If you have just started your adventure into the wonderful world of animation; when done the right way, it will do wonders for you and your clients.
Good animation is extremely powerful in communication and business. That’s the good news. The bad news is that even one dysfunctional element of animation can ruin the entire essence of your work. Every detail counts – from the audio quality, character movements, transitions, sound effects, and more.
We’ve been in the game a long time, so we know the difference between a bad character animation and a great one.
Here are the top four mistakes to avoid:
1: Broken wrists and ankles
When you are posing your animated character, think about whether they look comfortable. A good way to do this is to rotate around your character in perspective view and make sure that their wrists and ankles aren’t bent in unnatural positions.
If your character is human, check their pose against the limitations of your own body. Can you naturally (and comfortably) get your hands and feet into the same positions as your character? If you can’t, get back to work on your animation. Small details make a huge difference.
2. Forgetting to link movements with facial expressions
So, you may have a strong vision of how your character should look, but do you know who they are, what they feel and what they think? The ability to convey emotion through your characters is crucial in marketing.
When our clients tell us they want to be great character animators, one of the first things we recommend they do is watch non-animated movies and tv shows and observe how the actors sit, stand, and look during different emotional phases.
How do their eyes, hands, fingers, and stance change between scenes?
How do their facial expressions correspond with their body movements?
Once you see it, you can’t unsee it (and now you’ll be seeing it all the time!).
3: Creating almond-shaped eyes
An almond-shaped eye is when the corners are right on the midline between the lower and the upper lids. It isn’t an appealing look and doesn’t quite hit the mark in the game of animation.
But it’s an easy one to get right.
To move away from the almond shape, lower the corners of the eyes, and move the peak of the eyelids closer to the pupils. This shape will work for any eye pose, from a neutral pose to the eyes wide open.
4: Making fists when grasping objects
Got a character who’s holding an object?
Simply make a fist pose, right? Please don’t do it! Your character’s hands are the second thing that your audience will notice about them, after their eyes. And they say a lot about your character’s overall attitude.
Instead of squeezing the object inside a fist, make the palm of the hand and the fingers go around it. Create a “before” and “after” version using this tip – you’ll be surprised at how much more natural your character looks.
The Bottom Line
Creating character animations is an important part of a business, so it’s crucial that you give every detail your maximum attention – even the ones you think don’t matter. They do.
