Tuesday, January 08, 2013

ANIMATION EXERCIZE



I had some random walking and sitting poses in a file and it occurred to me that some of them could be combined to make a nice little one minute pencil test film.

I'd start with a funny walk. Maybe the character leads with his stomach. Maybe he leans back and forth as he walks, as in the sketches above.



Anyway, start with a funny walk. The character gains through sc. [no offence to gays intended here...I just like the lead-from-the-hip walk].


Cut to a stool or a chair. The same character walks into sc., stops in front of the chair, turns and sits down. I'm sure the sitting motion above works fine, but why not try something more flamboyant?

Ben Washam said the sitting pelvis should act like a canon ball thrown into the chair, dragging the rest of the body along with it. I imagine the arms would be forward rather than backward as in in this Edward Lear-type pose (above), but this is a funny idea and I'd like to try to try it some time.
Sometimes sitting requires two seating motions: one to sit on the edge of the chair and a second to re-adjust to a more comfortable pose farther back.


Bad posture is funny. I can imagine a character that takes great care in his preparation to sit properly then unexpectedly flops into a slouch like the one above.


Maybe our guy breaks out of his walk cycle to kiss a girl then resumes walking again. Okay...this is getting too elaborate!

Note: none of the drawings or photos here are mine.


4 comments:

kellie said...

That LIFE photo is intriguing. It looks like they've both been slipped a Mickey Finn, and he's trying to help his already unconscious partner escape before he too succumbs. If only the damned furniture wasn't in the way they might stand a chance, poor kids.

Anonymous said...

They are probably BOTH named "Mickey Finn" and cannot bear going on sharing that name without reproducing, right on that couch.

Unknown said...

If you have any spare time, couldn't you do a quick one minute rough animation featuring this type of exercise? I hope John K. has gotten a ton done on the Cans Wtihout Labels cartoon. He doesn't seem to post as often anymore and I hope he's doing alright.

I'm glad you liked the economics blogs I linked to. There are a ton more that I found from all sorts of different perspectives and theories on the subject. It amazes me at how there can be so much disagreement even though you're relying on the same empirical data to come to a conclusion and there is generally a broad consensus among the field of macroeconomics.

I've also had to postpone my college stuff. As I told you previously, I'm going to be spending a few more months in this state and then moving back up North like I predicted many months ago and then starting college up there. That's probably the best part about the situation. I was getting tired of Georgia anyway. In the meantime, I'll continue to try to sharpen my knowledge of philosophy, history and economics for fun and hopefully get back into some serious drawing too.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Roberto: Yikes! That's a tall order!