Exaggeration is key. It’s true not everyone in real life is so extra in the way they act. However, in animation, you need to stretch it up and overemphasise the act so that it’s clear to the audience what are you trying to portray and communicate.
For this exercise, we started on paper first. Exploring variations of facial expressions and observing the behaviour of people around us. Some of my sketches:
First drafts of this exercise I did in adobe animate with frame-by-frame drawn animation.
Then I transferred to Maya and decided to create a version with my own 3D character. I created the set, did a quick storyboard and started working on the animation.
For the butterfly, I used the blend shape technique to create movement and the animation. As a reference, I used the studies of Leslie Bishko on the changes of shapes in animation – a very popular technique used in Disney animations.