Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Timing Timing Timing

Wow, I haven't post in a month.....

It's been a very stressful time for me, with graduation on the horizon and everything. I was getting depressed and angry like a hungry and tired kid. It also caused my animation to suffer. When I was depressed, my art was also reflected it. I was working on my dialog test at that time, and I could see that I just lost it. I lost the motivation to even work on it, and the animation also stopped shining, it became dead. I wasn't sure if I even should put this up, but I thought you can see how lifeless this is.







After i was done with this, I critiqued myself. The part that I should work on the most right now is, the force. I can see on this test that I was forcing her to move a certain way, instead of bringing her to life. The force was so unnatural. I was ignoring the natural force, and I was making up the force I wanted and made her move my way, and it showed how lifeless she is. I was forcing her to move where I wanted and the result was a puppet.


So all this was said, I am feeling better. And I am still not fully okay. I am still scared. But I realized it is okay to be scared. It is okay to curl up one day and not do anything. It's okay that I am not okay. And I felt much better.

After the dialog test, I was doing some inbetweens for Mike's short animation. It was my first time to do only inbetweens, and I was so scared to mess that up. The point I learned most from the experience was timing. How he put the timing, or how he timed it just amazed me. My eyes cannot really see it yet, but I could feel the difference.

I am frustrated with timing right now. My timing tends to be so even, or my eyes just cannot see it! I felt like "well, my eyes cannot see it! So I might not even be able to an animator ever!!" Because I know there are some people, who is just so good at timing (like Matt) They naturally just get the timing right away. And I am so opposite. I don't get it right away.

I am working on a just simple action test. I did this one straight ahead, and I shot it with my timing, but it didn't look right. It didn't look like there is life. It still looked so forced.





And I tried every other timing, like putting ones' two's, ( that's what I thought), and I asked Mike for feedback, and he just changed a few timings and it looked much better, (he must have a magic hand) it looked much better, and I was so amazed. I wasn't sure if my drawings or poses were wrong, but it was more about timing.




This is not finished yet, I fixed his right leg, shifted more forward so he doesn't look like he is falling forward as he reaches the ball, and I am doing tie downs to show his cloth or show the shapes to reinforce the force. ( That's what mike said, but I am not really sure how to do that yet, but I will learn hopefully...) Action is hard for me. I cannot think, even though I act it out, I cannot analyze it and I get confused, it's frustrating! I guess everything is frustrating in animation. But Mike said that frustration is the growing part, artists never take no for an answer. So I will not say to myself, " no, I can't do it," but say yes, " I will get it someday." I just have to be a little bit more patient to myself....

10 comments:

Listen to your Heart.......David said...

Hey Miyuki,
I have a book showing Charles Schulz life’s work, I was surprised to see how his first cartoon strips were so naive.But, look where he ended up! You are already way ahead of him. Most all artists think their work is crap, I do almost every day. Over thinking kills creativity go with your intuition:)

samacleod said...

Wow! That little girl is so cute! Really enjoy your animation.

Miyuki Kanno Long said...

Hi David, thank you for your encouragement and comment. I realized that I am very slow to grow, but it is okay to be me, to be slow, unless I am going forward. Thanks!

Hi Steve, thank you for stopping by and your comment. I always read your blog and it inspires me a lot. I especially love your 3rd year film, I thought the film was very wonderful. I hope you will stop by my blog again. Thanks!

Nunumi said...

I've been watching your super hero dialogue over and over again ^^ It's very enjoyable. And the little girl is just adorable. I hope that you will come to like this animation too :) Maybe once this gradution and stress are over ^_^ Good luck!

Aaron Paetz said...

There is no way in hell you could ever convince me that any of your animation is lifeless.

katzenjammer studios said...

Hey Miyuki! I can really tell the difference in timing. It really feels like it has more weight in the second one to me. It's amazing that animation is so much about the subtleties, that something so small as a couple of frames on ones can really punch up your stuff.

This semester I really got burnt out. I found out that you need time to recuperate, time to relax, and time to build yourself back up. All those sleepless nights really catch up to you after a long time and your body and mind just get totally burnt out. I'm totally with you on that one, but you're making great progress and you rock, so keep up the good work! Remember the rest of us when you're at Pixar. - Chris.

Mike Caracappa said...

Scared??!?! Miyuki, you're insane! Your animation is looking so much better all the time. I like the timing on the little girl at the end when she says "secret identity". Very sweet. The My Little World stuff is great too. Don't be so hard on yourself, you're doing fine! :)

Miyuki Kanno Long said...

>Minini, thank you for stopping by and I'm glad you liked my animation ;) I hope I will like the animation soon...!

>Hey Aaron, thanks. mmm....well, I will keep working hard to put more life in my animation.

>Chris, I hope you are feeling all better now after school is over. Have some good rest! Are you guys working on many films this summer? Good luck you guys, I hope I will see you soon again in the summer!

>Mike, hey~, thank you for your compliment. I guess I am too hard on myself sometimes...and I burn out and get frustrated. he he.

So@24 said...

I'm not an animator, but I absolutely loved that dialog sequence with Zoe. Such a fan!

Miyuki Kanno Long said...

Hi so@24, thank you for visiting my blog, and I am glad you enjoyed my animation!