I just wanted to give a quick note on animation. It's Supposed To Be Fun! Anyone who gets into this field does it because they enjoy doing, so I say there's no harm in creating stupid shorts that can be solely for pure entertainment value. Life's to short, so live, laugh, animate and enjoy it all.
I only say this, because I feel that it is too easy to get wrapped up in the commercial mentality or the artistic nature of giving meaning to everything we create. Instead, I propose what some friends and I did which was have an animation night. Get together with some friends, sit down, and animate a stupid scenario for 20-30 minutes tops. It's fun and stupid and gets back to the true nature of why most of us decided to become animators.
I leave you with this thought and wish you good times animating.
Here is the final for my Animation I class. The assignment was: -Take a character and have them change from one emotional state to another -5 sec. -Think about silhouette value in pose -And... if it does not read between two clear emotions = automatic C
This was a great exercise that I would suggest to anyone who care to try it. Do a lot of gesture sketches, figure out your key poses, and time it. Then inbetween and figure out the way in which the character gets from one key to another.
I must admit, I didn't really understand the timing and arcs in animation until I did this assignment. Something just clicked when forced to sit down and draw every frame of the character to get the transitions correct.
Many new trailers have been released most recently for some of the latest animations coming to the theaters. Pixar's Up, Dreamworks's Monsters vs Aliens, and Disney's Bolt, all look like very interesting features with some great characters. Here are some links to the trailers below:
I feel like Jerry Seinfeld here, but I'm a little curious on why every new 3D animation being produced is made for a 3D viewing experience. My assumptions are either it makes more money in the box office this way, companies are trying to stick with this new trend, or it really does enhance the viewers experience. Personally, I first saw one of these new 3D films when Monster House came out, and the way objects jumped out at you was very interesting. But why can't good animation be enough for an audience? I did enjoy Monster House in it's story and particularly it's characters. It would have been just as successful without the 3D viewing experience, but still both Disney's Bolt and Dreamworks's Monsters VS Aliens are pushing for this new trend in animation.
There is an interesting post on /film by Peter Sciretta about this new trend.
"Katzenberg explained that filmmaking has been through two great revolutions, the first being the transition from silent film to talkies, and the second being the transition from black and white to color. He insists that 3D is the next great revolution."
“The movie theater experience has not been innovated in any meaningful way in decades. Meanwhile, the home experience with the big flat screen tvs and surround sound, blu-ray and everything else has just become amazing. So one experience has stood still while the other has continued to rise up.”
Movie attendance continues to fall as the popularity of the home theater and on demand movie watching builds. This leads us to Katzenberg’s passionate plea to keep the movie theater experience alive.
Our last assignment was to have a character walk across screen and then run back in the opposite direction. We've all done walk cycles and runs before, but I think it is helpful to try this one by hand, because when you do go back into 3D it makes so much more sense.
Hey y'all, sorry for not posting in such a long time, but it's quite busy down here at SCAD. I just finished my fifteen page research paper on Social Values reflected through animation.
Here is the next assignment we did after the sliding seaweed. It is a side stepping character and there is a focus on transfer of weight, follow through, and drag. See if you can see the connection between the two assignments. [Note: Side-Step assignment is good but pretty hard to get it right]
Yes another post about drawing. I am waiting in our animation building waiting for the figure drawing session to start. However, I can't stress enough the importance of figure drawing. Learn your anatomy, work with lines of action, poses, and simply pick up the pencil and do it. All you really need to do is one sketchbook page a day (15-20 min.) and I promise you will see results over time. Especially for those who want to be animators, learn figure drawing, because it is the bases for everything you need for animation. [Weight, line of action, pose... the works]
In addition, here is yet another fine text written for animators. It really is a good resource for strengthening weight in poses, along with lines of action.
Our last assignment in ANIM I was to create a piece of seaweed sliding across the page, settling, then sliding back to its starting position, and then getting it to loop. It was somewhat of a tedious assignment, but overall one that I enjoyed. The main principles that we looked at were the drag on an object when it goes from rest to in motion, as well as the concept of it briefly remaining in motion and coming to rest (which we would refer to as follow through and overlapping action). Here is the piece that I did. It really is an important concept and I will hopefully show you how to apply it within our next assignment that I'm working on.
Sorry for not posting for awhile, but I wanted to share that we had the privilege of seeing the Animation Show of Shows last night. Ron Diamond, an executive at ACME Filmworks and the man who started AWN was here to present it last night. Apparently he has been doing this for ten years now and it has been a big success. He felt that many animators working within the industry never got to see any of the outside shorts that were being produced and displayed in competitions worldwide. So, each year he puts together a compilation of the best animated shorts within the past 1-2 years. He said that he even turns down shorts from studios like Pixar and Disney... Anyway, it was a great show with many interesting works. Here are the films that were shown last night.
