Animation!

Animation is really fun and has been a blast to be a part of! To see something that you created come to life, even if only for a few moments, is an amazing feeling. To start off, I recently animated a small ball bouncing happily across the screen. On Photoshop, we used just a basic up and down motion repeated in the timeline to look like it was bouncing, then rendered out the video. After Effects, I was able to create a much more refined, and realistic bounce. Using a combination a squash and squish effect, that made the ball look a bit more realistic. The challenges for this project were to actually getting the squash and squish effects in the right place or the right time. To find the right frames to squash and squish took a bit longer than expected, but was immensely satisfying to see it come to life. There was also the path for the ball to bounce, to get it looking realistic was a difficulty, but once I got the groove of it, the process became easy and even a little exciting!

It makes me wonder what other animators felt like, watching their first creations toddle across a screen. Were they just as excited and proud? When Walt Disney saw Mickey Mouse on screen for the first time, did he see all the dedication and time that he put into it? It certainly does for me! Even if this was only for a second, the rest of the year has me excited and pumped for more!