Facial expressions
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Facial expressions - pose to pose Practice changing emotions with this excercise. You can really bring your characters and stories to life by using some close up shots of faces showing emotional changes. |
Construct a face totally out of clay, refer to the tutorial on making eyes .
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You can see that this cat/bat character can express emotions using eyebrows, mouth and the ears. Using something like the ears (other things could be hats, hair, scarves and tails) strengthen the emotion shown on the character. We all know a dog is happy when it wags it's tail!
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Frame your shot so the face fills the screen. Start Stop Motion Pro, set the frame rate to 12 fps. There are some tips on setting up a shot like this here. |
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| Film 24 frames of the first emotion on your character. |
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| Change the face gradually over 10 frames to the next emotion. |  |
| Hold the emotion for 18 frames, then change the emotion over 10 frames again. |  |
| Pause again for 18 frames, then finally end with one more 10 frame transition to another emotion. Capture another 24 frames at the end of the shot. |  |
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Play back your animation. Marvel at your character expressing themselves!
During the pauses put blinks in by covering the eyes of your character with clay for a couple of frames.
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Try animating these transition sets:
Happy
Sad
Angry
Suprise
Content
Shocked
Happy
Content
Happy
Sad
Grumpy
Happy
What to do next...
Try different timings - for example, the transtion to a surprised look might work better over 6 frames, rather than 10. A sad to crying expression might work better with a 20 frame duration. The pauses between the expressions are important, they give the impression the character is thinking. Try longer durations between changes of emotion.
Move onto these more advanced emotional concepts:
Pleased
Happy
Goofy
Happy
Sly
Embarrassed
Annoyed
Evil
Terrified
Furious
Crying
Hysterical laugh
Tender
Blissful
Listening intently
Shocked
Concerned
Pleased
Happy
Laughing
What to do even after that...
Try changing different parts of the face a different times. For example, when going from one emotion to another (if your character has ears like the one above) make the ears change first, then the mouth, then the eyebrows. Staggering these facial changes gives endless combinations and emphasis.
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