Wills Stuff!

[WillW]

I shall be dumping some of my work : D I would post the dancing animation I did but its allready being used as my avatar C: hope you enjoy my work!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Group_shot_by_tyokio.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/robots_by_tyokio.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Lines_by_tyokio.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Quick_expressions_by_tyokio.jpg

[lavallelee]

hey will, welcome good to see you here too :)

love the robotic picture

[WillW]

Thanks for the welcome c: that robotic picture has been one of my favs for quite some time. I even attempted to make a 3d model of the one on the right, I doubt I'll ever finish it though.

some more images, gonna url the ones I couldnt get into this comment seeing as theres a limit thingy.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/5.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/ohthepain-1.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/1komodo.jpg
^^^^^High poly to low poly normal transfer 3d

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/IMAGE0002.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/PICTURE1-1.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/dragonsakwetch.jpg

[johncbeggs]

that last one is awesome, reminds me of something Doug Tennapel would draw :)

[WillW]

thanks : D I should really draw with blue pencils more, they really create a nice look in comparison to just using a pen or an hb pencil.

Linking some small animations I've done in the past.

2D Fighting game character (http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/2d-Fighter-115944253)

Cartoon cat (http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/Cartoon-style-practise-102014365)

Cat Walk (http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/cat-walkcycle-83374676)

heres a animated short I did a little while back, you probably wouldnt get the story with out watching the first episode of this but the animation quality in the first episode is just so embarasing now hahah. If you can manage through it you can see that here (link) (http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/Rat-Episode-1-DA-EDITION-29656386)

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I'll upload some scenes from the next episode because some of them I really let loose with the animation.

For a more cartoony one I made an animation in university which I never completed. I recently decided to re work it, increasing the line and animation quality and giving it some colour. Also its in silence and its 5 minutes long so I'd put some jaunty music in the background, or watch it in silence what ever suits you more.

oSISo26tHWs

[johncbeggs]

that cartoon cat Is amazing man

[WillW]

thanks c: that character is certainly one I would love to play around with more.

I drew this today, I drew the origional image in flash and went into photoshop to enhance and add effects/lighting. I think it came out pretty good : D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/rain.jpg

[CanAur]

this one is the best. Love the lighting.

[dmgctrl]

Yeah, thats a great piece.

[Hana]

Your characters are really fun and quirky! I love the latest image you posted. The lighting in it is real nice.

[WillW]

Thanks : D I dont often colour my images in but the method I used on that one really worked well. I will most definatly give if a shot again some time.


I drew these a while back but I havent shown them here yet.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Nuther_Roooooooooo_by_tyokio.jpg
This one drawing has to be one of my favorite drawings, I tried to colour it in but I loved the rough version more.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/a_monster_by_tyokio.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Scarey_Guy_by_tyokio.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Backflip_by_tyokio.jpg

[johncbeggs]

I understand why you like the toad guy,I like him too :D
When I look at this picture I see life and feelings coming out of him and thats what makes a perfect sketch :)

[WillW]

thanks : D Iput extra effort into giving characters life , I know I've still got a long road ahead of me though.


http://fc04.deviantart.com/fs25/i/2008/109/1/4/rats_by_tyokio.jpg


I find doing these kind of pages really helpful in getting to know a character, what their limitations and personality is like. Helps a ton when it comes to animating them.
http://fc09.deviantart.com/fs30/i/2008/062/7/a/davis_expressions_3_by_tyokio.jpg


http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs27/f/2008/064/f/2/character_doodle_by_tyokio.jpg

[Terro]

Hi Will, really good work as always.
Good to see you here as well.

[jeremyhopkins]

Really nice variety of styles and poses! Your avatar is really cool too! Nice!

[WillW]

Terro: thanks : D good to see you here too!

jeremyhopkins: thanks c: I had great fun animating it.


I'm no good with drawing birds, so I decided to fix that by designing a bird like character.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/burd-2.jpg

I drew a whole page of crows a while back but I'm not so proud of them.

so heres a strange smile instead c:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/smile_by_tyokio.jpg

[DarkWolf91]

Haha, I love how lumpy that guy's chin and mouth are. It's oddly appealing :)

[WillW]

hehe, I dont think I've ever made an expression that lumpy before lol.

[Hana]

Yeah I agree with the lumpy guy being oddly appealing :D I also really like the sketch of the bird character where he is screaming.

[WillW]

thanks : D I should try some more of those faces some time. I also feel like cleaning some of those bird drawings up to see what they look like all painted.

I felt like doing one of those rag bag drawing things, heres the scarey owl.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/owldude.jpg

I admit I got a little carried away with it.

[dmgctrl]

I dont know about the lumpy guy. To me hes oddly... grotesque. Like hes been in the bath too long, or hes Benjamin Button or something. Hey, at least it got a reaction of out me!

[WillW]

thats more or less what I was aiming for with that : D Imagining the sort of face that if you noticed some one stairing at you with that expression you'd feel really uncomfortable.

WIP turn around, I need to work on the skirt on the side view, still working on the middle one though. Wanted to really define what this characters new design was, I'll post the old one soon so you can see how they've changed. Colour wise they're still the same though.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/turnrounwip.jpg

[CanAur]

I love her nose!! )))

[WillW]

lol thanks : D very few of my characters have real noses, for example Davis (the guy in my avatar) doesnt have one either. I think I gave her a real nose once and one of my freinds complained about it lol.

[lavallelee]

thats one hot mama! lol

very nice character design will :)

[WillW]

thanks : D I just completed it now too.

http://www.willw.co.uk/rachelspin.swf

[lavallelee]

WOW! that is great! when i see that reminds me of that song that goes 'you spin me right round baby right round like a record baby right round round round'

i forgot who sang it, lol :D

again, very good job

[Hana]

Wow! That is one smooth turnaround animation. Nice work :D

[Regan]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/1komodo.jpg
^^^^^High poly to low poly normal transfer 3d

I like that creature because he looks like a punk with all those spikes. ;)

[johncbeggs]

How long did it take?

I'm making a cool one hopefully it works out I got his head to successfully rotate but I'm fixing little bits up and adding a couple more images to make it as smooth as yours. His name is fatcat.:D

[WillW]

Thanks for the comments, I dont think I've been able to get a smooth turnaround like this before so I'm really proud of it.

johncbeggs: I think it took between 1 hour - 2 hours judging by the times I posted the wip and the final image (which shows it nearly took 3 hours but between that time I had my dinner : D). Sounding cool, cant wait to see it : D

[feliceworkshop]

Hi!...I like your drawing style!...somehow your animation kinda reminds me about those crazy experimental animation produced by that japanese animation house: STUDIO 4C..... (I mean that as a compliment!)

[WillW]

yeah I've seen some of their work, much crazier then mine is lol

[WillW]

I compiled some of the work I've done which I've not shown before.

kPAP6_u7q6A

this was a reel I put together last year... most of the stuff in it is kinda out of date now though. has some music.
zYI0JK2WNPA

[Hana]

Wow that fight scene was really cool! I always think they'd be way hard to choreograph.

I really love how fluid some of your animations are.

[Penumbra]

Wow, your gasmask creature is really creepy! Thanks for sharing. :)

[Regan]

I can tell that you are very comfortable animating...you're a natural.

[WillW]

thanks for the comments : D I'm still getting used to planning out fight scenes better.

[WillW]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/owls-1.jpg

my owl isnt so toony at the moment lol.

[cartuneman]

your demo reel is looking really cool! love all the action!:D

[feliceworkshop]

Very dynamic and strong animations you've got going on here WillW!..... great sense of motion as well!....I really like the extemporaneous feel of your work.... it's evident that you feel very comfortable in this medium.

[WillW]

thanks cartuneman and feliceworkshop : D I enjoy animating scenes like that as they really test my abilities.

I put a hood on my owl.. I'm not so sure about it, I want to be more sure about the design before I put it with all the other owl drawings all the ones I've seen so far in that thread are brilliant btw!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/owlwithahood.jpg

I still need to make it more fitting to the style of the project though : D

[Regan]

I love that one!

