In this process and production lesson we were learning how animation can be added to basic characters using adobe aftereffects software.
I had never worked with aftereffects in using this typeof editing, so I chose a very very basic character to apply my animation on to.
inspired by these child drawn cartoons research on google images, I created my own in a similar style using Adobe Illustrator software.
The pen tool was used to outline the basic shapes, and then the stroke and fill features to add colour to distinguish each separate component of the character. It was essential to have each part of the character on a different level, so that when they ere imported to aftereffects, each section of the body could be manipulated separately in order to form a smooth animation. I hadn't realised the extent to which each part needed to be separated as I originally incorporated the hand and arm in to the same layer, before realising in after effect I could then not formulate the waving hand movement I wanted due to this.
Correcting this issue then made the animation a lot more realistic as the arm and hand could each be transformed separately to form a more life like movement. However this still cold b imposed, as the "stick-man" like arm meant that no movement could be formed to move as an elbow would on a real human. I still feel the wave has a full effect tho- especially when accompanied with smaller less subtle movement of both the right hand in to a neutral position and the slight movement of the right leg.
Above is a screen shot of the animation being applied at key anchor points. This is a time consuming process- however when continually manipulated gradual improvements refine the movements and make them look much more effective. This process still needs a lot more practice with however. As the timeline editing with the 'stopwatch' icons to set certain locations/ sizes at certain time sin the animation was a little difficult to keep up with.
Im looking forward to improving these skills, as its clear how professional an outcome can look from this form of editing.
Below is the rendered version of my short 10 second animation.
