BONE is a well drawn and well written epic graphic novel and I finally got the chance to read the whole story while I have some time off. I really liked Jeff Smith's (the creator of BONE) design of the Rat Creatures and wanted to give animating one of them a try. This is a quick run cycle I did with one of those characters.
3 comments:
Sweet stuff man, Those hind legs are working really well, but the animation's really consistent, y'know? The motion doesn't speed up or slow down, it's all really mechanical. Especially in the front legs. They could use more hang time, and more movement in the hands as they come down. As it looks now it just looks like you took the same motion that brought them up and reversed it.
When you bring the feet up from the ground, they sweep across the dirt first. They should do the same against the air current when they come back down.
I'd like to suggest this - There's this one frame where the arms just the started dropping, the legs just left the ground, and the body turned into this bland shape between c and s-curve. Ditch that frame and start a new one. Keep the c-curve; the sudden snap to s-curve will make for longer hang time and faster descent. Already less mechanical. Make those hands fight against the air current in this drawing. They should be tilted up, favoring the position of the previous drawing. That will again affect the timing. Keep the legs as is. The animation in the hind legs are a tad stilted, but I think they work really well as they are now.
Here you can take a break to swear at me for thinking I know so damn much. You'll find this kind of guide in a Richard Williams book, so trust me on this one. If the animation doesn't look any better at this point, I'm officially full of shit.
There is a frame in your animation where the arms are halfway up, and the legs, halfway across the floor. Get rid of it.
Slowing in and out of our animations is something our class was never really taught in full view. That's because a lot of the fluidity of that comes from inbetweens, a subject that's been excluded from a lot of animation schools to save time. I learned to apply it better through, of all damn things, tweening symbols when I started at Fatkat.
In a little bit, I'll have my own rat run animation up, with some info I learned about inbetweens, made just for you and anyone who comes across it. I hope you find it, and the rest of the crap I've said, helpful to your overall work.
And keep that shit up, Jono. I've never seen anyone so committed to animation than you.
I'm pretty sure I need to see said "rat creature" in his finished glory!
Are you working any more on this?
Thanks very much for your comments, guys (especially Ryan).
I've recieved some annotations from another party as well, and I would like to improve this animation before I return to work in Feburary.
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