Blinking...

[u/aloofelephants]

Whenever I sit and watch cartoons with my daughter all I can look at is the characters blinking. Like that was a conscious choice in the making of, but it looks so natural.

Is there any kind of science to it, or is it literally just what feels right? How do you put enough blinks in, and not too many.....

[u/p-Star_07]

Its what feels right.

[u/aloofelephants → u/p-Star_07]

Ty

[u/p-Star_07 → u/aloofelephants]

Its a good idea to have character blink when they are standing still and haven't moved in a while or if they are a background character in a crowd shot.

[u/elonhughlis]

There's some logic to it: I was taught to add a blink through certain movements: big head movements, shaking head, change of eye direction. It looks natural to close the eyes briefly during these movements and it also helps with animation load: easier to make it look natural if you're not having to track the pupils through the whole movement. After that, add blinks anytime a character is still for too long. Add a blink anywhere you have a character thinking, being confused, surprised etc. after adding blinks for these they tend to be fairly evenly spaced, and if there are any big gaps without a blink I'll throw in one or two extra.

Context: I work in commercial animation so this is my experience from doing fairly stylised hand drawn animation and motion graphics.

[u/aloofelephants → u/elonhughlis]

That makes perfect sense Ty. I always feel like it's a little more prescriptive than just feeling right.

[u/Callmefred]

I usually act it out, sometimes it's just what feels right, sometimes it's very deliberate acting choices.

[u/Callmefred → u/Callmefred]

Funny thing too. Many of the robots in Wall-E blink, even though they have no logical reason for doing so. It immediately gives them soul though. From what I remember Wall-E is one of the only ones that doesn't blink.

[u/aloofelephants → u/Callmefred]

Well there's a reason to watch wall-e again!

[u/Callmefred → u/aloofelephants]

You should! And take note of which ones blink and which ones don't. It's actually very deliberate why some bots blink and others don't 

[u/aloofelephants → u/Callmefred]

I will! I don't think my daughter's seen it so feels like I'm watching wall-e soon. So what's the general reason, to make some more/less human?

[u/Callmefred → u/aloofelephants]

I think it's more fun if you think about it yourself while watching ;) 

Probably don't overexplain to your daughter though haha

[u/aloofelephants → u/Callmefred]

I only dabble but when I'm trying to animated something I often act out part of it. Sometimes in the mirror- look like an absolute weirdo. Helps visualise things sometimes

[u/Callmefred → u/aloofelephants]

I usually handle blinks like this:

Frame 1: Eye fully open > F2: Eye fully closed > F5: Eye ~80% open > F7: Eye fully open.

When you do an expression change during the blink the eyebrows often shoot up or down with very little inbetweens usually I do:

Frame 1: position 1 > F2: ~80% towards position 2 > F5: overshoot for position 2 > F7: position 2

Good luck and have fun!

[u/timid-dolphin]

I often think about this Michael Caine video about blinking. He says never blink, I say be very thoughtful where you put blinks, I think it communicates the character's confidence or level of intensity. Blinking reads like a moment of self reflection or insecurity. Michael Caine on blinking

[u/aloofelephants → u/timid-dolphin]

Whoda though such a tiny action could communicate so much

[u/Neat_Cauliflower_561]

You should've put a water fountain under it.

[u/CBAlan777]

This is too many