Zlogspot - animationandvideo

Reddy the Color Monkey A CTA3, G3 Custom Character. Last post , I wasn't sure I'd get this far so soon, but, as it turns out, creating a CrazyTalk Animator 3, G3 character is a much easier and relatively more enjoyable task than creating the previous G2 Characters. In just under two weeks I've completed Reddy, the Color Monkey, my very first, fully Rigged G3 Character By fully rigged I mean he has all the sprites needed for a full range of facial expressions and hand positions. He also has an extra foot sprite so you can position his feet either facing forward or sideways. Additionally, his tail is a separate G3 spine character that you link to his hip bone. This means that his tail can be fully articulated and animated using key frames or spine motions. Currently he has a few issues to fix that are only noticeable once you start moving him around (hence the reason for not showing him animated just yet) but these are minor, mostly cosmetic problems. Overall, from start to t...

The Rogue Animator . Premium Training by 2D Animation 101. 2D Animation 101's Premium Video Course, The Rogue Animator , aspires to teach you how to create your own 2D animated short in ten days. To do this, course instructor, Mark Diaz, takes you through his entire process of creating one of his animated shorts, then, helps you through the same process using your own idea for a production. The course is targeted at beginner to intermediate animators (or anyone struggling to achieve an efficient work flow), who are generally one person teams, looking to get their own ideas into the world through video sites like YouTube. About the Course In the introduction video Mark explains exactly how much time you'll need to set aside each day to complete the course in ten days. He also understands that not everyone will have that much time to spare so offers some alternative, longer timeline examples. The key point being, that you need to take the time to watch the videos and apply the co...

This sketch only took about 10-15 minutes. Using a symmetrical ruler meant I only had to draw the left side of the image.  Last post I mentioned my intention to develop an animation series based around my color monkey characters. Recognizing that just saying something won't make it happen, today I started work on actually drawing and rigging the color monkey characters themselves. It's definitely a task that comes with some trepidation and a definite sense of déjà vu as I've been here before . A few years back I attempted to rig this same character in CrazyTalk Animator 2 as a G2 character. It was a lot of work that I ended up being overwhelmed by. This time I'm rigging the character in CrazyTalk Animator 3 as a G3 character. It's less work but still not a complete cakewalk. Unlike multi-angle G2 characters, G3 characters are only single angle. In theory you could draw and rig one from scratch inside a day (including all the additional hand and face sprites) Anyway...

One of my biggest stumbling blocks in moving forward with my own animation has been coming up with ideas that I can get excited about. Even with using time saving animation software like CrazyTalk Animator 3 creating animated shorts is still a lot of work that you need to stay motivated for. As much as I want to earn a living from creating my own animated shorts, the higher priority is to enjoy creating them... you know, if you enjoy what you're doing you'll never work a day in your life - that kind of thing. When I got back into creating animated shorts in 2008, after discovering GoAnimate , I was clearly having a lot of fun in the years before that site transitioned from allowing anyone to create animated stories to a business explainer video creation tool. I made somewhere around 180 animated shorts over the space of about 4 years - roughly 3 animations per month. Most of my animations were either humorous shorts, sketch comedy, or sitcom like stories told in parts over se...

I recently purchased two online drawing courses created by former Disney Animator, Aaron Blaise , including How to Draw Human Anatomy , and Character Design . Both courses were included in Aaron's Figure Drawing and Character Design Bundle , pack deal. My own drawing style is heavily influenced by early Disney animated classics (think pre digital animation), which you can see in the more rounded lines of my characters - as opposed to the more angular character design lines you find in Marvel and DC comics etc. I wasn't sure how much I'd learn from either of these courses, baring in mind I've already studied both topics in detail in Art School, and have been designing my own characters since I was in primary school, but Aaron's a veteran and easily out classes my animation skills. Both courses are entirely presented as video tutorials with Aaron, at his desk, speaking to camera, cut with video captures of his drawing (all in real time). Aaron speaks very clearly and ...

Star Wars, Forces of Destiny Episode 1, Sands of Jakku. Disney recently began releasing episodes of its animated shorts series, Star Wars Forces of Destiny , which focuses each short story around one of the female heroes from the Star Wars Universe. At the time of writing four episodes were available on the Disney Youtube channel and they're okay. The stories are fairly simple and likely targeted at a younger audience in the 7-12 range. The animation style is fairly typical of modern, Saturday morning cartoons, with the characters being fairly faithful cartoon versions of their live action counterparts. The reason I'm making a cross face is because the first two episodes feature Rey protecting BB-8 from various nasties on Jakku. Specifically with BB-8 and Rey being chased through the desert before she finally puts a plan into action. You may wonder why I'm making a cross face about that? Well, over a year ago, I planned to make a Star Wars parody animation based around tha...

Learn to animate your own characters in 2D Animation 101's CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 course. Although CrazyTalk Animator is a relatively easy animation software to start creating in right away it becomes apparent, very quickly, that creating great animation with it requires much more in depth knowledge of the application. 2D Animation 101's course,  Create Animated Series for YouTubers in CrazyTalk Animator 3.1 , is by far, the best course available to lead you to those great results. Initially the course was free for anyone who purchased CrazyTalk Animator 3.1, however if you missed that offer the course is available both through 2DAnimation101's website and Udemy . Presented as a series of video tutorials, instructor Mark Diaz, takes you through the entire process of scripting, storyboarding, and creating scenes using your own custom characters (created in Photoshop) with the focus, specifically on scene creation and the animation process in CrazyTalk Animator. The course ...