Scout's Honor

Hi, my name is Samuel Stenbeck Straarup.

I am currently studying 2D animation at CG Spectrum, where I've gotten to learn the fundamentals of the artform.

As a kid I grew up watching animated movies of all kinds, always enthralled by the magic that was taking place on the screen. And it didn't matter if it was any of the big names of the industry; Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks, etc. If it was even remotely animated, I was glued to the TV.

Now as a young adult, it feels like a dream come true to be able to study and work with what has sparked so much creativity and joy for me all these years. And I look forward to learn more, and to refine my skills on this career path.

Scout's Honor

My work on this simple pantomime was mainly inspired by the animated short; 'Chop Chop', by 'Birdbox Studio, as well as many of their other works. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If3wzG43PD8)

In particular, I liked their character designs. The box-shaped body and single pair of eyes was fun and simple to draw, which made it easier to redo and redraw a lot of the actions whenever I felt unhappy with the result.

Some quick sketches and thumbnails I did to figure out the main character's appearance.

I wanted him to be recognisable as a young scout, but I was worried that, because of his simple design, he might be confused for a shorter adult. So once I placed him in the environment, I made sure he looked tiny in comparison to everything else in the scene.

Flour Sack Jump

When I began studying at CG Spectrum, I got the classic assignment of animating a flour sack, in this case, jumping over a cliff. 

During this assignment, I decided to take extra time to get to know Toon Boom better and added extra effects to the skit.  This including camera moves, shadows, and clouds of flour when it hits the cliffside.

A thumbnail and animation tests I did from the previous assignment, before the cliff-jump, where I got to learn and understand both the physics and the personality of the flour sack.

Animated Take

After the flour sack exercise, I got the assignment to animate a take. Originally I was asked to animate it using the character 'Thomas O'Malley' from the Disney movie 'Aristocats'. But I decided to use a Siamese cat instead, albeit he was inspired by the Siamese cat 'Shun Gon' from the same movie.

I was a very fun assignment to work on. With him having a very spindly frame, I gave him more elastic and snappy movement to try and match it.

Quadruped Walk

My first attempt at a Quadruped walk was a bear. For reference, I used a video of a polar bear found on YouTube, uploaded by user 'Anim Ref'. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnAlfavy2us)

As well as watching and studying the work of Aaron Blaise. Particularly his work on the animated film 'Brother Bear'. 

The final result isn't as fleshed out and detailed as I originally had hoped to make it. But nonetheless, it was a very interesting and fun learning curve to work on. Getting to understand the physics of the skeleton and the relation between the two sets of legs on the creature made for a tough but enjoyable task.

An early thumbnail i did for the Quadruped-Walk. Here I tried learning and visualising the rough skeleton of the bear, using the standard sticks and boxes technique for the limbs, shoulders, and pelvis.

Run in Perspective

Another one of my assignments was to animate a run in perspective, by having a character turn a sharp corner in the middle of a sprint. During this assignment I decided to try my hand at both animating a scramble, and smear frames, by having the character skid around the corner while flailing his arms around.

I really wanted the action to seem like something you could've seen in an old animated feature film. With the character perhaps chasing someone, having to halt himself to not miss the corner, and keep running.

It was a lot of fun to come up with and figure out all the secondary actions. How he would swivel his arms to regain balance, or how he skids with his legs during the scramble.

So, to sum it all up

Learning and studying 2D animation this past year has been lifechanging to me.

By growing up watching animated movies, to be able to work within the artform has always been a distant goal of mine. But I have long been too scared to pursue it. Be it due to the intricacies of the art, the industry, or my own personal reasons.

But now, after studying at CG Spectrum for 6 months, that goal doesn't seem so distant anymore. I've learned so much, not just about the artform, but the industry itself. And i have received so much support from my awesome mentor, Todd Jacobsen, who has guided and helped me through this journey. And of course - the support from family and friends did not hurt.

To be able to present my work, to you here at The Rookies Awards, feels incredible, and almost unreal to me. And i cannot wait to see where this road takes me next.

I hope you all enjoyed my little showcase! Thank you for your time!