Motion Studies - Fight Scene

This week's task was to animate a fight sequence between 2 people, which included 2 punches/kicks and a difference between the two figures. I wanted to include 1 punch and 1 kick in my sequence, just to see the difference between animating the two.

First, I filmed some reference videos to help with how to position the figures and for timing. In my first few reference videos we acted out the fight in slow motion, which was good for seeing what position the figures needed to be in. However, it didn't help with timing, so I filmed a few more reference videos in real time. My punches in these videos were a little different to the ones in the original reference videos, so I had to think about how to stitch the two together to create my animation.

Initial Reference Videos:

Extra Reference Videos:

As I had the reference video for this move, I animated the kick first. The positions were quite difficult to figure out as the move was done in slow motion, therefore it was not super accurate. However, using my video of a kick I filmed later helped with timing and position. The numbers next to the figure correlate to the frame numbers in my reference video.

After animating the kick, I added the second character who reacts to kick and is flung out of the scene. I also added the reaction of the 1st character, by making it look like he had thrown a ball and was watching it fly away. After animating the kick and reaction, I felt like it would be a good ending so I moved it further on in the timeline. This time I wanted the 2nd character to hit the first character, so I animated a punch. At first it was going to be a very simple weedy punch, however after drawing some of the poses I found I had made it more powerful than I intended. The punch was quite high, so I added a jump. Problem was I hadn't filmed a jump, and the jump I was animating wasn't a jump I could do, so I found some images of key frames.

I then drew the inbertweens and played with the timing of the jump. I still think it's a little off, but it's alright for an attempt without reference. I did use my reference videos for the punch, which did help with the overall timing of this figure.

After inbertweening the jump, I added the other characters' reaction. I had to make the punch transition into the kick sequence, whilst also having a difference between the two characters. I made sure figure 1 reacted to the punch, yet I made it completely different to figure 2's reaction to the kick by making his reaction quite slow and small. I also made sure figure 1 was able to come back from the hit pretty quickly, so I made him stand still for a little while before kicking figure 2. In the first video I show the guides I drew to help me create clean movements, including figure 1's step.

Here's the final version where I took out the numbers and guides.

I also added some sound effects for the punches and jump landing.

I am proud of the outcome of this week's animation, and I think the many reference videos helped. At the start of the year I wouldn't have been able to stitch together different reference videos to make one sequence, but now I am able to do it.

Due to the snow, I don't have a motion studies assignment this week. I'm a bit worried that I'll get out of practice, but I'm doing some 2D in my experimental animation so that might help me stay in the loop. Additionally, I might try doing a dance sequence (what was going to be this week's assignment) if I have any time.