Saskia Bischofsberger - Animation Portfolio

Hello everyone! I am Saskia and I recently started my career in 3D Animation after graduating from PIXLVISN media arts academy in January 2024 with a specialization in Animation. Let's have a look into the workflow of my Demoreel!

A Dragon’s Journey

I will start with the latest of my three projects - the dragon. Capturing the movements of a creature that has never been seen in reality was quite a challenge. But every challenge has a solution, don't you think? Fortunately, I was privileged to have Philipp Willer as teacher by my side, whose guidance was instrumental in bringing this majestic flight through the mountains to life.

The Workflow

Firstly, as we all know, we need a rig and lots of references. I got the Tyrant rig from Truong CG Artist - a big dragon with impressive textures and controls! Secondly, sourcing references wasn't as easy as you might think, especially when looking for footage of a giant lizard with wings in flight. I relied on videos of flying foxes, essentially the real-life counterparts of dragons. I also consulted Brendan Body's "Tips and Observations of Bird Flight" to help me to understand the technical details of a flight cycle.

For the flycycle, I started with the wing movement - concentrating on the shoulders, elbows and fingers. Once that was in good shape, I added movement to the chest and hips. Later I animated the tail and head. To get a better understanding of how the torso of the dragon would move, I created small geometric objects (such as spheres) all over the body and parented them to my controllers. I remember my teacher always talking about the S-shape and that you should aim for a wave-like form when animating the body of a flying dragon. These spheres really simplified the process.

Once the flycycle was complete, it was time to dive into the shoot itself. While my classmates were inspired by Game of Thrones, I chose a cinematic from World of Warcraft.

I started by blocking out the camera and motion path. Then I integrated my flycycle and adjusted its speed to synchronize with the wing movements. During moments without wing flapping, I smoothly transitioned into a gliding pose using animation layers.

My biggest challenge was to perfect the movement of the tail. I wanted it to appear connected to the hips and aligned with the direction of the dragon's flight, while also acting as a balancing and navigational element. I can't count how many times I revised the tail, often seeking help from fellow students and my teacher.

The talking Lioness

The lioness – undoubtedly my most ambitious project yet. Drawing inspiration from a captivating voice line delivered by the talented Voice Actress Dalal Sabra, I jumped right into the realm of Lip-Sync Animation. While working on the animation process, I was fortunate to collaborate with the skilled Felix Riehle, who crafted the stunning scenery complementing my work.

The Workflow

I started the project by animating a walk cycle for the lioness, drawing inspiration from The Lion King (2019) and studying documentaries featuring lions for reference. Once the cycle was complete, I focused on synchronizing the mouth movements with the chosen voice line, starting with the jaw and then refining the cheeks and tongue. Once I was happy with the result, I added movement to the lion's chest and head to add emotion to the animation.

As the project progressed, I asked myself: "Who would be the recipient of the lioness's dialogue?" I decided on a small bird as the attentive listener, analyzing numerous references to capture its subtle jumps and head movements.

Positioning the characters and setting up the camera proved to be a challenge. Looking back, I realized how important it was to plan the camera placement beforehand. Integrating the walking lioness and the bird in a single shot without excessive camera movement was tricky. Working with Felix, we came up with a solution that involved splitting the scene into two shots, which best portrayed the action.

The Climb

Recognizing that body mechanics was a weakness for me during my training, I was determined to tackle it head on and turn it into a strength. Working with my mentor, Rodrigo Costa, we decided on a climbing sequence. This was a deliberate choice, as climbing sequences were not often shown in other animation reels and offered a compelling opportunity to demonstrate weight in animation.

The Workflow

Being used to the straightforward method for my previous shoots, I wanted to improve my skills with the pose-to-pose approach. It began with an analysis of my chosen reference, identifying key poses and blocking them out before refining them in detail.

Gradually I introduced more poses and moved on to spline. Starting with the movement of the core controller, I then animated the legs, head and arms. Notably, I left fixing any popping in the elbows until the final stages.

With the reference closely mirrored, I focused on selling the climber's weight and enhancing the swinging motions with added details. Especially the splining stage was quite tough for me, because it took my several days to figure out the movement of the core and the legs. Not being used to the pose-to-pose method added up to these difficulties. But time brings change, and once I got these base movements settled, I could really animate some details to bring out this climb.

I did all of these projects during my time at school and am eager to hear your feedback and thoughts. Thank you for taking the time to review my work!

Credits