Here are some of the demo animations that I did in class. There are a whole bunch of different variations available, depending on how wild you want the action to be, or you can play around with the timing so that it's 20 or 22 drawings rather than 16. Then there's also the spacing of the different parts of the line to make one part go faster or slower at different points in the animation.

Step 1:
Animating the spine of the seaweed. Approach your animation in layers. Rough out the body masses first and see if they work properly. There's no point in spending 30 minutes on a drawing doing all the details and then find out in the pencil test the poses aren't strong enough or hitting the proper accents. By going at it in layers you can control the action better and not get caught up in the little details too soon.

Version 1:
In this animation, I put a slight delay on the lower part as it gets to the outside and then it moves faster through the middle. There are 16 drawings here.

Version 2:
This next one has similar timing but the action is much broader with a wilder curve to it. This is also 16 drawings.

Version 3:
This version is 20 drawings. The action is much smoother throughout the length.

I can also go back and add in more inbetweens at the beginning to slow it down even more.

For this next version, I simply added in an inbetween between 1 and 2, then 2 and 3 as well as 10 - 12 and 12 to 13, to turn it into a 24 drawing cycle.

Version 3a:

Step 2:
Add the volume. Since this assignment is really all about line control and making sure that you keep your volumes and proportions consistant from one drawing to the next, going at it in layers is really important. You can focus on one thing at a time this way.

As I completed each drawing, I would be flipping them back and forth to check to see if they were consistant. If I saw something weird happening, I'd make the correction immediately. Not only did I check them with the previous drawing but also with the first drawing as well. A major error is to just keep going from one drawing to the next. Invariably, the drawings will shrink from beginning to the end. Happens all the time if you don't double check back to the first key pose.

Now understand here, that I'm not talking about going through the drawings sequentially - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. You still need to do your keys and breakdowns first and then the inbetweens in order. Start with 1 and 11, the opposite keys. Then do 5 and 15. This way, you're guaranteed to not have it shrink from beginning to end.

Here is the pencil test of just the outline of the two edges.

And here is the pencil test with the seaweed colored in.

Step 3:
The next step is to go back and animate the cuts on either side of the seaweed. I approach this in the same way that I did the outer lines. Start with drawing #1 then 11. Be aware that you can't flip these over anymore. If you do, the cut will pop to the other side. In drawing #1, if the top cut is on the left side, it will appear to be closed, but in 11, it should be opened up.

Here is the pencil test with the cuts.

Take a good look at the pencil test and see if you can spot any errors. I know what they are and will fix them when I clean up the drawings.

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