The thing I have looked at the least since completing my degree is making a character feel 'alive', I'm not running a puppet show I want you to feeeeeeeeeel for my characters, care about them as much as I do etc etc.
One massive thing that makes us alive are our eyes, we're constantly moving our eyes and blinking. Research has found that we can blink between 2 - 50 times per minute depending on the circumstances - that's a lot to consider for your animation, you can't just make this person blink every ten frames, it's unnatural and repetitive, we blink for reasons. We usually blink everytime we turn our head to protect our eyes from the dust and dirt throughout the head turn motion. Also, our pupils don't just float around, they dart, we're always thinking and taking in information that surrounds us. Have you ever tried to just stare someone in the eyes when you're talking to them? Do you not feel your focus drift from one eye to the other instead of encompassing both? Do you realise your focus keeps dropping down to their lips as they speak as well? This might create a subtle triangle pattern, or maybe rectangle.
In light of all this information, are there any guidelines out there? I found a great tutorial, it led me to more tutorials by the same guy! And I'm not greedy enough to not share so here is a link:
And here's my first go at a convincing blink, please note I've only added 1 blink for now and am working on the eye darts rest today....
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