Emely created several animation projects of varying complexity. Her bouncing ball project was simple but helped her learn the basics of animation. Her bumper project featuring a sugar skull design was challenging due to technical limitations but she was proud of the result. Creating animatics helped her improve her sketching skills. Experimenting with different background shapes and patterns was entertaining. Through continuous practice with her Wacom tablet on a color script project, she gained drawing skills and found a method she enjoys. Her final project of animating characters in Photoshop pushed her creatively despite having no prior experience. Though finished, she plans to practice more animation to improve her skills.
2. BOUNCING BALL
This project was very exciting to
work on, especially when I mostly
just did a bouncing ball using a
pen and some sticky notes. I was
pleasantly surprised at how easy it
was to actually get it done. I do
hope to learn how to make the ball
look more like a 3-dementional
ball rather than just a circle
moving around in a screen though.
One day hopefully.
3. BUMPER
The bumper was a huge challenge especially
when I wasn’t sure really were to begin. I
knew I wanted to do something creative but I
was always unsure if I had the skill or time to
try out the ideas that I had in mine. In the
end I decided to take a shot at this. I am
Mexican and sugar skulls have been a staple in
my culture, so I decided to go with it and
have the lines and designs of the classic sugar
skull appear before you eyes. It took a long
time to get it to a point to where I was
satisfied with it, but honestly I do plan on
going back to maybe add a little more detail
to it. The real challenge was that my
computer unfortunately did not have the
power to actually make the whole process any
easier, but I worked with what I could.
4. ANIMATIC
The first animatic was something I
truly was not sure about. I told
myself that it did not matter what
the drawings looked like in order to
get the work done, but I could not
help but care a lot about how the
drawings looked like. In the end I
settled with the plain drawings,
however afterwards I realized that
putting a little more effort into my
sketches doesn’t really take me as
long as I thought. A lot of them
were done during my breaks at work
in fact.
5. ANIMATING A
BACKGROUND
I found this project to be very
entertaining only because there was so
much to really play around with. Using
the shapes and seeing how a simple
flower can easily turn into a spiral hole in
an instant really made me want to try all
sorts of shapes and combinations. I felt
like I could sit on the computer for hours
just trying to see what different looking
backgrounds I could make. What made
the experimenting even more fun was
having a friend next to you doing the
same thing and watching them try
different things that you wouldn’t of
thought of on your own.
6. COLOR SCRIPT
Last year I invested on a Wacom tablet in order to try my hand at digital drawing.
My first year with it, was a disaster, however with constant practice and by trying
every possible way to find a suitable method of drawing on the thing that met my
standards, I now find myself with enough skill to where I am comfortable enough
to actually finish a project that I start. The color script for my animated short really
allowed me to practice even more and try to see different methods of painting.
Thanks to this project I now have a certain method that I enjoy to use when
painting any drawing or sketch I do.
7.
8. FINAL PROJECT
This project really made me take risks that I have never thought of taking before. Nearly the
whole time I was conflicted on how I should approach it, showed I film it, or use still photos? I
even thought of doing stop motion animation using small toy figures. It bothered me though
because I knew that filming it would not get me the look I wanted. I constantly drew and drew
again what I wanted to see in my video that in the end I felt like I just had to animate it myself,
despite the fact that I had no experience. I tried to do it in after effects, but the Photoshop
images looked awkward to me. I even tried the new Adobe character animator, but it really made
the characters look like puppets which I did not enjoy. Finally I resorted to Google and searched
animation for beginners and where to start. That was when I discovered the timeline function on
Photoshop. I have experience with Photoshop so I figured it would be perfect for someone like
me who enjoys drawing on a Wacom tablet.
9. Although the video is “finished” I know that I am far from
where I now want to be. I plan to practice some more
animation. I want it to look smoother than how I made it, to do
that I know requires a lot more time and patience. Perhaps I will
start with small gifs and as soon as I master getting every slight
jester and movement right, I will most definitely come back to
this animation.
