Froggie Jump

Here's another exercise from the Blair book:

Currently I'm reading Richard Williams The Animator's Survival Guide.  Excellent book, by the way.  He really makes you examine the sequences and helps you understand the thinking behind them... why things are positioned the way they are... why some sequences require more drawings than others... for that matter, why other sequences require less... how to read a "X-Sheet" and relate it to the number of film frames required to cover a certain amount of time (still a significant concept, I imagine, even now when most these things are done on a computer).

Now, notice the frog exercise.  We begin as Froggy is in mid-jump.  Then he reaches the ground and rests momentarily.  Then away he goes and again is in mid-jump when we leave him.

The resting frog is positioned closer to the left than the right; the remainder of the sequence is 3 drawings.  Thus, the detailing of him descending occurs a little faster than the sequence of him bounding away. 

Personally, because I get more out of seeing him spring into action rather than resting after having sprung... so to speak... the position of the resting frog and the fact that the spring takes a little longer seems right.

Just to set the record straight, I'm not planning on becoming an animator... but I love cartoons, and I love cartoon drawings... so it's probably wise to understand a little bit about the making of cartoons.