I wonder if the cape would make him stand out too much from the main characters? Maybe if the cape was a little less visible from the front.

I do love it though...it's a great little character.

[WillW]

thanks, I'll have to play around with the cloak thing a bit to see what I can come up with. I'm still not convinced buy the expression though so I'll have to play with that too.

Forgot to post this image the last time : D Davis (the guy dancing his heart out in my icon) if he was a roo!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/DavisRoo.jpg

[lavallelee]

i really like the owl its very detailed

i like his blank stare :p

[jeremyhopkins]

I put a hood on my owl.. I'm not so sure about it, I want to be more sure about the design before I put it with all the other owl drawings
Whoa, put that sucker in the thread. Looks great and I like your interpretation!

[WillW]

thanks, I've developed them a bit more since the last post. I think I've got a much stronger design now.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/owl2.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/owl1.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/owl3.jpg

The middle one is my favourite so far, I want to see if I can draw them from the side.. so I know the design is strong enough to be drawn from any angle/pose. I ended up drawing 12 pages of owls until I got a design I kinda like lol.

[Penumbra]

I hear you, I have pages and pages of roughs. And my roughs are really rough! XD

I also like the hood idea, it's unique and memorable. Wouldn't it get in the way of his wings when he's flying? :) (I may be overcomplicating things. XD It's been known to happen.)

[BrioCyrain]

Those are some funky looking owls.

[WillW]

I hear you, I have pages and pages of roughs. And my roughs are really rough! XD

I also like the hood idea, it's unique and memorable. Wouldn't it get in the way of his wings when he's flying? :) (I may be overcomplicating things. XD It's been known to happen.)

Thats what I was thinking too, I used to have the hood wrap round the body but I put it more round the back, and like Regan said. It makes them stand out less then the rest of the characters too.

[WillW]

I thought I should practise some acting in animation, so I looked around for an audio clip to work with and tried to make the characters work with it. I dont think I did too bad a job, seems kinda dull at the start though.

http://www.willw.co.uk/DavisMilk.swf

Hover the mouse over the box with "play" written on it, should start playing.

[Lifed]

I love it! Great physical emphasis on the emotions and what not.

[Hana]

I quite like it =D Gets across the emotions. In the beginning after he says stubborn one and goes 'Phew' you could have him wiping his forehead kinda thing.

[CanAur]

WillW

Is it you voice?

[WillW]

WillW

Is it you voice?

nope, Its a clip from a movie called KingPin. I wish I could do those kind of voices though, that would be swell.

Hana: Could try that, I'll have a go and see if it works.

[johncbeggs]

that was awesome will!

[BrioCyrain]

Looks good, but there didn't seem to be many frames. Seeing him drinking that coffee was interesting.

[lavallelee]

thats a hillarious clip, good job cant wait to see more :laughing:

[BrioCyrain]

thats a hillarious clip, good job cant wait to see more :laughing:

QFT, it's hillarious for sure

[Mithmeoi]

LMAO I love that audio clip you used and nice work on conveying emotion with body language. I can't wait to see this one finished. :D

[WillW]

Looks good, but there didn't seem to be many frames. Seeing him drinking that coffee was interesting.

At the start there are few frames, I'm just getting the key poses down before I add too much movement. At this stage it makes it very easy to tweak things If I dont like certain parts of it.

thats a hillarious clip, good job cant wait to see more :laughing:

Lol, It reminded me of a scene from one of the "bottom" live performances. Instead of a cow it was a pig if I remember correctly, all the live shows I saw on tv were brilliant.

LMAO I love that audio clip you used and nice work on conveying emotion with body language. I can't wait to see this one finished. :D

Thanks, I like to make sure I have the body language down before I think of dealing with the lipsync, I can also plot the head movements on paticular words to really add energy to the speach. I cant wait to see what it ends up looking like either, I want to add more movement to the first half though.

I have some other examples of acting I've done for some ones pitch for a nickalodeon show. If I can, I'll show one of them which I'm really proud of. They said I could compile it in my reel so I dont see why I wouldnt be able to.

[Mithmeoi]

Oh that would be awesome! I would love to see it. :D

[WillW]

I worked on the inbetweens today, first sections done.. Still 12fps though. I feel like posting each stage as I go along : D.

http://www.willw.co.uk/DavisMilk2.swf

[BrioCyrain]

A LOT BETTER! Though in one of the frames his hair seems to be missing, but better nonetheless!

[WillW]

Thats because the first time I played it through, I noticed the hair enlarged and shrank. not sure how that happened but I tried to fix it and It crashed the program (onee gets used to that in flash) and I just forgot to add the hair to those frames. Once I put the mouth/jaw movements and added the eyes on the character I'll up the frame rate to 24. I'm not so sure I'll clean it up though, but I'll certainly think about it.. might do that with the line tool if I do though.

[Amourwolf]

You've got some really expressive characters! My favorite piece is the first one. The lighting is impressive! :) Keep up the good work.

[WillW]

thanks : D Its one of those rare pictures that I compile a load of characters I designed together. I was initially going to use it as a front page to my web page.

http://www.willw.co.uk/DAVISMILK3.swf

I kinda feel like I'm posting the same thing over and over, cept with tweaks along the way, hope no one minds : D.

[WillW]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Layer1_0002.png

A character called Miller, one of lazymuffins characters in his Nameless series. (link) (http://lazymuffin.deviantart.com/)

He has a collection of knives.

[Hana]

Wow that animation is looking swell :D

Also I love the Nameless series so much. Your sketch of Miller cracks me up.

[BrioCyrain]

thanks : D Its one of those rare pictures that I compile a load of characters I designed together. I was initially going to use it as a front page to my web page.

http://www.willw.co.uk/DAVISMILK3.swf

I kinda feel like I'm posting the same thing over and over, cept with tweaks along the way, hope no one minds : D.

I love how you added the face, but some of the facial animations such as the eyes and mouth seems to jiggle around, unless that is what you were going for?

[jeremyhopkins]

Your acting is great Will! I especially enjoy the spit take at the end. Your features are floating a bit like BrioCyrain mentioned and it feels a little strange to seperate the eyes, mouth and nose from the skull. Maybe you put some basic construction on the layer with the eyes and mouth, it'll help you anchor the features better. Love the acting - very fun stuff!

[WillW]

thanks for the tips, I've been re arranging the face a bit more so It doesn’t look like its jumping too much but I cant really solve the problem till I start intertwining the frames I have. on some frames I would have the main body and head hold for 4/6 frames but I would have about 3 frames for the face over the top. That’s probably one of the main causes for the jumpiness. Once its in-betweened I'll be able to re arrange the face further, a very backwards way of animating dialogue to be honest D:.


I also drew a police dog, hes got a big hat D:.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/policedog.jpg

[BrioCyrain]

Impressive police dog, though the uniform could use less flat-ness.

[Mithmeoi]

Haha I love that little police dog. Nice work on it, Agreed though with Brio that the clothing could use some more folds in it so it has more depth to it.

[WillW]

thanks : D, I do agree on the points made, I also dont like how the face turned out though I think thats because I'm very rusty with animal characters at the moment, tried drawing some before that pic and they mostly turned out horrible lol. Good thing I'll get some practise from the CGP thing, allready started drawing the characters too.

First attempts so theres some way to go lol, strange how they look really awsome on paper but scanned in they dont look as nice.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/CGP2.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/CGP1.jpg

[WillW]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/50s_box_art_by_tyokio.jpg

I made this for a mod of a video game, it added a new set of armor to the game. (fallout 3). (edit) it was made to look old and low quality because it was kinda like an old fashioned toy box design.




Drew this one a while back but I'm still rather proud of it.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/dart_champ_by_tyokio-1.jpg

[lavallelee]

i want to see that police dog animated!!!! he is a great character :D

[WillW]

He was going to be animated at one point, I was developing an animation a few years back, the plot was going to be like a bank heist that goes wrong. Was working on it with some one else but they kinda vanished from the internet so it never really got completed. who knows I might feel like working on it again, but I would probably want to make it much shorter. Heres an older picture of the same character btw (link) (http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/Police-Dog-1-24985701) from 2005.


