I decided with the swimming animation would keep it very similar to the style of a motion graphic, using a very unrealistic body shape and over exaggerated movements. I made the drawing as simple as it could be, giving no hands or definition to the body parts and using only a green semi circle as a swimming hat.
I added the image to after effects and used a plain blue background to give a simple but affective sense of a swimming pool. Using only the top half of the body, I added both arms to a continuous cycle of spinning 360 degrees clockwise at opposite times to give the effect of the swimming. However the image looked too static, so I made the body bob up and down with each stroke to look like the swimmer is coming out of the water, and I made the head pop up with the body only every other stroke.
I then added a splash animation to it to make it 100% clear the swimmer is in water. The large splashes also show the swimmer is moving fast and using a lot of force. I used 3 thick white lines for the splashes, as the arm initially touches the water, the first white line pops up out the water, followed almost instantly by the next 2. I made sure it happened quickly so it would only look like a splash and wouldn’t get int he way of the rest of the animation. I also decided the swimmer didn’t look as if he was moving enough, so I added a white line which extends out from behind following each splash, it’s simple but gives the sense of the swimmer moving forward.
Ben Jackson 