Welcome to the Class!
Emotion is a fundamental element needed to engage others. Giving life to emotions in character illustration will bring the audience closer, draw more attention and help the viewer dive into the character’s world even deeper.
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Welcome to the Class!
In this class we will animate the character’s facial expressions. We’ll have two emotional states and go from one emotion to the other and then back, creating a loop. The first state will be shy with ¾ turn and the second - happy, facing us. There will also be an intro part of the animation, which you can create if you would like add an additional touch to give the character a bit more personality;
These lessons are packed with helpful tips and tricks and will be a great resource for illustrators, who'd like to bring an extra layer of personality to their character work using animation or aspiring animators who want to broaden their skillset in character animation.
Some basic knowledge of Adobe Illustrator and After Effects is required.
This class is structured for students familiar with Illustrator and After Effects, but if you're a bit rusty there will be a quick refresher in "Getting Started in After Effects" lesson.
Required Software
Process:
In Illustrator we will structure the illustration for animation. And in After Effects we'll go through some of the tools and approaches, then go over rigging, animation with keyframes, learn about Easing, create an Intro and a Loop to the animation, add effects like Wave Warp, Glow, Blur and Grain, we'll also use the Wiggle expression and finally export the final piece as video (MOV and MP4) and GIF.
Class Syllabus
Preparing Illustration
In this lesson we will structure the illustration to import into After Effects. Feel free to use this illustration or your own piece.
Keep in mind:
- Name your layers;
- Combine layers that won't be animated;
- Draw complete shapes for overlapping layers that will be animated;
- Get rid of the masks in AI, we'll use masks in AE instead;
- Combine sublayers into the main layer, i.e. "nose_bottom", "nose_side", "nose_top" into "nose";
Getting Started in After Effects
We’ll open After Effects, create a new composition for our animation, take a look at basic tools
and how to animate with keyframes, and import the illustration.
Lesson Sections:
- Creating a new composition (1080x1080, 29.97 fps, 6 sec duration);
- After Effects basic tools introduction. Find the Shortcuts list on pages 17, 18 and 19;
- Introducing animation with keyframes;
- Importing Illustrator file (Import as: "Composition - Retain Layer Sizes");
- Organizing project and saving AE file;
Rigging
Rigging the character’s face will include:
- Hiding layers you won’t be animating using the Shy symbol;
- Converting vector layers into shapes;
- Color coding layer groups;
- Masking pupils using Track Mattes;
- Parenting using Parent Pick Whip;
- Adjusting anchor points. You can do it manually or get a donation-based plugin called
Animating with Keyframes Parts 1-2
Animation with keyframes is split into 2 videos for a more convenient digest. In the first part we will animate the head, neck shadow, brows, nose, ears and mouth, and in the second we will focus on the eyes.
Tips:
- Think of the character’s personality when animating emotions. (How would this particular character turn, wink, etc.);
- Make a sketch/ storyboard with 2 facial expressions if it helps visualize both emotional states;
- Pay attention to the face arcs/curves when animating, i.e. does the face keep the same overall shape in both positions;
Easing
Easing is an essential part of animation. It helps make the movement organic.
Steps and Tips:
- To use Easy Ease select layer > right click > choose Keyframe Assistant in the dropdown menu > click Easy Ease (or use F9);
- To control the ease better go to Graph Editor and use handles to make adjustments;
- Consider looking into The Animator’s Survival Kit book, otherwise known as the “Animator’s Bible”;
Animating the Intro
The intro is an additional layer of this project. You can add it to your piece if you’d like to set the scene for the main animation and show the character’s personality even more.
Tips:
- To move the start of the timeline go to the frame, at which you want the animation to start and press B;
- Add small details to your animation, like raising a brow when the eye is being opened. This will widen the amount of character traits the viewer picks up on in your animation, making it more relatable;
Looping
In this lesson we will do a simple loop so the animation can play FOREVER!:)
Tips:
- Give a substantial amount of “breathing time” for the character to loop back into her original pose;
- Adjust the level of ease in Graph Editor to make the character turn back in the pace you like, faster or slower;
Effects and Wiggle Expression
In this video we’ll add several effects like glow, blur, wave warp and grain and use one expression called Wiggle to stylize and polish the animation more.
Steps:
- Add Wiggle Expression: choose eye pupil layer > press S > hold Option (Mac) or Alt (PC) and click the stopwatch. In the line that opened type: Wiggle(100,20)
- Add glow: Select eye highlights layer > go to Effects and Presets in the right tab > type in “Glow” > double click or drag glow onto the layer;
- Add blur: go to Effects and Presets > Fast Box Blur: Blur Radius: 8. Iterations: 3.
Effects and Wiggle Expression
- Add hair movement: go to Effects and Presets > Wave Warp.
In Wave Warp choose direction: 104, height: 3, width: -300, pin to horizontal edges;
- Add grain: go to Layer > New > Adjustment Layer
- Effects and Presets in the right tab > Grain.
In Grain choose Viewing Mode: Final Output, Size: 0.6, Animation: 0.4;
Here’s my final After Effects Project File for reference.
Exporting
We’ll first Collect the file to preserve all of our assets and then export animation as a MOV file from After Effects. Next, we’ll go into Media Encoder and export an MP4 video, and then switch to Photoshop and export as GIF.
After Effects Shortcuts
Composition
After Effects Shortcuts
Tools
After Effects Shortcuts
Transform
Conclusion
You did a huge amount of work to make the character come to life!
I’ll be happy to see your project and answer any questions along the way, so don’t forget to share it in class discussions. And don’t hesitate to also share it on social media and tag me!
You can find me here:
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Thanks so much for taking this class!