For Great Animation Exercise #21, I’m showing some of my process since this one was far more involved than any of the others. The assignment was “taking a deep breath,” and I tried to replicate Marilyn Monroe’s famous exhalation before she sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.”
1: Gif of final animation (see previous post for higher resolution video).
2 & 3: Reference gathering (original footage of Monroe on stage squinting and taking the breath; a depiction of that same moment from Norma Jean & Marilyn; and lots of reference images of the dress, her facial structure, and her general appearance that evening).
4: Drawing process (it was originally going to be more of a caricature).
5: Exploding the drawing into puppet parts and painting a displacement map for the face.
6: Animating a head turn (this was controlled by a slider in the main rig).
7: Final rig (I used Duik for the body).