Week 2 - Out of Class

Week 2A - Sequential Dreamscape

A mage, dressed in silken purple and blue robes and donning the floppiest of pointed hats was locked in the midst of battle against a small horde of goblins, trying his best to keep their attacks at bay. The smell of blood, sweat, and rotting meat fills the air as the little creatures become even more riled up in a frenzy. The mage's companions are occupied with their own enemies as the mage slowly becomes overwhelmed. The attack is nothing a well placed fireball couldn't handle, but as the mage extends his arm to cast; nothing happens. The usual feeling of magic flowing through his body and out through his fingertips never comes to him. It is as if every connection to magic has been severed. In a panic, the mage turns to retreat, only to find he has been flanked. It looked like this might be the end for the barely armored caster. Luckily, the burly warrior of his party overwhelms his own enemies and notices the mage is struggling. He leaps into the air and over the ring of goblins to the mage's side. Together (though mostly the warrior) they defeat the last of the goblins and the companions regroup.
"What happened?" The warrior asks, muscles twitching as he wipes a cascade of green goblin blood from his brow. "It's like you didn't even try."
The mage frowns. He didn't want his friends thinking he was giving up on them, but he had no explanation for what had occurred. "I'm not sure, I just couldn't cast anything. It was like I lost all my abilities."
"It better not happen again," the rogue, clad in dark leather that perfectly complimented his dark hair and bright blue eyes, interjects with unparalleled sass.
The mage glares at the rogue, but he secretly agrees. There is nothing more terrifying than being in the midst of a battle and being unable to defend yourself. What would he do if it happened again? Was he sick? Was there a curse on him? Perhaps the group's visit to the sketchy tavern on the edge of the forest had been detrimental to the mage's powers. Whatever the cause, the mage didn't like it. If it continued to happen, he would certainly need to find a way to fix it.

Week 2A

Critique of the Emotional Line:
Most of the feedback was fairly positive, which was fantastic. There was a positive response to the sporadic and fast movement. The very first person to speak up actually guessed the emotion. As far as criticisms, my craft was lacking- as in the frame to frame motion was a bit choppy and could have benefited from more attention. I was impressed at how smooth some of the animations I saw were. Aside from the craft aspect, it was recommended that the portion of the line that was more calm should have been shortened in length. It lasted for too much of the video.

Some general things to keep in mind from other students' critiques:
Keep in mind that motion design relies on the buildup as much as the actual part you intend to portray.
Motion design is/can be reaction based. Make your animation have a reaction to something. Don't just have it do the thing.

Week 1: Out of Class

Line and I have had a long hate/hate relationship, so my dismay upon hearing the parameters of the assignment was at a high. I've just always had issues properly mastering use of line. The additional level of difficulty added by only being allowed to use ONE line was even more frustrating.

How do I show panic with one single line? Even with animation it wasn't going to be an easy task. Without the use of different thicknesses or colors, it was going to be quite a challenge. Panic is unthinking chaos, the devolution into the most primal of feelings. Fight or flight, run or hide, disorder, fear.

Ultimately I decided there would need to be a lot of sporadic movement and flashing. My first attempt was alright, but I had the screen zoomed in so it ended up only using a small portion of the canvas, so I took the opportunity to make something bigger and more chaotic.