Dumbo - Casey Junior

As my animation is based on a train, I wanted to get some reference of other animations and see how other people go about animating it. I originally was going to look at Thomas the Tank Engine, however when I saw it I found that the trains were very static, it was only really the faces that showed expression and animation. What I had in mind was for the train to have more life and emotion, which is what Casey Junior in Dumbo shows. The above video is a compilation of all the train scenes in Dumbo. You can tell instantly that the train has a life of its own, its own personality, the train itself can't talk, however sounds/words are suggested by the whistle of its pipe. The way the train sets off is really exaggerated, really trying to pull away as best as it can with all the other carriages attached to it. Just in that short section there are lots of principles of animation shown, squash and stretch, anticipation, exaggeration, follow through and overlapping action.

With my animation I have included squash and stretch and anticipation to add character to my train. I think I may do this also (squash and stretch) with the cacti in my environment to give them some life, have them bobbing up and down as the train passes by. I have got some follow through and overlaiing action in the way of when the train hits back down on the tracks, it tilts and swerves and takes awhile to steady itself back along the tracks.

At the beginning of my animation, I wanted the train to ease in, build up the momentum slowly as it sets of and then gains speed. However as it is set to a motion path it has a constant speed so I am unable to do this unless I set 2 motion paths, changing how long each one will take. If not I will demonstrate this when the train shoots off across the canyon, as in this case the pistons will start spinning at quite some speed and the train will follow through by speeding off.