Got some practise with the fox character today, I initially drew over the turnaround to get a better sense of the construction and proportions and then afterwards I drew some with out the turn around, here are those pics. I dont think I did too badly, I've never really drawn any characters like this seeing as most of my developed characters are human so any hints/tips on drawing animal characters would be much appreciated.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Layer1_0002-1.png

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Layer1_0001.png

[WillW]

Working on a walk for the fox now, right now there isnt much detail on the face (the nose is a triangle lol) right now its 16 frames animated on 4s but it will be on ones once I add more detail to the face. there isnt much in the way of easing right now so the movement looks kinda choppy.

I hand drew the key frames and then inbetweened it on computer, havent got any animation paper yet so I had to animate it on low quality a4 paper and kept them in place with blue tack.

http://www.willw.co.uk/foxwalk.swf

[Lifed]

I love the way you break the joints in your walk cycles. Makes it all that more cartoony.

[lavallelee]

wow will! great job on the animation of the fox

and nice sketches too :)

[WillW]

Thanks Lifed, Lavallelee, I've been obsessed with breaking joints to make movements, seems to make things feel much more fluid.

[WillW]

I added the inbetweens (nose is still a triangle lol...) I initially made it on 16s but the walk seemed kinda slow so I took some frames out and made it on 12s instead.

http://www.willw.co.uk/foxwalk13.swf

23 frames on 1s

[Hana]

That walk cycle is looking great! I love how floppy his nose is. I think the only thing for me is the tail. While everything moves rather fluidly I feel the movement in the tail is really restricted.

[WillW]

I agree with the comment about the tail, I tried playing around with it, put it on the floor rather then in mid air, how does it look now?

http://www.willw.co.uk/foxtrot132.swf

also, I made the little scarf of his bounce too

[WillW]

added a face, kinda looks messy though

http://www.willw.co.uk/foxwalk1322.swf

[Nanook123]

I LOVE IT!! my favorite part is his feet!!! and his muzzle, i love the movement you've got here. I like the tail down too, as opposed to up. I have literally been staring at it for about 15 minutes now

[Hana]

Wow! Adding a mouth really gave him a lot of personality :D I'm really loving it now.

[Penumbra]

I'm going to have to agree with the "staring for 15 minutes" comment up above. That most recent cycle is -perfectly- timed with the song I'm listening to at the moment.

And it's really entertaining, because it's a love song. The juxtaposition is funny to me. XD

Good stuff Will! Thanks for sharing.

[WillW]

thanks : D I have some doodles I did recently to share.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/201_2733.jpg
I thought this was awful , I should draw dogs more often then they will probably look better lol.


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/201_2734.jpg
Drew a rough picture of myself sitting down, imagining Im looking at myself from a different angle.. kinda rough but I like it.


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/201_2735.jpg
Kangaroo dropped his ice cream :C


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/201_2736.jpg
they just cant ok!

[WillW]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/sheeezyimage0002.jpg

welp

[WillW]

this is a painting/3d sculpture

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Meditation_by_tyokio.jpg

[lavallelee]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/sheeezyimage0002.jpg

welp

that looks like fun! :laughing:

[Hana]

Ahahaha that croc one. I sure wouldn't want to live around where crocs take to the air.

[jeremyhopkins]

Haha, yeah that's hilarious and scary at the same time :P

[WillW]

thanks :laughing: He looks so happy on that glider lol




I thought I would get to know the fox's design a bit more by making a 3d model of them, I dont think it turned out too bad but I can spot a fair few things I would have improved on.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/fox3dmodel.jpg

[Hana]

Wow that looks great! And you even posed him. I totally love the mouth and ears. I want to do some 3D again after seeing this but I can't rig ahaha.

[wolfsymphony]

WOW Great job! I'm really loving the bottom one of him posing and that smirk on his face:laughing: I'm now also inspired to give 3D a try again, it's been years since I've done any 3D work.. maybe I should try doing a model of the Momma Rabbit:)..

[Doodler]

That's pretty cool, whats it done in?

[OwenWelsh]

Nice model Will :)

[WillW]

Thanks : D, making the model was really fun! I might make the others too and have like a complete set or something c: I'm not so good on the rigging side myself.. I mean I can sort of rig to a basic set of bones but I cant make controllers or anything. I added a blend shape to the model so I could close his eyes though, but nothing too complex love the modelling side of 3d but I cant get my head around the animation part lol.

Doodler: I used Maya to build this model c:


Began Thumb nailing my scene today : D I had various ideas on what I could do with the characters, this is the sequence so far. very off model right now.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/1-2.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/2-1.jpg

Rabbit:

1. Walking happily

2. On the word "sound" character looks behind themselves. Cart slows down but steers off course of a bit before grinding to a stop. wheels wiggle a bit on the un even surface.

3. quickly looks the other way.. holds position for a second.

4. Slowly continues walking, looking from left to right at the same time.


Fox:

1: just after the word "sound" sticks nose out of log.

2: sniffs air (nose stretches to show this)

3: pauses for a sec

4: moves nose around to sniff again in a different direction.

5: pauses again

6: raises arms out of the log to pull himself up to 7

8: yawns and stretches his arms to rest on 9

10: anticipation for 11

11: spots Sasha and lowers head down

12: opens mouth on the way down to final pose.


Here’s some timing facts, I'll possibly have to chop some of those actions out if I cant manage to fit them in.

(minutes, Seconds, Milliseconds (rough guess))
1:10:5 Scene begins
1:13:8 word "sound" is heard, fox enters scene
1:24 scene ends.

[jeremyhopkins]

You've got some interesting ideas here! I like how the fox sticks his nose out and sniffs the air first like he's caught the scent of something so delicious and I'm not sure if you are going to have him confidently break open the log or clumsily crack it open but that will define his character for the opening section. I think you're going with the confident and it'll make him seem powerful which is a good choice. My only suggestion with Sasha is maybe to have her not look directly back at the log but to sort of look left and right like she has the feeling something isn't right. That way it's a surprise when the fox's nose peaks through the log. Good luck, you've got some tricky drawing spots but it's a really fun and long scene!

[Hana]

Wow I'm really liking those storyboard sketches. I really adore the whole bottom row. I can't wait to see what comes of this :D

[WillW]

well, I guess my comment vanished : D so I'll say it again...

thanks hana and JeremyHopkins, I think the log is already open so he doesnt need to open it at all, I do agree that sasha shouldnt look backwards and I shall follow your suggestion on that. The trickiest part of this will be the diagonal walk cycle of the rabbit and making the cart rotate around the way I stated, doesnt bother me much though as I really love a challenge : D

I'm considering modifying the actions of the fox because if I continued to make the yawning animation It would appear outside of the 9 field area so I either have to make him yawn lower down the log or remove the yawn completly.

[Nanook123]

I thought we were working on the 12 field? Do you think that he would fit better that way?

[WillW]

we are working on 12 field paper but I believe were working within the 9 field area and anything from 9 to 12 wont be seen on the screen. I think it was mentioned in one of don's tutorial vids.. gonna have to find that vid. As you can see from this story sketch it doesnt leave much room for the fox to move upwards.

http://donbluthanimation.com/cyber_garage/storyboards/story_13.jpg

It would not make me too popular if I decided to relocate them so I could make him yawn so I'm going to have to remove that action all together, there wasnt really room for the yawn any way.

Edit: after looking at the video again I see its 9 tall, and 12 across.

[Don Bluth]

Thanks : D, making the model was really fun! I might make the others too and have like a complete set or something c: I'm not so good on the rigging side myself.. I mean I can sort of rig to a basic set of bones but I cant make controllers or anything. I added a blend shape to the model so I could close his eyes though, but nothing too complex love the modelling side of 3d but I cant get my head around the animation part lol.

Doodler: I used Maya to build this model c:


Began Thumb nailing my scene today : D I had various ideas on what I could do with the characters, this is the sequence so far. very off model right now.



