This week focused on eye animation and the role that blinks, eye darts and eyebrow movements play in creating natural facial performances. Ting explained that blinks should not be added randomly, but should serve a purpose, often accompanying changes in thought, attitude or direction. She also demonstrated how eye darts can make a character feel alive and emphasized the idea that thoughts lead the eyes and the eyes lead the body. After the lecture, she gave a short demonstration of her own workflow for animating eyes in Maya. I really enjoyed seeing this because it is easy to focus on principles in isolation, but watching an experienced animator actually apply them gave me a better understanding of the process and the order in which she tackles different parts of the face.
Our assignment this week was to connect the three facial poses we had created previously. At first I thought this would be similar to pose-to-pose body animation, but I quickly realised that facial animation has very different timing requirements. Expressions often change quickly and snappily, and the challenge was less about creating movement and more about figuring out when that movement should happen. I spent a lot of time experimenting with eye darts and blinks, trying to avoid making the transitions feel robotic. It was also interesting to think about which parts of the face should lead and which parts should follow. Although I found the process frustrating at times, it made me appreciate how much subtlety goes into facial animation and how much information can be communicated through very small changes.
I also revisited my “Heavy Object / Change of Mind” shot for another pass. Based on Ting’s feedback, I focused on improving the weight and paying more attention to the shape of the back when the character bent down to pick up the ball. However, I began to feel the effects of doing too many passes on the same shot. After making so many adjustments, I found myself becoming lost in the keys and struggling to remember the intention behind certain poses. Instead of making clear improvements, I was sometimes creating new problems while trying to fix old ones. This experience made me realise that there is a point where repeatedly tweaking an animation can become counterproductive.
Looking back, this week taught me an important lesson about iteration. While it is important to keep refining a shot, there is also value in knowing when to step back and simplify. Seeing Ting’s workflow reminded me that animation is often about making deliberate choices rather than endlessly adjusting every controller. I am beginning to understand that reference, planning and clarity are just as important as technical skill, and that sometimes taking a break from a shot can help reveal problems more clearly than another pass ever could.