Animator and Animation Instructor, Chris Sokalofsky shows a basic method for animating character eye blinks and eye darts providing a look at creating a blink that can breath life into character animations.
A simple tutorial for a basic blink and eye darts. Blinks are wide and varied in their style, but with the exception of super exaggerated cartoon blinks, the rule of thumb is that when we blink we use a lot of muscles in the face, and it’s important that everything moves as one
Chris notes a tip for animating an eye blink in Maya or any other animation program where the rule of thumb is that everything needs to move as one as we tend to use a lot of muscles in the face simply for blinking, including the eye itself, as well as parts of the brow, cheek, as it is all connected.
Again, I am pretty sure that Chris creates these videos for his students and class, but that are pretty useful for everyone… So thanks for this Chris! Although the animation tutorials contain no audio, they do provide a great overview of the process of animation, and a great example of how good animation gets created from someone who clearly knows what time it is.
