Walk cycle

the picture above is probably the best reference i could find for the walk cycle.
it defenatly beats the standard walk cycle that only shows you one. even though it also probibly explians that every walk cycle is different.
al least this one shows different actions aswell. they are all quite over exagurated to emphasise the movements.
there is also a guidline of how far of the ground they should be.
i guess what im taking away from this reference point is not how to animate the actions, but how to expess feelings. like the double bouce, the character would be very happy.
or how the guy with the strut is cocky, or the guy with the shuffle is upset or down.
it'll still help as a guideline to animate but i know thta even if the timing is perfect the walk cycle will be rubbish without the charcters expressing feeling when they walk, just like we do!

Lyrics/Dialogue example

there is no script yet and was hoping that writing some lyrics would be a group production.
but this is a kinda if idea of what im aiming for:
(also like i said before not all this will be lip synced. the camera will be moving around so the audience doesnt get bored, im sure ill be able to think of a few techniques to help)


customer walks up to counter


bamby: hello, hello, hello and welcome


customer: grunts


bamby: how may i help you?


customer: grunts


bamby: can i suggest something?


customer: will you shut up and let me decide!


music abruptly stops. As Bamby starts singing every word, the staff slowly crowd around the customer.


Bamby:
 You ingrateful, annoying, rude, person, how dare you! how dare you! how dareee youu!
               You will pay, you will pay, you will pay!


All the staff jump on the customer and a traditional looney toons like fight ( where all you see is clouds and stars) appears.

the blog

there is so much more that i could have put up here i think, just kind of scratching the surface. im feeling quite motivated to make this animation. i hope i get to. we decided we would just pitch our ideas...guess ill just need to be as enthusiastic tomorrow.
i wasnt too keen on this blog thing to be honest, it kind of showed at the beginning, i hate these things really, its trying to make it personal like even though you're not talking to anyone.
im not completly convinced but i can defenatly admit it has kept all my work orginsed and in the one spot, something im not the best at doing.
the modules been pretty fun so far, ive not technically learned anything new ive just gain a lot of knowlege on subjects that i was needing to improve on.
it was good to look back at the techiques like squash and stretch, that we were shown in first year. Im hoping when it comes to making the animatic that it helps. im sure i cant get any worse so heres hoping!

Character Spec

Character name : Bamby

Sex: Female

Age: 19

Appearance: curly hair, very big eyes, innocent look to her. walks very lightly, like she is walking on her tiptoes.

Personality: Generally very nice until a customer annoys her, kind of like a split personalitly.

Likes: Everything but customers

Dislikes: Customers

Rules: Never missbehaves unless she is annoyed, always wins an argument.

The story

Ive not written a script yet, i figure that if it is my idea being used it'd be better if it was made as a group, instead of me telling them what we will be doin, this is my style, my idea, my imagination, and its completly different from anyone else. im hoping that who evers idea we chose we will all have opinion over it. but my story idea goes as follows:

It will start off with the characters walking to work from each of their different directions.
They will all be singing a song about morning sun and happy little wonderful things.
(it will not all be lipsynced as this would be waywaywayway too much work!)
once all the characters are at work their will be a short time centrered in on each of them. G perhaps starting at a wall, Pesty killing a little old pensoiner, and more suited to each of their characters. 
After this is will concentrate on an annoying customer being served by whom is not decided yet.
it will be a sort of musical argument between the two.
To end it all the staff will gang up on the customer, jumping him and endin gthe day with a big high five!!

2D vs 3D??

i remember last simester during animation theory this question came up. We also had to do a presentation about it. 3D defenatly is the future, it cant be stopped. Does not mean its better than 2D. I do love my Disney, Famiy Guy and a lot more, mostly from my childhood but nowadays i am prob into 3D more. 
Its the technology thats got everyone hooked. I dont think it will wipe out 2D but things have changed alot since the days of A trip to the moon. I mean if someone pitched an idea to Blue Sky, Pixar or some other leading animation company that they wanted to go back to hand drawn, recording images, technicolor stuff theyd be thrown out the door.
Although Disneys not going down without a fight but if his next animation which is completly hand drawn is not successful then it will be back to mooching off Pixar for animation.

Character Spec.

Character name :  Div

Sex: Male

Age: 16

Appearance: Dresses pretty much like your average ned, socks tucked into trousers, cap sitting right on the top of his head. Very nervous and twitchy.

Personality: Not much of a singer he most goes around with a terretz like syndrom. He can't help but shout out Techno! every now and then. Pretty harmless all the same but.

Likes: Dance Music, Jumping about

Dislikes: His twitch, People in general.

Rules: Has to twitch every 30 seconds and say techno. Not allowed to harm customers.