Hi Will,
While looking at you thumbnails, one thing comes immediately to mind. Be careful that you do not over animate your scene. This is the trap that almost every animator in the world falls into. You should have a focus in your scene. At the beginning, it is the rabbit, then the focus switches to the fox. If you continue to animate the rabbit too much when we should be looking at the fox, you'll split your focus - not good. Furthermore, if the fox is intent on the rabbit meal - having already smelled it before we see him - I think he should not stop to yawn. Lock his eyes on the meal. Focus on that. Make the audience feel that Sasha is threatened. A yawn won't do it.

Don

[Don Bluth]

we are working on 12 field paper but I believe were working within the 9 field area and anything from 9 to 12 wont be seen on the screen. I think it was mentioned in one of don's tutorial vids.. gonna have to find that vid. As you can see from this story sketch it doesnt leave much room for the fox to move upwards.

http://donbluthanimation.com/cyber_garage/storyboards/story_13.jpg

It would not make me too popular if I decided to relocate them so I could make him yawn so I'm going to have to remove that action all together, there wasnt really room for the yawn any way.

Edit: after looking at the video again I see its 9 tall, and 12 across.

Hi again Will,

If you wanted to, you could position your enlarged story sketch 8.5 F north instead of 9 F north. That would give you a bit more head room for the
fox. Notice that there are two tree limbs pointing directly at Sasha. They are there to help the audience focus on the rabbit. I just thought I'd mention it.

Don

[WillW]

Hi Will,
While looking at you thumbnails, one thing comes immediately to mind. Be careful that you do not over animate your scene. This is the trap that almost every animator in the world falls into. You should have a focus in your scene. At the beginning, it is the rabbit, then the focus switches to the fox. If you continue to animate the rabbit too much when we should be looking at the fox, you'll split your focus - not good. Furthermore, if the fox is intent on the rabbit meal - having already smelled it before we see him - I think he should not stop to yawn. Lock his eyes on the meal. Focus on that. Make the audience feel that Sasha is threatened. A yawn won't do it.

Don

Now you mention it the yawn really doesnt make sense does it, that more or less seals the removal of that action then. I also on closer inspection noticed the hand raised above the fox's eyes so I'll make that the final pose.

Funnly enough I felt that was the reason why those branches were drawn that way. theres nearly a third one at the top of the story board sketch too.

[lindley]

Nice job, Will. Really looks like the charts.

[WillW]

Thanks c:

also ARGHH!! I've been really busy these last couple of weeks doing lots of different little things, I havent had much chances to work on my scene. Once I've finished the animals I'm drawing (I got asked to draw 30 animals for a charity event) I'll get right back onto my scene.

Heres a couple of doodles I snuck in while I was working on those.

This ones probably too wide for the table so I put it as an html link
(link) (http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/tyokio_different-uniforms.jpg)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/tyokio_new-characters.jpg
Wanted to expand the amount of characters I designed, so far these are the best 2 from the designs I made. As a design the one on the right is much better, the one on the left still needs much more development.


http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/tyokio_where-is-gregory.jpg
A quick painting, half flash half photoshop.

I'm not saying I havent made any progress on the scene though, I began to work on the walkcycle of Sasha (considered it the more complex part of the scene) I've also been carefully plotting my x sheet so I get the cycle to pause right when I want it. Never tried putting things on xsheets before (damn you university!!) so this is interesting, just hope I'm getting it right though!

[WillW]

Hiya, I've still not had many opportunities to work on my scene, however this is going to change today as I'm gonna really get cracking on it.

I began working on a really short animation which turned into a 4 minute short, the roughs took me about 6 days to complete and I'm slowly working though the clean up stages. As people have mentioned on the Deviant art page, the timing feels like it gets slower as it progresses which is one of the main things I will be dealing with once I finish cleaning up the frames.

(Link) (http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/Cat-Puke-BAD-DAY-roughs-130995859)

[arif]

hi willi..

if it was a quick painting then what would be the look of your painting when you will give more time??hahahhahah:laughing::laughing:...very nice color and characters..which part done in flash???

Arif:rolleyes:

[WillW]

I say that every time I paint something lol, I tend to get to a final result as quick as possible and with painting it does make it suffer. Mainly the line work and initial colors were added in flash and then the textures and shading/lighting were added in photoshop.


I certainly left this really late but I aim to really get cracking on this CGP scene now. I have made an initial start on the foxes movements now and here's what I have so far. but for what ever reason the flash file wont play so I'll convert it to a quick time movie and upload here instead. I really havent a clue whats going on :C. Sorry about that.. heres some drawings just to make this post have a point again..

I felt I needed practice drawing hands so I got myself to draw a whole page of hands

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9939/hallofhandsandanoldman.jpg

[WillW]

Here's a couple more recent sketches plus a 3d model of a robot made out of junk. The motor part of this is based on an old fashioned ride able lawn mower.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/4421/strangelittleguybytyoki.jpg

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/5034/crazydogbytyokio.jpg

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/8959/fullbodydddddd.jpg

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/7088/robotface.jpg

also I got the animation to work finally, the only place it seemed to play with out any hitches was on my deviant art page.

http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/wip-2d-scene-136574838

There's a fair few modifications I want to make like the swing on the hat and one frame which breaks the initial swing by being too low. I also have the idea that I could make the sniffing bit at the start slower by adding more sniffs which progress round until the final sniff where he smells his meal. I thought it would be funny to translate his alertness through the way the nose moves. I'm going to add some more bits to the end of this too so its not going to end as shown.

I hope I have more luck uploading the final result then I did with this, it wouldn't upload as a .mov or .swf to my website, it wouldn't upload as a .mov or a .avi onto youtube. I wander what this poor animation did to deserve it lol!

[WillW]

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/6760/image0097.jpg
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5853/image0098.jpg
http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7918/image0100b.jpg
http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/7528/image0096x.jpg

[WillW]

an some for fun doodles, Johnny Bravo and Count Duckla vs Nosferatu battle
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/7328/cdvn.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7392/image0095.jpg

[Moneyguns]

an some for fun doodles, johnny bravo and count duckla vs nosferatu battle
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/7328/cdvn.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7392/image0095.jpg

mortal kombat!!!!!!!

[Poulpette]

Wow, that's really good!

[Seth]

Hey Will,

Haven't got the chance to say it yet, but I wanted to tell you your drawings are very impressive. Keep up the good work, you've got talent!

[WillW]

here's some new drawins!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Different_style_by_tyokio.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Something_halloweeny_by_tyokio.jpg



moneyguns: LOL!

Poulpette, Seth: thanks : D

[WillW]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Tea_doodle_by_tyokio.jpg

^I made this for a much larger painting, quite liked it as a sketch.

I made these while using a paint chat utility on http://aestus.us/ was very fun!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/underwater.jpg

^ this one was painted by me and Zhicago. I painted the background with the dolphin and the diver and the lighting and they painted the grass and the jelly fish.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/plane.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/wheeelcat.jpg

[arif]

hahhahahahhaha.....:laughing::laughing:..fantastic ...

Regards,
Arif:)

[WillW]

lol, glad you liked them c:

painted another underwater scene, much darker and lonelier.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/treasurechestdd2.jpg

[arif]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/Different_style_by_tyokio.jpg

it has some nice texture...which software did you use ?? photo shop?? your avatar and the character of the right side is same.is it you??
By the way, your scene is more entertainment than me..great looking when Saha is looking backward and moving forward........i am also doing the same scene...

Regards,

Arif:)

[Poulpette]

I love your last underwater scene, with this dark blue… great painting !

[johncbeggs]

yeah those are some cool paintings Will :D, I like the dark ones they give off a lonely feeling!

[WillW]

arifnbd: Yup, I used photoshop for that, I looked around for a great brush to shade the drawing with but I ended up using a default one (found one that was perfect a while after I completed it lol!). Alas no hes not a characture of me, I could only dream of having hair that awesome haha. Thanks, it was the first time I tried to make a character walk backwards, was quite tricky! I think your scene ended up being really great though c:

Poulpette, johncbeggs: thanks c: in many ways it was a painting of how I was feeling at the time which is probably helped it quite a bit!


