Principles of 2D Animation, The Beginnings

 

Before you can run you have to walk.  For Principles of 2D Animation we first had to draw before we could animate.  We were given a character pack that we had to master, as we would be using these characters to do our animations with.  For each character we had to due a five point turnaround (even the ball), and expression sheet, and action poses.  We also  had to show an idea of how to squash and stretch objects, as it is one of the 12 principles of animation.

Assignment 4: Brain Squid!

Our final project!  In this assignment we had to combine our knowledge of character and background design.  The assignment was to do a human with animal characteristics (Wolverine, Spiderman) or an animal with human characteristics (Bugs Bunny, Simba) as well as create a suitable environment for them to exist in.  We had extra credit to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History to do sketches and study animal anatomy before we started the project and it was there that I got my inspiration.  The colossal squid grows to the size of 46 feet long, so Brain Squid weighs in at the short end of 15 feet.  Due to this he is ostracized and ridiculed from the other squids and uses his superior intellect to build a squid laboratory and utility chair to help him terrorize the (smaller then him) townspeople above the water.  This assignment required a 5 point turnaround, a combined expression and action sheet, an interior and exterior background, an style sheets.  I chose the sunny locale, based of an Italian city as a juxtaposition to Brain Squid dark underwater home.  I turned this assignment in on my birthday (along with a 100 page sketchbook) and it was a great relief that it was taken well.  This class was a blast and I would recommend that everyone think up a few characters and environments just for kicks.

Assignment 2: Tremor Guard

 

Assignment numero 2, take a monster from universal studios and re-imagine it.  While the teacher was meaning for us to do Dracula or Frankenstein or the Wolfman, I wiki'd Univeral Studio monsters and saw that they did indeed due the film Tremors in 1990.   The teacher begrudgingly ok'd it and I decided to go full out and get a better grade on this one.  The backstory is that in a valley down in South America a tremor monster has been trapped, along with a small tribal village.  The village has been worshiping the "Graboid" as a god and making human sacrifices to it.  So many sacrifices later it has had mutated Guardian Tremor offspring to help do away with outsiders and continue the feedings.  The Tremor monster has gotten huge from the constant feedings as shown in the final illustration.  The assignment required a five point turnaround, much more difficult than a three point as it involves a 3/4 front and 3/4 back view, an action sheet, an expression sheet, and a style sheet for the character and an object.  The illustration I did as extra credit (It paid off, I got an A).  I really enjoyed this project even though it stole my soul for an entire weekend.  As it turned out every other project did the same thing.