In 2021, I've worked as a freelance animator for Rovio, mostly on Sugar Blast & Dream Blast Projects, which are very similar mobile games
It's been a long time I havent used Spine becaus eI spent the past few years working mostly on concetp arts for games so I was a bit rusty... But it's like riding a bicycle , difficult to completely forget so it came back quickly!
It's been a long time I havent used Spine becaus eI spent the past few years working mostly on concetp arts for games so I was a bit rusty... But it's like riding a bicycle , difficult to completely forget so it came back quickly!
I really think Spine is better and quite efficient for Simple, Smooth and brushed up animation like this
Here I animated Maple,from Sugar Blast Saga, for the Daily Reward and Extreme Level Animations
I cleaned the .psd illustration provided by Rovio, separating and re-sketching some elements to be able to rig better the character. All the different assets and posings for the arms, hands face, expressions are attached to the 'squeleton' and hidden to be used in the animation when necessary
Smooth animations and transitions between the different stages :
I also animated different beanies for the monthly theme and rewards . Each one requires several animations: Appear, disappear, Idle, intermediate movements to turn to the right or left directions, run , and a few special animations
here are some of the beanies I animated: Alien , Chocolate Bomb, Orchestra Conductor, Schoolkid
Here is a more complete overview of the different animations and skins for the Back to school event (September): The school kid Beanie will progress and grab new items of his special outfit to be ready for school ! this was a good way to push a bit more my technical skills with Spine animation...
Credits : Rovio -Project: Sugar Blast, September Event - Music : "free animotica music" - Design Game artist: Giovi Lee
as a little Bonus, here is a visual of my mood when I first worked on an animatic test for a trailer of Angry birds : Dream Blast with this damned Spine ! :D
Unfortunatly I could'nt fully animate it because my experience with the animation software was still limited at that time, and I don't think this software is particularly adapted for this specific use... I was struggling to handle the scene with many different posings and characters.
I think as a professional and support artist on such a big production , it's important to know and communicate about our limitations, to avoid a big waste of time and ressources!
Considering the trailer would have been implemented frame per frame, there is no interest in using spine over another animation software . For this kind of animation, I think Flash would have been much faster and efficient: especially with this kind of cartoon/vector art style, and when the animation requires many characters and many different posings or expressions :)
If you'd like to play the games , here are the link to Sugar Blast & Angry Birds Dream Blast
I'm still open for helping you with art on game projects : I'm specialized in consulting for assets optimization ,art management, creating concepts , pipelines, 2D game art, or even animating ( especially when that's for such beautiful designs ) so feel free to get in touch , and please like and share my works! :')