Flash V.s Toon Boom

i think its difficult to say that flash is better than toon boom or vice versa.
its like stating that 3d is better than 2d in a way. Yes they are both 2d animation packages but in my opinion they both dominate the markets 
they are specifically aimed at. Flash is defiantly better for animation
made of the Internet,
whereas toon boom would be more suited for television animation.
The simple reasons for my opinions are as follows:
Flash has its own coding, action script which is well suited to producing different animations, rules etc. 
It has certian better tools than toon boom but most of 
these are more suited for creating web animation. It is a very handy tool for making executable files like games and animation that can be seen all around the Internet.
Whereas toon boom has tools like exposure sheets, and help with lip syncing, things that are more commonly needed when producing animation for television.
It its better suited for drawing, and has a layout like a
computerized version of traditional 2d animation.
This is why i don't think that you can compare Flash and Toon Boom. 
I think they they are superior at what they are best at.
Perhaps people may disagree but this is my personal opinion

Character Spec.

Character name : G

Sex: Male

Age: 24

Appearance: Slouched, wears baggy clothes, really just your typical stoner. Has dreadlocks, always wears a hat and always has stubble.

Personality: The nice guy of the crowd, everyone loves him, basically just because he is so calm and laid back.

Likes: Lazing around

Dislikes: Working hard

Rules: Can never move fast, or sing in a high pitched voice,

Lip Syncing

Hopefully today in class ill be able to practice some lip syncing. Not done any in a while apart from the stop motion stuff. Toom boom is really helpful when it comes to lipsyncing with its guides. Ill upload the lip sync tutorial after i finish it along with the other two tutorials ive already done. ive not looked at the tutorial yet but if it is an exericise using only the toon boom guidelines id like to use an exposure sheet on paper anyways. It'll be the way ill be doing it when it comes to planning the final project so i think i may aswell practice it now. Well looks like its going to be a busy weekend!

Styles

Now ive done the initial sketches for my characters ive starting looking at the animation styles/techniques i could use. Mainly through good old wikipedia but also researching in a few animation books i have. Ive decided against adapting the looney tunes over egadurated style and looking more towards Disneys squash and stretch techniques. Although my drawings are not going to be as detailed or including any of this "hyper-realism" It kind of hard to explain. It will be quite cartoony like the likes of family guy, as im not the best of drawers, and since there is a limited amount of time i'd like to concentrate more on the actual animating techniques to improve my skills, seeing as after this module thats it for 2d and anything i want to create i am going to have to do on my own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Animation_techniques
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squash_and_stretch

http://www.siggraph.org/education/materials/HyperGraph/animation/character_animation/principles/prin_trad_anim.htm

the website above was the most helpful. it has all the basic principles it will defenatly help me develop my style with contobution from the classic principles.

pesty

div

G

Bamby

Character- Chewie

chewie will be the only character who is animal like, although he is still human.il post up his information later

Characters

Change

Decided that animals are a little too difficult to design/animate so the characters will most likely be changed to humans with little animal characteristics

Scenarios/Story Ideas

so i have decided to go with my subway musical idea. It is the one that i am most enthusiastic about.
there will be a mixture of speaking and singing in the animation. The characters will be singing the dialogue rather than just breaking into random songs.

The story is a day in the life of the subway employees. The arguments, disasters and funny things that happen.
There will be an opening scene with a nice good morning song.
A song with an agrument with an annoying customer.
And perhaps one or two more.
They will be quite short, 30 seconds or so.
Hopefully get the song lyrics up along with the rest of character ideas and script.

The first of a few sketches for character design. Not the final design i think it may have to be a little more simple for animating but this is what i had in mind.

The character is very slow and sleepy looking.
His walking style will be a mixture between someone half asleep and how a monkey walks.
He will sing and talk in a very low monotone sound.

Anamatic Ideas

I have a few ideas running through my mind right now most are ideas ive wanted to do in my spare time that ive never gotten around to doing.

The first one is after watching a short film nominated for an oscar this year. It was an animated version of an interview. I thought it would be fun to try and select one of my favourite songs and animate how it makes me feel/what i think it means. I dont know if it would be possible, plagirism and all but i might  come back to this one even if it is done in my spare time.

another is animation based on some characters develpoed for a short test at cut paper animation. Dont have a story exactly but theres plenty of random things that i could have the characters do, im sure after some more thought il be able to come up with one.

and finally my favourite:

Subway: The Musical!

A close look into the day to day lives of five employees going slowly crazy in the sandwich shop, Subway.
The continuous mind numbing tasks have turned them into customer hating drones who occasionally like to burst into song!
Theres the manager G-Man, a monkey who has worked there so long that the only way he can survive is being constantly stoned.
A little piglet, Pesty, a crusher of mens dreams and killer of pensioners.
A little deer nickmaned Bamby for her innocent looks and big eyes, the bad influence of the group.
A hippy like bear nicknamed Chewwie for his sheer hairyness. 
And the newest addition to the gang Div. A cat who constantly dances and cant help shouting out Techno!! every minute or so.