If you get a chance look some up (probably on youtube) and see for yourself. I feel as an animator it's always good to know about current animations that are successfully created. [ Also, they were selling DVDs and box sets from previous years which I think you can order online so if you're interested I'm sure you can buy some of these animations for your own library collection ]
My current assignment is to work on a wave cycle. Basically focusing on overlapping action and follow thru. It's a fairly simple assignment, but is KEY in creating fluid animations. Our assignment was to sketch 10 pgs in our sketchbook of wavy lines and any examples were there is a waving movement. Then we have to choose one to animate. The simplest one is a blade of seaweed that waves back and forth and get it to cycle.
For better and illustrated examples of this principle refer to pages 301-302 in the Animator's Survival Kit.
There is good source that my professor referenced for us and his name is Michel Gange. Check out his site at http://www.gagneint.com/
Here is one of his works that I'm sure you have seen and I am really fond of. Michel actually is really talented at creating hand drawn effects which can be very fun to play with. Now a days, we have all of these programs to do fancy particle effects, but I really dislike them and think they're rather cheesy. However, in the good old days they had to create these effects by hand, and I feel there is a wonderful aesthetic to these unique creations. Check out Michel's Film Prelude to Eden.
So check out these sources and when I get the chance I'll add to this post with the work I did and some examples of how to draw such an assignment.
I also wanted to share with everyone this clip that I found in the forum for this month's eleven second club competition. I find it very refreshing that this individual filmed himself as reference footage, and you totally get a better sense of character and what is going on the scene while watching it. My suggestion to you is to go and watch some of the other works in progress and see some of the subtleties that are missing and that you can clearly see in this reference footage.
I want to add that by diving into the characters within the scene, filming ourselves in their positions, and then referencing our footage, we can all make our animations that much stronger. This clip definitively pushes me to work with these methods in my work too.
Unfortunately, the quarter system is much rougher and I can already feel it catching up to me. This week we continued with the ball bouncing exercises, but this time we had to do it in perspective. I chose to have the ball go back into space, but if YOU are up for a challenge, try getting one to come towards the camera; it is much more difficult! So here is my perspective piece in progress.
This week was also interesting in that I went to my first figure drawing session today and it was so worth it. If I've said it once I'll say it again. DRAW DRAW DRAW DRAW and DRAW!!! Here is a quick sketch dump of some of the gestures I worked on today.
Anyway, those are my most recent activities. Next week = Overlapping action.
The post will hopefully be the first of many where I can document what exactly I'm learning here at SCAD.
In review of my first week here I have simply come up with one conclusion and that is:
One of my assignments in ANM 202 is to completely fill a sketchbook by the end of one quarter, which averages out to 10 pages a week. Sometimes it's almost beneficial to doodle and sketch in class NOW. Unfortunately, at times it feels like a burden and you have to force yourself to do it, but in the long run you will definitely come out on top. Richard Williams, the author of The Animators Survival Kit, says that computer animators don't need as good of drawing skills, but the best of them do. My friend and I went to the traveling bodies exhibit awhile back and we sketched there for 4 hours and I must say I learned a lot and gained so much from it. So make a day of it, grab a sketchbook and friend and go draw stuff!
Also, one of our very first assignments is to do a hand drawn ball bounce. I can not emphasize the importance in this enough. If you don't understand the timing and spacing then you need to go back to the fundamentals. Not understanding the principles of a ball bounce is like racing a car without wheels. You can pretend your going somewhere, but without the basic parts your not going to get past go. Here are the two that I animated.
I found the light ball to be the most difficult, because I was constantly guessing how high it would go the next time, how far, and how many frames to draw within each consecutive arch. I feel that the heavy ball is much easier.
However, when doing it on the computer the same principles apply, but the work flow is a little different. I believe my friend Jacob Gardner best explains it in his blog here.
Anyways, that is what I have learned from week one here at SCAD. That's all for now.
For those who follow this blog I apologize for not posting in awhile, but it has been a long summer and I am finally back to work at school doing exactly what I love most.
Here are a few things I think everyone should look forward to. The first is the film Monsters VS. Aliens which has a very unique look from that of Pixar's films and in my opinion gives Dreamworks it's own distinctive signature.
The other news is the release of The Animation Show 4 which is yet again a great selection of various animated shorts.
Anyways, that is the latest news for me. Keep reading for additional posts on animation and what I'm learning here at SCAD.
So, a lot of people think that the world of 2D animation is dead, but I would have to disagree. I personally still love to watch those wonderful Saturday morning cartoons. Granted, some of them are not all that great, but the really good ones are rich with character, story and kinematics. This semester I have broken into the realm of 2D animation on my own, and I have learned a great deal about animation in general. I am currently working on an animation that combines after effects animation and flash drawings, but unfortunately I think this one will be filed under learning experiences and hopefully never shown again.
