Here's a short anim of a character for a short I'm working on.
http://www.rentedmule.com/chief/
C & C always welcome.
Many Moons
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producerism
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Artwork excellent.
Animation excellent.
I would be a little more careful about color choices tho. You've got purple, orange, and brown around the eyes. Now, you're fine as far as color harmony goes--they work fine on that basis. And it does add life to the character. However, I think it's a little too gaudy for the context--more like a "painted lady" than a leader of nations.
If you want to add color, maybe you could use a brown iris and add a carefully conceived bit of face paint (something believable but still artistic) instead.
Taking extra care with this portrayal brings up the fundamental problem of media representation of a minority (and a horrendously exploited and persecuted minority at that).
Let's take a minute to find more clarity about this, because, believe me, it's worth it.
Before I begin, I want to be clear that I don't know your intentions for this piece, so I'm by no means criticizing you, I'm only providing a larger context.
The essential thing to understand about minorities is the way they remain just about completely invisible until the dominant culture wants them for something.
Most of the time, when the dominant culture *does* want them, it has something to do, ultimately, with staying dominant.
Statistically speaking, if you run all those weeks and years of media exposure quickly through your mind, you will see that the minority cast member does not "get the girl," "save the day," "invent the serum," "glorify family values," or "triumph over evil."
The token minority, 95 times out of a hundred, is there as a heap big sidekick, Kimosabe; or a jimcrow jivedancer, Boss; or a humble washerwoman, honored WhiteMan-san.
So time after time, minority X is dragged out to dance its own peculiar brand of minstrel show.
Sometimes it's patently degrading. More likely, if not openly disrespectful, the token character is put in the far more subtle context of always-being-the-mere-sidekick, because after all, minorities just don't measure up to the greatness of the prevailing masters of the universe.
The kneekjerk reaction to this is usually, "But come on, in this piece, I'm being an equal-opportunity offender towards *everybody.*"
And the answer to that is: go back and look at the stats. It's about PROPORTION. It's a RATIO. It's about viewable hours of dignity versus viewable hours of humiliation.
When you hear of a minority complaining about media representation, what they are trying (but failing!!!) to say is they object to the RATIO. The PROPORTION. The viewable hours.
Now, if you intend to increase the ratio on the side of dignity, I'm all for it.
Thank you. We now return you to your regularly scheduled whatever.
Animation excellent.
I would be a little more careful about color choices tho. You've got purple, orange, and brown around the eyes. Now, you're fine as far as color harmony goes--they work fine on that basis. And it does add life to the character. However, I think it's a little too gaudy for the context--more like a "painted lady" than a leader of nations.
If you want to add color, maybe you could use a brown iris and add a carefully conceived bit of face paint (something believable but still artistic) instead.
Taking extra care with this portrayal brings up the fundamental problem of media representation of a minority (and a horrendously exploited and persecuted minority at that).
Let's take a minute to find more clarity about this, because, believe me, it's worth it.
Before I begin, I want to be clear that I don't know your intentions for this piece, so I'm by no means criticizing you, I'm only providing a larger context.
The essential thing to understand about minorities is the way they remain just about completely invisible until the dominant culture wants them for something.
Most of the time, when the dominant culture *does* want them, it has something to do, ultimately, with staying dominant.
Statistically speaking, if you run all those weeks and years of media exposure quickly through your mind, you will see that the minority cast member does not "get the girl," "save the day," "invent the serum," "glorify family values," or "triumph over evil."
The token minority, 95 times out of a hundred, is there as a heap big sidekick, Kimosabe; or a jimcrow jivedancer, Boss; or a humble washerwoman, honored WhiteMan-san.
So time after time, minority X is dragged out to dance its own peculiar brand of minstrel show.
Sometimes it's patently degrading. More likely, if not openly disrespectful, the token character is put in the far more subtle context of always-being-the-mere-sidekick, because after all, minorities just don't measure up to the greatness of the prevailing masters of the universe.
The kneekjerk reaction to this is usually, "But come on, in this piece, I'm being an equal-opportunity offender towards *everybody.*"
And the answer to that is: go back and look at the stats. It's about PROPORTION. It's a RATIO. It's about viewable hours of dignity versus viewable hours of humiliation.
When you hear of a minority complaining about media representation, what they are trying (but failing!!!) to say is they object to the RATIO. The PROPORTION. The viewable hours.
Now, if you intend to increase the ratio on the side of dignity, I'm all for it.
Thank you. We now return you to your regularly scheduled whatever.
Wow, this sorta turned into a train wreck, didn't it?
I'm not very good at describing my work. As a matter of fact, I thought my description of this piece was too loquacious.
In hindsight I should have added the quick disclaimer that this is a parody of roadside alligator wrestling shows in South Florida. The "Chief" is not only (intentionally) gaudy, he goes on to capitalize on his rich ancestory, blah, blah, by abusing alligators blah, blah, blah who get back at him (in an implied way) in the end. I should have added the last bit of animation where the "chief" raises his hand at the end (after the fade begins) and takes a drag on his cigarette revealing the Krispy Kreme t-shirt covering his ample belly beneath his Ceremonial Blanket.
It's now clear how much another 2 seconds of animation would have helped define the seediness of the character....and avoided this embarrasment.
My apologies.
I'm not very good at describing my work. As a matter of fact, I thought my description of this piece was too loquacious.
