Human
beings have always been influenced by art. In early ages, cavemen would illustrate their life on cave walls; which depicted movement within their drawn characters.
In today’s world, animation has become an important element of life. We are surrounded by it, may it be through movies, television or other platforms of media.
Here are 9 ways to revamp your character animation;
Study real-life characters
It
can be a slippery task to get character animation right. It’s those subtle shifts in gradients which matter the most; as minor as they might seem, they are very significant to the eyes as every gap within motion transitioning has the ability to put off an animation.
By
taking reference from real-life characters makes it easier to
understand movement, as to how they move around, timings and weight
shifts. You could always take some time off at the park or a café and
observe people.
Know the psychology behind the movement
Everything we do is linked to our internal state of mind; our expressions, movement, posture and how we walk and talk. You don’t require a degree to judge movements on the basis of a psychological point of view.
Real-life references for faces and expressions
You
can even use your own reflection or picture for reference, for animating a character. It is essential to get the facial expressions right, for your character animation since that is the most obvious window for the viewers for empathizing with the character. In short,
expressions speak more than words.
Record yourself
To
be able to completely engross yourself in the character animation you’ll be required to relate to your character and that can only happen if you use yourself as a part of the reference. Feel your movements,
changes and transitioning in a manner to implement it in your animation.
In this era of technological advancement, it is easy to record videos. You can easily record yourself in action and consult with it. It is best to act out a scene which you are trying to animate, it will assist at mapping out your work and focus on delicate areas.
Keep it simple
The
appliances you will be used to animate, it is best to keep them simple and modified according to your needs and requirements. Having extra features that you will never be using it going to be a waste of money and effort. A generic system that provides you with the basic and important features is enough to create noteworthy animations.
Although
having an improper rig is simply going to cause you to under do your
work by overwhelming you with the excessive workload since your
apparatus won’t be able to handle the requirements. An ideal rig would
be the one which allows you to do your work with peace, without having
to fix your systems and software’s; otherwise, you’d be left with the
question of how your characters half body is floating on the other side
of the panel.
Add layers to poses
Characters
don’t suddenly come to life, they require several layers. Animators build characters starting with simple lines and shapes, upon which they add details and individual features.
It
like an oval turns into the shape of the face, then simple lines transform into proportional facial features and so on. It is often advised by expert video animation services that the animator should refine one single area of the character at a time.
By following a layering process, you’ll simply be utilizing your time and effort. You can add more details with each phase of the character and the scenes surrounding them.
Use eyes as navigators
You
might have noticed how eyes are usually the first part of the body that moves before making a move. For example, if you want to walk to a
certain place; you’re going to visualize it first. And then the head follows and then the body. And eyes are what attract most, therefore it
is very important to focus on the eyes; whether the character is moving
or not
Center of gravity
It
is necessary to keep in mind the effect of gravity on everything that has mass. Gravity is an essential part of the animation, as it measures the movement and its effect on the surrounding. For example for someone who
is tall and skinny, their movement would consist of longer and softer steps or someone who’s short and fuller would have shorter and heavier steps. Therefore, make sure you show the presence of a mass in your animation.
Time your movements
Having timely movements is a major concern. Otherwise, the end product turns out to be disproportionate. Emotions play a significant role in movements, you must’ve noticed how a happy person walks and someone who’s feeling down would walk, their movements would have a significant difference. Based on these movements the viewer can also foreshadow
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