Welcome Back!

Welcome back everyone!  Without further ado, let's get into it!

First thing's first: finishing your pre-production package means that you have the following:

• 1. Professional Character Design Model Sheets in color.
• 2. Professional Environment Design Model Sheets in color.
• 3. A 1-page Collection of Common Character Poses on a Sheet of Paper! Use the “How to Draw Adventure Time” resources if you are unsure of how to do this!
• 4. Refine your Animatic!  Finish timing, and add as many drawings as you need to flesh it out! The more the better!
• 5. A 1-2 page Design Document for your animation!
• 6. Exported storyboards and animatic! (H.264 Codec; Three Pages Horizontal Format for the Storyboard)
• 7. Renumber your scenes, collect your scenes properly, and export them to toon boom.
• 8. A collection of photographic and video references for your animation!

Besides checking for this content, here is how having these items help you!

• The character design and environment model sheets serve as reference for your animation scenes should you ever get stuck or forget how to draw your characters.
• The character poses and design document helps you draw your characters on model, with correct body proportions, in case you forget, get tired, or get exhausted drawing during the second semester.  The lack of shortcuts allows you to gain massive experience by drawing more and more!
• Your animatic and storyboards give you 95% of the understanding you need to make excellent timing to your film! We can make changes.  Yet, having this blueprint keeps you from having to think as much about what you're creating!
• Having your scenes exported gives you smaller, bite-size chunks of your animation to work on! 
• Your reference will help you answer this question whenever you have it:  How do I draw ______?

With that out of the way, LET'S ANIMATE!

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STARTING YOUR ANIMATION

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Whether you are making a long movie, or a short sequence, it is always a good idea to start with a tiny chunk of your film. This way you can warm up and get used to making your awesome art regularly. Find a small 6-8 second chunk of your animation that you can produce in a week with full black and white lineart.

We will develop your understanding of select principles of animation each week.

A link to visual descriptions of the 12 Principles of Animation is here!

*videos courtesy of "AlanBeckerTutorials" on youtube*

Techniques that will help you this Week:

Solid Drawing: Making 2-D characters appear weighted and grounded in space! Making them appear believable from any angle!  

Staging:  Where your character appears on screen, and how that character looks to the audience in relation to everything else! Great staging = great composition!

Anticipation: The moments before an action actually occurs! Example: The windup before a pitch!

Arcs: Motion paths that add realism to your actions!

Timing: The moment drawings you make occur in time! Drawings at specific timing creates actions!

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WORKFLOW NOTES:

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In Toon Boom Harmony:

• Make a layer on top of your Animatic. (I like to use a sketch layer, then a corrections layer, then a lineart layer!)
• Keys first! Draw those most important story images first!
• Look out for moments to make good arcs and personality moments!
• Approach: Find milestones, then work between the milestones!
• Breakdown Drawings for every key. Flesh out the animation, start to emphasize arcs! Where you place them will help!
• Inbetweens for emphasis, fluid movement, and greater context~!
• Good arcs!
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Keep it simple! (your actions and camera shots should satisfy the story first, before you try anything you think is fancy. Believe it or not, technique and skill comes through completion, not through making the most detailed, complicated shot.

Flourishes - like eye blinks - come last!

Lineart Tips:

• Use your drawing tools the same way you would work traditionally. Small brush, large eraser!
• Good to work with consistent line weight at first. 75%  minimum size.
• Pencils and brushes are both useful!
• Do not erase the middle of your lines!
• Turn the paper! (hold command and control.