Moho Forum

Hey, guys!

Finally dug up and scanned the storyboards I did several years ago for the Laika music video I am trying to animate.

They were quickly sketched, so please forgive the crudeness of them. Also, whenever there is a mention of something called "Capstuff" that is where the 3D animation of the virtual robot band will appear.

One last thing, I am considering starting the story from the dog, Laika, being caught by a dog catcher. That character is soon to come...

As always, comments are welcome and I very much appreciate all of them:

I put Laika into a scampering run...a little animation test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSEtLUw8Fq8

Comments always welcome!

That's kinda a gallop, but I like it. Looks very lively.

Laika looks a bit stiff (because of the front legs moving parallel), and the whole movement is too smooth - it lacks accents and dynamics.

You could either make the galopp faster (a real dog (a small one) gallops as fast as 4 strides a second) or make the movement more cartoony, like keeping her longer in the air, but make a real impact when touching the ground. (Think Pepe le Pew.)

I think that four legged creatures are a nightmare for animators. You either have to be realistic (means: study the animal in real life), or comical (means: make people laugh and be original and inventive). Both need long study and lots of practice.

A good begin seems to be to study horses, because they're big and because they've been done a lot (search YouTube for "horse animation"). Don't study anatomy, though, because you get side-tracked too much. Just use the anatomy as a reference.

Anatomy is meant as a reference anyway, and not to depict a living breathing animal. Anatomy is indeed published as a flat picture, sometime even based on carcases. You want to study moving breathing animals, and capture some of their life. Notice, for instance, that an animal never moves in a straight line, ever. You couldn't know that from an anatomy book.

Eadweard Muybridge has published a good reference book, called Animals In Motion (Amazon link).

Too much for me, though. I'm busy studying human anatomy, from a DVD course by Riven Phoenix, "The Structure of Man - Learn To Draw The Human Figure From Your Mind". I want to have the discipline to draw a character consistently from all sides. At this moment, none of my drawings have a close resemblance, not even when I draw the same pose from the same side several times.

Edit: What the heck. I just bought the book by Muybridge online and hope to see it in the mail within 7 work days. It costed me only 33 euros incl. p&p.

Heh, I knew I was going to catch some flack for the even and parallel leg movement. I was too lazy to fix it, but I will dip into it later and have some fun with it. I'll put it up again when it is done. Thanks guys!

I think animation isn't for lazy people, because it always is a lot of work to get it just right. I'm just saying, not judging anyone.