2D Animation - Life of a shot

I've always wanted to do a classical 2D animation from start to finish. Since I have a couple of months before Uni starts again I thought this would be the perfect time to do it. Unlike computer animation, you get nothing for free in 2D, everything is created by the artist. Scary. I think it's really going to test my skills as an animator and hopefully it won't turn out a mess!

Over the next couple of weeks i'll be posting the progress of the shot from start to finish. So here we go...

Step One: Pick an idea

This is probably the most important step. There's no point spending lots of time animating a rubbish idea that hasn't been thought through. It's also easy to rush to the animation stage but usually the more planning you do, the better the end result will be.

So, I wanted to pick a simple idea that shows a change in emotion of a character. Whilst trying to come up with a scenario I held in mind a statement from Ed Hooks, an acting coach that specialises in teaching animators. He states that a good scene is one that shows, "Action in pursuit of an objective whilst overcoming an obstacle". I think this is true because it is simply more interesting for the audience to watch, there is a point to what they are watching. 

(Check out Ed Hooks below and if you ever get the chance to take one of his workshops, you should because I learnt a ton! http://www.edhooks.com/ )

I spent most of the day thinking up some scenarios and came up with the one below:

The idea:

An old man is finishing off a painting for a gallery showing. He adds the final strokes and stands back to admire what he has accomplished. As he basks in his own brilliance the painting falls off the wall and smashes. He throws his paint brush on the ground and storms off.

Step Two: Character Designs

The next step is to create a character design for the old man. I had in mind some personality traits to help me design him, (I imagined he would be quite eccentric for example). I also tried to keep the design relatively simple and easy to animate. Below are my different sketches exploring and refining the look of the old man. This is something i'm not very good at but I'm keen to improve!

Initial exploration sketches

Head designs

Head and body designs

Beginning to refine the character here

Final character design (i think...) on the left. Some slight variations of the head on the right.

After these sketches I noticed how contrasting shapes, sizes and lines can really add interest to a design.

Anyway, that's all for now, the next step is to film some video reference, work out all the key poses and plan the timing on a good old fashioned x-sheet!