Let me try to make this post interesting by showing you some horrible background sketches.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
End of October Progress
OH MY GOSH IT'S GOING TO BE NOVEMBER ALREADY. O_O At this point, I really wish people would stop asking me how the animation is going (particularly "what percentage" is finished) because I never know how to respond. IT'S GREAT, OKAY? IT'S REALLY REALLY GREAT. >:I What's bothering me is how much I have done. I'm way behind schedule here. ...Weeell, now that I think about it, the length of the first episode ended up being about a minute longer than I expected so I guess it's okay... but I still should've had more finished by now. D:
Let me try to make this post interesting by showing you some horrible background sketches.
Let me try to make this post interesting by showing you some horrible background sketches.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
How Long Does One Scene Take?
Thought I'd post a little something you may or may not find interesting. ;) This'll give you an idea as to how time-consuming animation can be.
The average scene is 6 seconds long, so I'll use that as an example. Action scenes take more or less time depending on the complexity so I'll just talk about a simple dialogue scene. Remember, a 6-second-long scene has about 80 frames because we need 5-7 frames of padding after the dialogue so the next scene doesn't jump in too fast.
FIRST STEP: guidelines, aka stick figures. Positioning them so that the head tilts and movement go along with the dialogue takes about 45 minutes. This is usually the most tedious step because this is how the scene is put together. Once this step is done, it gets easier.
When that is done, next I animate the eyes. The eyes are the focal point and lead the way for expressions and whatever the character is thinking. They have to be perfect because the eyes are what people watch. This step can take from 45 minutes to 2 hours.
Next, lipsync! This is probably my favorite thing about a dialogue scene. Lipsync is about as important as the eyes, and we don't want any big mistakes here or they'll show. Hmm...you know, I'm not sure how long this step takes, probably because I actually have FUN with it XD, but my guess is from an hour to an hour and a half.
When I'm positive everything looks good so far, I begin drawing the outline of the face and any other details like Gio's hairline or Strider's goatee. This step can take a while because I tend to have the most problems with it, but at about 30 seconds of work per scene, that all adds up to 40 minutes for this step.
Next is hair. Gio's hair is very complex and has three parts to it, which all move separately from each other. I like to do the part that sticks up over his face, then the white part, then the black part. This step takes around 4-5 hours.
Finally, his body, arms, and props. This depends on what's happening in the scene. If there's a lot going on, I can spend up to 5 hours on this part because these movements are sometimes the hardest to do. I often need to act out the scene and watch myself in the mirror to be able to animate them.
There you have it: somewhere around 14 hours of work for 6 seconds of animation. That doesn't even include the time spent on the background, outlines, and coloring; man, you don't even wanna KNOW how long that takes. Holy moly, I have a lot of work to do...
The average scene is 6 seconds long, so I'll use that as an example. Action scenes take more or less time depending on the complexity so I'll just talk about a simple dialogue scene. Remember, a 6-second-long scene has about 80 frames because we need 5-7 frames of padding after the dialogue so the next scene doesn't jump in too fast.
FIRST STEP: guidelines, aka stick figures. Positioning them so that the head tilts and movement go along with the dialogue takes about 45 minutes. This is usually the most tedious step because this is how the scene is put together. Once this step is done, it gets easier.
When that is done, next I animate the eyes. The eyes are the focal point and lead the way for expressions and whatever the character is thinking. They have to be perfect because the eyes are what people watch. This step can take from 45 minutes to 2 hours.
Next, lipsync! This is probably my favorite thing about a dialogue scene. Lipsync is about as important as the eyes, and we don't want any big mistakes here or they'll show. Hmm...you know, I'm not sure how long this step takes, probably because I actually have FUN with it XD, but my guess is from an hour to an hour and a half.
When I'm positive everything looks good so far, I begin drawing the outline of the face and any other details like Gio's hairline or Strider's goatee. This step can take a while because I tend to have the most problems with it, but at about 30 seconds of work per scene, that all adds up to 40 minutes for this step.
Next is hair. Gio's hair is very complex and has three parts to it, which all move separately from each other. I like to do the part that sticks up over his face, then the white part, then the black part. This step takes around 4-5 hours.
Finally, his body, arms, and props. This depends on what's happening in the scene. If there's a lot going on, I can spend up to 5 hours on this part because these movements are sometimes the hardest to do. I often need to act out the scene and watch myself in the mirror to be able to animate them.
There you have it: somewhere around 14 hours of work for 6 seconds of animation. That doesn't even include the time spent on the background, outlines, and coloring; man, you don't even wanna KNOW how long that takes. Holy moly, I have a lot of work to do...
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Time for a Speech
Since I don't have any news yet, I think I'll talk about how awesome this whole cartoon process is. Yeah...that's what I'll do...
I have tried many different fields of art: realism, cartooning, painting, pastel, clay sculpting, 3D modeling: pretty much (almost) everything. Out of all the art-related things I've tried, 2D animation is the hardest, most tedious, most irritating art form to me, but it is also the most rewarding. The best part is watching the results after hours and hours of hard work and seeing your characters actually performing. Conveying emotions and believable acting in animation -- without the voices, mind you -- is the hardest thing I've ever done but it is by FAR the best art form there is, hands down.
...but I still hate doing backgrounds.
Right now I just have to mention two of my favorite quotes from the animator Art Babbitt: "Every rule in animation is there to be broken -- if you have the inventiveness and creativity to look beyond what exists." "The animation medium is very unusual. We can accomplish actions no human could possibly do. And make it look convincing!"
And of course, I can't forget the complete AWESOMENESS that is the voice actors, Neil and Jack (Giovanni and Strider respectively). Seriously guys, this show wouldn't be possible without your talents. Ever since I started creating my own characters (what...8 years ago??), I've always wanted them to talk and thought about what kinds of voices they'd have, and this is the first time I get to really hear it, all thanks to you two. I LOVE YOU GUYS <3
Soooo YEP, that is all for now. Back to animating!
I have tried many different fields of art: realism, cartooning, painting, pastel, clay sculpting, 3D modeling: pretty much (almost) everything. Out of all the art-related things I've tried, 2D animation is the hardest, most tedious, most irritating art form to me, but it is also the most rewarding. The best part is watching the results after hours and hours of hard work and seeing your characters actually performing. Conveying emotions and believable acting in animation -- without the voices, mind you -- is the hardest thing I've ever done but it is by FAR the best art form there is, hands down.
...but I still hate doing backgrounds.
Right now I just have to mention two of my favorite quotes from the animator Art Babbitt: "Every rule in animation is there to be broken -- if you have the inventiveness and creativity to look beyond what exists." "The animation medium is very unusual. We can accomplish actions no human could possibly do. And make it look convincing!"
And of course, I can't forget the complete AWESOMENESS that is the voice actors, Neil and Jack (Giovanni and Strider respectively). Seriously guys, this show wouldn't be possible without your talents. Ever since I started creating my own characters (what...8 years ago??), I've always wanted them to talk and thought about what kinds of voices they'd have, and this is the first time I get to really hear it, all thanks to you two. I LOVE YOU GUYS <3
Soooo YEP, that is all for now. Back to animating!
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