Doodled some small animated tests, quite proud of both of them!

http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/a-hand-144059085

http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/Bubble-gum-142589266

[arif]

Thank you Will...i am glad that you liked my scene also....
watching your hand animation, i was wondering that i did exactly same kind animation without knowing anything by flash...hahahhahahahha...i will upload to show you......seems like we have some same kind of similarities....hahahahhahahah...:laughing::laughi ng::laughing:..doing the same scene......
by the way, what is the meaning of `card board corner`??..and i like your website..it is really cool......


Regards,
Arif,

[Nortega]

Nice looking stuff Will! You've got a unique sense to your style! Keep it up man.

[WillW]

arifnbd: lol, that's funny! I'd love to see it. I'm thinking of redesigning the website at some point because I think its a little too intense for older computers to handle. plus I really wanted to get the art work to actually appear on the site rather then it linking to galleries hosted on deviant art. also I'm not totally sure what the meaning of "cardboard corner" is.

Nortega: thanks c: glad you liked my work!

not been very well recently so I decided to doodle some things and this was one of the things that came from that. I cleaned it up and colored it in flash.

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3054/znewdesighnnnn.jpg

[WillW]

http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/skipping-cycle-148687813

Tried a skipping cycle, had to look at an example by Preston Blair for a reference (link) (http://www.hash.com/animationcontest/blairpages/biped.htm). I didn't like the result from following it religiously so I adjusted the legs, the way the back bends on a few frames and I also added energy by putting ones just before the character lifts of to give it a burst of energy.

I'm not fully convinced by it yet, I know I need to adjust the head a bit more but I just don't feel the feet skipping yet... what do you guys think?

[jeremyhopkins]

As a study that looks good to me! I like your additions as well. How did you upload your animation to deviantart? Do they automatically accept flash files?

[WillW]

thanks c: pretty much, I select the right gallery and just upload the swf file to their site the same as you would with jpgs, you have to provide a preview image for it but other then that no different to uploading normal pieces of art.

[lavallelee]

were both studying preston blair! its looking good will :)

[WillW]

hehe, I learned a fair amount while working on that little test and got some great crits from various artists I know on Deviant art. I have to give JeaTay a big ol pat on the back for spotting the main problem with the animation. I knew there was something wrong with it but just couldn't put my finger on it.

got some sketches and another small test animation to show : D

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/sketchbooksnippets.jpg

http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/11-Second-club-WIP-150094647

I felt like getting some practice at some acting so I took the sound file from this months 11 second club so I could do just that. A lot of things when though my head while making this, I wanted to make them feel like they were in an argument. Thinking that one sounded more angry and the other sounded calm and confident I wanted that to be reflected in their actions. It felt right to have the calm character doing something like reading a news paper and the other one standing over them attempting to intimidate. I also felt it would be a great idea to have the hot headed character pull down the other characters news paper to add to the feeling of him being confrontational. this is balanced by the calm character jolting back slightly which I feel would be a natural reaction to that action.

Those are just some of the thoughts I had : D

[AvestheForumFox]

I've skimmed through this entire thread. and needless to say, I'm impressed!

Your animations are smooth and very well done, the sketches are simple and yet so eye poppingly awesome!

Keep this stuff coming, man :) I'll keep watching

[joedorsey]

The wave of the arm after he says "kin" is really good. I feel the emotion in that scene. Awesome!

[WillW]

thanks, I did end up modifying that movement a lot. It didn't sit right with me mainly because he was facing the screen directly so I made him end up facing a bit to the right (his left) and kept his hand pointing to him.

uBDe46L1JY0

Most of the edits I made was in response to Don's critique, I did feel that initial sequence didn't make him seem angry so that's what I'm going to be aiming for and I'm thing I'm closer to achieving that then I was before. Its got a fair way to go before I'm satisfied with it.

[joedorsey]

The point of the finger is really great. I've been looking through the drawings and see lots of emotions. It's coming together well Will!

[Moneyguns]

Hay that's O'brother Where Art Thou. That's awesome.:)

[WillW]

thanks c: and yup, only found out recently where it came from. the competition site doesn't list where the sounds came from so I wasn't able to say for sure.

aYsWHtlzhFw

got another update ready! lol your gonna get tired of this clip some day ahah!, completely modified the end sequence, felt it had more impact with the accuser guy grabbing the other character instead of him just standing there. only got 14/13 more days to go to so I better get onto the other character now. I'll likely have more to change with the animation later on but for now I'm reasonably happy with the results. I'll know for sure once I post it on next weeks seminar though.

[joedorsey]

Wow! It's a whole lot smoother. Great job!

[WillW]

Thanks for the feedback joedorsey, got a bit more done over the last few days mainly began animating the first half of the 2nd character. Its really closing in on the deadline now D:!!

P3-AclkeY-s


edit: oh also, after their line finishes when their head suddenly becomes large, I havent animated that far yet so those are the roughs.

[jeremyhopkins]

Hey Will, I really like your last shot. The accents feel right on the money and I like the relationship you've built between both characters. My only acting suggestions would be in your second shot which might have a few too many poses and some of the physical mechanics aren't quite working. If you can nail down the weight and maybe remove the 'point to himself pose', I think that will work. Your last shot proves you're very good at working a pose and if you can do that there, I think the scene would feel more intense. Great job in getting the characters to feel unique and play off of each other!

[WillW]

Thanks for the awesome critique Jeremy! I went and completely reworked that intro bit, lowering the amount of poses they do during that section of speech. I think I have something much stronger now, would love to hear what you think c:

3hu03Oe87WA

I cleaned up most of the animation now, will have to clean some of it further, design kinda deforms in areas. the preview pic kinda shows that lol.....I feel I should really make the line work much finer in order to be able to display it at a higher resolution.

[joedorsey]

I like how you had the cat wince when he says "at the TIME!". Much better.

[WillW]

thanks, I'm quite pleased with that bit too : D

I think this is the final time I'll be posting this, I have the rest of the day to touch up any bits I feel need fixing but overall I think I have a final result. if you have any suggestions I could fix within an 11 hour period I would love to hear them.

Qc61XZ6Tgqs

I'm certain I wont get 1st place with this, but I hope to at least get top 10 or something lol. Either way I had so much fun making this and its been a great learning experience which I can use for future projects.

[WillW]

I ended up getting around 21st place, still not bad though! Finally got an idea for this months one too, took a long while to think of an idea that had not been done to death already.

2w39of0lNW4

Was really looking forward to animating this one by hand, but right now I don't know where the lamps have gone :C I may have to buy some new ones if I remember where I got the last ones from... Even if I had them it would still be very hard to capture the frames as I've not got the same shelf I attached the tripod too in the old house (I moved house recently).

I spotted a really nicely priced rostrum on a UK based animation supply website which I intend to buy at some point. I also intend to buy an HD capture card which with my camera I'll be able to capture 720P resolution frames and perhaps later on I'll get a better 1080p camera which will take even higher resolution images (I think that one will have to wait a good while though!)

I also have some drawings this time!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/201_2975.jpg

these are some designs I made for the 11 second club submission of mine, I'm really proud of both designs especially the inspector. Not designed the character that goes loopy yet.

I don't know If any of you remember Owen Welsh mentioning an interesting exercise which involved turning a reference image upside down and then drawing it http://donbluthanimation.com/forum/showpost.php?p=10626&postcount=12. I was so interested in this I gave it a go myself, with the same reference picture too.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/201_2974.jpg
^--Upside down reference -------------------- ^--Right side up reference

My result ended up being completely opposite though, was still very interesting to give it a shot though!

[lavallelee]

that is very cool, i recently drew a bat upside down, but that is because thats how he was on the screen, lol

but wow, you and owen did the opposite of each other

very cool, i am thinking ill try too, join the club!

[joedorsey]

Hey Will,

I personally like your submission over the #1 pick. The finalist's poses are very conservative with not much emotion coming through. It has a finished look, but the content didn't move me.

One of my personal favs is "The Egg Thief".
http://www.11secondclub.com/competitions/january10/entry/sTDK14/

I like your acting for the characters. That seems to be the hard thing for most of the animations I saw. No intense expressions. Very blah.

