Venturing Into 2D Animation ...

I'm starting to feel a little trapped in the world of CG so I've decided to go back to trying some 2D animation. I want to advertise myself as an animator, not just a 3D animator. I'm not particularly confident in animating with Adobe Flash or Flipbook to create 2D animation so I've decided to go with Adobe After Effects.

My plan is to design the robot, draw it neatly in Photoshop (as well as colour), export each body part into After Effects and then use the transformation pivots to animate him. I will avoid as much tweening as possible and will use a lot of easing in and out for this animation.

I'm thinking of having a pile of robot body parts on the ground forming a robot and then performing something simple like waving to the audience or doing a hand stand. I really enjoyed compositing 3D and 2D animation together earlier in the term (with the eyes and tongue animations I finished a few weeks ago) so I am considering compositing the U.F.O model I made for the T - Rex animation in with this piece of animation although I am not sure how it would fit in there ...

I'm not too bothered if I don’t complete this piece in time for the deadline because it’s something I can always go back to and improve in the future.