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Animation | Character Animation | Film and Video | Showreel

Character Animation

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Danielle and Fred the Hippo put on their dancing shoes as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. The frames were animated in Photoshop and due to so many technical difficulties in Flash, imported into Premiere and exported as a film. This process took a lot longer than the traditional method, and although I like the result I might stick to pencil and paper for a while to meet future deadlines next year!

Music: Duck Tail by Joe Clay

I used dance moves from this fast swing dancing video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myJj0mNNe1Y

And the film Twice Blessed (1945): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESc5D5lWQQ0

Enjoy! :3

Danielle picks up a coin to return to her future husband, Mark, as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. I think this is one of the least successful of my animations due to closing deadlines and time constraints, but it had to do to fulfill the brief! I have learned a lot from these exercises and hope to produce even better work next time!

Note: This is a flash back in Danielle's timeline, she meets Mark BEFORE she has her baby Justin!

Danielle picks up her crying (and rather smelly!) baby Justin as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. The aim was to create a feeling of weight and strain as the character attempts to pick up an object or animal. The drawings were getting a bit tiresome towards the end, but the result seemed good enough after testing.

Danielle speaks for the first time when she gets excited over the prospects of a new job as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. This was done at home without a line tester, so I'm pleased that it came out so clearly! It was also the first time using a dope sheet to plan out the dialogue to the body movement and lip syncing--could have been pushed further but I'm fairly happy to keep it as is for now.

The dialogue is an edited segment from Jessica Hynes as Daisy Steiner in "SPACED", Season One, Episode 4: "Art". Directed by Edgar Wright ©Channel 4 1999-2001.

Danielle pulls a rope which snaps unexpectedly as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. This went through a couple of roughs. When I was cleaning up the animation I decided the movement was far too boring and changed it by having her jump onto the rope instead of just reaching up to grab it. It gave some nice results. Took a lot of editing to get the timing right, but I think it turned out well, though could be better with more time! Fred the hippo makes a cameo as well! =]

Danielle trips and falls as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. I relied on my video reference a little more this time, I think this makes the impact really interesting, but the fall itself was a bit boring so I changed it. This one is a bit rougher than normal. I think it might need some tweaking to make it more believable, but after drawing 100+ frames I had to stop! Next up, pulling a rope and having it snap unexpectedly.

Danielle and my Hippo character, Fred, go out for walkies as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. The aim was to have the animal strain on the lead unexpectedly to interesting effect for the human character. This was a real challenge for me, the background, hippo and woman are on three separate layers in Ernest and it was intensely difficult to time them together so that it worked. I think this still needs touching up, but there is no more time for it this week as I have to move on to the next task!

My Hippo character, Fred, jumping as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. I prefer the rough version a bit more to this cleaner one, but it was fun to play around with squash and stretch to exaggerate the weight of my Hippo. I am also aware that Hippos cannot jump in real life, but animation is about breaking the rules! :)

Character Walk Cycles

10 sec run cycle for my Hippo character, Fred, as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. The purpose was to have the character display an emotion that reflects their personality, in this case an overjoyed scamper. The drag on the tail and ears was the tricky bit, but it will have to do!

10 sec walk cycle for my Hippo character, Fred, as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. The purpose was to have the character display an emotion that reflects their personality, in this case a content waddle. I used a different angle here to challenge myself.

10 sec walk cycle for my character, Danielle, as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. The purpose was to have the character display an emotion that reflects their personality. Here she is overjoyed that she has just received tickets to see Kate Bush!

10 sec walk cycle for my character, Danielle, as a part of my Character Animation brief at Uni. The purpose was to have the character display an emotion that reflects their personality.