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http://www.enigmation.de/hauswalkf.html (1,6 MB)
This one is just another test for "the big project". I wanted to test for colours (seems to work), line quality (drawn on two's to keep line width consistent), and of course the whole character. I think I keep the eyes like this: a black spot with just an indication of the upper lid. I'm not so satisfied with the drawings. They're OK, but I think they are a bit too clean. It is really hard to un-learn this tidyness! (At least it's good to know that I can do very exact cleanups on the cintiq.)

I like this very much, because it's showing good use of the multiplain, which is rare. You don't overdo anything and it makes for a good effect. I think it works so well because of the tidiness of your lines and I don't think they are too tidy either; just right. All the elements seem to work well with each other; the cartoon drawing style, the colors, and the background, to give the character personality -- and in such a short scene!

I agree totally. I love this whole feeling and want to see where this guy is going. The colors and sense of space really are pleasing. Very inspiring.

I like it too. The red scarf is an especially nice touch.

The eyes work very well - in this case, less is more.

What resolution do you work in?

Chris

I am not such a big fan of styles who attach great importance to tidiness (is this really a value ?), also the clip is too small to judge for me.
Of course it's working because everything is acting in sync, well attuned.
Markus, is there already a script ?( Looks to me like a Berlin November Crime story ...)
I see that you come from the more technical considerations:

slowtiger wrote:I wanted to test for colours (seems to work), line quality (drawn on two's to keep line width consistent), and of course the whole character. I think I keep the eyes like this: a black spot with just an indication of the upper lid

looks to me that you have to carry many book shelves on your shoulders (did I make everything " right "?) and then as a later step coming to content (???).

its a very nice clip.
jealous Klaus?

Klaus: didn't I show you? This is the big one, the one still without a script, just with a truckload full of sketches ... Of course you're right that I care a lot about technical stuff instead of just writing down a story. But it's not that I walk around in circles for days, pondering about how fast the pan should be or which brush setting works best for colouring! This technical stuff comes natural for me, I make it up when I draw.

After a long time struggling with doing this film "the right way" (first a script, then a storyboard, then animate it) I decided to do it the way which is mine. Much more comfortable and much more fun. The feeling is a bit like Paul described for one single scene, only stretched over an entire project.

Chris: Full HDTV. What you see is a quarter of the original size.

Thank you all for the kind words - no, for the praise ... *blush*

I plan to post examples in a work diary at http://www.enigmation.de as often as time allows.

I like this, very clean, not showing off animation tricks (an easy trap for people to fall into) and good structure. Let's see some more!

slowtiger wrote: I wanted to test for colours (seems to work), line quality (drawn on two's to keep line width consistent), and of course the whole character.

I think I keep the eyes like this: a black spot with just an indication of the upper lid.
I'm not so satisfied with the drawings. They're OK, but I think they are a bit too clean. It is really hard to un-learn this tidyness! (At least it's good to know that I can do very exact cleanups on the cintiq.)

I like it ! Good job.
The "dot" eyes stylization worked rather well for Hergé (and others) and they look good on your character, too

Personally I think your clean-up drawings look ok, not too fussy, just a nice clear, organic line. The limited palette helps I think. The colors in the background
work well with the colors on the character.

The subtle camera movement during the pan looks very good , too.

Now , if I may be permitted , I will get all technical on you at this point and suggest that the final version of this shot ought to be on Ones or the character is going to strobe when this is shown on a big screen. The strobing is already somewhat evident as the character's hat passes into the area against the clear sky from frame 45 - 66 , but I think that the strobing will be more evident on a larger screen. Your animation looks fine , it's purely a technical problem to cut down on the strobing. (it's not too bad and you could probably get away with it if time does not permit going back to add inbetweens on ones) .

Yes, strobing can be a problem - of course I try to avoid working on one's wherever I could. But I noticed that in a lot of japanese animation nobody cares about that - it really is a cultural thing.

For now I will leave it as it is, I plan to finish some more scenes which will be part of my next demo reel. For a big screen release things like that should be fixed, but then I'll need some funding.

More testing.
http://www.enigmation.de/girl1.html (330 k) again for colour combination, then for colouring stubby hair (OK). Besides the obvious mistakes in the body proportions I noticed that the line quality was not consistent. The black lines I did directly in the same drawing and level with the blue roughs are not so broad and full as the ones I did on a separate level.

The (scanned) paper structure in the BG isn't much visible here, it's stronger in full format. I think I try the wallpaper again with real crayon on paper, and do the overall shadow with real drawing instead of a radial gradient fill.

Girls are difficult, especially when I try to draw them pretty and sexy. I think I like the head, although turns are hard: with so few facial features it's difficult to keep the head rigid.

I like her a lot. When she turns and we first see her opposite cheek, that very first frame, I think you have the line too wide. I don't think we could see that much of that cheek until the next frame, which you have about the same size. I say this because I struggle with this all the time, turning my kids' faces.

What bothers me more than all the niggles you fuss over, is the way you split the woman's body parts over several (3? 4?) layers. It gives her a paper puppet wooden feel with added bouncy, fleshy breasts, which makes the stiffness elsewhere on her even more obvious . How much extra work is this really saving you? If you drew each body on a single layer I think you might get the body proportions better and bouncier too. Speaking of which, are you planning to let the man just stay there like a "stiff" (necrophilia here?)

It's all in one layer ... but there are non-moving parts like the front leg which are just traced. I know that she doesn't work! I started with this scene exactly 2 years ago when I just got Mirage freshly installed. I cleaned and coloured it yesterday just for practice and colour testing. The title "finished scene" is clearly wrong here, sorry.

My girlfriend just said she found her body colour too flat. But I don't want to impose some kind of structure onto it, that would be just some FX pass to boast "production value", means "time and money". I think I know what I want to change or keep:
1. Keep the perspective - it's a nice one, like in japanese movies by Ozu.
2. Keep the decor, with all those stripes, but with more variation and maybe moving (in the blanket).
3. Rework her proportions.
4. Redo her animation completely.
5. Put more contrast into the colours.

I should do some colour concepts now, and especially not forget to choose skin colours only within a coloured BG. Right now the skin is the same colour in both scenes, it works surprisingly well, but I think it could be improved. (Cathy: you see a style in the making here ... *ggg*)

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