Cat Character walk

This is my cat character line test. He has quite a simple walk, he will be interacting with a heavy box, a kite and ice. Hopefully it will all go according to plan!

Lip sync

Just thought i'd post my lip sync in vimeo, it might be better quality.

Character Plasticine Model

After Andys advice I decided to create a plasicine model of my character. I am a very visual person and it could help my when drawing the different angles of my character. I don't think I am great at creating sculptures but I had a go at it. It took a few hours and it came out looking quite like my character although its not perfect. The legs aren't great, but I was woried that if I took anymore plasticine away from the legs, it wouldn't support itself. I'm surprised that I actually got it to stand without any support. It has helped me to draw my character much more easily from diferent angles as it can be really frustrating trying to imagine it and then get it down on paper without any visual aid. As a result, I am quite pleased with my character sculpture.

Character Design

These are my designs for the 20 second animation we have to produce. The character must interact with three of the following:

- Boulder
- Heavy Box
- Ice
- Puddles
- Kite
- Balloon
- Football

It took me quite a while to think of what I wanted my character to interact with, but I think I know what I want to do. It is also important to mention that it is the quality of the animation and how the character interacts with the above that is important.

Here are some illustrations of my character I created in Photoshop:

I wanted to keep my design simple because adding detail would take much longer to complete the animation and it is the personality of the character and the animation that is important, not so much the design and the story.

Alien Walk

Just thought I would put my Alien walk cycle to some music, because although its not necessary - It's a change to silence.

Photoshop Alien Walk

Here is my Alien walk cycle created in Photoshop. It took me hours to complete and I think it has come out alright. I also tried to go one step further and try to make him walk across the page. However, because I have Photoshop elements - there is no animate button. I had to save it to the web for it to animate, which is really annoying. It didn't come out great but it is a start.

Lip Sync 4

 

This is another Lip Sync I have created today, with the quote ' I was just trying to be brave like you' said by Simba from the Lion King. For this animation, I created another cat character inspired by Simba.

I tried to show that he was breathing heavily at the beginning of the animation, by expanding his chest. I think it worked out pretty well. I also wanted to have his eyes darting around because he is in a distressed/upset state - although they might dart around too much. During the end of the animation - as he says 'brave like you', I made his ears go backwards to show his saddness.

I also noticed that after his breathing, he closes his mouth and I think this makes the animation less smooth and is a bit distracting. I created another one, this time leaving his mouth open as he is just about to speak. I think it is an improvement from the first one. Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome.

Improved Alien Walk

Here is my fully improved Alien walk cycle. I created each frame again, this time making sure that the movement of the legs was correct and I also exaggerated the swinging of the arms. I am quite pleased with it, although I still think there are a few adjustments to be made to make it look much smoother. I will try to make the final walk as smooth as possible.