WIP Post - Working on...An Electric Animation

The following content is copied from my website blog post of the same title.

Intro

It is about time I explained more about this next animation, the inspiration, and my motivation: 

To make something that's even better than what many consider my best animation (Gildedguy vs. Bog)!

Who is Oxob?

The Character

Oxob is a blue stick-man that can deliver powerful, electrically-charged punches. His robotic hands were obtained after a tragic accident. I consider Oxob the electric guy of the RHG/stick-fighting universe. 

And I think that's a big title, since, instead of their personalities, stick-figures rely on a special power/element to define them. Oxob has been around for awhile, his first RHG was back in 2010 (a year before Slush Invaders).

I like Oxob due to his simple design. The purer the design, the easier it is to contrast between characters.

• Blue guy with electric punches.
• Purple gal with fire fans.
• Red guy with explosive pan.
• Gold guy with stretchy sword.
• Purple monster with acidic skin. 

The simplicity is a real strength of stick fights, and it's something I want to exemplify in all my future battles.

The Guy

Oxob is actually a multi-talented feller named Johannes Andersson. He obviously animates Oxob, but he also animates for the illustrious Alan Becker, live-streams, and dominates arm-wrestling competitions in his home country of Sweden.

These are not easy things to do, and require a lot of time and dedication, which is why I respect Oxob very much.

Y'know, instead, one of these days I ought to do an animation battle against someone I despise! Now THAT would be interesting. 

So if you're someone who enjoys live-action remakes, email me and we'll duke it out sometime.

Electricity as a Theme

Literally

Seeing electricity is like seeing energy at its freest. The stuff is fast, bright, and wild. I don't get to animate it often, but it is a favorite special effect of mine. All I really have to do is draw glowing squiggles! It's very hard to get wrong. 

But there are definitely better ways to get it right. And when it's RIGHT, electricity can be the most striking of all SFX. Sure, explosions can feel powerful, but lightning stings.

This is why the story and themes of Gildedguy vs Oxob are closely aligned with the topic of pain.

Metaphorically

Electricity has always been involved in one way or the other with psychology. The controversial "shock therapy" being a prominent example. But also consider how the brain and nervous system uses tiny electrical signals to function. 

When we stub our toe, we receive a jolt of pain.

Getting bad news is shocking. I was stunned when I heard about it.

These are puns, yes, but they also reveal how electricity has traditionally been associated with intense emotion (and it's usually negative emotion).

It's kind of morbid when you think about it, but it's also GOLD from a story-telling perspective: 

Where does pain/electricity come from? Is there a universal measurement? And what does it mean to channel it?

Gildedguy's Role in the Story

Continuity

Gildedguy brings to the story his fight with Bog. As evident in the previous story, he still wears soft gloves from his recovery. Revisiting Bog in this sixth story is somewhat of a META-commentary. 

Gildedguy vs Bog is basically my most popular animation, and I want to do what I did there, but even better. Even if it's only 1% better.

I always try to outdo myself, but the following projects (FM3K and Green-Eyed Cowboy) were more "different" and interesting in their own ways, rather than "better" than Vs. Bog. This is natural for me, for I usually do a explore, refine, explore, refine cycle for my projects.

This time I definitely want to refine. I've said this before, but with every animation I release, I can feel myself honing in on something. 

It's not likely, but I hope this time I'll be able to hit that artistic bulls-eye...or catch lightning in a bottle. Because it felt like I kinda did that in Story #4.

So, in a way, you can think of Gildedguy vs Oxob as Gildedguy vs Bog 2.

There's a lot goin' on in this animation!

Production

Quality Level

I said I hit "max quality level" in my previous post, and I still stick by it. No way am I gonna add shadow and highlight tones to all those key frames again. But rather than "quality" level, I think a better term would be "detail" level. Because as I work on Story #6 more, I'm finding that the amount of rendering and details doesn't always correlate with visual quality.

Ever since 2016, I've been trigger-happy with filters and blend modes in my animation. With the right tweaking, you can get some seriously FINE-ass lighting, shading, and depth without extra pen strokes.

Mindful color palettes, props and environmental design can also add "free" ambiance to scenes. Effects are reusable; Line art is not.

Just a few months ago, I only just learned that the Compositor role even exists in the animation industry. And it's no wonder. Compositing multiplies the production quality similar to how excellent music can.

Line Treatment

Similar to Vs. Bog, I'm opting for a mixture between pencil line (uniform thickness) for far-medium shots, and brush strokes (tapered) for close shots.

My animation is sketchier than most, but I don't mind. I try my best to apply cleanup to scenes when budget allows, but in my eye, clean line art is not as important as good movement.

New Technique - Instant Rained-On Texture

Its raining, so you add a bunch of falling rain drops on a new layer. But the rain merely "floats" above and around your characters.

How do you make it look like the rain is actually hitting them?

1. Create a new mask of your character's silhouette.
2. Fill the mask with a "rainy impact" texture (shaky salt is what I call it)
3. Overlay this effect directly on top of your original character animation (Make it blurry and translucent).
4. Duplicate this effect and place it behind your original character animation. Nudge it upward a few pixels. (Make it blurry and translucent too).

I learned this from watching anime. It mimics the misty little splashes of bouncing rain. Since there are so many rain drops, you only need to depict a vibrating sea of blurry orbs to get a "pitter, patter" effect.

Drawing Inspiration - Storms, Thunder

Actual lightning is far faster than pop-media lightning. It's as if god quickly flicked the lights. You don't even see it most the time - only its effect on the clouds.

Thunder makes up for it though. The light show isn't what makes storms scary. What we brace for is the roaring crash that follows.

So I can see why artists decide to draw lightning in a more dramatic way. It's to capture the impact of both thunder and lightning.

Bitey Castle Academy FX - Lightning

I just want to put a link to Adam Phillips' BCA-FX course. I learned some nifty things about lightning and other special effects thanks to it!

Starcadian's Alien Victory

The feature track for this animation is "Alien Victory" by Starcadian. It's one of his older, less popular tracks, but I love it:

https://starcadian.bandcamp.com/track/alien-victory

I was introduced to it, and his work, through a song request on my stream. Its dark, yet uplifting vibe caused me to immediately save it to my private "animation ideas" playlist. Since then, I've re-listened to the song's chorus countless times.

When it came time to pursue the next duel (funding made possible thanks to the incredible support of my Patrons), I knew Alien Victory would be a perfect fit for Oxob.

I contacted Starcadian over the summer and he was gracious enough to allow me to use his awesome song for this animation. Starcadian himself is not only a musical artist, but a filmmaker too. I appreciate his indie attitude toward making creative projects happen without the need for big record labels.

Although our visual styles are different, I hope I can make something that will do his music justice.

Maintaining Excitement

What I'd like you, the viewer, to get out of this animation.

While watching the animation, there's a moment where I'd like you to get a brief feeling of overwhelming excitement and bliss. It may only last 3 seconds, but it has to make the previous several minutes worth the wait. Hell, it has to make the previous 5 months worth the wait.

I truly want to make that moment something you'll want to re-watch many times over. Of course, in order to improve my chances, I'll be filling the animation with multiple climax points.

 Estimated Release: Early 2020 

What I'd like myself, the animator, to get out of this animation.

I want to streamline my production and get into a solid routine of short-film making. On top of animation, that includes promotion, financing, and collaborating with my team. I've done all these things in the past, and although they worked out, they were kind of my first attempts.

This time, I'm trying to bring it all together. And if I can keep the business side sailing smoothly, then I'll be able to focus on improving the art even more. 

That's the only way I can think of to allow the themes I discussed above, to shine through.

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