“Fear”
The next basic emotion I chose to portray was fear. By watching horror movies and animations like Manga and Bugs Bunny cartoons, I was able to mimic the key emotive features. Whilst trying to get an authentic picture of what a fearful expression on my model would look like, I found that my previous modification of the eyelids was not enough to convey such a strong emotion like fear. A fearful look is mostly achieved through a widening of the eyelids to reveal more ‘white of the eye’, as seen in 2D animation with the eyes bulging out of the head in shock. To gain more empathy with the eyes and to make give them a greater amount of believability, I made completely new eyes in Photoshop with a smaller pupil and iris.
Based on my research question, I tried to investigate whether the emotion ‘fear’ can be recognized through expression of the face alone or if the body is needed as well in order to correctly guess the emotion. I tested my animation on other people and I found that only the head showing a fearful emotion could sometimes be misread for ‘surprise’. The inclusion of the body (hands raised, back arched away from the threat/fearful target) I found really clarified the emotive state. Tests on viewers clarified what I could see myself; the emotion was clearly fear and no longer mistaken for surprise. For this particular asset the body was of great significance to bolster the emotion when keeping in mind that the wrong emotive state displayed within an animation could have dire consequences to a storyline.
The next basic emotion I chose to portray was fear. By watching horror movies and animations like Manga and Bugs Bunny cartoons, I was able to mimic the key emotive features. Whilst trying to get an authentic picture of what a fearful expression on my model would look like, I found that my previous modification of the eyelids was not enough to convey such a strong emotion like fear. A fearful look is mostly achieved through a widening of the eyelids to reveal more ‘white of the eye’, as seen in 2D animation with the eyes bulging out of the head in shock. To gain more empathy with the eyes and to make give them a greater amount of believability, I made completely new eyes in Photoshop with a smaller pupil and iris.
Based on my research question, I tried to investigate whether the emotion ‘fear’ can be recognized through expression of the face alone or if the body is needed as well in order to correctly guess the emotion. I tested my animation on other people and I found that only the head showing a fearful emotion could sometimes be misread for ‘surprise’. The inclusion of the body (hands raised, back arched away from the threat/fearful target) I found really clarified the emotive state. Tests on viewers clarified what I could see myself; the emotion was clearly fear and no longer mistaken for surprise. For this particular asset the body was of great significance to bolster the emotion when keeping in mind that the wrong emotive state displayed within an animation could have dire consequences to a storyline.
Due to similarities between fear and surprise, I chose surprise as the emotion explored within the next asset.
(Above) Old Asset Fear Body
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