TODAY'S TEST (Patreon)

TODAY’S TEST

Just to keep my Patreons updated creative-wise, here’s a test I just shot of Ginger sneaking, entering the hallway, up to “no good”. I had to rework the entry of her leg, because it was at first too stiff. It wasn’t until seeing the first test that I realized I needed to break up the joints; therefore, her leg enters shot, bent at the knee; then her calf comes out & up; then, lastly, her foot will go up, stay in the air for 24 frames, then the whole leg is thrown down, pulling the rest of her into view.

The hardest thing is not the number of drawings. Ginger’s leg only took about 16 drawings, which sounds more intimidating than it is, and besides, I love drawing legs. One big problems are capturing that certain timing that gives a single leg the life it needs so it doesn’t look like a mannequin thrust into view. Another is keeping the volumes solid so that it doesn’t look more like it’s morphing more than bending. This was the main reason “rubberhose” animation came about. It wasn’t purely an artistic decision. The films had to be made fast and bypassing the problems faced drawing upper & lower limbs was one way to speed up the process. Note the old stuff. The characters generally did not have the swell of a leg’s knee or calf. If this had been a “typical” cartoon leg, I could have drawn it in an hour! So of course I’m giving myself such problems to solve.

Best,

MK