I've been animating for the last two years of highschool. I am about to begin a four year animation course. My animation sucks but I don't really mind that for now as I always felt like the animation course is there to teach me animation. My life drawing is very good and I draw better than anyone I know, but considering how much harder I work at animating than everyone else they seem to find animation much easier. When I see people asking for critiques and watch their work to me it usually looks perfect, when I read other peoples critiques I often can't see what their talking about, when I get a critique I sometimes change something and repost it without seeing any difference yet people say that it looks better now and I can't tell why. People seem to be able to see veried timing, like some parts are on ones, twos or threes but I can't identify the veried time in a single piece of animation. I can tell good acting in an animated film when I see it but not good animation. I've gone and looked at Milt Kahl scenes and yes for scenes like his famous Madam Medusa eyelash scene I can see how that it brilliant but for example his work on the Jungle Book or on Tiger in Winnie the Poo I can't tell that it is good animation.
I'm scared, I want to be great, I work harder than anyone around me and I am better at them at everything else apart from the actual animation. I don't know if I struggle with timing maybe??
Also, can you guys see videos in your heads? Obviously everyone can see pictures and I can sort of string a few together with great difficulty to sort of imagine what a momvement would look like but I cannot actually see a fluid movement in my head only the keys. Like if you wanted to watch a scene from a film can you genuinely see it like a video or as still images with audio?
That a look at this thread.
http://www.awn.com/forum/thread/1025227
Their work looks good but I'm not sure why you are linking it? Like I said I can't tell if the animation is brilliant or just ok.
That is kind-of subjective. A video that is made up of only line art can be brilliant, just try not to compare it with photorealistic work. Each video you see can be brilliant but you need to keep your eye on the context of what you are seeing. For me, there is no easy answer.
Here is another example of subjective excellents.
https://youtu.be/0uKolQhkSv8
"Making of FERRO" is a short video but how would you compare the style of "FERRO" with the style of the movie "Finding Dory"?
Thanks for the response but I am not talking about styles of animation I am talking only about animation itself, the timing and spacing and poses, etc. I have no problem looking at CG, Stop Motion, Hand Drawn and deciding what I like but the actual animation itself I simply can't tell good from mediocre.
Could you link to something you've posted and then changed but don't know why the change is better?
The question you're asking is a bit unclear, but it almost seems like you're trying to figure out something like a walk-cycle. Maybe you should try looking up reference sheets for common actions so you can begin to build your mental inventory of movements.
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lx5pe0J4Dj1qc2hbr.jpg is a good example of a Feivel walk cycle. If you pay attention to the parts that move, you'll notice a lot of fluid inclusions of many of the basic lessons of animation for cartoons -- such as squash and stretch.
-M
Check out my blog, I could definitely use some feedback:
http://www.gooddogstudios.net/tips-and-tricks/creative-endeavors/