Putting it all together

This is my first assessed animation, in other words the first one that counts!

The aim of this assessment is to put together everything I have learnt so far, and demonstrate all the principles of 2D animation in action.

Background Research



One of the current animators that inspire me is Simon Tofield creator of ‘Simon’s cat’. After seeing his animations capture the personality and behaviours of the cat so perfectly I’m determined to create something as enjoyable to watch as I find his shorts.



With this in mind I am starting the planning process of my animation.

Initial character Ideas

· Stick man – Already used
· Ball – Already used
· Animal – Potential
o Pets
o Sea life
o Birds – Already used
o Mammals
· Sports - Potential
o Running – Already used
o Swimming
o Jumping – Already used
o Cycling

I have decided to base the animation on one of my pets as this gives me a chance to study the movements of a real example of my character providing background research.
I am basing my character on my hamster Pippin.


The next stage

Character designs

This first drawing is too long.


The second is better but needs a few tweaks.


I am happy with my final drawing.

My story plan

To demonstrate all the principles of 2D animation I need to have quite a bit of movement and as my character is a hamster the animation will be set in the cage now I need to decide what is going to happen…

Narrative ideas

o Have the hamster running in a wheel
o Hamster climbs the bars
o Running through pipes
o ‘Sneaking’ food

Pros and cons

Wheel idea – I like this idea but it could get a bit dull to watch.
Bar idea – Would be easy to show the principles but the other ideas have more potential.
Pipe idea – wouldn’t really demonstrate the principles very well.
Food idea – Would show the principles of animation easily enough but needs more development.

I have decided to go with the food idea and am developing this idea further.

Idea development.
Instead of just running around eating food my character will ‘ninja’ around the cage appearing and disappearing whilst taking food from the bowl. This idea means I can show all the principles of 2D animation easily.




My Final Animation


Evaluation
I feel the idea had potential but the finished animation didn’t work as well as I would have liked.
The timing and spacing needs improvement but the stretching and squashing was demonstrated well I feel.
I’m not happy with this animation because it is a bit difficult to make out what is happening as the action moves too quickly and it would have been better if I zoomed in a bit. In the future I need to plan out my shots to ensure this doesn’t happen again!