This week's focus is on my current iterations in relation to my studio three project. In particular, the punch animation - in which I wished to translate a great deal of force and weight propelled by the body - with that force being channeled by momentum into the shoulder and arm, therefore registering a great deal of force and impact which the audience may “feel” rather than simply see.
The designs guiding this practice were simply the 12 principles of animation - namely stretch and squash, anticipation, follow through, ease in / out etc. I also looked at the animations of street fighter 3: third strike. (these animations are a masterclass in stylistic dynamic animated method)
The difficulty in these particular iterations came from the aforementioned desire to translate weight and force through the body to the shoulder. The solution in this case was to break the body and pull the rib cage and torso forward, with the shoulder and arm following through a frame later, this combined with smear frames and some key holds gave me the desired visual I envisaged.
After consultation there is more iteration to be done on this work, further follow through after the impact of the punch can help further sell the complete movement, and a twist of the wrist on the last frame(s) could loosen up some of the still stiff movement of the arm.
By James Elms
Email James Elms
Published On: 20/09/2021