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PSYSkip — Animation Exercise: 1.11

Published: 2016-03-18 01:50:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 3035; Favourites: 85; Downloads: 0
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Description #11: Flour Sack kicking a ball. Say goodbye to Sir Sack, because it's time for Level 2.

Soooooo.... once again, this took way too long. Originally I was trying to do a mix of limited frame animation and full frame animation in order to get the most efficient use out of my drawings, as well not stressing over each drawing as much I usually do. Didn't take long for that plan to get thrown out and after a week of grudgingly working on it I come out with this 215 frame behemoth that almost always runs at 24fps with lots of slow, subtle movements; almost the exact opposite of what I'd set out to do. Unlike the previous aniamtions I actually did a storyboard for this one (the keen observers might have noticed I didn't bother animating that very last panel), but it still blew up to be a way bigger effort than I'd planned for. My explanation is that even though I did storyboard it I didn't actually think about how the movements might look and how many frames would be needed to get the desired effect.

So I guess even more planning from now on. Suffice to say if I try to keep doing this list in the same way I'm not going to be finishing it, which I'd still like to do.

On a different note, the pre alpha for Krita 3.0 has been released! Rejoice! The animation features have taken some nice steps forward and if like me you had trouble with OpenGL crashing that seems to be solved now, although I ran into some issues with mapping shortcuts and some other unexplained crashes. It's going to be a good day when 3.0 is officially released 

<- Previous Animation  || Next Animation ->

After realizing just how inept I am at animating anything other than an ambiguous, amorphous blobs, I decided to go on a bit of an animation pilgrimage. I'm going to be plowing through a list of 51 animation exercises (found at the very excellent animatorisland.com) to try and get myself going. I've found it's easier to just follow a list than it is to try and think up little tasks for myself. I'll also be timing how long it takes for me to complete the exercise. I theorize that this will encourage me to stop being a lazy twit and letting myself get distracted by stuff. The list is as follows...
Level 1 Exercises
  • Ball Bouncing in place, no decay (loop)
  • Ball Bouncing across the screen
  • Brick falling from a shelf onto the ground
  • Simple character head turn
  • Character head turn with anticipation
  • Character blinking
  • Character thinking [tougher than it sounds!]
  • Flour Sack waving (loop)
  • Flour Sack jumping
  • Flour Sack falling (loop or hitting the ground)
  • Flour Sack kicking a ball
  • Level 2 Exercises
  • Change in Character emotion (happy to sad, sad to angry, etc.)
  • Character jumping over a gap
  • Standing up (from a chair)
  • Walk cycle [oldie but goodie!]
  • Character on a pogo stick (loop)
  • Laughing
  • Sneezing
  • Reaching for an object on a shelf overhead
  • Quick motion smear/blur
  • Taking a deep breath [also tougher than it sounds!]
  • A tree falling
  • Character being hit by something simple (ball, brick, book)
  • Run Cycle
  • Level 3 Exercises

  • Close up of open hand closing into fist
  • Close up of hand picking up a small object
  • Character lifting a heavy object (with purpose!)
  • Overlapping action (puffy hair, floppy ears, tail)
  • Character painting
  • Hammering a nail
  • Stirring a soup pot and tasting from a spoon
  • Character blowing up a balloon
  • Character juggling (loop)
  • Scared character peering around a corner
  • Starting to say something but unsure of how
  • Zipping up a jacket
  • Licking and sealing an envelope
  • Standing up (from the ground)
  • Pressing an elevator button and waiting for it
  • Level 4 Exercises

  • Character eating a cupcake
  • Object falling into a body of water
  • Two characters playing tug-of-war
  • Character dealing a deck of cards out
  • The full process of brushing one’s teeth
  • A single piece of paper dropping through the air
  • Run across screen with change in direction
  • Sleeping character startled by alarm then returning to sleepy state
  • Opening a cupboard and removing something inside
  • Putting on a pair of pants
  • Opening the “world’s best gift” and reacting
  • Any of the above exercises using a very heavy character/object next to a very light character/object. Enhance the differences the weight change makes
  • Made using Krita 2.9.11 Animation Edition!

