Bardoloi Vishakha - DemoReel

-Vishakha Bardoloi
-DemoReel

Hi Vishaka,

Its really encouraging to see a strong piece of acting animation based on a line from the classic: Singin' in the Rain. Its an eloquent animation that actually sums up the life of an animator quite well, specially when working late! The look in the glass at the end is a very poignant moment indeed. We feel his loneliness with the glass and its a very strong.

There are a couple of things i think would really help this animation.

-When he blinks on "lead lives" its somewhat distracting. Im looking at the eyes at this point and i feel for an instant like i lose him. Id try to avoid too many blinks in a facial animation and if you really need that one, id make it a relaxed half blink, with a slow ease out.

-I think its important to hit the pose on "glamour and romance" an instant before the words come out, it feels like hes trying to catch up with the dialogue at this point and its a little sharp. Its a very subtle thing but i think it will help a lot.

-The guy pulling the weight feels quite solid. Try to inject similar weight and a general sense of mass into all the characters, they often feel quite light in thier movements. Its really about the gradients of your curves, and making sure you have a good slow-in and slow-out, holding etc. This is where it really would help to film some live action reference of yourself doing the actions. Look at every few frames of the animation and ask yourself if something feels a little fast or slow, or too sudden in stopping.

For example, the left hand of the drunk when hes wiped his face drops down and just sticks in the air. This really needs to swing back and forth. Also his fall on the ground feels light and bouncy. Hes basically going to go down like a sack of potatoes being drunk, its going to be a hard fall, feeling his body rotate with one very low level overlaped bounce traveling down the body. Hes not going to bounce 3 or 4 times, you'll just feel the rotations as he settles at the end.

-Look at breaking up the timing of his steps, they feel a little regular.

-The character jumping back in surprise doesnt have a settle. He lands from the jump and just stops dead. Have him come out of the bounce. Also im not sure about his emotion building up to the touch. Is he angry with himself for being scared? or stretching? It seems unclear to me.

-A good excercise for defining the weight of an object is to animate three balls, all the same size. But animate one as a ping pong ball, another a beach ball and the third as a cannon ball. See how they behave differently from one another. Then you'll have a better understanding of the physics of your characters. Create the illusion of Mass and gravity.

Overall, i think its a nice reel with some strong acting. You can make it a great reel by checking the weight of your characters.

Thankyou,

-Anim Dailies