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Need some Opinions

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2018 7:41 am
by BrahRah
I've made this quick and dirty animation in a day, question is: is it good the way it is or should I invest more time in it?



I'm planning on animating every Idea I have in this manner but I need to find the right mix of "looks interesting" but is not too much work.

I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:56 am
by mrc
No offense but quite frankly I think you might want to team up with an illustrator to make it look more appealing.
And the flip screen transition had me confused.
BrahRah wrote:but is not too much work.
This reminds me of a Richard Williams quote from the Animator's Survival Guide:
"If you want to save work, what on earth are you doing in animation? It is nothing but work"

But I'd be interested in seeing more ideas visualised.

Marc

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 5:04 pm
by BrahRah
I can invest a lot more time in illustrations but for now I just want to put my ideas on the web. I can still make better looking versions later.

Here is the next one:


I've tried to make this one a bit more fun to watch but I think I've overdone it a bit. The next one will have less again and I'm prob. gonna overhaul this one.

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 5:20 pm
by jahnocli
When you say "I can invest a lot more time in illustrations..." or "I can still make better looking versions later...", it makes it seem like you regard a more professional-looking output as an unimportant addition you can add at some future date. It really isn't like that. I don't know how old you are, but this looks like the work of a child, which is in immediate conflict with the idea of "putting your ideas on the web", because people are not going to take these ideas seriously.

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Sat Jun 09, 2018 7:36 pm
by BrahRah
Depends on the audience. South Park looks like a child made it, it still has it's fans. I'm not doing these animations to appeal to the intellectual connoisseurs of art. It's for the broad mass that has a short attention span and can't digest long and detailed explanations. The better looking and detailed ones take a lot of time, money and energy. I'm low on all 3 and my best option is to do something that is fast but still fun and interesting to watch. So please keep that in mind. I'll try to make the animation a bit smoother and learn to make better transitions. That is time spend well but the artwork is probably gonna stay that way for now. Until I have a fast way that is better looking.

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 1:31 am
by Rainer
Might be worth having another look at your objectives. Although the distinction is blurred, and AS is unheralded good at it, what you mainly appear to be dealing with here is motion graphics rather than probably what most users on this forum would describe as animation. The type of blocky symbol graphics you're using may be appropriate where you're trying to educate or get a message or concept across rather than entertain or tell a story.

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 9:57 am
by jahnocli
BrahRah wrote:... my best option is to do something that is fast but still fun and interesting to watch. So please keep that in mind.
But it's not interesting to watch. And you seem to be both aggressive and defensive; if you ask for opinions, my advice is to take them on board without trying to justify yourself all the while.

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:00 pm
by slowtiger
Well, what did you want to do with it? It isn't either entertaining, nor educating, nor aesthetically pleasing. But the worst is that anybody can see that you're lazy and didn't put any effort into it - so why should anybody bother to watch it?

Things that need to change for professional reasons:
- all the writing. Better font, better size. It must be readable immediately.
- graphics. White ellipses for clouds are just lazy. If you can't even bother to draw at least a simple cloud shape...
- colours. These are tasteless and boring. Again, most obvious choice without any effort.
Not to mention the really stupid "story". What is this, satire? A serious proposal? If I can't even tell, something's very wrong with your idea.

Nothing is wrong with motion graphics, simple elements, text instead ot dialogue. But it has to be done in a way more sophisticated way.

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:55 pm
by BrahRah
Thanks that is some really good critique and def. doable without investing too much time. With "story' you probably mean the 2nd video... yes I overdid the goofiness there. I realized that too... I'll limit myself to small stuff that happens in the background like in the first video.

But I have to disagree it was fairly entertaining and interesting to a lot of people already. The first video I've posted on the web and it got a lot of feedback and questions. I didn't even anticipate that, I though I would maybe get 10 comments. I got 200 ^-^ Not many cared about the design. But I agree that it should look a bit better. It's not to educate, nor entertainment or a serious proposal. It's more about getting a discussion started. I just want to present my ideas/concepts in a manner that is symbolic but still interesting to watch for the people on the web.

slowtiger wrote:Well, what did you want to do with it? It isn't either entertaining, nor educating, nor aesthetically pleasing. But the worst is that anybody can see that you're lazy and didn't put any effort into it - so why should anybody bother to watch it?

Things that need to change for professional reasons:
- all the writing. Better font, better size. It must be readable immediately.
- graphics. White ellipses for clouds are just lazy. If you can't even bother to draw at least a simple cloud shape...
- colours. These are tasteless and boring. Again, most obvious choice without any effort.
Not to mention the really stupid "story". What is this, satire? A serious proposal? If I can't even tell, something's very wrong with your idea.

Nothing is wrong with motion graphics, simple elements, text instead ot dialogue. But it has to be done in a way more sophisticated way.

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 3:35 pm
by slowtiger
If you really want to notch up your game, have a look at some examples of the genre you''re spoofing. Is it illustrations in scientific magazines? Is it information graphics in TV news? Which graphical elements do people use there, what's the exact definition of that style? And then try to mimic that style as good as possible.

Re: Need some Opinions

Posted: Sun Jun 10, 2018 5:49 pm
by BrahRah
Thanks I've already done that ^-^ Here is the reworked version of the second video:






The first 2 animations were more of an experiment. For the latest version I didn't change much but it looks a lot better now and I can still work relatively fast.


@jahnocli I have no idea what you are talking about. Am I not allowed to state an opinion on my own work? I asked for opinions and not to get force fed....