I need to try this competition out once I get a light box. Great job!

[WillW]

I think the Egg thief one would have been much better if the lip sync was more accurate, I just didn't feel the characters saying the words. There were various submissions in the top 20 that I felt didn't belong there but oh well. I loved 2nd place very much though, the poses were strong, it was entertaining and it felt very believable.

I wont be able to complete the submission I made for this month :C things came up and I just haven't had the motivation to take it to completion.

Still working on my bear though! here's some new designs for him
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/BEAR2.jpg

here's a better scan of the original picture.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/BEAR1.jpg

[madanimator]

I like your bear very much! Cool stuff!

[WillW]

thanks : D glad you like them! I'm working on a 48 frame walk cycle of them with pencil and paper, I'm hoping it comes out really well... haven't a clue how I'm gonna got it into the computer yet.. not got the same set up as before.


Here's some concepts of something different, I came up with a rough story board for a 2 minute short which I'm really liking so far.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/wwwooooooooooo.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/waterbeast2.jpg

I want the whole film to have a similar style to those shots, the outline effect will be really easy but the gradients will take a while to get just right.

[Rodney]

VERY NICE!

You've definitely got a winner there.
Those colors perfectly evoke the suspenseful and mysterious.

[jeremyhopkins]

Yeah, this is great! Nice use of negative space too!

[joedorsey]

That first picture really grabs you. I'm ready to see more!

[arif]

your bear is looking so good......post more..........

[lavallelee]

very cool creature you got there, really want to see him animated

[Seth]

Nice creature Will. For some reason I expect to see him fade away with a grin like the Cheshire Cat!

[WillW]

Thanks for the feedback! Really inspires me to actually create this short.

Some more drawings of the water creature, I want to make a painting of this guy swimming around.. would be really interesting to see how I could play around with the lighting etc.... that and I like painting underwater things.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/IMAGE0106.jpg


This is a design for another character in this short film I might make.. thinking of better story lines for it right now.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/IMAGE0107.jpg

Got really inspired by watching Don Bluth showing how to draw hands so I gave it a go myself, I actually really enjoy drawing hands and I feel I'm getting much better at them.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/IMAGE0105.jpg

more Eric the sad bear, not drawn much of him lately.. or at least none I think are worthy of posting up here.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/IMAGE0104.jpg

[madanimator]

Awesome! I love your bear character, there's so much feeling in your drawing!!!

[Rich-E]

great stuff.

[jeremyhopkins]

Awesome! I love your bear character, there's so much feeling in your drawing!!!

I totally agree! Nicely done!

[WillW]

Thanks : D I find him quite fun to draw, considering I haven't really drawn many bears before.

After checking out Madanimators ArtRage paintings, I Got inspired to paint a little picture I had in my head. Not in ArtRage though, I used Photoshop for this one.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/bearpaint.jpg


Also been designing a new website to display most of my work, here's the old one (currently being used)

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/oldweb.jpg

and this is the one I'm creating

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/yet_another_web_design_by_tyokio.jpg

The actual website is on the left, the right side is showing the different panels you can scroll though.

[Rich-E]

wow! i'm surrounded by talent!!!

[joedorsey]

wow! i'm surrounded by talent!!!

I heard that Rich.

Your designs are great Will. I really like the feeling of your painting. The new website looks very high tech. One thing I like about your old one is the fun drawings on the front page. Maybe have a little taste to warm people up?

[madanimator]

Woooow, Will, I'm so impressed by your painting!!! I really can feel the mood, it is so wonderful :D I wish I could paint like you!

[lavallelee]

So your website is all flash? A good thing to know about websites, if it's all in flash, google and other search engines will have a hard time going through your text, and pages. Meaning.... Less visitors from search engines.

Something to think about :eek:

[WillW]

So your website is all flash? A good thing to know about websites, if it's all in flash, google and other search engines will have a hard time going through your text, and pages. Meaning.... Less visitors from search engines.

Something to think about :eek:

That's actually a good point, I'll have to have a good think about that one!

[lavallelee]

That's actually a good point, I'll have to have a good think about that one!

It's one of the reasons I stopped making sites in all flash.

[WillW]

heh, this site will do for some one who has very little html/java/css scripting skills.

Heres the site sort of up and running by the way, added a link to this forum on there too.

http://www.willw.co.uk

I thought I'd have a really good try at some 3D animation to see what it was like.

OaptCwZimtw

Er3WRHT9sLA

Its a lot harder then it looks! but I had a lot of fun making them.

[madanimator]

Cooooool! I would like to see how your timing graphs look like!!!:cool: I really loooove your work!

[joedorsey]

Great work Will.

[LordDirk]

Love what I am seeing. I would try and break up some of your timing on those animations though, some of it seems very linear. Other than that I like what's going on, good poses and arcs. :)

[Rodney]

Very nice Will!

After a few short looks (The audience test to see if it works the first time)
I really like the Zip off the screen. It just works. without overanalysis or frame by framing)

You may want to be careful on that second one.
Due to a little illusion of foreshortening and perspective he's revealing a bit more of himself than you likely want to.

LorkDirk has hit the main weakness... the linear nature of movement.
I'll look again to see if there is anything else that stands out.

Back: It may be that you are going for the mirror effect in the second animation but I'd try to change the arms/legs so they aren't twinning. Perhaps more drag on one leg as he leaves the ground? The problem with that fix is then how to proceed with adjusting the timing to get away from the twinning in the arms. Perhaps that they might be different on the ground and then mirror at the top?

... great stuff! Keep it up!

[lavallelee]

what are you doing the cg in? maya?

[WillW]

yup its maya! I'm in love with the software lol! Thanks for the comments and crits on those 3D things I made, really appreciate it (sorry for being so late in saying so!)

Not been doing much drawing or animation lately, been doing a fair amount of freelance work. Its been really fun doing something I love and getting payed for it c:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/wolfdogfox_thing_by_tyokio.jpg

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/109/a/a/Sid_burns_by_tyokio.jpg

I also had a go at drawing Taz, was really fun! both rough version and cleaned up version

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/taz.jpg

[lavallelee]

TAZ!!! im doing some looney tunes study too

very fun! great job

[WillW]

thanks c: he was really fun to draw!

Been thinking for a long while of a short animation I could make, with various ideas coming and going. Yesterday I was doodling some stuff and I drew this dragon and a fox, then suddenly a story popped into my head which so far I think sounds good and has a lot of opportunities for some funny animation.

Basic Story (not fully developed yet)

Fox is a successful hunter and very popular in his community, he is cocky and enjoys boasting about his kills. Because Fox's don't hunt in packs, he is the only fox in this community so having a high position of popularity is very important for him. One day, he wakes up to see a Dragon staring right at him. This obviously shocks him at first until he realizes that this dragon is harmless, he tries to lose the dragon but it decides to follow him around. Because of the Dragons size, it scares away all the creatures the Fox is hunting. This results in his popularity fading away and becoming the target of Bullying from other preditors. The fox then makes a few attempts to try to lose the Dragon to regain his popularity but he is unable to get rid of him.

I've not yet thought about how to end it yet though LOL, perhaps he confronts a human hunter and the dragon saves his life. So he ends up with a real friend for the first time, instead of ones that are only his friends because of his status in the community.

here are a few doodles I've done so far. They have a long way to go to develop fully I think.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/DRAGON.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/DRAGON2.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/FOX.jpg

[Rodney]

Color me intriqued Will.

I have two questions (apologies if you may not have them worked out yet)?

What is the size comparison of the two creatures?
(I'm imagining the more cute the dragon the more small his scale in comparison)

What is the general character of the dragon?
(Is he goofy? Does he seem to be dim-brained? Never saying anything but just following fox around and staring?)

I can visualize this last one fairly well as a dragon who the fox thinks is really really stoooopid until at last the reason for the dragon following him is revealed.

Regardless... It's an interesting concept with some nice potential for character development and animated pantomime!

[joedorsey]

Hey Will!

