CD 18

Well, another character design challenge at the Animation Forum. This week's was about a "normal" woman who on her 30th B-day makes an announcement to her family & friends.

Here is the description we got & the requirements for this week's challenge:

Ignatius Metranom is a simple woman. She has a good job at the grocery store, married to a wonderful man she met in college when they were both studying psychology. Her adopted parents love her dearly and today is her 30th birthday and she has told her family that she has an important announcement to make. All her friends and family have shown up. Ignatius is going to inform her family that she is really an alien scout from a far off land and the Earth is going to be invaded within 20 minutes.

Requirement: Design of Ignatius's two forms. Bonus points for doing a mock up of her big speech. You can also do the two forms in mid-transformation.

I didn't start until late as usuall so I didn't get anywhere near as much done as I'd have liked...go figure...
I got a simple & super rough walk cycle of Ignatius, but it's more of an animatic than a finished animation. Quite a few more frames needed, foot doesn't bend or show any weight etc, but for something I did in less than an hour it works. (animating wasn't part of the requirements anyway :P) My hope was to have her walk into a room w/her parent's & boyfriend waiting, then animate the transformation to alien form by having the alien rip its way out from inside, then proceeding to tell the crowd that "I'm not like other girls!" ...or something to that effect. Anyway, all I got done was the crappy walk & the design of the alien, but alas, no transformation. I may try it anyway just to prove to myself that I can(along with smoothing out the walk). But this is my final entry for the challenge.

CD 18

Couple points on the walk itself, while the feet suck & the legs don't quite have the motion I was shooting for, they are straight on purpose. I was trying to make her have a very short stride with quick, snappy steps. I think I'm on the right track, but it needs work & was a first attempt. I tried making her legs come forward very quickly & going back a little slower. To make up for the difference in time I ended up keeping the front foot still in place for an extra frame. It will look a lot better if I sub in a drawing of the front foot being bent & absorbing some weight. Also, if you watch the upper legs it looks decent, but the lower legs tend to look like only one is moving at times. Might be an illusion, or might be that they are too symmetrical & the very similar motion paths make it hard to tell which leg is which when they are passing. On a positive note, I do like the motion of her hands. I wanted her to be a little bit prissy looking but also plain-Jane-ish. Also since it was a quicky, I didn't have to get into pumping arms & such.

That's all for now, but I will post an update when I clean up the walk & if/when I do the transofrmation.
Cheers
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