Sunday 1 June 2014

Observational Drawing in Paris

Went on a short trip to Paris this week! Managed to fit in some observational drawing amongst all the sightseeing and gallery viewings.

Place des Vosges was a great place for observational drawing, it was filled with people enjoying the sun and having picnics:



Then I spotted some mischievous small birds who were picking up bits of food left behind from picnics and lunches. I took some video footage of them for reference for the bird character in 'Tug of Biscuit' as the personalities seemed to suit:

When I got home I had a look at the bird footage and decided to do a quick animation test. I really liked the way they hop around from A to B when they aren't flying - their version of a walk cycle - and I think this could work well for our bird character. Here is a rough test I speed-animated on my iPad with the 'Animation Creator' app:

I also found a Digital Tutors tutorial which shows how to animate a hop-step for a bird, which should be useful:
http://www.digitaltutors.com/tutorial/889-Maya-Animation-Reference-Library-Birds#play-22446