 Welcome back, it is Friday and that means FNA Friday for new animators and today I'm gonna do a part 2 to a previous one that was how to add character to your animation Technically it should be another part in the animation blocking series But something came up that was really cool And I don't want to wait until the very end of all the animation blocking parts Because that's gonna be a long time in the future because there's a lot to talk about for animation blocking So every now and then you will see new FNAs or a part 2, 3 or whatever to previous FNAs Peppered throughout in between and today is gonna be part 2 of how to add character to your animation with a real-world Example of one of my students from the Academy We are taking a look at a clip from Zoe Chen and I'm gonna show you the first version that she showed in class Then kind of my thoughts on this a quick critique and I kind of a recap type of thing Then I'll show you how she improved on top of that Which will serve as an example of how you would add character and do specific things to kind of go Beyond your initial blocking just to add more complexity and interest. I will also show you her latest and greatest There's still work to do but it's a lot better with all the notes incorporated But I will also add the critique of the second version at the very end of this clip just in case you're interested in it So let's get straight into that. So let me play you the clip here. Here is the First version that she did it is based on a gear change Assignment and you can see that is the gear change So the kid is playing something happens and he Fails and gets mad and I think I have done the same when I was little So my initial impression was and this is something that I'm telling all my students and this came up Actually this Thursday a lot is that when you have a shot like this You can scrub through and you can see how the character kind of fits in this box There's no real movement that is pretty locked There is no way shift their contrast just the overall body pose is always the same Even though that is good. There is a Change in this pose from being hunched over. I like that You know the excitement of what's going on with the game makes him get closer to the TV and straighten up Then you have the disappointment and the look away breaking contact from the TV All that is cool But my main impressions were kind of stuck in that box So my comments would be so that you can add some more complexities to it in terms of progression so what if the kid would sit here and Then goes forward because of interest so because of the attention all the stuff he wants to do he gets off of it So you go from a sitting to potentially a standing or you go down onto his knees What do you want to do? But you change from a sitting to a standing pose just from a mechanics point of view That's interesting to do and it's something you know, you have to learn But it's also Contrasting wise more interesting and then when he is done that instead of staying put like this They could be something potential exit or turning around or falling on the ground Whatever it is, but you could do something that's potentially a bit more interesting So there was more to it But that as a whole that was the gist of the first critique mainly that the characters always stuck in that same position Which is a common thing that students do and it's something that I encourage students to break free from Because you're not so you don't have a character stuck in that one position Hey, just makes it look like you got you know, you're just stuck in that your IK legs You don't want to move them you kind of concern or afraid or just hesitant of doing weight shifts But it just kind of locks that character too much into that place and visually It's just not enough contrast if someone always sits or always stands You can do more to use the scene but give the scene also more interest and visual interest through contrast Imposing and movement and timing and so on so what I'm gonna do now I'm gonna load her revision So this was the other version We have a bit more progression there and then this reaction and the stomp out And that is the shot that I will add at the very end the critique to that and I was absolutely Amazed I thought it was fantastic. The main thing was the camera move. Just take that out It's a bit not that it's super distracting, but I don't think it's needed You can easily stay here But here are the things that are really we like is that the character starts in a seated position And it's cute because the feet are off the ground. It's a typical kid thing It's very concentrated and as he gets more concentrated more interested and excited He gets off the couch. It's a cute way of getting off I was kind of talking about offsetting legs But again, that's all at the ends of this FNA But he gets off the couch and this is the moment that I absolutely love so after all of this Here's their reaction Love love love. This is such a good moment. This is her acting it out Now she was not super comfortable showing a reference. I totally understand It's kind of in a casual environment But she did film reference that is her acting it out and it's such a good kid tantrum to me He goes from very concentrated Doing his thing and then having that Such a kid thing in this really angry throw and Then also the stomp and then exit so in terms of animation just complexity They're sitting jumping off to standing right into this and then you have your big acting moment where you can show character And even after that There's 90 degree change And a walk Getting out. So that's the second version so much better. Absolutely love it So here are the shots side by side and you can see the differences Static on the left and much more engagement on the right You can see how that change versus staying here. I'm going to repeat myself But still you got that excitement him standing here Then you got the tantrum, which is so much better He gets mad and throws he gets mad throws it here and then the exit there so much better Now here's the latest version. So after this one that was so much better and such a huge improvement Of course, I have more notes. Well, I always kind of have notes So here's the version after the latest rounds of notes It's a bit more leaning forward towards the tv a bit of a bigger take you got the reaction here Different controller animation and the exit and here as a last example, you can see both side by side You can see the changes in terms of the timing the movements Body mechanics, you can see how there's more interest towards the tv with that lean forward versus here being static Still got the You know the more disappointment look, but it's the same idea and just a bit more refined You got the tantrum. That's still awesome. You got control animation. That's a bit more Work in terms of physics. You got the stomp. That's a bit more with a lean