Monday, February 25, 2008

Canary, Take One





Here I'm playing around with what animators call (or used to call) the cartoon "take," where a character reacts wildly. I tried to focus on making the canary seem truly startled.
That being said, I think the most successful element in this thing is when the box creature pops his head up.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love it. That element of surprise is delightful!

Sally said...

Nice take- sometimes people go too over the top as if anyone can be Tex Avery. If you wanted to expand it into a scene, I'd help you with the ActionScript. Like have bird try to open it, then ask viewer to help open it, then and only then clicking on it works.

booda baby said...

Sweet. Timing's always a bitch, but that's what's nice about Flash. You move some keyframes this way and that until the reaction shot's in juuuusssst the right spot.

Well. That's what I have to do.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Thanks, Sally g. Glad you liked it!

Thanks for the action script offer, Sally. If I wasn't so busy with my real job I'd take you up on the offer.

I considered doing a Tex Avery take, but I figured I'd better practice with standard ones first. Sort of the same way Picasso began painting "normal" before he developed his more famous style.

Boodababy, I completely agree with you about the timing. It's amazing how just one keyframe in the wrong place can change (or mangle!) the animation.
I too often find myself pushing the keyframes around

Linda Davick said...

Namowal: Oh boy. You're good. I even like the way the box lid closes. Fun & very silly, to boot.

BillGoat said...

Great fun animation - and the timing seems perfect. I think that bird has a great expression while it's surprised - awesome! You are doing a great job! More! Bravo!!

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

Thanks, Billsey!
Overtime is slowing me down, but more is on the way.