Character Study
These are the rough thumbnails I made for the shot. The plan was for the character to walk up to the cauldron, look at it, look over at the bottles and pour it in. Then a sudden explosion happens causing her to jolt back. I also premade the background to recreate it in the animatic.
Afterward, I made an animatic from the keys in the storyboard and added breakdowns to better understand the timing within the movement.
I keyed in the keyframes and made some breakdowns to smooth out the movement. I then used motion keyframes afterward to see how the animation would look before I put the in-betweens.
After some revisions, I added the background and layered the cauldron. I also keyed and smoothed out the in-betweens.
After some more revisions, I fixed the framing by zooming in closer to the scene and adjusting the character so that the hands were visible. I decided to change the shelf's color in the background cause it seemed to blend into the wall. Also to convey some storytelling into the work, I added a smoke effect to give some kind of reason as to why she reacted near the end.
Duo Dialogue
While listening to the audio, I drew up the main beats for the two characters. The context that I had in mind was that one person was in a cave exploring something, while the other is outside relaying information.
The animatic with the dialogue audio helped me figure out the timing for the poses. I added in some breakdown poses to help convey the movement better.
I put in the keys and added in the breakdowns. I put every key on a motion keyframe to see how it would look before I made the in-betweens.
I added the full background and keyed and smoothed out the in-betweens. I finalized with the lipsync.
After some revisions, I fixed the framing on the second character and added a flashing light with a control panel to convey a reason for the girl to look in that direction.
Acting Shot
While listening to the audio, I made a thumbnail of two characters. The one on the left is trying to get his art piece into a gallery. However, the one on the right is displeased by it. With that in mind, I made the rough thumbnails and used that to make the animatic.
After the animatic, I brought the two characters into the scene and remade the poses based on the animatic, making some tweaks to accommodate for the rig's limitations. I then started adding in the breakdowns and some in-betweens from here.
With the in-betweens finished I smoothed out the movement of both the characters. Specifically in the arcs in their hands and with the turn around for the character on the right. I also added an extra pose on the character on the right, so that if felt convey his emotions.
After some revisions, I added in the secondary motion in her hair and added the lipsync. Personally, I would leave the lipsync last since that tends to be more tedious than the rest of the animation.