For all the drawing I’ve been doing this past week, when it’s come to doing my first pencil test of a character, I feel like I’ve seized right up again! Arrgh! But I still have something, as a place to start, and I can keep pushing it from there. The motions feel stiff and artificial, although I do like the way the “take” is starting to work, and I think I’ve gotten to a better place with the “no” head shaking – I had the head turn farther on one side than on the other, so it isn’t so totally symmetrical. Duh.
I had to do two versions of the pencil test, the first one with just the extremes, and then I used those drawings to work out the timing in the computer. I went back and redrew what it seemed I needed. I expect that over time, I’ll have a better internal sense of that without having to do quite as much of that. I also added multiple “identical”drawings to cycle through for the holds, and I like the way that feels. I’d done that for the pipe hold early on, and liked it.
I also tried using an exposure sheet for the first time this week, and it really helped me keep everything organized as I went from the first extremes-only version to the second one with the inbetweens – except that when I shot the drawings, I cut off the corner with the drawing numbers. I was able to figure out which drawings went with which the numbers and fix it in the computer, but I won’t make THAT mistake again!
Exposure Sheet for the pencil test of Isaac Sr.’s “Take”
Salem Witch Tales: Production Blog 