2nd Term - 'Self-Directed Study in Illustration' 

In the second term of this course, we were again encouraged to create or find our own ideas or opportunities for animation projects. 

I thought of two separate ideas for animations, which will later develop into animation projects;

1.  The first will be a project based around my ‘Unfortunate Deaths’ illustration work in the second year of the course. The goal will be to animate short clips, aimed at roughly 5 seconds a piece, that represented 6 of my illustrations.

2.  The second will most probably be based around the idea of taking audio clips from films, TV or downloaded sound-effects (or of my own making), then creating out-of-context or humorous animations around them.

(Below) Various images of notes / sketches I made in the process of generating ideas.

Final Animation:

Uploaded at:

https://vimeo.com/114253376

Logos for Title Screen Scene:

For a logo, I created a simply-animated, two-frame ‘Love Your Heart’ logo, for the campaign.

The official British Heart Foundation logo was also used at the end of the animation, to signify the link between the campaign, and the organisation.

(Above) The two frames of the animated 'Love Your Heart' logo.

(Below) The official British Heart Foundation logo.

4th Scene:

Both the development of the third scene of the animation (the heartbeat, leading into the zoom out to the person) are detailed in this post. The heartbeat animation links into this scene slightly.

(Above) Screenshot of the Photoshop development process.

(Below) Video file of the finished animated section.

3rd Scene:

Both the development of the third scene of the animation (the heartbeat) are detailed in this post. The heartbeat was based around the animation created previously.

(Above) Screenshot of the Photoshop development process.

(Below) Video file of the finished animated section.

2nd Scene: 

Both the development of the second scene of the animation (the travel up the artery) are detailed in this post.

(Above) Screenshot of the Photoshop development process.

(Below) Video file of the finished animated section.

1st Scene:

I tested using the wireframe for my character, realising I would now have to lengthen his legs, as opposed to the stylised shorter ones.

This actually proved helpful, as it was difficult to picture and to draw the character with short legs pushing through the (sometimes deep) muddy fat.

(Above) A short clip, using the key frames from the wireframe animation.

(Below) Both a screenshot of the development process, once the final design and idea was in motion, for the 1st scene and also of the animated scene itself.

As I was having a large amount of issues with the walk cycle, specifically the way the character would move through the ‘muddy’ fat, I turned to other animations in order to get a good understanding of it. A scene featuring the character Yzma, from the movie ‘The Emperor's New Groove’ was used as a basis for my walk cycle.

As she struggles to walk through the muddy floor, I drew from each of her frames (from a clipped video) to work out a basic armature and wireframe. Understanding where the head, arms, and legs would move to, I went about utilising this further.

(Above) The frame-by-frame draw-overs, using a wireframe model.

(Below) Video evidence of the resulting wireframe.