Katana Fight Animation
A short, but fully formed piece of animation I made. Starting from a sketch, to design, to color, to 408 frames over 17 seconds.
This whole thing started because I was felt like sketching something with lots of energy and movement one afternoon.
I landed on a sword battle vaguely set in the cyberpunk world of my comic Blood Machine, because I like drawing that stuff. I ended up liking the pose so much, I started sketching other poses in the same fight, and I decided to string them together in a storyboard, which became a pencil animation, and so on. |
Not really sure why they are fighting. It's not important. Why does Blue cry at the end? Were they friends?
I thought about how I might react to decapitating a person, and I think I probably wouldn't be feeling too jazzed no matter who it was.
Speaking of our characters, I took a break from animating them because I wasn't sure how I wanted to actually render them.
Thus, character sheets:
I thought about how I might react to decapitating a person, and I think I probably wouldn't be feeling too jazzed no matter who it was.
Speaking of our characters, I took a break from animating them because I wasn't sure how I wanted to actually render them.
Thus, character sheets:
Lovingly named after the color they are drawn in for the pencil test.
Following my designs, I did the line work for the animation. I also added blood. It gets real messy.
I already had the idea of it being in the world of Blood Machine, so I started drawing a view of Silver City.
In my initial sketch I wanted to frame the Datalus (standard dystopia mega-corp) building in the background, but trying to fit it in there made the horizon line too low. Plus, I wanted to make the city feel dense and oppressive. No sky helps with that. Much about downtown Los Angeles was great for inspiration and reference here. |
I was tempted to set this at night so I wouldn't have to make other people or cars, but I really wanted a sunny California day.
Plus, it sells the dystopia more that this sort of thing happens in broad daylight.
Speaking of cars, you like that white one on the left? I do too. That's why I made a model sheet for it.
Even though it doesn't move at all here... What can I say? I like to draw a future car.
Plus, it sells the dystopia more that this sort of thing happens in broad daylight.
Speaking of cars, you like that white one on the left? I do too. That's why I made a model sheet for it.
Even though it doesn't move at all here... What can I say? I like to draw a future car.
These cars, however, do move in the final animation. Originally I designed 8 of them, 4 each way.
When I put them in, the traffic was not nearly dense enough, so I designed 6 more, recolored one, and voila!
15 cars total. What can I say? I really like drawing future cars.
When I put them in, the traffic was not nearly dense enough, so I designed 6 more, recolored one, and voila!
15 cars total. What can I say? I really like drawing future cars.
Lastly, I wanted some people in the background.
I know it's difficult and expensive, but unpopulated cities in cartoons really bother me. I wasn't about to do the thing I disliked when all I had to do was draw a few people standing still in the distance. It's small, but I think it adds a great deal to the shot. |
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All that remains is compositing and the render, then we have 17 seconds of animation!
Here it is again if you wanna think about all my hard work while you look this time:
Here it is again if you wanna think about all my hard work while you look this time:
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed my work!
-Andrew
-Andrew