Frankenstein cartoon

Here is a cartoon I started doing of Barney Frank.  The idea was Barney as Frankenstein, something about Dodd-Frank...so I didn't have a cartoon idea but I had a character.  I started drawing this and hoped that I could make the drawing funny enough to work as a stand alone or atleast come up with a funny enough background to make it interesting.

I never quite finished it and at a certain point I convinced myself I was putting too much time into this character when I didn't have a story or a setting to put him in.  But after Brent's interesting message about the old cartoon (I forget the name at the moment) I think it might be worth putting a little more work into.  I guess the main thing is to have fun producing, instead of producing something fun.

Walk cycle inked and colored

Here is the walk cycle I did earlier inked and colored.

click here to watch the animation

We're in the process of creating a pretty solid animation process. My next post will be a quick pedagogy on inking in Illustrator. Hopefully Brian will be a part of this Blog by then :b

Walk sequence

My first traditional walk sequence.

if only I timed it better

I wasn't sure this was gonna work because I didn't think about the timing before hand, but it reads much better than I thought it would. We're gonna have to figure out a way to scan images faster or set up some kind of tripod. I'm excited about the stuff I'll be able to do once I get a light table.

Let Light Be There II: Keys and Passing Positions

Next Step: In-Betweens...

Let Light Be There!

That's me enjoying a peanut butter cookie next to my new light box. I spent $30 on parts (fluorescent bulb, reflector, plexiglass...most important item = duct tape!!!), and in 5 hours I had a functional set up. Why'd I go through all the hassle just to have this shoddy thing take up my workspace?

Here's one way to answer:

Yes, I adhered to the model perfectly, but wait a minute...why is he getting bigger and bigger? That's not supposed to happen!!!

Draw your two keyframes first. With a lightbox, you can see the first keyframe as you draw the second key. You can establish the whole range of motion you want to occur, before you even start a single "in-between".

I made the following two keys, and a passing position, with my new lightbox. I think when I finish this walk-cycle and add in-betweens its going to look really funny.



-Brent

On Simple Character Design

Today I was working on a study of a horse from a Disney model sheet and it dawned on me that most of the form/volume that was achieved in the picture wasn't with details wrapping around the surface. But rather by implying it through the outline.

what the artist did

what I did

Here is a good model sheet done by Dave Hilberman.

He creates the form through curved overlapping shapes and rich linework.

This way the fundamental shapes retain most of their essence and you're able to think about humor in the structure. As an Illustrator I have a tendency to wrap lines around the surface and draw in little details to create dimension

we don't want to scare the kids into laughing

but I think one of the necessities in creating funny character designs is through simplicity and a contrast of shapes.

keep it simple but keep em laughin'

I'll try to work something up in this category and see what happens. I plan to continue the work with the horse but I might decide to animate a walk sequence of something a little easier first.

(It's worth mentioning that Hilberman was one of the leaders of the strike against Disney and was later hated by Walt. He formed his own animation studio that would later become UPA. He was one of the leading animators of the " Hell Bent for Election to support Roosevelt in 1944" all the more reason why his drawings are so awesome. Article on Hilberman and more of his layouts)

Also this is a funny walk sequence by Art Babbit when he worked with UPA
It does exactly what you mentioned about variations of walk sequences, Brent.

alright have fun

-Chance

Walk Cycles: Character and Irony

I'll consider this my contribution to our blog, since I actually did some important work today. I have to mention that a lot more happened in the Alice Studio that's worth noting, perhaps Chance or Brian can chime in.

I'm including a pencil-test I did today, which is a study of a walk cycle of Junior, a Tex Avery character from "Hound Hunting" (1947), animated by Ed Love. The link below includes the full cartoon as well as an animator breakdown (I don't know if its accurate or not, but you can notice different styles as the intervals specify. I'll point out a few things I noticed while doing the study, which I will have to include in a follow-up study.


First, notice that Junior's walk is very different from George's. Junior is big and fat, but is also very "stupid" and therefore he has the personality of a follower. Watch how Junior walks behind George, regulating his own walk so as not to cross George's path. This irony is drawn out when Junior does walk alongside George, when Junior does a funny sideways walk.

That said on the difference between the two characters, now let me draw your attention to some of the specifics of Junior's walk. The whole sequence "came into focus" when I noticed Junior's right hand, the one holding the napsack. Notice how it rotates around the wrist, toward and away from the camera. Now, you should start to see some of the other subtleties Ed Love is capable of, all which help convey the irony of the cartoon--you can almost see Junior looking around at the landscape, left and right, back and forth, but thinking nothing!

Finally, watch the last scene, also animated by Ed Love. This is a variation on the opening walk cycle, but what an important difference. Notice the feet are dragging, until Ed Love introduces a third walk cycle, concluding the cartoon with an ironic hearkening back to the mood created during the opening.

If you really think you're still up for it...watch the whole cartoon, and see if you can spot how much the animators rely on walk cycles and variations of them to create a certain tension for each moment of the cartoon. They're all over the place.

Here is the cartoon with accompanying breakdown: http://kaseykockroach.blogspot.com/2008/11/tex-avery-hound-hunters.html

Here is the model sheet that shows you how to draw Junior. You can discover the underlying construction easily even though its not shown (Once you've figured out Junior's construction, compare it with George's. Notice the importance of proportions?): http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6884/1394/1600/What%20Price%20Fleadom.jpg


And, I attached a pencil-test of my study (its not perfect, so go f*ck yourself!)




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Alright John K., eat your heart out,
-Brent