Behind the Scenes - GG vs Oxob Fight (Spoilers) (Patreon)

The following post contains animation that will appear in Story 6. I'll be talking about the scenes on a technical level, but will refrain from discussing any thematic or plot events.

Also, there will be many GIF's, sorry about the long load.

Scene 1: Zoom into Boom

One of my favorite web animations is Adam Philip's The YuYu from 2006, which features a bunch of high speed, low-to-the-ground, momentum for its characters. Animating terrain is super expensive, but in the end, is undoubtedly impressive to watch. 

I realized that high-speed action is fun to animate, almost "easier" to do. Characters move with such dramatic spacing that the animator does not have to worry about solid form or realistic physics. Especially in this scene, where the characters are either tiny figures or blurry masses. It's almost like GG and Oxob themselves are special FX that I'm animating. Just pure energy and movement. Drawing that feels incredibly freeing.

Scene 2: Oxob Smash

Similar to the previous one, this scene doesn't rely on much character acting, and instead features special effects. More accurately, practical FX (dirt & smoke). Frame by frame effects like these sometimes require careful planning. I had to make sure the rocks/earth came toward the camera in a layered manner, so I clumped them together in groups. That "pop up, settle down" timing with the rocks would have been far too difficult to tackle in one go. It also simplifies the inking process for my team.

Later on, we see an example of a single layer effect: A puff of smoke. Because smoke is so free-form, it is not necessary to separate it into layers. Unlike earth, air has no outlines. I can get away with just eyeballing and hinting at the general forms that characterize "smokey movement". 

Scene 3: Boom Boom Boom Boom

This scene is pretty much nothing but exploding smoke clouds. I gave each "boom" a very distinct timing so that it'll sync with the music predictably. Explosions are convenient for musical timing, because they have such Sharp. Punctuated. Movement. It mimics musical notes in a visual way. Hence why we see it at fireworks shows and rock concerts. The quick movement is not the only important part - the lingering cloud gives us a solid sense of what just happened. If a boom were all "BOO--" and no "-mmmmmmm..." then we'd be pretty confused as an audience.

It's important to note that the shock wave of new explosions have an effect on previous clouds. These booms are all happening in the same vicinity, so they naturally ought to influence the surrounding air.

Scene 4: Zoom into Lightning

This cut came out far more chaotic than the others, likely because I went 100% straight-ahead instead of shooting for any particular ending poses (pose-to-pose). The thought process while drawing was "ok then this happens, then this happens, then he goes over here, and then they...". The camera was allowed to go anywhere it needed. I didn't even try to sync the animation with the music in any way. I know these scenes are annoying for my inkers to work on, but in the moment, I couldn't really worry about that.

Very rarely do I get to completely disregard art rules like this. I just focused on depicting energy and chaotic movement. To me, this is the epitome of lightning.