Here's a bit off balance there And with the exit still and kind of a change of the timing of stomp and then a faster exit This still has notes, but as a whole it's massively better. So again, here is the latest version And at the end of the semester every student still has time to refine whatever they did But that is the current form And finally here is the very first version and the latest version side by side. You can see the increase in complexity It's more interesting in terms of shape changes complexity and body mechanics using the space acting choices It's just overall such a stronger piece. It's absolutely fantastic Very proud of her. There was so much work in there really really cool Awesome move there That's it. So that was it. That's the example I'm going to post a critique to that second version again at the end of this fna just in case you're curious And actually I have other examples because in the last couple weeks at animation mentor and academy There were great examples of taking a lip-sync to the next level and there's another example of another academy student Also with a fantastic change of the Shaw incorporating notes taking it further And it's something I want to show every now and then so you can see actually real world examples What students do how they incorporate the notes? How do they implement the lecture notes? And to me improve their shots in terms of body mechanics in terms of complexity in terms of acting And they'll they push themselves and they learn a lot more Zui Chen did a fantastic job So if you see her in the halls of the academy tell her she did a great job I will tell her again next week probably next week I'm going to continue with the animation blocking and even though it's important And I think it's important to watch and to learn I still want to bring in some contrast in my own lecture so you're not stuck with one long topic on this channel So that's it as always if you like this I would love a like and a subscribe and hitting that bell button all that jazz But if you like this shot and you see your fellow students Zui in the halls of the academy You should tell her that you did an awesome job because she did if you have anything nice to say post the comment I will let her know or if she watches this she can see the comments for herself And that's it from me. I will see you next week Okay, let's take a look at this Oh my god, I love this this This is fantastic I love it. The only thing is Just keep your like a big in frame. He is how about this leave the camera like that Uh and then scale down your You don't really have to I mean you can just leave the tv like this. I kind of like seeing this shape so I would have said scale the tv down so that we can see the You know the table the the legs. I don't think you need to maybe some cables. So we understand it's a tv No, I think it's fine. All right, it's stop forget everything I set up until now Don't move the camera because we want to see this framing And I absolutely love this. This is so great This concentration. I love how the feet are dangling the legs I like that he used that little swing to get forward because of the energy and the action You could potentially He's doing this right and then as he plays I would still have him lean forward So it's a bit more engaged And then when this happens he can go back up where he's a bit more like Like that moment where he feels like the shock Sets in then you can be a bit more Forward, right? So it's not so straight and a bit too default. So it's a bit more lean forward But as he plays this I would definitely have him legs a bit more bent and more engaged forward So again, you have a bit more room uh for body contrast and visual contrast then This is just too What's the word linear and just even in timing just how this floats Down even there's a bit of a change there. You want to make this a bit more A bit more interesting and involve the body a bit more It was a bit too simple there This is fantastic I'm assuming used reference. I want to see that reference out of you did this I love the engagement of the shoulders the drag of this arm All the changes in the body his face This is so good and it's such a kid thing This is so fantastic. I love this. I couldn't be more in love with this Then he throws that away Watch out. It kind of pops out. So I would do the throw We're here. Whoa. What's going on here? My computer's freezing lands here with maybe one or two bounces right now It just has that pop out. So that's a bit weird But I like that he throws it out because he's that angry Watch out. This is a bit too push in terms of the breakup We know I got your neck out and then the head's only coming up there So you can potentially low bring up that lower neck thing here and then have that head still be there um There's some more mechanics thing I can get to later, but as a whole these are the big notes Uh that controller thing and I love how he stumps out But he feels a bit like he's leaning backwards He just slips off balance like here. It feels off balance. So either you bring up the hip forward so that you have a bigger curve with arms back, which you can totally do or Take the whole route and just Rotate him forward same animation everything is the same But he's leaning a bit more forward so he doesn't feel so Off balance or it's just so straight because again, you got that moment of Straighten and suddenly a kind of a broken neck and the head going back. So this feels a bit broken there Uh, and yeah, there's no camera move. I don't need you need you don't need that camera move It's a bit too dramatic and I would just concentrate on the kid So for your next pass, you know offsets So they're not everything's not so twinned Same thing with the elbows different poses so that the timing and posing is not so twinned On his jump forward when he lands, I like your little steps forward You can Potentially just to give it a bit more polish and contrast as he's here. He's very default and Parallel and twinned so imagine he goes forward and as he takes that step that's a bit of a bigger step but Ideally I will probably take Again, I might be unrattling too much again You get this up to you But what I would do to push this because this animation is so good I think you are absolutely capable of doing this as he goes forward this Step forward here Is just further forward and then he just takes that step To here as we imagine that this foot is further here And then you got this and you got that but so that the whole body is a bit more rotated His his right side is a bit more towards the The tv Now I know he's just playing towards the tv and you don't want to go too far I'm looking for something where it's not so parallel and clean and twinned So there's a slight change in the body And it's a bit more like one side is engaged just you know, maybe Maybe he pushes more buttons on here So more of the muscles are engaged here