Animation! Here we go!

 

On September the 20th 2021 I have started my second year of studying computer animation at Escape Studios. I've been looking forward to this throughout the entire summer, as 3D animation is the subject that interests me the most out of all the modules we tackled during our first year. This will be my first proper year spent entirely on learning this mysterious art~! :)

 The module I've started with was apparently creature animation, which definitely is quite challenging subject to start the year off, but I'm always looking forward to challenges. The final assignment I have to deliver is a 7~12 second long animation involving an animal performing some sort of action.
 As soon as I discovered what the task is, I started to think about what I'd like to animate. However, before that there was a bunch of smaller animation exercises for us to work on. 

 The first little exercise was about making a walk cycle of a spider. Using a reference of a tarantula slowly sneaking around, I managed to set all the feet into the right timing. Spiders are a lot less symmetrical in their walk than it might seem at first. I decided to put it in a dimly lit scene and give it a little big of a 'spooky giant spider coming to eat you' vibe.

 Second piece of work I've done as an exercise was an animation of a small beetle car rig. Personally I wasn't exactly sure what it had to do with 'creatures' per say, but I treated it as another opportunity to get familiar with the general animation interface of Maya.

 After that quick warm-up, time came for more serious animations. Next up on our schedule was the multitude of leopard walk cycles at various speeds: a walk, a trot and a run. Using a lot of reference, including some frame by frame pose drawings from the original Lion King, our class has spent about a week putting all those big cats in motion. Though the rig has proven to be slightly unfriendly, I've managed to get all the walks done with little to no issues. Here's my animation of the leopard walking.

 As fun as they were to make, my gaze was already starting to drift away from the initial exercises. I was already thinking about what I want to make before, but having given it another week I already had a rather clear idea. It was the time to make my first storyboard this year!