This took a lot longer than it should have.
You'll notice the movement differences in the layered and colored animation. I ended up doubling the amount of animation I had to do by separately animated the transparent layered model, and then the white-colored model. Initially this was for animation checking purposes, but since Flash features a colored breakout layer feature, it stared to feel like a waste of time animating two separate sets identically. In the end, I decided to go in favor of the white-filled animation sequence.
In any case, while going through the process the first time around, I felt the need to revamp my procedure. I'm certainly a fan of progression pieces, so I'm planning to break these animations into the below phases.
Phase 1 - Pre-pregnancy
Phase 2 - Slight pregnancy (2nd trimester sized)
Phase 3 - Advanced pregnancy (3rd+ trimester sized).
Phase 4 - Beyond a natural pregnancy ('XXXL' sized)
My initially layout procedure will be expanded to take these phases into consideration. The four phases of art will be posted as before, showing stick figure conceptuals, proportioned wire meshes, and white-colored mock-ups.
After the artwork jives, the animation side will come in and weave all four phases together into a singular animation piece.
Focusing back to the this animation piece, I can see myself slowing breaking from the 'static' look of my previous animation, although I'm not quite where I want to be yet.
I broke the head and body animation into two separate pieces, but upon inspection I may want to keep them in one piece. The head should translate with the movement of the body.
A big hurdle I ran into was changing the 'art' of the nose (and ears slightly), as the head turns away from a straight-on look. I think it may be possible to do a shape tween to give a better 'flow' from the straight nose to the side nose, but for now I decided to go for the frame-by-frame re-draw.
I was also reminded of limiting the amount of detail when drawing the hair. Animating superbly detailed art is superbly complicated. I'll find a balance eventually.
Oh, and she'll eventually need some clothes/armor at some point.
As always, please let me know what you think!
And as for others who wish to dabble in Flash Animation, drop me an email <
[email protected] > and I'll be more than happy to shoot you over the .fla file. Reverse engineer as you see fit to reach your own goals!