Started polishing the body this week. I’ll be out on vacation all of next week, but when I get back I’ll post more as I go along. I’ve made changes for the pose where he pauses and tried to bring out his silhouette more as per your generous suggestions.
I’m finding that splining is pretty time consuming; it’s teaching me a great deal about patience. One of my fears is that I’ll lose the poses and timing as I smooth everything out. Please let me know if I do…or if you see anything that sticks out to you. Thanks!
Looking good so far.
I don’t know if you’re still working on these things or not, but I’ll mention it anyway:
-I find the very first starting pose to be slightly awkward. His left hand (and arm?) feels somewhat unnatural to me.
-Frame 150-160: Maybe bring his left wrist closer to his body while he does his motion to exaggerate the arc a little more?
-Frame 220-225: Maybe make the arc more noticeable here on his left wrist again (or rather the trajectory of the tip of his index finger).
-The flow/pose/silhouette feels more natural now with his right hand on hips and left on table.
Done nitpicking (and pretending to know what I’m talking about). Have fun on your vacation!
I’ve followed Hongman across teh internetz!!!
Hey Lianne! I don’t know how much more time you want to commit to this but if I were you I’d push the character more the right of the frame so he is consistently on that third. You can reposition the camera and adjust some of the poses so that all the important beats have stronger silhouettes. The little spider gesture and the fist coming down won’t get lost in his torso.
Also, it will feel more natural to the viewer if it feels like your character is talking to/yelling (consistently positioned towards off camera, lower screen left) at someone who is just off camera to the bottom left of the frame.
Also try looking at the whole thing with you character completely blacked out. Right now your getting some tangents (in the poses, not the graph editor). For example at the last frame your character’s left hand is lining right up with his shoulder.
Just my two cents. I’m gonna stop pretending I know what I’m talking about as well. Cause I could be totally wrongsville. Can’t wait to see the final piece. Go get ’em.
Wow, thanks guys! This is exactly what I needed!
Hongman, it’s not nitpicking, and you totally know what you’re talking about. That is why you are my mentor! XD You’re right about the arcs; I totally need to push things more.
Matt, thanks for taking the time to crit my wip. I agree about the tangents, focal point, and camera angle. I shall experiment. That’s a really good idea about blacking out the character…I need to try that. And though I don’t know you personally, I’m sure you know what you’re talking about because your crits are awesome.
When I get back from vacay, I’ll try out your crits and post my findings. Thanks!