Friday, July 29, 2011

Rough Animation

I've been drawing and animating more than I ever have in my entire career, but you wouldn't know it but following this blog.


I've been producing a lot of work, but since it's all work for projects that haven't been released yet, I officially have nothing to talk about.

But I did take the day to work on something entirely my own, which is a rare thing. Something simple and fun, which is harder than you'd think it would be.

This is a first pass at rough animation. In this video, you'll see me working off my thumbnails and getting everything out there to see. Some of the ideas I like, some I know I'm going to abandon. I'm looking for clarity and over all pacing, not so much the perfectly drawn pose, that will come in later tests.

So what you're seeing is pretty unvarnished stuff, there's a lot I dislike about this test, but I see a few parts that I like. Those few things are what will make me go forward with the test and hopefully finish it.

CellPhone from bj crawford on Vimeo.

12 comments:

Daniel said...

Nice work BJ. Would you mind elaborating on what you don't like about this test?

Andy Latham said...

This is great BJ :)

I find it really interesting to see first pass animation at the moment as I've just started my own short and I have a bad habit of putting too much detail into a first pass. I keep trying to get a nice looking pose rather than just concentrating on movement. Is this a problem you have had before?

Elizabeth said...

Nice first pass, I hope you keep going with this I love seeing your thought process!

Kyrstin said...

I love seeing rough, work in progress pieces. I admire your posts because they're so process-driven. Keep up the amazing work!

JK Riki said...

Man... Geez... Such life from such a rough test. I was about to go to sleep but now I'm going to my light table instead. I have a lot of work to do if I want to get half as good as you are, and I really want to get that good! Amazing stuff, and I'm not just saying that to be nice. It's really, really inspiring. Wow...

Also I love spotting that arc line you have on the turn. Reminded me to pay attention to those sorts of things!

James Long said...

yeah I love this, very inspiring

LluĂ­s Llobera said...

Fantastic stuff!!!

Unknown said...

WOW this is a great first pass!

love your blog!

erica said...

Great work so far! I know what you mean about spending so much time at the job and not having much to show for it on your blog. I give you kudos for finding time to work on your own stuff on the side! Can't wait to see how this piece shapes up.

Ty Carter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ty Carter said...

Dang BJ! You blow my mind man

Im your newest fan!

Erik D. Martin said...

Love it man! I can't think of anything more enjoyable than rough animation and looking at the process.

more!