and that way because of that this side of the body is more towards the tv But also because once you do this Oh, he does that you could potentially pull that foot back a bit um You know, so then you have a bit of a a change between here and here So it's not just in his arms and I was just hesitating I was thinking Maybe maybe not maybe if that leg is here that foot and this foot is further back Then you rotate the root over so that you kind of leave the legs, but The body is a bit more Angled towards the camera It's as if he wants to move his body away from the screen because he's disengaging and he's just upset Then when you get into this You can have again a bit of a rotation from legs here body towards us To rotate the root over into this pose and take a step back into this And maybe that step is a step that goes into Like a first small stomp and then you do this and that and that and that and the reason why i'm saying all this is because He's very parallel to the screen and it's very twinned very clean I like that. It'll step there a lot though, but then it gets very Then it's kind of like one pose where it's just our movement And then into this and I think you can push that a bit more with a bit more complexity so that You know always imagine a character's left hand at right hand and so his right side is a bit more Towards the screen And then when he gets like I said when he goes into this instead of just having arms go down it would be that With his legs offset here that he would change his body and rotate his body. So he's a bit more towards camera And then you can go and change it again with a little step back into this pose. I hope this makes sense if not You know we talk about it in class and I can show you But that's what I would do and it's small things. It's really just small adjustments to give this a bit more complexity so it's not just Step step and it's just clean clean clean clean clean, but once you get into this It's awesome and I love it and I love his little extra stomp And his little hands there. That's great I would just look at once we get into this right Once you get into this That's all cool. I like your nice big line of action there But once you do this throw this feels very very locked So as you do this you would have a bit of a foot roll and rotation over you can engage the shoulder more that it's this way a bit more of a You know when you throw this I look at this frame especially It feels like it's throwing towards the camera more towards us versus this way Which again since I mentioned that it should have the control of bounce off and see at least one bounce off This will actually help you so imagine the arm is actually more away from us So that the shoulder is not here, but actually here the rotation of the chest will be more out this way Following this arm throw. So this is a bit It's a bit more work also. Look at how much your body moves forward and then here suddenly it stops And over those frames this goes forward as is the broken neck part But if you actually follow through with this arm movement That roots, you know instead of here the center It would be already here with the body moved forward arm down shoulder forward So just this section needs more work in terms of mechanics Like he suddenly gets stuck in space so you can see how this area is completely locked in visual space in 2D space With the legs and everything moving. So and then he got that counter Where suddenly this section is pinned visually And everything pivots off of here. You see your IK arm is kind of locked in here So at this point this He might be already here visually But again, I love this. I love you extra stomp Just watch out for moments like this where the wrist feels really broken. You can see it again here I thought at the end. Yeah here suddenly broken. So watch out for those moments that feel a bit off Watch out that your foot doesn't intersect with the ground. There's some weird where I feel like there needs to be a foot roll So this could be a bit cleaner And this feels like you're easing into the stomp to make this a bit harsher Like I said, maybe lean forward for more Stompy forward drive momentum and proper balance And I think you could potentially You can do stomp this Keep this timing but then bum bum bum these steps a bit faster Because right now you have this stomp and then it's kind of like, I guess I'm going to stomp out Then a bit more relaxed fashion. They're relaxed in terms of timing. I feel you can do Holds like Maybe here have a slight hold of two frames. I just add two more frames into this stomp and then You just steps out this fast So it's a bit a bit more contrast in timing of throw up Two more frames here. I know it's minimal but a bit more of a hold stomp and then And then gets out because he's really angry And then the speed will help with the lean forward and so on and so on Alrighty, I think that is it But it's so much better. It's so much better than what you had last week It's a huge improvement and I love the acting choices It's so kidlike and also the complexities of having character come up Do his thing and then do a 90 degree change in terms of complexities and body mechanics That's a great change And a full exit off screen just to see the aftermath of well the control will be off But maybe it bounces off and comes back. I don't know. I don't know what you want to do here, but Yeah, it just feels weird how it just kind of exits here So maybe yeah, again, like I said bounce off boom and it can always kind of come back if you want because I kind of like this that's the emptiness of the the control is on the ground and It would be awesome would be kind of broken some cables cables are out and it's kind of Some broken red light blinking to show it. This is, you know, this is the broken thing And that's the aftermath, but again, this is probably way too much. I'm just exaggerating here, but um That's it. All right. That's it for me But it's super cool and It would be awesome. You actually the third person now and and people will email me for this class This is so cool. And I would love If you could send me your first version that you showed And if I could post both of them online, obviously you can 100% say no But I would love to show this as an example of this is your first version or you had your first version And this is your new version and how you took the notes and how you made it so much better I think this would be really great for people to see as a fantastic example of this is how you incorporate notes And this is how you push you shop forward Again, you're absolutely fine by saying no, that's totally fine But I wanted to say again, this is so good on so many levels Obviously, you know all the feedback for the mechanics, but it's such a huge improvement and you can be A million times proud of your progress. This is really really cool. I can't stress this enough All right. Thank you