Advanced 2D module summary (part3)

This post shows the spider animation outcome and the reflection on the overall scenario of this module

Final outcome
This display shows the final edit of the animation with the name changed to 'Breeding cycle of spiders', formatted further with clean drawings and colour. For the most part I used TV paint's smearing paint tool after applying rough colour schemes on each frame. This would allow me to be3lnd the colour in and make it look more of the animation style of a painting. After it was further edited through Adobe Premiere, added with the music from the YouTube reference link which was slightly modified to suit the feel of the scenes within this short clip.
Click here to go to my uploaded version for better quality on vimeo.

'Breeding cycle of spiders'

Module evaluation and reflection

For this module, the main scenario was to learn and understand the ways of advancing 2D animation within the boundaries of software methods like TV paint and after effects; and drawing methods including cel animation and rotoscoping.

First I researched the main topic I would base the 30 to 60 second animation which was originally the life cycle of spiders but was changed over time to suit criteria’s requirements and suit the amount of time I can complete the outcome before the module’s end. This was eventually changed to the theme ‘Breeding cycle of spiders.’ Next I produced initial sketches to show my understanding of the theme. After that I started with the pre-production stages of storyboarding and animatic based on the research elements of the reference footage from YouTube. But like the titles, it was changed drastically to avoid doing too much work when in the production stage. Once I was in that stage, the main formatting and method I used was TV paint and rotoscoping based on comprised research footage, sliced and put together on TV paint to suit the story I want to tell from the theme.

Once the line test for the short spider documentary was done, I then proceeded to clean up the frames and add the suitable colour I wanted for the outcome. This was a great opportunity to let the audience understand each frame with the selected colour schemes to represent each drawing. For example, to know which spider is which, I decided to use the colour schemes of reds for the female and blues for the male. To make it feel less of a rotoscope, I decided to further use the TV paint features of blending the colours to look more like a painting, mainly using the smear paint brush tool.

Once the production stage was done I edited the footage with the sound on Adobe Premiere Pro. Once this was easily done, I exported it to an AVI file to be ready for publishing.

What’s worked best in this module is learning more methods and productive ways of using after effects, Photoshop and TV paint. Even though I’ve only used more methods in TV paint, it’s useful to have this sort of preparation and knowledge to help further my animation skills when put onto digital formatting in future.

One thing I would change is work better on my time managing skills to get the right results on time, produce the right length for the animation, planning ahead on research, tasks and stages; and produce the best out of the animation aswell as the other production stages when cleaning them up.