Take 5: Animating Sound 036

I purposefully left this sound until the very end, because I thought it was going to be the hardest to animate as I wasn't really sure how I was going to do it. I know I really liked by static images that I had created using paint, and didn't want to venture too far away from them as I thought the colours and the thick texture worked really well for the sound. 

I sketched out a few examples of what the frames would/could look like, and I thought the singular circle would work best. I really didn't like the look of it in pencil though. I knew I HAD to continue to use acrylics, but didn't want to paint each individual frame as it would use too much paint, and it would be incredibly hard to "onion skin" with the paint being so thick. I thought the best way to go was to create a stop motion animation of the paint being swirled around, almost in the same way I created my original images.

Planning

I had only ever had the one Dragon Frame induction, and a lot of what I had been taught I couldn't remember. The tutorial had simply been watching how to use the tools where as I learn best and retain more information when I actually do things for myself. So I did a little stop motion test to mess around with the settings and get to grips with how to use the program before I did any real animating. 

Dragon Frame Test

Planning the Timing

Once I had gotten to grips with Dragon Frame and planned out the timing for the animation, I began animating my sound. There weren't too many keyframes, other than the start of the "splodge" and the end of it, so I winged it and hoped for the best. 

My first attempt was okay. It didn't really seem to line up with the sound, but I think I was on the right tracks. I like how the paint spread, but it felt too smooth. I didn't really feel "ripply" and messy.

Attempt One: Sound 036

For my second attempt, rather than primarily using a paint brush to push the paint around, this time I got a straw and blew on the paint (I say straw but in reality it was rolled up paper because I couldn't find anything else to use). I really like the effect this gave, and it seemed a much harsher movement that was more fitting. It actually seemed that the paint was rippling and exploding like the sound seemed to suggest.

Attempt Two: Sound 036

Again, I am pleased with how this animation turned out, and I had a great time producing it. I loved how abstract and messy the subject was; I managed to get paint EVERYWHERE. Even in my eyebrows. I would love to learn how to use Dragon Frame better as I struggled a bit with the tools, and I exported the images incorrectly. They were huge files.  Where as this isn't too much of a problem this time as the animation was only 2 seconds long, if I was working on a larger project the post-production program may not be able to handle it. The dimensions of the animation also doesn't meet the requirements of the brief, and I'm not sure how I could go about changing that. This will definitely have to be an area that I revise for next time around, as I am still not 100% certain on these aspects.