The Making Of: Lebowski

Here's the link to the animation, so you know what I'm on about!

Ok! So this was a university assignment for my 2D Character animation module. The task is simple. Animate to any 5 of the sound clips provided and I chose this lebowski one. 

In terms of time constraints, I wanted to get this done in less than a week because I had other modules to work on, and surprisingly, with a good reference and plenty of planning, I managed to get this down in 5 days! 

Let me break it down more:

Day 1: Planning, drawing key poses and filming reference video

Day 2: Drawn key poses and timed animation

Day 3: Added breakdown poses and started in-betweening animation

Day 4: In-between animation (and finsihed)

Day 5: Clean up and polish animation

Overall, I'm pretty damn proud of my efforts and I'm very happy with this animation. Studying and using live reference is a relatively new idea for me, for which I am embracing now more than ever. I've learnt so much from analysing live footage that I would've never learnt from just imaginative animation experience. 

I may not be a brilliant actor, but I can still break emotions down in my head and re-animate them on screen. The reference is there not to rotoscope or to copy, but to help me understand/visualise more clearly the motions required. It also helps me see things I would've never thought of doing before, such as the subtle hand rotation gestures in midst of speaking, or small details like delaying the head before the hands move, etc. 

Some of the other things I felt I've accomplished well is the use of easing. With all the keyframes in place, I really had no trouble going from pose A to pose B, knowing how everything transitions in a fairly similar fashion. I come to realise what the pendulum effect is all about. 

A major emphasis with this animation is acting. I've been studying a lot on body language and also observing, observing and more observing to the point where I feel I'm confident I can apply what I've learnt to the characters in my animations. I hope that you as the viewers can agree with me that my character is not just moving and talking, but rather an actual character that is living and breathing, and expressing himself in that particular situation.  

The planning and thought process of this piece is incredibly elaborate. Usually, I'd draw my keyframes knowing what the character is going to do, and then put on some music and essentially, shutting down my brain and just pump out all the labourous in-between keyframes. I have come to realise now that that process is very flawed. The result of which is a lifeless character moving on screen. It's like watching a bad actor in films; what's the point? 

This has really changed the way I animate. I now go through an imaginary checklist of questions, if you will. When I'm animating, I now ask myself:

1. Who is my character?

2. Where is my character at?

3. How is he going to react based on his given situation/circumstances?

4. What is he feeling at this very moment in the frame (I ask this almost every frame of the way throughout my animation)

5. Lots more...

I feel that this really helps me bring my character to life. It is now thinking, it has emotions and presents a will and motivation for his actions.  As a result, animating is now a rather painful brain-racking process where I'm always thinking... but I believe that's how great animation is made! 

One of the difficulties I had with this animation was maintaining the volume of the character. I had to redraw him about 130 times with a lot of movement (mostly subtle, but still).  Another aspect I could work on is character design... my character is generic and simple and I chose it so I don't get bogged down by all the details, and I think it could work with a better, more appealing design. 

Here's a screenshot of the project:

:)