Balanced Attention to Animated Drawing-

There are moments when one seems to fall into ‘trance’, becoming unaware and not in control of the surface look of the drawing-at-hand, taking dictation from the successive drawings that have already been established.

For me, the paradox of being in control but yet not fully in control of the unfolding frame bring about a very organic texture to movement and best reflecting the elusiveness that is- life.

Organic nature doesn’t arrive at one ‘exact’ location in space and time every time by prediction, but most often within approximate range, so too that there is no 2 identical moments in the unfolding of matter through space and time.

When I’m too conscious of the drawing in frozen mode or surface motion mechanic in first pass, the movement will likely inherit a mechanical feel or stiffed looking. It’s an interesting balance between being deliberate, precise and allowing a margin of unpredictability.

This intricate balance is achieved by placing main emphasis on the force flow of structure in motion and not in frozen mode.

In this animated context, the impression that a movement gives is everything and one single frame is nothing, no matter how beautifully it is drawn.

Yet, the way a movement feels in playback is intricately linked to the surface look of each successive frozen frame; they each must properly reflects-

- Appropriate spacing location of structure in context to its path of action.

- Maintain structural volumes and breathe in context to its mass, make and velocity.

The more self-conscious I am to surface structure and movement mechanic, the more stiff things ‘feel’. It really a lot like in real life when one is too self-conscious of one manner and action.

In this above example, I was more self-conscious to the movement mechanics went approaching this new character, causing scene to be stiff looking both in single drawing and movement (like above 2nd try on the Tibetan antelope).

…It takes a few tries to get more comfortable with a structure. (This set is much looser in 3rd attempt).