WEEK 3 SUMMARY

WEEK START - 8th of October

WEEK END - 14th of October

This week didn't have one focus in particular, it was just a range of different tasks going on.

WALK CYCLE 

 (Walk Cycle - Pass 1)

"When we were first presented with this task, I won't deny, I found it a bit daunting. While I've tried walk cycles before, they weren't necessarily great. They staggered and gave a very rough feel, and I worried my previous inexperience would hinder this attempt. Even when drawing out each frame, with a reliable reference on the screen at the front, I felt like when I line tested, it would turn out bad and I'd have to try again.

As mentioned, I followed along with the guide at the front. While I needed the reference for the contacts, passings and highs & lows, I felt confident enough with the inbetweens to do them myself. I would occasionally flick through my drawings, trying to get some semblance of just what it would look like in motion, I couldn't get a good idea of it.

Eventually, I managed to line test and I was extremely happy with the results! Where I had worried that the animation would look bad while drawing the frames, putting them all together brought out a smooth, convincing walk cycle!" (link to original post)

(Walk Cycle - Pass 2)

"Once the main walk cycle was complete, we moved onto getting the arms to move. We were only really given the first contact position to work with, alongside being advised that it's the same basic principle as the legs when it comes to how to position the other frames.

I was much more confident with this step, since I have a better idea of how arms work than legs. I decided to offset the arms by one frame; for example, where the extreme for the legs would be frame 1, the arms' extreme would be frame 2. I figured this would make a less robotic movement, since it doesn't look like a deliberate effort to move both arms and legs at the same time.

I'm happy with how the arm animation turned out, having the figure seem like they're doing a "happy march", for lack of a better term." (link to original post)

CHARACTER ARCHETYPES

For my original post on character archetypes, click here.

I'm confident discussing about the different archetypes found in the hero's journey in depth, and will definitely have to consciously remember them when creating my own stories.

VISITING LECTURER

For my original post and thoughts on Robert Morgan's lecture, click here.

ITERATION AND FAILURE

<video here when completed>

 (link to original post)

SUMMARY

Overall, I feel like this week went well! I didn't have any real experiences of panic or worries with what I was making or being taught, and I feel like I took everything in stride effectively. Going forward, I feel like the most important thing I learnt about this week was the walk cycle; now that I know how to do them properly, I can now use them when designing characters in both my work and for personal use. However, I think the lessons taught about failure will stick with me pretty well too. Especially how we should try to fail sometimes, and learn from it. Taking risks is something to do going forward.