Examining Animation: Marin’s Embarrassment

During one scene in My Dress-up Darling, Marin stands in a bikini while Wakana takes her measurements so he can make her cosplay outfits. At one point, Marin’s self-control breaks down and her embarrassment bursts forth. Let’s look at this little scene’s animation. I will be working with an animated gif that I’ve exploded into its 111 frames. The gif may not match the actual animation run time; however, the frames can still offer insights into how to animate.

The gif begins with 16 still frames of the above image. After this frame, major motions happen every 3 frames. A few of the faster motions happen after 2 frames. So, in other words, the same image of Marin displays for 3 frames before changing to a new image, which is then held for 2 or 3 frames again. The entire sequence runs about 4 seconds: about 27 frames a second.

On frame 16 (above), Marin closes her eyes and slightly moves her head downward. This begins the set up for her movement. Three frames later, she will stand up straighter as what she realizes the situation. But in order to do this, she has to first move downward. Every motion in an animation needs to have a foreshadowed, opposite motion. So if your character will move up in the camera view, she must first move down. Marin also closes her eyes, because in the next keyframe she will open them wide with shock. Her mouth follows the same idea: closed, then open.

On frame 21, we don’t have major changes. Marin’s upward momentum from standing straighter carries through to her hair, making it flow upward. If you look closely she also raises higher in the camera view. As you can guess from all the upward movement, at some point Marin will move down in the camera’s view.

Frame 27 focuses on animating Marin’s hair. These little movements add realism to your animation and prevents the sequence from looking stiff. If you look closely, Marin’s bangs shift from right to left. This is because later her hair and Marin herself moves to the right. Frame 30, which I didn’t include, continues the hair movement. The motion is small, but it finishes the momentum of Marin’s initial straightening.

Frame 38 has Marin begin her downward movement. Her eyes and mouth increase in size because she is a bit closer to the camera. Her hair also shifts. Notice the importance of her hair. Anime characters may have vibrant, colored hair to help suggest their personalities and set them apart from the other characters. But hair also is important for animation. It lends life to a character when it moves, or it can make a character look static if it doesn’t move. It also foreshadows the character’s motion and received the momentum of that motion. In frame 38, Marin’s shoulders also droop a hair. Look at the pattern on her bikini to see this downward motion. It is subtle.

This frame is drastic! Marin’s eyes deform and her blush expands. She turns down, showing the top of her head. Her shoulders and chest slides out of the camera’s view, and her torso begins to twist toward the camera view’s right. As you can guess, Marin will spring back upward soon. In fact, she does this immediately:

Marin continues to turn, and her mouth opens wide with a twist to it. Her hair drifts to the right. Her eyes are wide with scared pupils (small against the whites of her eyes). Her eyes aren’t any larger than back in frame 30, but the way her eyes deformed in the previous frameset allows allows her eyes to look larger and more scared. Contrast like this can make elements appear larger than they actually are. It’s similar to how a gray tone can look white when set against a dark.

Frame 47 shows her hand for the first time. This also foreshadows the final part of the sequence. It just appears in the frame, but the movement we’ve seen so far allows the animators to drop it into the scene. She moves to the left of the camera; her hair still remains on their rightmost motion because of how fast she moves. Her eyes shift, but the size remains the same. Her mouth opens the rest of the way. We see all of Marin’s shoulder now, as she pivots away from the camera.

Frame 50 is a foreshadow frame. Marin closes her eyes and her mouth in an effort to control her expression. Her hand tilts a little, and her hair gives in to gravity.

On frame 53 (notice the 3 frame delay?), Marin turns toward the camera before she will turn away again later. Her hair settles more to gravity. Frame 56 has Marin close her eyes again.

Frame 59 has her eyes shoot open again and she turns away from the camera. Can you count how many times she does this? This reflects her inner state of conflict. In the frameset that follows, her hair drifts back downward as gravity captures it.

Marin squeezes her eyes shut and scrunches up. Like a spring, these several bobs, up and down and up again, stores emotional energy into Marin that will explode into a flurry of movement.

Frame 68 begins this flurry of movement. She turns deep into the camera’s right view. We get the first side view of her face in this frame. Her hair billows behind her as she whirls. Frame 71, which I didn’t include for space, has her hair settle back.

In this position, Marin doesn’t have a lot of bodily motion. Rather, her eyes and mouth move. She closes her eyes, opens them, and then shifts her eyes. Watch the pupils change size. I’ve made a slow gif of this movement so you can see. This sequence happens faster in the final animation. Her body moves a little to avoid stiffness. Watch her hand and fingers and the top of her shoulder. Her eye movement shows her inner state of panic.

Frame 90 has Marin close her eyes and duck down again. Her hand slips close to the edge of the view. Two frames later, both hands appear and she bobs upward. You don’t have to include every tween for fast movement like this. In fact, if you have a tween between these two frames, it would slow her movement and make it look less frantic. The downward motion foreshadows Marin moving up and clasping both her hands to her mouth. Notice her eyes are the same size as back around frame 85. The next several frames has Marin move leftward again with a slight tilt of her head sends her hair moving again.

The importance of Marin’s hair for creating a sense of liveliness can’t be overstated. While subtle, it lends life through momentum and foreshadowing future motion. It also allows for Marin to delay her bodily motion for good effect. The pause before her flurry of movement acts as a counter balance. While this scene isn’t as complicated as when I analyzed another of Marin’s sequences, the movement of her eyes and expression shows her effort to regain her self control and failing to reign in her embarrassment. The eye movement shifts through just a few sizes and shapes, but it works well for showing her inner state. My Dress-up Darling has many great expressive scenes like this that reveal interesting subtleties when you break them down. Here’s the complete sequence: