The Brain turn around

Here is my first attempt at traditional animation in a long time. I decided to try a turnaround of The Brain from Pinky and The Brain. Because I feel a little rusty, I thought I'd ease myself into this gently, so I just concentrated on keeping the same shape and volume in the character and ignored the mechanics and acting for the moment.


The Brain Turnaround from Brendan Body on Vimeo.

This test has been put to one side rather than finished. I might go back and fix it later but I feel like I've learned a lot just getting this far, forcing myself to think about turning these shapes around in space. The limbs and facial features are wobbling much more than I would like, and I've made a visible error with the position of the body in one of my keys. However, I am reasonably happy with the cranium, as it holds it's shape and volume quite well.



I found The Brain quite a hard character to draw, as his proportions and shape are quite unusual. His head in particular is tough, because it's not a simple sphere or oval like many cartoon characters. I used this model sheet, thinking this would be a solid basis for the exercise, but it actually led me astray in a number of ways. The feet are in a different position in each drawing, and also the ears change shape and position on his head.