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    Comments: 39

    bloodyaarice [2018-05-26 18:45:29 +0000 UTC]

    i just find it so adorable, i can't stop watching it wiggle

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to bloodyaarice [2018-06-24 09:39:31 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks Probably wouldn't have been worth uploading without that wiggle hehe

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    TheGameartist03 [2017-03-04 01:40:22 +0000 UTC]

    THIS IS SOOOOO AAMAAAZZIIIINGGG
    You're a really good animator!!!
    I'm using Adobe Flash and Animate, but do you think I could still get this kind of animation?
    I've been wondering how to get a nice pencil texture...

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to TheGameartist03 [2017-03-05 20:10:03 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks for the kind words!

    Not sure about Animator, but I'm pretty sure getting organic looking pencil strokes in Flash would be a pain in the arse since it's a vector driven program, at its core.

    For (most of) my animations I use a program called 'Krita', which is a free open source program currently in heavy development but still very capable. It operates like photoshop, except it has a timeline integrated into it's core system. No need for plug-ins!

    The biggest limitation of using a rasta program is usually your own hardware. If you have a weak computer (like myself) you generally have to keep your animations quite short, a reasonably small number of layers, and often limiting the rez to 720p.

    Give it a shot anyhow

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    TheGameartist03 In reply to PSYSkip [2017-03-05 21:47:23 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks so much!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to TheGameartist03 [2017-03-06 14:44:47 +0000 UTC]

    no problem

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    tocksique [2016-08-24 22:29:23 +0000 UTC]

    Super smooth! I love the easing and anticipation of the movements. You could also feel the weight of the sack through the way it moves. Nicely done.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to tocksique [2016-08-27 19:42:40 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks a' plenty!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    YA2012 [2016-08-21 06:20:11 +0000 UTC]

    love you're style.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to YA2012 [2016-08-23 15:01:27 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks a lot

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    DracoPhobos [2016-04-19 19:07:27 +0000 UTC]

    aww that's just adorable

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to DracoPhobos [2016-04-20 12:40:41 +0000 UTC]

    Why thank you :3

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    DracoPhobos In reply to PSYSkip [2016-04-23 04:15:58 +0000 UTC]

    I might give Sacky a try any tips?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to DracoPhobos [2016-04-23 10:45:10 +0000 UTC]

    Hmmmm... not any particularly mind blowing tips

    I'd probably say to try out a bunch of different stuff with the flour sack. It's fun to try out different techniques and vary how you usually approach an animation, especially 'cause Sacky is such a simple character to draw. Make mental notes of what works and what you didn't like, and it'll probably come in handy for more elaborate animations.

    Best of luck!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    DracoPhobos In reply to PSYSkip [2016-04-23 16:48:59 +0000 UTC]

    (oops hahah I already did some elaborate stuff)

    Well I'll give it a go! I love the fat squishiness

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to DracoPhobos [2016-04-24 17:30:27 +0000 UTC]

    I can certainly vouch for the joy of fat squishiness. Have fun!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    DracoPhobos In reply to PSYSkip [2016-04-24 17:50:31 +0000 UTC]

    I will thanks! 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    sobbing-jester [2016-03-28 14:23:46 +0000 UTC]

    O . ô that IS a sack load of frames, but the result is awesome, I like the aticipation, he really wants to kick
    that soccer ball the right way haha
    You’re the model student, compared to all others who do these exercises xD

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to sobbing-jester [2016-03-29 06:22:14 +0000 UTC]

    Haha yeah, really wish I was a bit more efficient with the frames... but thanks! I have considered doing the standard thing of smashing the animations out as fast as I can, but then I'd just be left with a bunch of work I probably wouldn't want on my portfolio.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    sobbing-jester In reply to PSYSkip [2016-03-30 07:00:02 +0000 UTC]

    It’s hard to find a middle ground, and if you want to use them for your portfolio I agree that, a bit too many is better than not enough!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Nighteba [2016-03-19 10:34:25 +0000 UTC]

    Awesome, but over 200 frames just for that?! Woah man, you're pushing your game a bit too far...

