2D Bouncing Balls and Water Balloons

Animation Class 101: Squash and Stretch

Sounds easy, but doing this the very first time proved the task was more challenging than what I originally thought. The key *wink wink* is in the timing - especially making sure you have clear keyframes and breakdown keys. The laborious task of inbertweens is worth it for a great end result.

The first task I had was making a ball bounce using squash and stretch, and it's clear to see I took mine a little too far. However, I think it gives my little ball some character, almost like he's skipping.

I drew a series of arcs first to map out the movement I wanted to create and then used this as a guideline when I was animating my ball.

Next I tackled animating a water balloon bouncing using extreme squash and stretch. As I enjoyed using squash and stretch with my ball, I was very eager to explore the extremes of this technique. I wanted to make my water balloon believable, yet also full of character. To start I used my ball animation as reference.

Here is my animated water balloon using 2s. I roughly sketched it out first so I could make another layer for my final line art. As you can see, I explored using strange shapes to imitate the reality of water moving inside the balloon.

After drawing all my frames in 2s I went back and added my inbertweens to make them 1s. It was a long process, but I think the result was worth it.

I then used the sketch layer to create a final clean line art layer. I still think it could do with a little work, like moving the tie so the water balloon appears to be spinning in all directions. However, I am pleased with it for a first attempt.

In the end, I did really enjoy this task and it is definitely the perfect exercise for beginner animators. 2D is the best.