our fabulous friend, the flour sack

Hey there! Today I want to show you a classic animation exercise I've been using a lot: the flour sack.

Isn't it cute? 

I know what you're probably thinking. "WHY?!?" Well, believe it or not, the flour sack has been a staple of animators learning the craft since the 1930s. The thing about the flour sack is that this special little object is a combination of a solid mass (the part with the flour in it) and the loose fabric surface of the empty top portion. This combination allows you to practice the physics of moving both kinds of objects around in space and having them interact with one another in a way that's a step up from the bouncing ball. (and the little ties allow the sack to have a bit more personality!)

This is a link to a video of a pretty decent flour sack that I did. You can see how it squashes when it hits the ground and stretches when it leaps through the air.

This, however . . . is a less stellar example because I didn't do a very good job of applying the animation principle we call squash and stretch (click here for a beginner's intro to this concept). Watching this clip, you can see how the shape of the sack doesn't change in response to it hitting the ground-this makes it look less dynamic and more like a solid rubber flour sack bouncing. Not the effect I was going for! I wouldn't call this effort a total bust, because I did learn some things. I played with depth of field by having the flour sack come up closer to the camera at the end, which is a new technique for me. I also did better with keeping the volume of the shape consistent, which is another important skill. And you know, when he was trying to invent the light bulb, Thomas Edison said, "I have not failed. I've just found ten thousand ways that won't work". So I have found one of those many ways to NOT make a good animation! :) Or, if you'd prefer a more art-related quote sources, the amazing animator Walt Stanchfield said, "We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out, the better." This has long been one of my favorite quotes because it means every failure is getting you closer to eventual success if you continue to persevere. I think that's an inspiring message no matter what field you're in! Anyway, thanks for reading, everyone. See you next week!