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Bee Chase, scene one


Click to play the Bee Chase animation

He loves flowers. Too bad he’s terrified of bees.

Another cartoon animation exercise. The focus of this one was to come up with a simple story and animate it to a musical beat. It started as an assignment during my last APT session with Keith Lango. Big thanks to him for the assignment, and for the insightful feedback!

I’m loving this animation “style” and the freedom it brings. Being able to work in a rough, loose manner without fretting over tiny details is really liberating. I’ve actually started to like the little imperfections and the roughness, as long as they fit with the energy of the moment.

As always, C+C welcome.

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This entry was posted Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 5:26 pm and is filed under APT, CG, animation, cartoon. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

16 Responses to “Bee Chase, scene one”

  1. Mahesh Bisht Says:
    July 12th, 2009 at 3:11 am

    link nt working…

    -MB

  2. sunny kharbanda Says:
    July 12th, 2009 at 8:32 am

    Hey Mahesh,

    Thanks for looking. I just tried it, and it worked. It opens the quicktime movie in a new window or tab.

    In case it still doesn't work, here's a streaming copy on vimeo:
    Bee Chase, scene 1 on Vimeo

    Thanks again for visiting!

  3. BetelGeist Says:
    July 15th, 2009 at 6:04 pm

    great clip! love your animation technique. the timing is great. excellent movement. is this flash?

  4. sunny kharbanda Says:
    July 15th, 2009 at 6:27 pm

    Thanks, Louis! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

    I animated in Maya but made my own shader to give it a somewhat flat, rough painted look. I painted the BG in Photoshop, and pulled it all together in After Effects where I also animated the BG pan frame by frame.

    My intention was to approach it like a traditional cartoon, and move away from the ultra-smooth look of CG animation. It takes a lot more keyframes, but it's worth it! As for the timing, it's based on a 12-frame beat in the beginning and an 8-frame beat when he does a take and scrambles off. The animation plays at 24 fps, just like the classic 'toons used to be.

    Thanks again for the comments! If you'd like to know more about the process, let me know and I'll write up a post.

  5. BetelGeist Says:
    July 19th, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    ohhhh what a wonderful process. i love how it really seems like a traditional animation. i guess you didnt have to rely much on the curve editor for this process did you? again,love it! very inspirational

  6. sunny kharbanda Says:
    July 19th, 2009 at 11:18 pm

    You're absolutely right. I spent very little time in the curve editor, and a lot of time flipping from pose to pose — just like a 2D animator flipping from drawing to drawing. It's a more intuitive way of working.

    Of course, I'm not the first to animate this way; others have done this before me, and I learned it when I took some online classes with Keith Lango.

    Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you're enjoying this.

  7. Anand Says:
    July 22nd, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    Hey Sunny,

    Checked your site after a long time.Very inspiring. I can see you are getting good with this stuff.Well done..!! Would like to speak to you about some things.Is it possible to share your chat id ?

  8. sunny kharbanda Says:
    July 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    Thanks, Anand! I'm glad you're enjoying my work. I'd be happy to discuss this stuff with you. My email address is ksunny(at)gmail(dot)com.

  9. TotalD Says:
    August 14th, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    Beautiful work. You made it flow without having it look CG. Well done !

  10. sunny kharbanda Says:
    August 14th, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Thanks for the kind words, TotalD! I'm thrilled at the response this piece is getting.

    It's funny how much effort is put into making CG animation "not look CG" — and how gratifying it feels when people notice it! Makes me wonder about the future of the technique.

  11. mahesh Says:
    September 17th, 2009 at 11:06 am

    Hi Sunny,

    long time man I check ur blog…always a inspiration for people like love the style of animation and over all fell..

    How do planed for this kind of bg and how u have done could u please send me something ..some tuts so that people like me can also try wid out wrk..

    bishtmahesh1@hotmail.com

    thts my id …

    Gud Luck Man

  12. Sunny Says:
    September 18th, 2009 at 9:58 pm

    Hi Mahesh,

    Thanks for the comments, and for the interest in my process. I’ll probably write up a blog post about it (with images) soon. That way everyone interested can check it out.

  13. mahesh Says:
    September 18th, 2009 at 11:42 pm

    thanks a lotz man..
    -MB

  14. remi Says:
    September 22nd, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    Yeah this is awesome!!!!!

    I’m waiting for that post you are talking about in one of the first responses!!

  15. subhankar Says:
    November 29th, 2009 at 10:02 am

    hey Sunny,
    dats gr8 stuff man. R u working in India? which Studio?
    wud luv 2 talk 2 u?

  16. Sunny Says:
    November 29th, 2009 at 10:35 am

    Thanks, Subhankar!

    I’m working in the US, teaching animation at the Art Institute of Washington. Feel free to drop me an email (at the address on my contact page) and we can talk.

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Animation and stuff by Sunny Kharbanda.