Specialist Study 1 - Characters

I wanted to create a small test, just to see how whether what i had learnt when creating my landscapes would easily transfer into characters.

I created this scene of a warewolf in After Effects. I learnt whilst doing this that although the principles are the same, i feel you have to be a lot more precise when maneuvering different sections of the character into 3D space. For example i initially moved the limbs much to far away from the body which gave a very unrealistic effect. I also separated the mouth and nose into a separate layer to the face as i thought this would create more of a 3D look to the character. However, when i moved the camera the nose and mouth appeared to be detached from the warewolfs face. I tightened up all of the layers and moved them much closer together. The nose mouth and face are almost all in the same position, and the limbs are not very far apart. This test made me realise that when trying to bring characters to life, it must be approached slightly different to creating landscape.

An animator "Daniel Gies" was brought to my attention by a friend. I researched into his work a little as i really enjoyed the first piece of work i was first shown of his. I discovered his youtube channel and subscribed to him. He has posted a series of tutorials explaining his methods and techniques in creating / animating / and even rigging characters in After Effects.