gonna win. Long hair guy?
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Dude with the long hair's going to win. It would make a killer shot to have him running towards the camera.
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Once again, your animations are so much fun to watch. I love how you can make your characters go through such complicated movements so fluidly.
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Buuuut, this is excellent. Maybe do a female ninja/samurai?
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No, no, no more samurai, no more ninja. Least not like I've done already.
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I, personally think you should try to do some energy blasts and anime-style leaps and attacks. I'd love to see your fluid style attatched to some Dragon Ball Z style super moves. Just a thought.
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There's some work stuff related to that which ought to come out from under wraps sometime this year (I hopes).
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looks to me like the guy with the long hair's going to win, but only because he's already come close to pulling out that other sword.
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maybe adding some background wouldn't make it look like the samurai is floating, but make it look like is a camera move or fov change
you're the best!
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It would help, but tracking a BG in Easytoon is exceptionally difficult because the program doesn't allow for layered compositing. You essentially have to treat the background like anything else and recompose it for each frame.
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Whaaat? Samurai and ninja never get old! These animations of yours are always so cool. If I had to guess, I'd say topknot wins. Both because his moves are fancier so far, and because the animation starts with him on the viewer's side, which says "protagonist" to me.
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Now that's a viewpoint I hadn't considered... that the "near" character would be subconciously considered the protagonist. Interesting...
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My money is on the guy with black hair. =]
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