I like your Dragon and Fox ideas and drawings. The dragon looks like a lovable character. I had one of those " I wish I could draw like that" moments when I saw your dragon. I had some story ideas for your characters if I may. If you feel I'm stepping on your ideas, then by all means tell me to take a hike!

I thought that instead of the animals running away permanently. They all would find out that he's a friendly dragon. Then Fox's popularity dwindles and Dragon becomes the protector of the group. Fox is upset about the situation and hates Dragon.

What the group doesn't know is Dragon is the smallest of his kind. His clan is looking for him because he ran away. When the dragon clan eventually finds Dragon they decide to take all the woodland creatures back with them for a feast.

Dragon is stunned and perplexed on how to stop them. Fox on the other hand decides to sacrifice himself for the group and cooks up a plan to lead the dragon clan away for good. In the end, Fox is shown the hero and both Dragon and Fox become the group's leaders. Each with their own strengths.

[WillW]

What is the size comparison of the two creatures?

not 100% sure yet but I'm leaning towards the Dragon being taller then the Fox, seems funnier in my head.

What is the general character of the dragon?

As I've written it, the dragon will be a goofy idiot who is full of energy. I too can't vision the Dragon saying anything.


JoeDorsey: I like some parts of your ideas, mainly the animal Group being saved from something by the Dragon and Fox but the attack being part of a bigger plan by another character (possibly a Wolf or something). Then Again that might the animation way to big for me to complete, perhaps the 2nd half of that could lead to another animation If I ever wanted to continue the story some how.


Here's some more concept drawings for this, I think the face for the fox is getting much stronger then it was yesterday.

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/6863/fox2i.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5826/dragon22.jpg

For the Fox Character design I'm going to add a necklace with a fox claw on it (his Brothers) Because I wanted to add a sad side to his story and I feel this adds to the strength of the character.

[WillW]

More doodles, found my scanner c:

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7915/dragon3z.jpg

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/1156/foxconcept3.jpg

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3985/foxconcept4.jpg

[WillW]

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/1166/foxconcept5.jpg

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5805/foxconcept6.jpg

Another charatcer, a bear!
http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/4019/bearconcept1.jpg

[WillW]

working on a little animated test with the two main characters, going well so far but some of the movements of the fox are kinda lost so I'm gonna have to make it more obvious whats going on. Another thing is that the fox's movements don't really blend all that well.

http://tyokio.deviantart.com/#/d2tkamv

I think overall I'm WAY more proud of the dragon skipping around haha

[johncbeggs]

will your animations are really cool! I like how the dragon hops on screen :laughing:!

I really like your rat episode 2 short animation! Its actually amazing! I would definately pay some money to watch that if it was a full length film!

I sorta got reminded of ralph bakshi's work for some reason but definately you did an amazing job on it! :D

[lavallelee]

More doodles, found my scanner c:

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/7915/dragon3z.jpg



These are my favorite on this page, I like these a lot. I will say what i usually do, I would like to see them animated! :laughing:

[WillW]

These are my favorite on this page, I like these a lot. I will say what i usually do, I would like to see them animated! :laughing:

Lavallelee: you can, sort of : D http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=392

this animation was inspired by that very page lol!

Johncbeggs: thanks : D I learned so much from making that short film, certainly some things I'm gonna put into the short I'm working on right now.

[WillW]

Began thinking about how I was going to clean up the animation. here's a test I did using one of the frames from the animated test.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/402/cleanuptest.png

[joedorsey]

Wow! The colors are awesome. I really like the fox pose. Looks great!

[feliceworkshop]

I agree the fox pose looks very dynamic!... I can't wait to see the animation.

[madanimator]

Wow, great job with this clean up, Will! Hope you won't need so long to clean up your whole animations, so I can see it soon ;)

[WillW]

Madanimator: lol I hope so too, I don't mind if it does take a long while though. Many times I've spent months and months on one project so I'm not too scared about it taking a long time as I know what to expect.

This time though I think I'm gonna have things more planned out then previous times haha. I also want to train myself in painting backgrounds so they don't look awful when it comes to actually making the animation.


Was able to slice down the plot a lot by removing the preditors pack all together. For a while It was difficult to really fit it into the story, plus the more I thought about it the less sense it made to have that factor in the story.

Now in the forest its just the fox and a pack of wolves in competition and the story will focus on fox realizing that he is stronger in a group then on his own. This way I should still be able to keep the back story I had planned for the fox and dragon.

Redesigned the fox a little bit too, to make him thinner.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/IMAGE0118.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/IMAGE0120.jpg

I also got round to designing the main baddy but at the moment he looks way to close to Charlie from "all dogs go to heaven"! So I got some work to go till I separate his look.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/IMAGE0121.jpg

[lavallelee]

i really like those sketches will, my favorite 2 drawings are on the sheet of drawings on the bottom right the two fox's one is working out

good poses :)

[WillW]

thanks c: yeah I'm just trying to get the hang of the legs really, I think I'm slowly getting there but I've still got a way to go.

Redesigned the bad guy a bit, thought he looked too cuddly really so I made him a little disfigured.

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/6080/0005kt.png

I think it really helps his design, it makes me feel a little intimidated when looking at it. The difficulty for me at the moment is to get that same feeling from him looking forward. I've tried many times to get a front on drawing of him but all have failed so far.

[Rodney]

I like this need iteration of the bad guy.
That look does make him very distinctive.
Almost makes me think he'd speak with a small lisp ala 'Little Mermaid's' flotsam and jetsome characters (the villianous Eels).

As for a front view I think you've already pretty much got that via your earlier drawing of him. To make the lower jaw seem more pronounced perhaps you could thicken the lines of the lower jaw to make it appear closer?

The one I think works is in the lower right corner of this image:
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/IMAGE0121.jpg

Looking good thus far! :)

[WillW]

thanks! yeah, that one is kinda nearly there. I just have to keep going until I'm satisfied that the front view fits the side view. I'm still kinda having that problem with the fox too.

[NateHorsfall]

Hey Will, cool stuff man. I really like the cleaned up colored one on the opposite page. the lines in general feel very.. stretchy I guess is the word? it has a new flow. perfect for animation!

It's also nice to see someone else who draws in a mess of sketch lines. haha. Keep at it!

[zanekohler]

I am digging the facial expressions on the sketches. Has a good feel to them!

[WillW]

thanks NateHorsfall and ZaneKohler, I love sketching things that way, they always feel like they have so much energy in drawings. The negative side of them is that if they're too messy the can hide glaring mistakes which appear when the image is cleaned up.

Here are some more sketches of the wolf character. I think I need to sketch him a bit more before making a model sheet of the character. At least I'm happy with the front on drawing now.

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/2541/wolf2k.jpg
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/1048/wolf1d.jpg

v---I'm kinda tempted to clean this one up, would be a good way of working out a colour scheme for him.
http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/1948/wolf3s.jpg

[lavallelee]

you should clean it up, that's a good action scene pose

[zanekohler]

thanks NateHorsfall and ZaneKohler, I love sketching things that way, they always feel like they have so much energy in drawings. The negative side of them is that if they're too messy the can hide glaring mistakes which appear when the image is cleaned up.


I know what you mean...I feel like I have some great rough sketches with so much potential. By the time I clean them up some areas just don't come together like the sketch.

[WillW]

Its even worse if it happens on some of the frames of an animation lol! I guess that's what the 2nd pass is fore before the final clean up.

Speaking of clean up, here's the drawing I said I was thinking of cleaning up

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/2673/foxandwolf.jpg

[jeremyhopkins]

Whoa nice Will! I really enjoy these two characters!

[lavallelee]

i agree, the expressions are great

i want to see this animated!

[jtq3]

Hi Will,
This is presumptuous of me but, may I offer a couple of suggestions on your "fox and wolf" drawing?

[WillW]

sure!, I would mind at all : D

[jtq3]

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=50&pictureid=1161
I hope you can read my handwriting. I like your drawing very much and I guess that's why I pulled it onto my desktop and starting playing with it. These are just opinions and choices I would make in the drawing. It's your drawing and I humbly submit these suggestions with all due respect.

