Emotions in animation

This weeks subject is about changing emotion in animation, so I thought it's about time I posted more examples of such a thing on my blog before I get started. I tend to work without any reference, so this time I'll try to find a mixture of stills and footage to use. (all of which belong to the original owners).

Here's some examples of the ways different animations can express the same emotion.


In calmer poses the body is more like the characters natural shape to show that they're relaxed- there's no need to exaggerate anything on them.



This pose doesn't use much body language but the exaggerated facial expression shows that Gir does indeed love the moose.

Here the animaniacs are slightly stretched upwards, like the emotion is so strong they're being literally pulled off the ground.

This one is more maniacally happy than the others, but can show how easily happy to anger to sadness can happen just by changing the eyebrows.


Another borderline manic/happy pose, more exaggerated than the animaniacs. Everything seems to generate outwards from the character to show the energy.

More negative emotions-

The posture is rigid, but not explosive like Zim. This character is angry but shows it in a more reserved way in the way he clenches his fists close to his body.



This is the complete opposite of the above in terms of action. He's still rigid, but the facial expression and threatening gesture make his anger much more explicit, especially coupled with Stimpy's own frightened expression.


This look of fear is just that- a look, but the position of the ears on the characters head reflects animal expressions.


This ones all out. The character is so frightened they've turned into a ball, fur stood on end in all directions.

This is really more of a recap for myself so I know what sort of things to look for in a performance, depending on the type of character involved. It seems like more realistic characters rely on more subtle facial expressions than the deformity that more cartoony characters can get away with.
(Heres how I looked after finding all the images------¬




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For the experimental animation, I'm trying to think of some examples using the methods described but I tend to confuse "abstract" with "experimental", which makes looking for footage confusing for me. One example I could think of that although I think it's made with compositing different film footage rather than an animation technique it is timed with different pieces of footage depending on the sound- Star Guitar, by the Chemical Brothers.



(Have I posted about that already? I can't remember). I had some problems trying to find a video that wasn't disabled, so here's a link in case this one is too- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S43IwBF0uM&ob=av3

Here's a little something too, for some really, REALLY exaggerated facial expressions. May involve Halo.
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Here is a version of my emotion changing animation, hopefully expressing surprise and disgust. You can see its a work in progress, but as the roughs are done I thought I'd upload the video earlier.