Fencer Animation!

My first ever animation! For those unsure: an animation is distinct from an animatic in that all the frames are close together instead of spread out to tell a larger story. This is a simple animation of a fencer lunging with a foil. I felt this would be the right starting place for animation given the simplicity of the character design, and how well I knew the motion itself. I fence foil, so that allowed me to ensure this fencer's form was as close as I could make it. For example: the arms extend fully before the foot hits the ground. The only problem is that each paper is cut slightly differently than the rest of them, and this causes the image to wobble ever so slightly so it isn't as perfect as when I can line them all up. My only regret is that, because it's Window's Movie Maker, I can't make the frames as short as I want them and so it doesn't look as fluid as it should. Ah well. Nothing's perfect except God. I'm so excited to share this, given that animation is my reason for creating this blog in the first place.

I had originally intended this to be a gif, but among other complications, there were too many frames (ten frames altogether, including the end credit). This is also the first time I used in-betweening, where I drew the first and last frames and then slowly did the frames in the middle of the ones I had already drawn. I was amazed at how well this worked and how easy it was to do. Once I had the first and last frames, I was able to do all the other frames in less than a day. Each frame only took about fifteen minutes. I just have to keep reminding myself how easy this is so that I keep doing more. I certainly didn't think I'd get this project done today! God helped me do this the whole way through. Praise be to God! He fulfills His servants' wishes even while they are serving Him.