[WillW]

wow! these are some fantastic suggestions. I can really feel the tension much stronger between the two characters. Has opened my eyes to a lot of things I need to think about when setting up a pose for drawings.

I really like the fur you drew for the elbow, I think it really adds to the "monstrous" kind of look I want to aim for with his design and I also love the suggestion you made about foxes hand being bent backwards.

thanks very much for the helpful suggestions jtq3!

[jeremyhopkins]

Great suggestions and thanks for sharing John!

[jtq3]

Thanks Jeremy,

Thanks for being so gracious about this Will. I think the struggle to maintain the vitality of the concept in the clean up is such a common issue for artists. I hear it all the time and know I feel it in my own work.

I was trained in what Don calls the "monkey see, monkey do" system. When I started with Disney I had skill but, only by working closely with the artists here in just this way (tracing paper over my drawing, re-draw and direction), have I come to understand these finer points of drawing animated cartoon characters.

There is always so much talk about drawing on this forum and obviously drawing is enormously important. But, watching "Don Animates-disk two" I was struck again and again by how quickly Don is able to move through the individual drawings in the service of the animation. I found myself saying, "wait a minute, don't you think that foot should go there?" "or I wouldn't draw that pose like that , I'd push this here and move that there etc."

Of course I understand that Don is an expert and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm an illustrator and recognize I would end up going down a rabbit hole by making some of those choices and focusing so closely on individual drawings (or even individual moments in individual drawings). It's a "forest for the trees thing."

[WillW]

They have been really helpful!, I went over my drawing with your suggestions and I feel its a much stronger piece now.

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/2673/foxandwolf.jpg


Its made me realize that I've got so caught up with the development stage that I haven't really thought about the clean up stage after I animate the film. Its probably best I start learning how to clean up a sketch properly now rather then after the films completed (which is a long way away!) because it would make the final piece so much stronger as a result.

[lavallelee]

i can't wait to see you animate this, and i agree much stronger

[jtq3]

Nice Will! No doubt about it, the clean up stage is really important. You have to take all the creative energy of the concept and layer on the forces and energies operating through the characters and all the finer techniques of drawing and roll it into one.

[WillW]

heh yeah, its certainly not something I'm gonna get over night. gonna work hard to get better at clean up : D

Here's a small test animation of the wolf I made for the Lip sync competition over on http://www.animationforum.net/forum/showthread.php?p=61121#post61121 I feel its coming along very well so far, one or two places I need to tweak a bit further.

v_bJgN_-2R4

[WillW]

Just posting an update to the previous submission,

fqkMN-iyzFY

would love to hear any crits you may have : D

[akkushisu]

Hey, Will! :D Okay, I'm not sure how valid my critique is here since I'm not actually an animator, just an observer.

I think the work you've done so far is indeed coming along pretty well. The part I felt that needs the most work is where the wolf says "...Most people are so ungrateful to be alive..." his movements are a bit choppy and mechanical. Everything before that point looks pretty solid. I like the detail you put into the movements of the wolf's face and eyes as he speaks particularly.

Again, sorry I've overstepped my bounds here. :( Keep up the good work, Will!

[WillW]

nah don't worry about it, what you said was true. Its a section of the animation I'm certainly gonna have to keep working on, probably because I'm not really familiar with the process of doing movement with vocals correctly.

[johncbeggs]

cooooooooooooooooooooool , is that your own sound recording? whatever the case the animation is excellent! and the recording works great with the character! :D

[WillW]

Thanks Johncbeggs!, nah the audio is from a sound clip from a movie called SAW. I actually searched a while for an evil voice for him and that just struck me as the perfect one for the design.

Heres an update, reworked the middle quite a bit, I'm much happier with it now.

6WEbTTdHZz4

[akkushisu]

Hello, Will... Would you like to play a game?

...Umm, I mean, amazing work, Will! :laughing: This version looks so much more natural and fluid. When I watched your last attempt at this scene, I closed my eyes and imagined how the wolf would move. It's kind of weird because you animated almost identically! Great job, man! This is really impressive!

[andrew sharp]

Hello Will you do an amazing amount of work and its so fluid Idig your character designs:D

[joedorsey]

It looks great Will. The animation is much smoother with your update.

[WillW]

thanks for the encouragement : D lol akkushisu, I watched that movie a few days ago, It wasn't too bad. I went and got me the 2nd and 3rd one but from reviews I've read they received poor ratings. which is a good thing because I LOVE awful horror films : D!

I'm still thinking of toning down the arm movements in that middle section as I don't really want to drag too much attention away from the face, which is where the audience should be looking.

I also decided it might be interesting to add arms to the final section, for more interaction between the two characters.

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=499

I uploaded the video to the video gallery this time, for kicks : D let me know how those arms are looking and how my "attempt" at clean up went. (ignoring those teeth though! haha)

[akkushisu]

Very nice, Will! This is looking better and better. Nice coloring in the opening part and yeah, the addition of arms in the final bit really help to add to the mood. It's almost a bit eerie how the wolf clutches the other character's head but I mean that in a good way! Very suspenseful! Keep it up, man! :D

[samuelvictorjones]

Hi Will, not sure how I've missed this for so long, great to finally see the wolf animated after admiring the still drawings of thae character Iv'e seen.

Really nice job on the animation, very atmospheric & it works very well.

The Saw films (or at least the first 3) are great. Very nicely made & well thought through. Kinda like your animation! :p

[WillW]

thanks guys c:!

akkushisu: Yeah I think the arms really help create some personality for the wolf as I have this idea of him being a bit manic and power hungry. So to show that I made the character invade the 2nd ones personal space and grab their face to really get that feeling of his craving for power and control. This is something I will definitely seek for when making the film.

samuelvictorjones: Yeah I've seen the first 3 films now, I think the 3rd has to be my favorite so far, certainly got me to try out the 4th one. I think I'm only really sticking with it because of Tobin Bell, he rules as a bad guy.


I decided to further inbetween the first section as I've realized that I don't often go beyond 2s in my animation, which can make it look a little jumpy.

uWkvvuU8X7Q

I'm not totally sure I'm going to have the time to complete it before the deadline, depending on the news I hear tomorrow. I know I'm not very active here on the forum but I may be gone for 2 months.

of course, it all depends on what happens. c:

[akkushisu]

Excellent inbetweening, Will! That's a shame that you might not finish this project on time. Here's to hoping you can still meet the deadline. :)

Don't sweat not being as active on here. You've got other obligations and work to do. Hopefully things will work out and you'll be able to stop in more often.

[judithbarsi4ever]

Great work. I hope you go this project on.

[NateHorsfall]

Will! These animations are looking great! It sure helps that you have a killer piece of Audio. is that more 11 second club stuff?
I've always thought "man, i should do that.." but i'm generally so bogged down with god only knows how many other things, I don't bother. Maybe some day.. I know I could bash out one with 3d easily.

Also.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/tyokio/waterbeast2.jpg

I don't know how I missed this.. but it's fantastic. I'd LOVE to see that animated.

[WillW]

I havent posted in a while so.. squiggle squiggle!

http://tyokio.deviantart.com/art/blarg-278410914

Another one of these sound clip thingies but just the construction lines at the moment, who knows if they're helping me much but I sure find them fun!

[andrew sharp]

Cool animation Will I can imagine the fox character zipping around very well posed man:)

[andrew sharp]

Will your youtube channel is awesome man a quick question are you animating all thee in flip book?

[WillW]

Thanks!, I pretty much animate everything in flash at the moment. I've just found it to have the most straight forward time line in comparison to other animation programs.

I have another little work in progress which I made yesterday, I saw a massive blog of animations of Sonic the Hedgehog walking weirdly, so I decided to join in too.

(link) (http://tyokio.deviantart.com/#/d4lv8oz)

I made sure to keep it very, very simple! ok thats a lie, its probably the longest walk cycle I have ever animated : D

[andrew sharp]

Very Coool Will haha that is a funny walk out of balance is difficult to do but you did it awesome:)Thanks for the feed back on which program you use:)

[andrew sharp]

Have a good day :)