House & Tree

Couple of weeks back, A very good friend of mine Madhav gave me his unused I Ball Pen Tablet, just like that as a matter of fact, I am going to pay him in few days, so I was excited to draw something and thought of a very childish topic to draw about is 'House & Tree'. I remember, in school days we used to get topics like festival, outdoor game, still life, house and tree, etc. Amongst these all, my favorite was house & tree and I guess it still is. So here's it.

I would definitely like to know your reviews about this, so I can improve myself.

Thanks!

Tany!

How to turn the Head - Animation Workflow Tutorial

Hi guys! I've been busy these days on some personal animation work and I know everyone was. This is the crunch time for all of us after all!
I was about to animate a new, better dialogue shot but wondered if I am up to it. I just don't think I could do it as 'they' do it. Every time I visit sites like 11 Second Club or watch some great stuff from so many mind blowing films, I bite my nails (my nails are literally gone behind the skin already, nothing left to chew). It just takes my sleep away and makes me think 'I can never do that! Oh god....I'll be never as good as that!' And maybe its true. But for the record, it doesn't matter. I will keep trying, die trying. We all should.
So coming back on the shot, I decided to test run. I animated a 'Head turn' just to set the path and apply some new ideas and work-flow methods I recently read. (Thanks to Eric Scheur for those Awesome 'Helpful hints' on the 11 Second Club site ) I wondered how 'they' make their animation so smooth and yet snappy and so natural. It just looks right. I am focusing on the physical movement yet keeping acting in mind.

Here is the First Blocking Pass:

Just 5 Poses. I know. But these are the Golden poses of my shot. So not much of a story or a gag but just a turn look turn look and turn and look again. haha.... sounds funny! Anyway, this is a very simple shot. And these poses would do fine. So can I hit the 'Spline' button on the Graph Editor? I did and looked. It moved but that's that. Just moved from one pose to other stopping abruptly like a robot. So what to do I am not getting it! Well This is what I wanted to try. Don't forget the 'Ease In Ease Out' Principle. Nothing can stop suddenly. Keeping that in mind, we think of doing this in our Graph Editor with those cures and those tangent handles. Yes it is possible. But I'll say it flat, Don't do it. Dont let the Computer do it for you. Keep the control to yourself.

Here's how, The Second Blocking Pass:

Now there are 11 Golden Poses instead of just 5 we had before. Those Poses define my Timing. They are the Ease In and Ease Out. 'I' made it not the Computer. 'I' controlled it because 'I' knew what it should look like, not the Computer. And also I added a blink when he turns his head as it is very natural for us. 90% of the time when we turn and look at something else from something we were looking at before, we blink.

Here is The Third Blocking Pass:

Now there are 16 key Poses. I made him look down and up again in the interval between the first and the second turn. And also I want to mention that I almost have Key frames on every frame from frames 48 to 52. This is again because I didn't like what the computer was giving me by just having a key frame of the blink. (the shut eye). So I controlled it manually again. Sometimes it doesn't work on fours or threes or even twos. Then don't hesitate to set and animate every single frame. Learn from the 2D guys. They have to draw every single frame everywhere!
Now its time ti hit that sacred 'spline' button.

Here's The Fourth Pass:

When you hit Spline, everything becomes smooth but also floaty. Why is that? It is because of 'Overshoot'. The curves go beyond the key you set for the sake of making it smooth and back again. But I didn't had that in mind, did I? No I notice that there is too much floatyness and every action goes beyond and back which is not natural.

There you have to see and edit in the graph editor. you have to flatten the curves. Don't let them go anywhere you didn't intended. But sometimes you just wanna keep those as I did in the last pose. Look at how the head goes and slightly comes back and settle. Here it felt natural to me so I kept it. Remember, what looks good to the eye is always right. Every rule can be broken for good.
So I look at it and feel that its done. It can be but taking feedback is crucial. So I move on asking people and thinking about it again ...

Here is The Final Polish:

Notice that I delayed the brows 2 frames behind in relation to the eyes when he looks down from frame 29 to 35 which was not done before. Now it looks fluid and sells the idea of follow through. I know its very minute thing to notice but these little tit bits adds to it. Also I made him look up before he actually turns his head up from frame 63 to 70. This is to anticipate the following action as he catches something and follows it upwards. I added the blink in the last head turn too because when I acted it out, I did that naturally every time.
And that is my Final shot. Yes it is very subtle and soft and simple, but I think it feels natural. I know there are so many things that can be improved and added but this was an experiment, an exercise to learn and try out. And I think I was successful on my experiment. Now I feel much more confident to go ahead and work on that dialogue shot exaggerating and making it cartoony and all. :-)
Hope this little so called tutorial helped you in some way, if it did, or even not, comments are more than welcome.
Keep Animating!

Nilabh