Anyway, here are some of the conclusions that I have discovered throughout my research into the realm of 2D. LEARN HOW TO DRAW!!! This is what it boils down to, and unfortunately I finally discovered it in my Senior year right when I'm about to graduate (ironic... I know). While reading the Illusion of Life (a must have for animators) and searching online I realized that this is what made the animators at Disney so successful. These guys would come into work after hours to have drawings sessions. One name in particular comes into mind and I think he is living proof of a successful animator. His name is Glen Keane and he animated the Beast on Disney's Beauty and the Beast. This guy can definitely draw, and I highly suggest looking up some of his videos on youtube. In one of these videos he mentions Burne Hogarth who has many fantastic books on drawing (highly recommended). Even one of my friends who currently works at Dreamworks says that the guys there really know how to draw and there sketches simply blow him away. I think that this is such an important skill that is overlooked in animation these days. What it boils down to is this: If you can draw good figures, pose, gesture, expressions.... then you can animate it (both 2D and 3D). I feel that by learning how to draw it well, I can then visualize it better even while working in 3D animation.
So after all of that, I say to you successful animation = good drawing skills. Here are a few videos I found online that I think show some really good 2D animation.
This is what I have found out, so good luck to all who read this and happy animating!
My dear friend Paul Jarvis is reconstructing his site and for now he has this posted with on of his characters on it. Personally it cracks me up. Check it out here.
I did this short little animation test the other night just for the fun of it. It actually only took about and hour and a half, but I like how it turned out. I might go back and rework it (time permitting), but for not I'd like to so do what you like and happy animating!!!
So, I have been working on a 32 page children's book this semester and here is the somewhat finished version. The final has minor alterations here and there. And... a copy of it can be purchased at Lulu.com ;-). Anyways, I had a lot of fun creating it and basically worked my tail off to finish it in time. I am hoping that someone might want to publish it, but I also am a realize and know that sometimes it's nice to dream. Enjoy!
Here is an illustration I worked on for an independent study and the assignment was randomly chosen character, scenery, and time period. The whole idea is that you will end up with certain elements that don't connect too well and you have to somehow make it work. I ended up with a muppet, in a broom closet, in the 1600's. So here is what I ended up with...
Here is my entry for Feb. 11 second club competition. It turned out much better than last months as far as the animation is concerned... hope you enjoy.
This is more of my drawing studies with the story I'm writing. Here are some drawings that I later went over with pen and ink which I have found to be a fun medium to work with simple for the line variance and the heavy contrast.
This is the most recent design that I am working on. It actually ties in with the storybook that I am working on in another class. The story deals with a boy in middle school who is struggling during the awkward pre-teen years. The time when kids can be really mean, only his imaginary friend from when he was a kid comes back to help him out. Even the imaginary friend, Ferret, is older now yet he is still there when the boy, Hal, needs him the most. The image is suppose to have an oriental feel to it with the style and brush strokes. It has a certain flow to it, hence the water, and yet it represents the bond and connection between these two characters.
Here is the working progress of the image. I will post the final when it is done, and any feedback comments would be great.
I was always biased against illustrator and the type of work you can produce with it, however, I tapped into it last semester and started to work up some t-shirt designs. A friend and I worked on a shirt to sell for our Computer Art Club and it was actually a lot of fun. I then went ahead to produced another one to represent our club; so here are those two designs.
Recently I took a moment to go through the basics. Here is a ball bounce that I did the other weekend just to go back and try to remember and capture the basic principles in animation.
This is a site that a friend of mine stumbled across a year ago and I absolutely love the animation and the style that they do it in. It really captures that urban lifestyle well. Their is also a wide types of animation in their intro real with a very different approach, especially for the one walk cycle that they feature. Anyway check out Style 5 Animation.
This particular animation was created for the January compition for the 11 second club. If you don't know what the 11 second club is it's a competition for animators. Each month a new voice clip is posted for everyone to animate to and at the end all are voted on and the best one wins. Anyways, if you are interested check out their site. Here is my entry, hope you like it and any feedback at all is more than welcome.
This is one of these most amazing sites that I have found for animation references. There is a lot of music and videos and commercials with animation listed on this site. It is absolutely amazing how often we see animation in our daily lives and I think this site has some fantastic examples with various forms and styles of animation.
As of recent, I have enjoyed reading other blogs about animation, like Keith Lango's and others too. Therefore, I have decided to change my blog around here and turn it into more of a generic blog about animation. Here I will post not only my current work, but also links to other animations that I find inspiring and beneficial to watch. Hope you enjoy what you see and keep animating.
