I revisited a personal project which is titled No Bears in Picnic Area. My goal was to breathe new life into this project that I know could shine if I had more time to expand it or had the opportunity to do it again.

My idea was to rework, enhance, and fix the problems from my previous character animation.

PROCESS

Previous Video

I added tossed picnic objects appearing at the end of the animation to expand the story.

I reworked the timing of certain movements with holds for the bear.

I fixed the overlap, followthrough, anticipation, and exaggeration.

1ST PASS

I improved the quality of the background by adding shades and shadows to the trees and the mountains. I worked on the timing by blocking the tossed picnic objects.

2ND PASS

I revised the tangents, making the shadows sharp instead of blurs, rounded off the pole, fixed the warp of the sign, added gradation to the trees, and had the thrown picnic objects bounce when they enter the scene at the end.

3RD PASS

I improved the shadows so that they stay on the ground, extended the shadow of the tree closest to the bear, had the apple jump off the basket, simplify the shadow of the hat, reduced the roundness of the pole, and had the refractions of the eyes remain circles.

PROCESS SCREENSHOT

I added sound effects for the bear, the sign, and the food. I also fixed both the tangents and the bounce of the basket and apple for my final pass. One fix that I had trouble with was the refractions of the eyes because they were baked into the design. 

It was a joy to revisit and improve this 2D character and expand his story.