This week, I completed the blocking stage for the standing pull action in my washing machine animation. Although the action seems simple, I found that creating a believable sense of force was more challenging than expected.
One of the main problems I encountered was making the character appear as though they were genuinely pulling against resistance. In my first blocking pass, the arms moved backwards, but the body did not react strongly enough, making the action feel weightless. After reviewing reference footage, I realised that pulling is a full-body action rather than an arm action. Before the object moves, the character often shifts their weight backwards, braces their feet against the ground, and creates tension through the shoulders and torso.
Another challenge was finding the right balance between realism and clarity. Some real-life movements were very subtle, but when translated directly into animation they became difficult to read. Therefore, I started pushing key poses further by increasing the body lean and exaggerating the weight shift. This helped communicate the effort more clearly during the blocking stage.
Through this process, I learned that strong blocking is not only about establishing movement but also about communicating force and intention. Moving forward, I plan to refine the timing and body mechanics further so that the audience can clearly understand the character’s effort before adding smaller details and polish.