Author: Inioluwa Adeyiga

This week’s lecture introduced creature animation and focused on understanding how anatomy influences movement. Ting explained that animating animals is less about memorising bones and muscles and more about understanding how weight, gait and body structure affect locomotion. She walked us through different types of legs, spine curves and the relationship between the chest, hips and head, emphasizing the importance of gathering plenty of reference before animating. She also outlined the next few weeks, which would revolve around creature locomotion and a group presentation on a chosen animal family.

For the presentation, Ting split the class into groups and assigned each one an animal family. My group was given bears, and I was responsible for researching their anatomy and locomotion. I found it surprisingly interesting because bears combine qualities that seem contradictory: they are heavy and powerful, but also surprisingly agile. Through studying videos and anatomical references, I learned that much of their motion is driven by the shoulders and that their weight sits naturally low and forward. Their plantigrade stance and rolling gait create a strong sense of mass, and I found myself paying attention to details such as foot roll, torso sway and how the body “falls” into each step. Preparing the presentation also made me appreciate how much observation goes into creature animation and how anatomy exists to explain movement rather than simply provide scientific knowledge.

On Friday, we received another round of feedback on our dialogue shots. After making a second pass, Ting felt that the animation had improved, but she pointed out that my facial expressions could still change much faster. She explained that in real life, expressions happen incredibly quickly, and I had a tendency to ease too much between poses, causing the performance to feel sluggish. This tied into a recurring note she has been giving me throughout the term: not to be afraid of making stronger choices. Looking back, I realised that I often animate conservatively because I am worried about things feeling unnatural, but in reality I usually need to push my poses and timing further. It is interesting how the feedback across different assignments from body mechanics, dialogue and even camera work seems to come back to the same idea: animation becomes clearer and more appealing when decisions are bold and intentional rather than overly smooth.

Due to the TFL strikes, Thursday’s session was moved online. During the class, Ting gave us another workshop that built on the overlap and drag concepts from the previous week. This time, we focused on creating a simple idle breathing animation and explored how looping cycles are commonly used in games and interactive media. It was interesting to see how a small amount of movement can make a character feel alive, even when they are standing still. Ting also introduced animation layers and demonstrated how they can be used to stack motion on top of existing animation rather than constantly editing the original keys. Although it was only a brief introduction, I could immediately see how useful animation layers could become, especially when refining shots or adding secondary motion. After the demonstration, she gave us some time to experiment with the techniques ourselves, which helped make the concepts much clearer.

Friday’s session was dedicated to feedback on the blocking pass for our dialogue shots. At this stage, we were not concerned with lip sync and instead focused on body language, head movement and facial expressions. I presented my blocking pass, and Ting thought it was a good start but pointed out that my head movement felt “floaty.” By this, she meant that the poses lacked strong accents and that the transitions were too smooth, making the character feel disconnected from the dialogue. She encouraged me to make the poses sharper and snappier so that the performance would have more clarity and intention. Hearing this reminded me of the feedback I had received earlier in the term about facial transitions and camera movement, where she had similarly stressed the importance of clear choices rather than letting everything drift evenly.

Reflecting on the week, I realised that subtle motion and strong posing are two sides of the same coin. The idle breathing exercise showed how small overlapping movements can bring life to a character, while the dialogue feedback reminded me that those movements still need structure and contrast. I have a tendency to animate things too evenly, perhaps because I am afraid of making poses too extreme. However, the more feedback I receive, the more I realise that animation often benefits from committing to strong ideas rather than trying to make everything smooth. Going forward, I want to push my poses further and trust that sharp accents and clear timing will make the performance feel more believable rather than less.

Coming back from the Easter break, this week’s lecture focused on dialogue shots and lip sync. Ting broke the process down into three stages: blocking, blocking plus and polishing, explaining that facial animation should be approached just like body animation, gradually adding complexity rather than trying to solve everything at once. She also gave practical advice on lip sync, encouraging us to think about sounds rather than words and to start with broad jaw movements before adding phonemes and subtle details. One idea that stood out to me was her emphasis on simplifying the process and treating the initial pass almost like a “muppet mouth” before worrying about perfect mouth shapes. This made the task feel much less intimidating.

Alongside the lecture, we were given self-study resources focusing on overlap and drag, which would feed into Friday’s workshop. Unfortunately, I arrived late to Friday’s class due to an appointment I had to attend. By the time I got there, Ting had already ended the workshop, which involved animating a sea monster swimming through the ocean to practice overlapping action. Although I missed part of the session, I was happy that I still had enough time to attempt the exercise. My result was far from my best work, but it was interesting to think about how different parts of the body should follow each other with slight delays rather than moving simultaneously. Even though I would have liked more time, I was glad I could at least take part in the exercise before the class ended.

Looking back, the two sessions shared a similar theme. Whether working on lip sync or overlapping action, both required me to think less about individual poses and more about relationships between movements. Mouth shapes blend into one another just as different sections of a creature’s body overlap and follow each other. It reminded me that animation is often about creating connections rather than isolated actions. Missing part of the workshop was frustrating, but it also taught me not to be discouraged when things do not go perfectly. Even small amounts of practice can reveal useful ideas, and I left the week with a much clearer understanding of how to approach dialogue and secondary motion.