This was another entry into an animation challenge by Ravie Co. Participants were given the prompt "Glint" and approximately 11 days to complete a vertical format animation of 30 seconds or under. I quickly jumped into experimenting with more character animation, sketching out the main character and a style frame for the upward panning shot near the middle of the finished video. I used the plugin Joysticks n Sliders for the complex facial rigs on the boy and owl, and this was my first time using the tool. The completed project featured 7 different character rigs across all the poses. I had so many ideas that never made it into the project, getting cut for time or to tell a more concise story.
This was a bit of a special project for me, as I've been a fantasy writer most of my life, but I've never been able to really put that passion to visuals. I loved being able to finally tell a fantasy story, albeit a very short one. My emphasis was on maintaining the mystery.
After designing my character, I wanted to try out a plugin called Joysticks ‘N Sliders, which, with some lengthy setup, can aid in much more complex facial movements than I’d ever attempted before. It could help me tackle head turns and morphing emotions. When I was happy with the results of the face turn, I moved on to eyes, then mouth emotions and eyebrows. The drawback to this plugin is that once you’ve locked in your extreme poses, it’s hard to go back. I needed to predict how my character would act within my story, even if the story was only partially finished.
I opted for more somber looks, eschewing big bright smiles and exuberant eyebrows. I imbued him with a sense of wonder and curiosity I thought he’d need in this new world.
In the end I needed to rig seven different poses / characters throughout my animation, from a more typical human walk cycle to an overhead view of an owl. Once again, I drew all of these out in Adobe Illustrator and used DUIK to connect them within After Effects.
I feel like the first roadblock in the project was trying to translate this character to other poses. Things can look a bit off if the proportions aren’t quite similar. The boy had a wider, flat face in the straight-on view that I really liked, and it took a few attempts before I was satisfied with his profile look.
I wanted this walk cycle to be curious and slow. The boy lifts his hand each step to gaze down at the object he totes through the frozen landscape. His sword dangles listlessly in the other hand and his robes sway gently.
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