    I have Krita but I didn't know it got an animation menu. Is it more user-friendly than Photoshop's montage menu?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to Nighteba [2016-03-19 17:51:51 +0000 UTC]

    Dunno, never used Photoshop for animation. I can say that it is fairly user-friendly, but it's still in pre-alpha (if you want the animation aspects) so it's not very stable right now. It's also missing a few functions that would make it a bit more useable, but you'll be hard pressed to find a better free programming for 2D animation, I think.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    Nighteba In reply to PSYSkip [2016-03-19 21:54:58 +0000 UTC]

    Oookay then, I'll run it right now to find out!

    It had little performance issues when I first used it on my potato laptop, but I'll give it another try, perhaps the animations will be more practical than on Ps.
    (in fact, I'd be super happy if I could draw as many frames as you with a result as fluid as this)

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to Nighteba [2016-03-20 00:04:46 +0000 UTC]

    Well performance on my incredibly under powered wacom companion (the first iteration if you want to compare specs) was mostly okay, but when you start pushing over 150-200 there is was a noticeable slowdown because the animations have to be 'prerendered' before they will playback smoothly, and I don't think my processor was digging the huge amount of data that was being crunched. Then again, I was animating at 1080p 24fps. If I took that down to 720p it probably would have been much quicker, and if you animate on 2's then even better.

    Well, that''s my guess anyhow...

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Ryivhnn [2016-03-19 08:24:35 +0000 UTC]

    I was wondering if it would be able to land the kick or if it would fall over XD Love how you made something so simple so full of character

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to Ryivhnn [2016-03-19 17:54:37 +0000 UTC]

    I really wanted to make out fall over actually. Floor sacks are just made for it

    Thanks for the kind words

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    Ryivhnn In reply to PSYSkip [2016-03-20 04:31:57 +0000 UTC]

    LoL they are a bit aren't they XD

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    WillyMutuku [2016-03-18 16:27:59 +0000 UTC]

    agian, so clean motion, and so many frames , o my gosh, nice Job! 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to WillyMutuku [2016-03-18 20:11:37 +0000 UTC]

    Too many frames DX Seriously, I made such a big deal of having to draw 79 frames in my last exercise, you think I'd know better than to almost triple that number for this one

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    WillyMutuku In reply to PSYSkip [2016-03-18 21:09:04 +0000 UTC]

    it wont get less, haha  dude animation does challenge, every new animation feels to me like i am about to go to mordor , but when you arrive its actually the place where the hobbits live

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to WillyMutuku [2016-03-19 18:48:09 +0000 UTC]

    That's a pretty accurate analogy, I'd say

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    scottpetrovic [2016-03-18 16:00:52 +0000 UTC]

    Great job. Your animations always make me smile.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to scottpetrovic [2016-03-18 20:13:00 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks a lot

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    PapiTrooper [2016-03-18 08:21:48 +0000 UTC]

    Very good job !! I have never seen a bag that looks so alive !

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to PapiTrooper [2016-03-18 20:15:12 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks, although I know that there are some really good flour sack animations on DA. It's like the animators benchmark test

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Mekaneck [2016-03-18 06:55:49 +0000 UTC]

    I wonder did you do most of this animation on 1s?
    If that is the case maybe you could try to make the next one more on 2s. i guess this because is a animation is mostly on 1s it looks reaally smooth^^
    soo i would say, well if it takes you too much time just do less drawings . i do not know if this is any help aaand i got to say i like the movement in it! the anticipation before the kick is great.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to Mekaneck [2016-03-18 20:21:55 +0000 UTC]

    Yeah, apart from the beginning which is a mix of 1's and 2's the rest is done on 1's. It wasn't my intention to do it that way, it kind of just happened. Usually I animate in a pose to pose style, but for this one I tried to animate in a more straight ahead way. It makes for fluid animation but makes it really hard to efficiently use frames.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    MrTengoku [2016-03-18 02:45:33 +0000 UTC]

    The movements are so dang smooth!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PSYSkip In reply to MrTengoku [2016-03-18 04:30:23 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks! Funny because the computer I made it on is so slow it played it back at about 3/4 speed most of the time. Definitely looks better at full speed :3

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0