CoP Practical: Animating Without Reference Material

There's no way I could have avoided looking at the reference material and still check to see if I thought it was suitable to use, so I had watched through my reference material once. In effect, I was testing Frank Thomas' view point of looking at the reference material and then putting it away and never looking at it again. 

Before I got started with animating, I did a rough plan of the timings of the action. I knew roughly how long the sequence was to last, so worked with that.

Planning the Timings

No Reference Material - Line Test

Due to the angle that I was working with, I found it really hard to work out how the arm should be drawn, to make it appear as though it was reaching out for the mug. It made me question why anyone would work without a reference, as material to look at here would definitely have helped me. Then again, I was working with an angle I've not looked at before, and people in industry would have a lot more experience animating than I have. I think I did well though, considering how much I struggled to visualise the movement. 

I think it's going to be a good idea to record how long each test takes, as to get more of an idea why or why not reference material is used in industry. Perhaps it's a matter of time; it took me roughly three days to produce this line test.