In hindsight I should have added the quick disclaimer that this is a parody of roadside alligator wrestling shows in South Florida. The "Chief" is not only (intentionally) gaudy, he goes on to capitalize on his rich ancestory, blah, blah, by abusing alligators blah, blah, blah who get back at him (in an implied way) in the end. I should have added the last bit of animation where the "chief" raises his hand at the end (after the fade begins) and takes a drag on his cigarette revealing the Krispy Kreme t-shirt covering his ample belly beneath his Ceremonial Blanket.
It's now clear how much another 2 seconds of animation would have helped define the seediness of the character....and avoided this embarrasment.
My apologies.
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toonertime
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funksmaname
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OK.Here's my opinion... I think the character and animation is great - and tbh with you, that all that matters.
I did not find the characterisation degrading in any way - its just a goofy stereotypical comical character... Although i agree to an extent with human's speech, i'm not sure if it truley applies here - its not like this indian is the only one in a cast of white characters, running around smoking peace pipes and skalping everyone...
'A line' exisits, but this nowhere near crosses it imo. especially compared to something like southpark, or even Apu from the Simpsons for that matter...
Also we dont know if Gnaws is on America-Indian decent... he might be... and if he is, is this still as offensive to you?
human, your ongoing work with that 'well-off wild-west gentleman' seems to be a juxtaposition of your apparent outlook on life... he could be mistaken for general custer and we all know how that turned out...
Thats not a slur, and i mean no disrespect, but unless someone does something that crosses from comedy into distasteful exploitation without point nor moral then i think we should save the speeches...
Speeches are usually well-intentioned, but pompous...Context is all, and this is a small fragment of something, apparently, so let's keep any rush to judgment on ice for the time being.
I think the animation is great, but the background needs to be integrated rather better -- seems uncomfortable at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
I think the animation is great, but the background needs to be integrated rather better -- seems uncomfortable at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
Nice character. I've always been told to keep pupil size the same, and the eye (the white part) can grow bigger and smaller, but to always keep the pupils the same size.
Also, I don't think that background's working. Maybe if you made it a multi-plane scrolling background, that'd be cool. But the styles are too different, looks like you got a pic from Google Images and slapped it in there. I quite liked your vector backgrounds on your bunny thing. I'd go for that. Works nicely. Try keep the guy from blending into the background when you choose your colours for the BG.
Maybe try brighten the man's colours up a bit? At the moment, they're looking a bit dull/dirty to me. Maybe it's personal preference.
Also think there's too much negative space on the left. Perhaps move him slightly more to the left, although centering him would probably be a bad idea. Kind of don't know what the subject is - the background or the guy? Nice mouths you got. Also like his feathers. His one feather is slightly out of shot. This bugs me. He's got so much space to move around in, yet the 'camera-man' decided to get lazy and not complete the camera move to include him WHOLLY in the shot. Agitates me.
Perhaps also try and make his pupil movement STEPPED, so there's no inbetweens. Just darts from one position to the other, perhaps let him blink, then while he's blinking, move his pupils (with no inbetweens) to a new position. Less mechanical.
Nice one.
Also, I don't think that background's working. Maybe if you made it a multi-plane scrolling background, that'd be cool. But the styles are too different, looks like you got a pic from Google Images and slapped it in there. I quite liked your vector backgrounds on your bunny thing. I'd go for that. Works nicely. Try keep the guy from blending into the background when you choose your colours for the BG.
Maybe try brighten the man's colours up a bit? At the moment, they're looking a bit dull/dirty to me. Maybe it's personal preference.
Also think there's too much negative space on the left. Perhaps move him slightly more to the left, although centering him would probably be a bad idea. Kind of don't know what the subject is - the background or the guy? Nice mouths you got. Also like his feathers. His one feather is slightly out of shot. This bugs me. He's got so much space to move around in, yet the 'camera-man' decided to get lazy and not complete the camera move to include him WHOLLY in the shot. Agitates me.
Perhaps also try and make his pupil movement STEPPED, so there's no inbetweens. Just darts from one position to the other, perhaps let him blink, then while he's blinking, move his pupils (with no inbetweens) to a new position. Less mechanical.
Nice one.
Busted!mikdog wrote:looks like you got a pic from Google Images and slapped it in there...
I just dropped it in to give the character an environment rather than a plain background. I will definitely do a vector counterpart and incorporate a multi-plane pan.
"Lazy camera man", dull colors, composition, pupil size, (smooth) eye movement: all intentional.
Thanks for the feedback.
I like it Gnaws. I think you have style.
I always click on your posts to see what you're up to. I sometimes wish you would draw your animation. No offence intended to AS, but I would like to see your designs posed out and animated more fully. Your characters do have "character". A spark.
They would seem to suit a broader animation style. I know a few AS champs on the forum can throw characters around in AS no bother, but I'd hate to see you get stuck in custardville.
Custardville is a suburb of tween city. Everything moves very smoooothly theeeerrreeee
I always click on your posts to see what you're up to. I sometimes wish you would draw your animation. No offence intended to AS, but I would like to see your designs posed out and animated more fully. Your characters do have "character". A spark.
They would seem to suit a broader animation style. I know a few AS champs on the forum can throw characters around in AS no bother, but I'd hate to see you get stuck in custardville.
Custardville is a suburb of tween city. Everything moves very smoooothly theeeerrreeee
This is the Mayor of Custardville's dog. He doesn't like it there either.
http://www.rentedmule.com/custardville/
http://www.rentedmule.com/custardville/
