Here's a pencil test for an animation of an ancient Gaul warrior. He's jumping on his shield and snowboarding down a mountain and into battle against the Romans. There will be others joining him. I'm going to pencil test about three or four then create the actual animation in Flash. From there I can reproduce them and have a full-fledged army of ancient, half-naked, berserking snowboarders.
The pencil test is done in actual pencil and in Flash with a Wacom. The main key frames I did on my light table with pencil then scanned them into Flash. From there I did the inbetweens and tweaked it for a while. Any of you animators out there feel free to make some suggestions.
Well, first of all I would say slow it down, Al. It is over almost before it begins, and though you want your snowboarder to be quick and brisk, those qualities will actually play better if you contrast it with something a bit slower. Suppose he does a more elaborate windup with the board before casting it down, for example, and then shoots off down the hill. Think of showing off his self-confidence by a bit of business that displays a little arrogance.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jim. What I plan on doing is a close up of the warrior just before I cut to this shot. He'll give a wild-eyed grin then to the wide shot. I like the idea of more of a wind up. Probably a menacing raise of the sword and shout to signal attack. Thanks again for taking the time to give your comments. Very helpful.
ReplyDeleteAl