[Demo Reel] Character Animation

[JesseDavis]

*bump* anyone? it can't be THAT bad :sad:

[splotch]

hi there,


i love the style on the picture you have post , ireally like the characters style..
i am downloading the animation now ....

wish you the best....
reda

[JesseDavis]

are people un-able to download this file? Is it using some codec that people don't have? 160 views and no critique comments. Kinda bummed. =\

[TechnicallyArtistic]

Here's my take on things.
Pretty good character designs all around. I thing the models really carry themselves well and are interesting to look at.
The old guy in the chair seems to be fluff at the moment. Fat you can cut. It's kinda like an idle cycle of a guy not really doing anything. It's not bad animation. But if he's not talking, I can't tell what showing it contriubtes. If this is your demo, imagine you have 3 seconds to sell some employer completely boared with having to look at demo reels. In the first three seconds can you convince them that this is a reel worth watching? or do we just close it now cause it looks like more of the same and this is usualy a waste of time anyway. I might start out with the dragon looking around with the logo there.

I really want dialouge with this if posible. Like the big guy on the little horse. The animation is pretty great on it's own, but I'd want to see how it works with lip sync, if it contributes to the dialouge and reinforces it or just detracts from it.

I like the dragon character, but something about the run throws me off. Maybe it's too floaty or too slow. I can't tell which. Might just be too much hang time or with out the background motion it seems off.

On the little elf guy with the huge head, I'd say do something with the fingers. The way the hands are just flat and straight looks kind of strange. Even if they aren't riged, maybe resculpt them into a more nutral pose.

The next little clip of the dragon running around is pretty great.

The old lady with the culdren could use some work. I'm not particularly sure what you're trying to demonstraight here. If she's trying to stir something thick and struggeling. I think its hard to tell because if she was, she's not using her back at all. Most people tend to use their back and hips more in heavy or big motions like that. And i mean more in twisting than leaning into it.

And I just realized your old man with the cane actualy has both arms. From the posing in the first clip, I thought his left arm had been amputated.

Other than those things, I like most of it. I get what's going on and the motion looks fairly natural yet cartoony.

Lastly, I might combine the last two cards you have. Just to keep the clip shorter. Just add your contact info on that first of the two cards. Iduno if I would have it fade out either. Maybe just end it on your contact info. That or have it loop from there.

[JesseDavis]

thank you tremendously for your words. I agree with all of your comments, and will go back and examine my structure. I didn't like the witch either and I debated putting her in there. But i am afraid that its going to be too short as its barely a minute fifteen. I will check some of my other animation and see if anything can be replaced. Otherwise i will redo it.

I agree the dragon is a bit slow. I'll see if i can speed him up a bit.

I'll add dialogue as well.

the rig for the fingers was pretty crappy, but i will attempt to give them more life.

maybe i'll render the old man from a better angle as i received another comment from a friend who's watched it about the arm missing.

I'll also fix the contact cards. I made them long to fill out the rest of the song, but thats probably not appropriate.


Thank you again very much for your critiques. If anyone else has any comments please don't hesitate to shout your suggestions. Bad or good, i don't care. I've never had any real animation training so I've never gotten any solid critiques ever. Thank you ahead of time for your kindness.

[TechnicallyArtistic]

Just one note. I don't know that I'd change the camera angle on the old man. I might just lower his hand behind his back a bit. Maybe so it's on the small of his back. Right now his forearm is hidden by his upper arm, so if you brought his hand down, it'd form a bit more of a triangle, and it'd work fine.

I'm unusually pretty keen on sync things up with music as well. This music is pretty subtle though. If anywhere you can probably chop it a little at the beginning and not have anybody notice.

If you have a chance maybe fills up time by doing a little more animation with the dragon and the knight with the horse. They're your most interesting characters. Even something simple like the knight on his tiny horse confronting a giant dragon that looks scared or something like that. If this is your animation reel, I'd do something that focuses on emotions. I'm always telling people when it comes to acting you should be able to tell what the characters are thinking, feeling and doing. What I like about most of your animation is you get a sense of those to an extent. Some of them are stronger than others, but it's interesting that they work even without dialog. So, if you can do one more clip, try to keep that in mind.

What kind of work are you looking for anyway after this? Something more like game animation, or film animation. If it's game stuff, I'd suggest on more action oriented clips. If it's film, action plus emotion. Hrm. I know film should be more in-depth than that, but I can't think of a better way to phrase it at the moment.

[zula]

i think its pretty good modeling and movement could be just a tad better on the dragon. i would be very interested to hear the dialog on these guys. also, in begining of the video, i didn't realise old guy had eyes behind those eyebrows until later. hope this is what you intended. good work otherwise

[darinclifton]

Good work... Nice animation... Is this for a bigger project?

[JesseDavis]

Hi again.

I've updated my reel for a second go at crits using a lot of the recommendations above. Thank you for any recommendations you can offer.

[noobie]

AAHHAHAAHAHAHHAAHH! thats all i can say.. well i spotted a few jerkings but that was too funny, loved it

anyways:

1) the first old man walk during the 3rd step theres a jerk when his right leg steps forward(look at the waist area) u can see that part just jerk really fast

2) the old wizard like guy int he green seat does like a 180 arm twist on the left arm or something towards the end of ur reel when he stretches his arms out u can totally see the twist lol..

3) the dragon jump in the opening looks off... seems weightless i think the legs doing something really weird too fast or something..almost seems like he doesnt jump high enuf? im not sure maybe some pros can give u advice on that i just thought it looked off

thats all, other than that i think the rest looks good... i really like the knight guy with his horse its too funny... especially when he swings his sword and the horse ducks ahahaha!

o wait.. 2 more things.. maybe make the horse realy duck far like hes really afraid right now it seems kinda like a casual duck lol.. dunno if that makes sense...and the scene with the knight carrying the horse.. i dunno when i watched it i almost wanted to see where they were and why was he carrying the horse... the animation itself is pretty nice :D

god i just haveta say... that horse and knight just cracks me up..hope u get a job lol this is too funny....

[JesseDavis]

Thank you for your comments :) Glad you liked the horse and knight.

Yea i recently noticed that foot thing with the old man. I'll fix that.
The wizard's rig has always been whacky like that, and dunno if its fixable, but I'll examine it and see what I can do (I do see the problem you are talking about).
I think you're right about the dragon. I'll see if I can give him a little more weight in his jump. He's a bit floaty. It kinda works cause it mimicks weight transferring from his bottom to the top of him which gives a bit of a floaty feeling, but I don't think thats appropriate for this kinda thing.

And yea it was a casual "duck" in the animation these guys were in, mainly cause the horse is used to the abuse. =)


If anyone has any other thoughts, please feel free to share =) Thanks again.

[lizardj]

Dude, I love your characters; they are all so adorable! That bits with the knight lifting the dunky is absolutely brilliant! Although you might want to work on your facial setups alittle more in those lipsyncs.

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