My simulated work experience is in 2D animation, my tasks are animation for running scene and color references.

My year 2 partner’s graduation project style as like a child book, using this style of animation normally tends to make characters act lively and buoyantly.

My primary task was to draw keyframes and in-betweens, the scene is a running girl holding a lotus leaf with her three jumping animals on a windy and rainy day. Wren especially required the girl’s body to lean forward slightly while running, and lotus leaves sway due to wind and rain. In addition, the speed of running is faster than normal speed.

Wren provided some posture references, and then I followed the references to paint the first version of the running scene.

She made several suggestions for me to modify, below are the contents of the suggestions.

• The running cycle is too stable. When the character reaches the highest point (with both feet off the ground), the body can lean back slightly and align with the running cycle. At the same time, also tilt her head back slightly, so that it feels more like a child. In addition, when the head falls back, there can be a little lag and it will be more realistic.
• When running, the body can feel a little swaying from side to side. For example, when the right leg steps out, the left side of the body can be less exposed in the picture.
• Trying to adjust it a little faster, will make the character feel more brisk.
• Because this scene is a rainy day, and although the lotus leaves have movements, they are not so violent, and it should be more like the whole lotus leaf being knocked down from above by the rain.
• Vibration is not only reflected in the center of the lotus leaf but also on the edge of the lotus leaf (the edge part can be appropriately exaggerated). Furthermore, the edge may also have the dynamic of water droplets falling (first bending and then falling water droplets).

At the same time, she gave me some further references to follow.

I revised the second version based on these suggestions.

She told me that there was no problem with the character’s running, but the lotus leaf part was still a little weird and didn’t look natural.

So she gave me the following suggestions regarding the dynamics of lotus leaves.

• Drawing the lines on the upper part of the lotus leaf flatter, and can also emphasize the feeling of the leaves drooping downwards after being hit by the rain.
• Maybe the lotus leaves are swinging a little too violently, and the wind seems to be coming from all directions. The dynamics of the lotus leaf can be changed to have a tendency. The character runs towards the right, then the edge of the lotus leaf is blown to the left.

So I revised the final version according to these suggestions.

My reflection on this simulated experience is that I did not consider so many details when making animations before, such as how the character’s environment affects the character’s movement.

Another point that impressed me is when I drew the running action myself, I just wanted to add more frames to make it look smoother. However, she focused more on the character’s personality. For example, in the running scene I was responsible for this scene during simulated experience, the running character was a little girl. She felt that the girl running movement was too stable and should have more of a childish feel.

The above are the techniques I learned the most from this collaboration with year 2. In the process of drawing animation, I will try to use these techniques to make my animation look more advanced.