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I show you how I produced the above animation from start to finish in only 36 minutes.
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So Lets get started!

First, watch this video as I explain the technique in detail:
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A lot of planning and preparation went into this, and I genuinely hope you enjoy it! But make sure you watch it all the way to the end. I’d hate for you to miss any secrets.

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Now let me step you through this technique. I have made some example videos using that I animated in with this work flow and noted the time each step took.

• Foundation: We have already done this by listening to our soundtrack and “getting into character”.

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• Structure: From the video, we learned this is Open/Closed – Wide/Narrow. We feel this by placing our chin on our fist and saying the dialogue at full speed.
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  • This first video is only the open/closed positions. It took me 2 minutes to produce:
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  • This second video is the wide/narrow positions. It took me 1 minute to produce:
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  • Now our Structure is done! Not bad for ~5 minutes work. Let’s move on to the details!

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• Details: Now its time to put the details onto our structure.
  • This video took a bit longer (8 mins), and I am starting to add in motion to the eyebrows. Nothing too detailed yet, just some broad strokes of emotion.
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  • Now we’re really rolling! I’ve pulled back to add in some details to the entire face. I’ve also animated the mustache and shifted my keyframes to help it match the audio a bit better.
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  • Now our Details are done! This file took me about 13 minutes to animate, meaning all up we’ve spent 26 minutes to bring our facial animation to this level!. Let’s move on to the Polish.

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• Polish: We’ve done all of the building work, now its time to have fun and get really creative!|
  
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  What I’ve done here is animate in some head accents for the dialogue. Then I went in and added in some micro-smirks to make him feel as if he is pleased with whomever he’s talking to! Another 10 minutes, making 36 minutes total to produce this animation!
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  At places like Disney and Pixar, the polish stage is where you’d spend most of your time animating (besides maybe planning), however on lower budget productions with tight schedules, polish is the stage that usually gets cut.

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  If you’re preparing a showreel, be sure that you are spending MOST of your time in the polish stage. Many animators out there are competent, meaning they can get an animation this far, but its the top few who can really push it in the polishing stage.

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Well, I hope you found this tutorial informative and inspirational! Thanks for visiting my Animation Tips Blog. While you’re here, sign up to be notified when I post more videos like this one.

Then leave me a comment on this video. Tell me what you thought of it, and feel free to suggest topics that you’d like covered in future video’s.

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