Study Task 4 - Easing

Initially for this task, I decided to animate using cell animation, but this proved too time consuming and I couldn't maintain the mass and shape (jittery lines) of the subject I drew which pulled focus away from the easing aspect of it.

I then opted for a more solid, blocky Rubik's Cube, which has moveable parts that can ease too. I found that rotating its faces slightly at first, then rotating it more, creates the illusion of acceleration and vice versa for deceleration. I feel that the sound effects added, although slightly cheesy, emphasise the weight, mass and texture of the cube and work well with the visuals.

Study Task 3 - Appeal

I tried making a character without choosing clichés by creating the character's background and personality before choosing any physical characteristics. I wanted this character to be an explorer who experiences some form of restraint that holds back his potential, like a leash.

Here, I experimented with how exaggerated, how cartoony and how mature Gordon is.

   I chose the youngest, cartoony design, since it's the most 'human' one, which is easy to read. The white diamond on his forehead is a sign of intelligence and helps tell him apart from other goats.


The poses describe his character perfectly, however he might need some improvement on his wardrobe, maybe a jacket.

Just like Mickey Mouse's ears, Gordon's whole head is a 2D shape, either looking left or right, since goats have eyes on the sides.

Study Task 2 - Straight ahead and Pose to pose

With this animation, I decided to play with the fluidity of masses. How an object can 'gain' mass by adding clay between frames. I also wanted the two poses' colours to be different so that I could transition them by mixing the plasticine. The arm movement worked well, emphasising speed, but the transformation itself wasn't very drastic. Maybe I could've added an extra pair of arms?

Here I took a more complex approach, making use of everything paper cutouts can do; the ability to move pieces between frames or replace pieces with new shapes/colours. Maintaining consistency in the positioning of the cutouts was the most difficult part but I feel the transition was as seamless as I could get it. 

Study Task 1 - Timing

I took a light-hearted approach to this brief with a simple, comical fight-scene. I focused on bending the laws of physics but kept it realistic enough to be believable. I found out that the primary appeal of pixelation comes from it's clunky unnatural motion.


Here are some of the storyboards. The hardest part was to come up with a story that had structure, and characters that had clear motives.

Eventually, this particular storyboard (below) led me on a path to the finished product:

Spinning on top of the frisbee was difficult to pull off, so I improvised and moved the frisbee on top. I also added some comical running inspired by the movie, Home Alone.