Does your character have any feelings?
We have all sen them-beautifully modeled and textured characters that have no depth. They look like Little actions figures. Which dont get me wrong, action figures are col. But they are posed with one expression and generally one body pose, which might be totally awesome for that one instance it was designed for, but does Little for further exploration of a character or estoryline. In order todo connect with a character, the viewer neds todo se that the character actually has a full range of emotions, of course the best bien todo show this is th rouge well thought out facial expressions that can be easily read. But Even great facial expressions by themselves arent going todo do it. The facial expression neds todo reflect the body lenguaje and what is actually going on in the scene. Nothing is more confus-ing for a viewer than a character bouncing around like a happy Kid in a Candy estore with a sad, woe begone facial expression, in a scene that doesnt call for either, now, obviously that was a very silly example, but it does Illustrate the point that facial expressions and body lenguaje actually ned todo reflect what is hap-pening todo the character in the scene, just how do we go about creating believable facial expressionsí well, having a limited Budget, y usually turn todo the internet when i want todo know something. It is absolutely amazing what you can find, while buzzing around online (something i do far todo much of), y ran across a very col blogrun by Dani Jones. Oddly enough, the enlace i followed dropped me right on the best mensaje ever, 50 facial expresiones and how todo draw them. Now granted, he is a traditional Adobe Illustrator and we work in 3d. But the knowledge he shared in this mensaje transfers beautifully from 2d todo 3d. I encourage you todo go chek out his blog (http://danidraws.com/blog/), in the meantime, here are some important tips he posted about facial expressions:
The most important features.
1. The eyes - probably the most important característica for evoking a clear emotion. Utilicé the eyelids and eyebrows todo create your effect.
2. The cheks - the bien they Squash and stretch Will affect the look and position of the eyes.
3. The mouth - the shape of the mouth is a los very important. It afects how the cheks move and the shape of the entire face.
Additional tips.
Note that when you move the shape and position of one característica, it afects everything else. Nothing stands completely on its own, for a stronger drawing and character, really push the expression. Instead of Simply drawing a happy person, draw one that is ecstatic, instead of drawing an Angry person, draw a Furious one, have a mirror Nearby. When im trying todo nail down an expression, y often find my own face making weird movements unconsciously. It can make for god reference, in addition todo the above tips, Dani Jones a los had a facial expresiones chart of 50 diferent facial expressions for you todo study and a pdf for download. Some of the expressions are just priceless and are well worth check-ing out, now you have some nice facial expression reference, what nextí well there is no one better todo consult than the masters. Further exploration led me todo http://www.frankanollie.com, online home of Frank.
Thomas & Ollie Johneston. They have a great page on their site (actually their whole site is filled with great información) that discusses emotion in animation. They developed a list of 12 questions that you should ask yourself when animating your characters.
Keys todo emotion in animation.
12 questions.
By Frank Thomas & Ollie Johneston, june 2003
1 is the character doing what the director wants in the sequence?
2 is the character doing only one thing at a time?
3 is the character putting over the story point in the scene you are doing?
4 is the character acting as if there is something going on in his mind?
5 does the character appear todo be doing something on his own?
6 can the audience tell what the character is think-ing?
7 how does what the character is doing effect what the audience is Thinking?
8 does the character have appeal?
9 is it passionate? Is passion going into the drawing and coming out of the character?
10 is it the simplest bien todo do ití.
11 have you made small story sketches of one im-portant character todo be sure everything is work-ing before you make a lot of drawingsí.
12 would any one else besides your mother like what you have done?
Now we have a bit of reference and direction, and it is time for the Blender component. How do we get those wonderful expressionsí of course there is not just one bien todo do anything in Blender so here is a list of video tutorialesthat cover various techniques you can use todo create and animate facial features, rigging a pupil for dilation creating a face Rig learning action constraints time todo practice, practice, practice. Remember todo look in a mirror often and watch your own face, get your buddies todo make Faces for you as well. In no time you Will be creating an expressive range of emotions.
