This after effects session was based around creating a character using vector shapes to animate. We initially had to find an image from the internet and use image trace to change the shape into a vector or create one from scratch.
I chose to create a character from scratch in illustrator , i felt that this was a good starting point for me as choosing an existing character would take too long as i wouldn't know what to pick. My character was a floating head that multiplied using its body parts. As this was one of my first few weeks using after effects i felt rather inexperienced therefore had to stick to using simple effects when using the keyframes. The main two transformations i used were the opacity key and the location.
One thing i struggled with when creating this animation is the motion paths of the character as they constantly kept overlapping and ruining the sequence.i eventually solved this by taking more time to analyse the timeline , plotting my keyframes more precisely so the timings were exact.
As a final touch to my sequence i added some moving clouds as the background , i felt that was relevant as the heads i created had no body to situate them on the ground. The floating heads outcome now looked rather trip. I felt that the moving clouds swell as the heads worked well as it added a sense of motion to the piece , making it more detailed.
After the session had finished i felt a lot more confident with after effects , feeling like i could start to look into the more complex pieces in the sessions to come. although the animation was basic i feel that it has set foundations for my skills to develop over time. This session has also made me more confident with illustrator as i mainly worked on photoshop before the course.
Heads by Ben Moulson
