Anticipation and Breakdown?

Now I am working on an animation with a soccer ball kick. And I realized how important anticipation is for animation.

Because not all frames are going to be seen because they need to be shown like they are fast. So while watching the old AM student demo reel I saw a person animate a character throwing a ball and it was amazing. I loved how he did everything.

I realized that the throw wasn't like evenly spaced (ofcourse) to show speed. But if he didn't anticipate it correctly it will look wrong. Before the character threw the ball he held that position for a while. And then he also held out the ending position. Probably skipping through the throw in a few frames. Also he exaggerated a lot (what I learned you need to do for my animations) to make it look like there is effort.

Also another thing that made that animation even better was the way he finished it. He just didn't stand still. He was still walking for his balance but did it such a certain way so it seemed like he was saying "yea look at my throw it was so good" and kept looking at it.

It was amazing!

Then while taking a break from my animation I decided to go youtubing for AM students. And then I saw another throw... But was pretty dissapointed...

The character didn't seem like they have a character. It was just a rig that was throwing.

So after that I checked my animation and I had that too! Lifeless!

So then I got out of my seat to find out a way to finish off the kick like the one I was on the student showcase.

I really want to record something but it is to late to go outside and won't be able to get a full body shot recording inside.

Anyways the thing I realized for myself is. Finish off the action to show character (thats what usually define a character)! and exaggerate movements, even from the reference! And anticipate the movement so you can swing through it without it looking choppy!

But what I read you don't always wanna build up anticipation for the whole animation. Animate in 3 speeds!