Senior Year First Project Hops Into Action!

Going For Gold!

One Frog, One Goal

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For our senior year of high school, the scenario is very similar to that of junior year, but with greater expectations. Due to the time-consuming nature of 3D animation, this year, in order to get the the 'animating' part of animation faster, I am attempting a hand drawn animation.

The Frog

If you got past the groan-inducing pun you may have noticed in the title of this post, you may have inferred that the subject of my animation was a frog. This frog is not just any frog, however: this frog is a gun-slinging rough-and-tumble cowboy frog. Our unnamed hero is destined, in this particular animation, to enter a bar of unspecified nomenclature and order a questionably fresh glass of water. It's rather straightforward in nature, but will take considerable effort nonetheless, due to my lack of practice in the realm of 2D movement.

The natural first step to any animation is creating a storyboard. To the left is one of the first scenes from the storyboard I made for this animation, showing him entering the bar. On the right, a later one showing a pose he will take when ordering his drink. It's very important to plan out an animation as in-depth as possible to avoid having to redo parts later on in the process. It also helps plan out camera shots.

While there may not be an actual camera involved in 2D animation nowadays, it is still important to structure each scene dramatically for the greater communicated effect. Since I had not taken part in the video section of the program I am in, this has proven to be an oddly difficult thing for me to puzzle out. For example, the storyboard where he opens the door has a decent camera angle, but doesn't emphasize much about him. On the other hand:

This shot is similar, but uses the looming shadow to make him seem relatively diminutive compared to everybody else, inducing a sense of comedy at the beginning, despite a dramatic set up.
Timing is essential to comedy, so to time it out, I've taken a variety of key poses and put them together in after effects to get a feel for ho the animation will flow upon completion. Timing feels more objective than it should be, but I know that, with practice, I can become very aware of how to create a natural flow of events.


Below is one example of a times out scene. It is extremely rough, but it serves enough to give me a feel for where the frames will need to be.

My goal now is to finish all the rough scenes, then go over them with cleaner lines digitally and, if time allows, to add color to this. I find color just as important as timing in communicating mood, so optimally I will be able achieve a relatively nice-looking animation by the end of second quarter.

Wish me luck!