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My First Animation

Hi My Name Is Kappy - Animation

This quarter I took an introductory course in 2D Flash animation.  Throught the course, each student developed their own short animation for the web, step-by-step.  Each step, from character creation, to storyboarding, and finally, production, was documented weekly via this homework site

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My personal experience with this project was quite interesting.  Animation has always been something I wanted to try, and I enjoy watching 2D

This is the second version of my character.

animation on the web.  I decided to base my animation on an graffiti painting aerosol can character that I have illustrated in the past.  While Adobe Flash is the standard program for creating these types of videos, it is not the easiest program to learn.  However, by following some of the basic principals of both animation, and storytelling, I was able to express my idea creatively and effectively.

On the technical side of things, creating a walk cycle is one of the fundamental aspects of animation.  This process involves creating a motion loop that makes walking (or in this case, hopping) look natural and seemless.  Once I created a walk cycle for my character, I put it in front of a still background and a moving scene.

Storyboard #1

One  of the great things about animation is that you can create a story based on any subject you can imagine.  That being said, every good animation has to convey some sort of story, no matter how long or short, recognizable or abstract.  I created a storyboard that involved my spray can character travelling around the city spray painting different things until he finally finds himself face to face with a train.  Completing the storyboarding proccess was essential to creating a cohesive animation.

Although my final animation is no feature film, it served as a great learning project.  As animation is one of the most popular forms of online video content, I am glad to have have better understanding of how it is created.