Animation Exercises in “Patterns Across Space and Time”
Following are exercises which students undertake in order to learn basic animation skills. All can be adapted to include aspects of the math and physics learnings of the program.
Zoetrope strips: Bouncing Ball introduces concepts of path of action, extremes and in-betweens, ease-in and ease-out, periodicity and cycles. Since this bouncing ball is a cycle, it does not decay as it would in reality.
Walk Cycle (two legged and bird’s eye view of four legged) introduces concepts of rhythm, repeated action, secondary motion and the expression of character through posture and movement.
Metamorphosis requires students to break down complex images into basic abstract shapes before transforming them into new shapes and new images.
Animate an image with no symmetry to one with a particular symmetry.
Exquisite Corpse: Students participate in a group drawing assignment. Each student draws a picture on animation paper, makes a copy of it, then passes the copy to his or her neighbor. Students then animate a transition from their drawing to the one they were given. In “Patterns” students will be asked to make their drawings of objects that they bring to class which are symmetrical in some way. We will ask students to sit next to other students whose objects contain an different kind of symmetry that theirs. In this way, each student will need to transform their object and its type of symmetry into another object with a different symmetry.
After Effects: This 2D animation program uses coordinates to calculate position, anchor point and scale, and other numbers to control velocity, opacity and rotation. Digital effects such as polar coordinates, on images are also controlled numerically. In intensive workshops in winter quarter, students will use what they’ve learned about symmetry to create small compositions, and then combine these with those of other students to make larger and more complex compositions.
Neoteny and Scale: The
representation of cartoon characters with childlike features (big round heads
and eyes, shortened limbs, squeaky voices) has been noted by Stephen Jay Gould
in -The Panda’s Thumb. Exercises involving measurement of normal humans
(the students themselves) and various cartoon characters for head/body ratios
will accompany realist and cartoon drawing sessions.