Principles of Animation. First lessons

and here is the final black and white rough

This is primarily for my students in Moscow, and is a collection of recent notes

The first lesson is all about

1) ARCS, (the ball follows an elliptical arc- this is PHYSICS: see my lecture on the physics of animation)

2)TIMING/SPACING,(timing is the bounce or accent, but spacing is where you draw the balls on the paper. They are NOT the same thing)

3)SQUASH & STRETCH (as the ball falls it stretches. as the ball falls it speeds up.)

4) preserving Volume (The ball may change shape but the overall volume remains the same throughout)

All writers seem to agree that this is a slightly dull lesson, but there is an interesting kink revealed by RICHARD WILLIAMS which is rarely taught and is the main focus of this lesson and handout. That is the location of the stretched ball immediately before the squash.

Here is a rough sequence for a film I am just working on. Note how loose everything is, but also note the practical value of the “balls” lesson… I shall add updates to this, and try to add some footage of inbetweening etc…

and a few days later this is how it looks:

and here is the final black and white rough:

Here is the finished sequence:

Here is a recent example of some walk cycles…

 

Here is a new song and character for the Music Hall film.

here is the finished sequence from Music hall history, part 2: