Violin animation

The first gif shows the 15 key frames that i planned in my sketchbook (to convey the whole scene.) I found this process one of the most exciting as i could edit and play around with how exactly i wanted to portray the scene. I really liked seeing these collection of images making an animation (As simple as it was) work. The video footage that i captured of my model playing a 'violin' helped me incredibly when understanding the movement of her arms, face and even her feet (even though they are not in the shot - the model stepped into her bow.) After mapping out the main 15 frames I then added the in-between frames which i really brought the animation to life. It was a lot smoother and enabled me to play around with editing flowing hair and expression in the face as well. The overall animation was drawn out and this meant i could see exactly what worked in the animation and what didn't. For instance how the arm moved back and forth without looking to stiff. After completing this stage I moved on with drawing over my guide lines. I edited my guidelines to a green line so that it was easier to draw on top. I started with what I thought was the most difficult but important to capture; the facial expression. I wanted the transformation to come from Grete's face. In the beginning of the scene she is playing a beautiful and sad song - this is where i want her face to be calm and also sad. However when she turns and sees Gregor, I wanted her face to completely change into a hostile and mad look. I feel that i was able to accomplish this in the animation as your are able to see this change of emotion in her face. I was most difficult to draw over my guide lines as i had to ensure that proportions and features of the work flowed and they were correctly drawn. It was quite 'fiddly' and was the longest part of the process. I did each section of the body in different parts, starting with the face, then the hair and body - after completing the right arm violin and bow before lastly doing the left hand. The left hand I animated last because i needed to capture the playing of the violin.


Videos that I also used as reference when drawing the playing of the violin:
Lord of the Rings Medley - Lindsey Stirling
Nicola Benedetti - The Lark Ascending
Epic Violin Girl - Lindsey Stirling