2D Flour Sack - Sketch Layer

My next task for 2D was to animate a flour sack jumping over something. First I recorded a reference video so I could match the timing of the video with my animation. It also helped for constructing the different shapes the flour sack makes as it starts, anticipates, leaves the ground, in the air, falls back down, lands, and reacts to the landing. This task was not only about timing and key frames, but also about giving the flour sack character.

In my first 'draft' of the animation I drew the key frames and spaced them out so the timing mirrored my reference video. However, I wanted to give my flour sack more of a dynamic character so I made him go a little faster than my reference. For now I have focused on my flour sack rather than the background so I can get the correct timing and movement. However, I did add a ground to the animation to give the scene some context.

I then added more frames to make the movement appear smoother. I drew an arc on another layer as a guide for my jump. The timing is a little off in this version - I think the start could be a bit faster. Additionally, I realised I hadn't really show much anticipation, so I attempted to correct it in my next version.

For this version I used squash and stretch to create the anticipation and jump, and I made my flour sack do a flip to give him more character. I still want to do some more work on the flip and start of the animation when he falls back into the anticipation.