[WIP] Wolf Star project

[Sam E]

I don't actually have a name picked out for this project yet, so I'm just going with 'wolf star' for right now. Hello everyone, I'm new to the forums and new to TV paint. This project that I'm working on is for my Animated Short Film class. So far, I've pretty much animated everything in Flash (aside from effects like fire, water, ect) and I'll be bringing it over to TVPaint to ink and color. The basic story behind my project is that a wolf, representing the sun, sneezes away the planets rotating around him and has to go get them back while at the same time having to avoid a winged snake that represents a black hole.

Here's what I have so far:


I also put in an attachment of what the forest he'll be running around in looks like.

[Elodie]

Good WIP ! it's rhythmic and the story seems really sweet. When do you plan to finish it ?

Would you have the turn-around of your characters ? I'm curious about how the little wolf is

[ZigOtto]

yeap, it looks well started ... good job so far !
but at this step, (animation near to be complete), the sound is drastically missing to me !
(or is it just me who haven't any sound in this video ...?)
how can you work on the structure/balance/rhythm of the whole story
without a (primary, not necessary the definitive one) soundtrack !!?

beside this essencial point, I thought the wolf's animation is fine,
though the snake's moving could be improved a bit imo.

regarding your color BG sample, take care of the dosage of your tinsel pink and purple,
but here, it's a matter of taste ... if you like it flashy, go ahead .

[Sam E]

Sound will unfortunately have to come later. At this point I just hope I can get it mostly done by the time it's due, which, I believe, is in three to four weeks. X.x Oh well, who needs sleep anyway? u.u;

Here's an update on my progress.

[Elodie]

Oh well, who needs sleep anyway? u.u

Welcome in that terrific artists' world

Anyway, I would say there is a little rhythm problem. I mean all the movements seems very regular... too regular. Don't hesitate to play more with quick moments and slow moments =)

Good luck for your the remain of the shots

[Paul Fierlinger]

I mean all the movements seems very regular... too regular.

I agree. You take your inbetweening with trepidation and too mathematically. Loosen up; you are overdoing it. You are loosing the sight of the forest for the trees. The characters float as if inbetweened by a computer; like fish in water. It is probably too late for you to fix this now because you would have to start over again so at least take a lesson from it into the next job: sketch more and draw dynamically. You should recognize motion in every pose; you should not be afraid to use hold frames where the action comes to the briefest stop. I hate to keep repeating myself, but this happens when you see your characters as a collection of balloons instead of an integration of muscles and changing surfaces.

[ZigOtto]

... I hate to keep repeating myself, but this happens when you see your characters as a collection of balloons instead of an integration of muscles and changing surfaces.

you can change surfaces very mathematically as well (like a computed morphing), the linearity/regularity in his inbetweens has nothing to do with "the collection of balloons" as you said, it 's only a matter of scale/steps chosen to add inbetween(s) from key to key,
in other words, the inbetweens at the wrong place (like in the middle, then the middle of each half...), and probably too many inbetweens too, (the better being 0 inbetweens, meaning : all in keys!).

[Paul Fierlinger]

you can change surfaces very mathematically as wellI

I agree but still maintain that the compiling of balloons is conducive to the mindless collection of ever more balloons. It makes animation deceivingly easy because it makes inbetweening look easy.

[Sam E]

It would be too late to go back and change those things for this project now, but I'll definitely keep all those things in mind for the next one. Plus, when the class this project is for is over, I can go back to this and fix things.

[ZigOtto]

It makes animation deceivingly easy because it makes inbetweening look easy.

inbetweening is never easier than making the main keys, it's just one step beyond on the animation success road, and imo requires as much soul and attention (if even more) as to the previous step (drawing keys).
it's not just spending times, times for making the keys-anim more fluent, or less abrupt, it's polishing the scene's living, and its credibity into the bargain,
so we can't neglect this step, or achieve it mechanically, with your mind away, ... if so, you will ruin the Magic we are all looking after when working in Animation.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Inbetweening requires less thought. All the main thinking was done on figuring out the keys, so no matter how complex the drawing may be, the problem often stems from the fact that you have two lines on the side to keep you in the middle of the road -- which is a mistake, nevertheless a newbie gets easily lullabied into the illusion.

[NickA]

I really like this so far. Lovelt colors and rendering, the smoke looks great. I can see what you guys mean about the spacing. Some different slow in outs could of added to the flow.