Context of Practise 3: Mimo References and Tests

  Context of Practise 3
Using References and Testing for Mimo

• This week:
• I worked on the rough animations for each of the characters, using reference footage.
• What went well:
• Mimo was the last character I produced rough tests for and after the practise of the other two characters, I found the workflow a little bit easier. Additionally, I wasn’t able to film any of my own footage of birds, so I used video footage on YouTube instead. I found a video which has two hours of footage of Lovebirds, so I used that for reference- however I focused more on the acting of the character this time, with reference footage there to help if needed.
• My first, very quick test with just keyframes, explored a wing-stretch of Mimo, however this felt more like a warm-up animation for body language, such as exploring how the wings could stretch, how their body might squash or move. This became just a starting point, before I moved onto another test.
• Here is the first test:

• The next test I animated mainly used my own knowledge of acting, of the character’s personality and movement and very limited amount of reference footage. From the references I had learnt the way the birds could walk and move, such as how they’d move side to side or forwards. They also have a “jumpier” feeling to the way they move, so I tried to incorporate this in the movement of Mimo. 
• Using a mirror for expressions, I wanted to illustrate the curiosity and excitement that Mimo feels after interacting with the ball. I animated him jumping from foot to foot in excitement, which is actually something that dogs do, but it felt quite fitting for his personality.
• I, also, coloured and shaded this test, to add a level of professionalism and refinement, as a final test animation I had created for all of these characters so far.

• What could be improved:
• There are some things with the timing which could be improved, as there could be more pauses, or he could take his time a little bit more after approaching the ball.
• Another way this could be improved is using his wings a little bit more to open his arms up and express himself - this is a quirk I had noted before, so it would be fitting to include that next time. 
• For the final animated test I need to consider his body movement more in terms of the Principles of animation, as he could be a little bit bouncier and squashed more, implying that I could try make him more malleable.
• Next time:
• I will be starting the final test animations for each of the characters and analysing them from the context of my essay.