Shading and Lighting

[ddrake]

I got a little carried away with what started as a pretty straightforward headturning rig.

I wanted to try including more more shadows and highlights in the design that would move appropriately with a headturn. But then I wound up getting curious how dramatic/interesting I could get the lighting to look.

The animation itself wasn't really created with great care for timing or particularly dynamic movement. I originally just had some head turns and tilts.
I just added the hand jiggling the screen as a afterthought because everything looked pretty cool but kind of boring.

Thought I'd share.

[Danimal]

Very cool! The screen casts a shadow which also moves with the screen - a nice touch!

[lwaxana]

Geez, your lighting effects are amazing! It creates a strong sense of mood.

[neeters_guy]

Yes, impressive. I can see your style working well in a dramatic piece as well as comedy.

[ddrake]

Thanks all

I can see your style working well in a dramatic piece as well as comedy.

Thanks neeters! I'm very glad to hear something like that. The current project is not only straddling that line, but crossing back and forth at times. And quickly.

Many of these test clips are my attempts to distill style elements, but also explore some new techniques. Though, I will (and have), admitted that I can too often get wrapped up details. So please, anyone let me know if some of these visual elements are no longer blending together.

...I might not agree, or be past the point of no return for some things, but it's always worth hearing the feedback.

Thanks e'r'rybody!

[Little Yamori]

ddrake,

Your style is cool and I like the way you mix elements, but since you asked for feedback on some of the details, these are what catch my eye. You did such a great job with the adjustments on the last clip with the girl opening the box, so what gets my attention here are 2 minor things, one is the characters eye outline, it's a little wide for me, but this is tooootally subjective. it just has the potential to blend better as a whole scene, like the girl with the box, if it were dialed down a bit. The 2nd is the chain link fence itself, it visually looks like a shadow more than the actual fence. ( I know drawing an actual fence with color variations could be potentially obnoxiously tedious with little payoff, and if I were watching your production as a completed story I probably wouldn't even have noticed it, but when any of us watch a 5 second clip 3 or 4 or 10 times, we're going to pick up on things that don't necessarily need to be fixed.

Keep up the great work

LY