football header

 My mentor before providing me with the character, requested I produce a short body mechanics exercise. Knowing my passion for football, or soccer as they call it in Canada, I had to animate a move of my choice. I chose heading a ball.

I wanted to hit the following: - A step into the jump - a reverse 'c' for the anticipation, followed by 'c' shape in the jump. Looking through reference online, I stumbled across a series of basket ball clips that had some nice footwork while in the air. Some footballers can of course leap to similar heights, however, footage of slam dunks was more easily accessible to study. Of particular note were the movements of Terrence Ross:


Next job was thumb-nailing. My mentor was pretty firm on following any planned actions, noting how breaking away from any agreed planning material from a studio supervisor, could easily cause production costs to increase.

Once animating, the largest amount of time went into building the root and footwork. I began by posing each chuck of action, before my mentor reminded me how much easier it is to plan the whole sequence with the root attached to a bouncing ball.

Seeing the final result was especially pleasing when compared to my original planning. It matched so well and had the breakdown of beats that I originally aimed for. It has given me a boost, an extra shot of confidence I hope to carry into my next shot.