Sketch Dump #2: Surprise, it's not sketches! (Patreon)

WARNING: Contains moving images, some of which may or may not trigger unwanted reactions if you're sensitive to that sort of thing.I have no idea what could or could not trigger epilepsy, or any other conditions i do not know about, but i figured a warning couldn't hurt! ♥

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As some of you know, I started to learn "animation" years ago on my own, because why not, right? It's a skill I always wished to pursue (mainly for myself but also to have more job options) while having neither the mental fortitude, tools, time or money to do it... and i still don't! So, it makes the progress slow, and i kinda like it that way! I'm still meh at it but I'm also still having the time of my life with it, so I'll keep studying while laughing at myself and some of the affronts to life i'm creating. To the point: I just thought sharing some of my old animation studies with y'all could be fun. They all range from "okay", to bad, to worse, and i love all of them.

Keep in mind: this is not intended to be a tutorial. I am a very bad teacher. Take everything i say about animating with a grain of salt. If you find it useful, great! If not, also great! The whole premise is that i have no idea what i'm doing and i'm just having fun being clueless. Just personal observations and opinions, which are very likely to be wrong when it comes to technical stuff!

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Jump! (with references)

Let's start simple. Anybody starting animation from scratch probably has seen That One Video of the 12 principles of animation to learn the very basics of it. Among those basics is the jump sequence. Look at that little guy go. 

(yes i also did the classic of all classics: the bouncing ball, and no, i will not include it here 'cause while this post is gonna be a pile of garbage from my drafts, i still have some standards)

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Spin! (freehand)

Like the very inspired title suggests: I did what every cocky assholes does at one point, which is skip every lessons and careful steps to just try to freehand (no plan, no storyboard, no braincells) a random animation because "it doesn't seem that hard".

And honestly? It's one of the cutest and smoothest no-reference studies I have in my drafts. Does that make it a success in my book? yes. Am I warranted in thinking it's good? refer back to the "cocky asshole" line for the answer!

(and more seriously, it's a great way to test out your level and have a little fun, I personally believe there is nothing wrong with just doing whatever you want and ditch the "careful process" once in a while. ♥)

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" Keep that one in the drafts", Critical Role's gif-of-the-week edition

Just putting that one in there because i still think it's funny. You can clearly see the tools I use do not allow me to do simple zoom-ins, which i'm sure could be done with the click of a button on good animation/editing softwares. So, behold, a bad joke, executed badly, which somehow makes it a little funnier.

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Kiss study #1 (with my D&D character and her wife)

This is just to advertise that the "crop and drag" technique does not work when you have no idea what you're doing. I'm sure it can achieve interesting results if used artfully/with direction/with a good idea that matches the style. Probably. Maybe.If the movement looks stiff, it's because I wanted to try something new (again), which was: the lazy way (no shame in cutting corners... when the result isn't this)! Cropping elements of a still artwork and dragging them to create the illustion of movement. Rinse and repeat. It's unpleasant to look at, but experimenting, failing and making mistakes is the only way i ever found to learn and grow when it comes to art.

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Kiss study #2 (still with my D&D character and her wife, freehand)

Now we're getting somewhere! Or are we? I don't know. I just remember having a lot of fun with it, and that's all that matters to me.

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Dance! (with references)

The only thing i'm gonna say about this one is that the only reason i even studied it is because i intended to use it to make a cringe gay animatic of my D&D character. You know, like 99% of the things i do. Learning animation as a whole? Fueled entirely by my desire to draw people being gay, but this time the gay people are moving.

And i think that's a beautiful, deep, meaningful message to leave you with.

And maybe the real message is: when pursuing a new skill by yourself, just have fun and laugh at it, at yourself, at the process, at the wins and the failures. Find the joy in the mistakes and the fun in experimenting. Even if you're pursuing that skill for unfun reasons (finding work, getting better in school, etc). Learning is a gift, and learning is not a race. Take it easy~

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Anyway here is my masterpiece:

Okay bye! ♥

Ps: can you tell i drank 2 coffees back to back before making this post?