In Class:
In today’s class, we started exploring a brand-new topic—voice acting, which will be a key part of our next assignment in this unit.
What is Voice Acting Really About?
Voice acting plays a vital role in most animations. It’s not just about shouting “Look!” while pointing; it’s a much more layered process. True voice acting combines vocal tone, facial expressions, and physical movement to tell a story and make a character feel real. It’s this combination that helps bring out the personality and emotion behind the character, making them more relatable and believable to the audience.
We were shown an example that demonstrated how voice acting and reference footage work hand in hand during animation production. The video walked us through different stages of the process and showed how referencing is used in a professional setting to add authenticity and detail to performances.
Lessons and Insights from Today’s Class
Today’s session gave us a lot to think about when it comes to improving our animation work. One of the key takeaways was the importance of getting solid reference footage—and how powerful it can be when done right. It’s best to capture everything in a single, consistent take. If the performance doesn’t feel convincing, it’s worth re-recording until it feels natural and true to the emotion you’re trying to express.
One of the major points discussed was the importance of showing genuine emotion in our animations. The goal is to make the audience truly believe in the character. It’s not just about showing a specific feeling like anger or sadness; it’s about showing emotional shifts—like moving from frustration to acceptance, or from nervousness to confidence. These changes in feeling help the character feel more lifelike and relatable.
Our tutor shared two important principles to keep in mind:
- Clarity – Can the viewer clearly understand what the character is doing in just one moment?
- Sincerity – Does the action feel honest and believable? Small gestures like a nervous cough or fidgeting can help communicate the character’s state of mind.
We watched an animation example that did this really well—it showed a character gradually changing from feeling anxious to confident. It made me realise that I’ve often taken the easy route with my ideas, focusing more on what I could finish quickly rather than what would challenge me or tell a deeper story. I now see that pushing myself to explore emotional transitions and complexity is what will really help me grow as an animator.
Character Understanding Before Animation
Another major theme from today’s class was the idea of fully understanding a character before jumping into animation or voice acting. A strong performance begins with knowing how the character thinks, feels, and behaves. For instance, how would your character walk into a room? Would their mood affect the way they move? These are the kinds of questions we were encouraged to ask.
We also watched a helpful video that showed how studying a character’s personality and emotional state can guide your animation decisions. Doing this groundwork early on not only leads to more believable animation but also helps save time later because you’ve already built a clear mental image of how the character should behave.
My Work:
This week, I focused on finishing and polishing my body mechanics animation. I got my final round of feedback from George, and I made sure to apply all the notes he gave me. After that, I spent time tightening up the small details—like refining the finger movements, adding a toe roll, and making sure everything looked smooth and intentional. I’m pretty happy with how the final shot turned out. It feels like everything came together well, and I learned a lot through the process.
Once I wrapped that up, I moved on to the next task: acting animation.
I started by looking for a good voice clip to animate, and after going through a few options, I chose a line from the game Marvel Rivals. It’s a Loki voice line that says:
“Everyone loves a trickster… until the trick is played on them.”
I liked the tone of the line—it has personality and gives room to play with subtle emotions and timing.
Next, I picked a rig that I felt would suit the voice and the style I wanted. To make sure the performance would feel believable, I recorded myself acting out the scene as reference. Then I opened Photoshop and planned out my keyframes by sketching them and writing down a quick character description—how he’s feeling, what kind of attitude he has, and how I want to show that through movement.
This week was all about wrapping up one project and prepping for the next. I’m excited to start animating this acting shot and to push my performance even further.
Let me know if you’d like a version that includes images of your reference shots or keyframe sketches—it would make a great visual addition to your blog!
This is the final version, but I will still make some changes before the final submission.
My planning for the Acting Shot.