Animating the mermaid.

I've been animating the mermaid for the last couple of days. The first day I spent getting to grips with her movement again as I hadn't animated her since last year. I made a new rig for her. One i made lie last years from a lighting arm and thick wire attached to it but it was very wobbly and she bounced too much. I then made another from a block of wood with the wire coming out if the middle so it supported her from underneath. This still wasn't ideal but it did the job.

I haven't enjoyed animating her to be honest. I've struggled with timing and giving her that weightless, floating in water look. At this stage I need to get the others animated too and if I have time, go back and re- animate the mermaid but it is passable for now and with her and the box I'm over the 30 second pass mark.

The first rig I made using the lighting arm. Last year it worked so much better.

The rig I made in the end using a solid base and a branch
style rig.

Playing around with lighting. She looks very effective
when lit from behind- haunting, other worldly.

I shot her from behind a pain of glass as I want her to come up to the
doorway of her tank and didn't want to use too many
digital effects. It meant that I had something
physical for the to press her hand up against.

Me animating.

Set up. 

I used tacky wax to keep her hand in place on the glass during a test but this
left a sticky mess so I had to just use patience
in the end!