Will Anderson conducted several experiments to practice techniques for their animation production. Experiment 1 involved animating a hand crushing a heart to practice intricate body movements and experiment with velocity. Experiment 2 focused on grittier, blurred animations using varied brush sizes and opacity. Experiment 3 animated one of the characters with rotation and experimented with blurring, hatching, and shading techniques. Experiments 4 and 5 involved perspective drawings of city backgrounds to practice setting designs and ensure character/background color contrast. Overall, the experiments covered techniques planned for the production to increase animation skills before beginning.

1. FMP Production Experiments
Will Anderson

2. Experiment 1
• This animation was made via the Timeline tool in Photoshop. This allows
me to order layers to play after one-another. Additionally, it lets me
control the delay between each frame, meaning that I can create
smoother animations by creating extra layers and lowering the delay
between them. For this experiment, I decided not to refine the image
using a thicker brush afterwards as the main focus of these experiments
is the smoothness and movements of the animations. This experiment
in particular involves a hand crushing a heart. This allowed me to
practice with moving body parts in more intricate ways whilst also
showing their effect on the environment around them. Additionally, the
crushing and explosion of the heart allowed me to experiment with
velocity. I learned that if I wanted an animation to appear extremely
quick, as I do in an explosion, I could either use less frames or create
more frames and speed them up in Adobe Premiere. The first option
would save time, whilst the latter would make the animation smoother.
I decided to experiment with using less frames, as if the quality was still
good I would be able to spend more time on more prominent frames
and animations. I believe that this method works, as the explosion in
this experiment looks relatively smooth and realistic whilst not taking a
ridiculous amount of time to create. However, if I had more time in my
main project I would definitely improve this animation by adding extra
frames, as if someone looks closely they might be able to see the lack of
frames.
• I plan to have a shot in my final project that involves crushing a ball.
Whilst the object is different, as well as the perspective and meaning of
the animation, this experiment will allow me to create a more
aesthetically pleasing animation come the time to make my production.

3. Experiment 2
• The main intent of this experiment was to practice with grittier and more blurred
animations. Whilst the content of the scenes will be different, I intend to utilise these
techniques in my final project in multiple sequences. Again using the Timeline tool in
Photoshop, I was able to practice animating with different numbers of frames. This
allowed me to see how many frames would be required to make animations of
different durations smooth whilst ensuring I wouldn’t spend too much of my time on
one bit.
• To create the grittier aesthetic, I used smaller brushes with lower opacities. This
allowed me to go over the same spot multiple times, creating different lines of varying
thicknesses and darkness over the area, thus creating a more hatched look. This makes
the motion of the animation more clear. This technique has a variety of possible uses,
and I plan to use it in a variety of situations.
• To create the blur effect, I used the Blur Gallery in the Filter section of Photoshop. This
allowed me to choose how blurry an entire layer would be. This would work well for
creating separate body parts (e.g. fists) on separate layers to give each a different
amount of blur, thus showing different speeds and directions.
• To improve on this experiment I would add colour, as being able to give the colour of an
animation a similar effect would ensure that the momentum and grittiness of the
animation is properly displayed.

4. Experiment 3 • For this experiment, I wanted to practice animating
one of my characters. Whilst I don’t plan to use this
movement in my actual animation, the act of
animating one of my own characters and the type
of motion will be great help when I come to
animating my project. The art-style of general
human design of the character will transfer to all
my others, so being able to practice with one will
help me with animating all of them. Additionally,
the rotating motion is one that I plan to use in my
final project, although in a different circumstance.
This animation required combining the blur and
hatches in my previous experimentation with the
new rotation movement. These allow the motion of
the animation to carry more weight. However, I
used these very lightly as the rotation in this
instance is slow. Learning from the mistake of my
last experiment, I made sure to include colour in
this animation. This allowed me to also experiment
with shading techniques and how the shadows
would move in regards to the body.
• To improve on this experiment I would recreate it at
different speeds so that I could practice more with
rotations of different amounts, and how I would
use blurring and hatching to represent this.
Additionally, I would experiment with blurring
different parts of the drawing differently. This could
work by adding more blur to the outside of the
rotation to show its greater motion than the inside.

5. Experiment 4
• This experiment is a still drawing of a city. The reason I did this
experiment was to practice both perspective drawing as well as trying
out the look of the setting. This will allow me to maintain the look of
the backgrounds of the animation, adding to the authenticity.
• I wanted to ensure that my backgrounds fit in with the artstyle of the
characters. To ensure this, I used the same style of shading as I did for
my character designs.
• An important factor of these backgrounds was that the colours provide
contrast with the colours of the characters. This will prevent the
characters from being hard to make out from the background. To
ensure this, I planned a colour pallet out for my setting which utilised
different colours from my cast. However, I made sure that these
backgrounds were still influenced by the Japanese architecture in my
research. I did this by including features such as billboards and signs
that utilised the brighter colours popular in Japan.
• I made sure to include details such as people and vehicles in this
drawing so that I could establish a real life feel to the setting. The
people are undergoing tasks specific to each one of them, making the
world feel more fleshed out.
• To improve on this experiment, I would include writing in the
environment to make the images more authentic. This could be located
on buildings, billboard etc.

6. Experiment 5
• Similar to the last experiment, this drawing is a
still piece of the setting that I plan to use in my
production. This time around, the shot is a closer
look in the midst of the setting. This will help to
establish a more detailed look of what the city is
like. The shops and objects in the alleyway flesh
out the look of the world, which I can
incorporate into my animation to make the
setting feel more real. The colour scheme is the
same as the one in the last experiment, ensuring
consistency between shots. This will make it
easier to tell that the area is the same in my
animation should I include different shots of the
setting.
• An improvement on this experiment would be to
include characters in the setting. This could be
random people or members of my main cast. By
doing this, I could get more experience with
drawing characters in shots of differing
perspectives.

7. Experiments Analysis
• I overall feel that my experiments will be helpful in creating my
animation. Each experiment relates to what I plan to create in my
production whilst covering enough area so that the techniques that I
practiced will have multiple and variable uses. I feel confident that I
will be able to animate to good quality whilst maintaining good look
art. The inclusion of still art of setting shots will allow me to ensure
my backgrounds have consistent colour schemes and architecture in
my production.
• To improve on my experiments, I would include more covering a
wider variety of areas, as the more experiments I have the more
experienced I will become at animating before beginning my
production.