Silas Zee: Optimus Prima On the Move!

Optimus Prima
On the Move!

2016.03.03

I've always kicked around animating Optimus Prima so what to work on next after my Anna loop was a simple question to answer. I went with a "90's Anime Opening" thing with this and just ran with it. I did the pencils over a few days, working on this in segments (you can probably tell by the changes in color). Animation is always constand problem-solving but it's also a lot of fun once you really get into a rhythm. I was actually having so much fun that I forgot to document a lot of the trial-and-error I was going through. XD

The run towards the camera could have been better, but it wasn't bad considering I did it from scratch when my reference model had to bail. I think my favorite part to work on is when she first kicks on her axe. The toughest by far was when Prima first turns towards the camera, which I didn't appreciate how hard that was gonna be until I started inking. She's so close to "camera" that everything has to be as consistent as it can be.

Inking is always tough for me and here it was at least triple that. Pencils are one thing, but cleaning up for inks is super hard with a character like Prima. I really screwed myself over with her. She's got a lot to keep track of so I did like five or six passes on the inks to make sure her armor and such was consistent frame after frame. Heck, her headband when she looks over her shoulder took me four hours to nail down. :O

Her colors weren't any easier but they were just as fun. Again making sure the lighting was right and moved okay was tricky, but playing with her axe made up for it.

This was a pain, but the pain I can get used to. Drawing Optimus Prima is always a blast and don't be surprised if you see her moving again soon... ^_~