What Do You Like about Supervising and What Do You Miss from Being an Animator?

At Sony, I get to do both! For Spider-Man 3 and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I was a sequence lead who manages a team but I also animate shots. Perfect! Supervising can be a very rewarding experience. I really enjoy working with the junior animators and watching them grow over the course of the show and I also take a lot of pride in shepherding a sequence through the animation department. I guess you can say it’s the best of both worlds.

Chris Williams

Would It Be Wrong to Ask an Employer if I Could Use a Shot That I Have Completed for My Demo Reel, When the Film Has Not Been Released Yet?

This is a really common situation that I know a lot of you are dealing with, and is especially frustrating if you are newer to the industry, which may mean that this rule that many studios have is preventing you from including your own professional experience on your demo reel.

My advice would be to ask your supervisors or the studio if you can use the footage. Many studios will simply not allow this, but others will be willing to compromise and let you use unrendered footage, or possibly rendered footage without the audio track. Of course, neither is ideal, but either is certainly better than nothing.

I know that some people won't include "non-allowed" footage on the demo reels that they mail out to companies, or their online reels, but have a special top-secret version of their reel that they bring to interviews to show in person. These reels contain the footage they aren't technically allowed to share, and the idea is that they don't leave that reel with the studio - only show it in one-on-one situations.

I've heard of this, but would be hesitant to recommend it, as it could potentially get you into trouble. There's a chance that the studio you are interviewing with will be unimpressed by your lack of loyalty to your previous studio's requests, and if they get the impression that you would do the same to them, it may hurt your chances of getting that job.

Most of the studios out there are more than familiar with this dilemma, and usually there is no solution but to wait for your movie to come out on DVD, the show to premiere on TV, or the game to be released. At that point, most studios allow you to use your footage on your demo reel.

In the meantime, your best bet is to be honest about your contribution to your previous project, provide references whenever possible who may vouch for your work, and if you feel like your demo reel isn't fully representing your abilities, then assign yourself a shot and animate it at home, and show off your most up-to-date best efforts!

Hope that helps. Sorry there isn't a good solution for this...

Shawn :)

The New Animation Mentor Badges Are Here!

Animation Mentor Fans,

We’ve created something special that we want to share with our Animation Mentor friends: Official Animation Mentor badges. The badges can be posted on your blog, website and social media sites and will show your Animation Mentor spirit!

Show your animation Mentor spirit by posting these badges on your site. The badges come in two sizes: 150 x 150 pixels and 100x 100 pixels.

Get them here: http://www.animationmentor.com/fans/badges

We’re excited to check out your Animation Mentor spirit on your blogs and sites!!

What is the Importance of Teamwork in Animation and What Makes a Most Effective Team?

Teamwork is crucial. We wouldn’t be able to get these movies done if you couldn’t rely on everyone to help out. Speaking as a supervisor, I definitely appreciate when an animator is as enthusiastic to help out on background characters as they are on doing their own shot. Your co-workers appreciate it too and one day they’ll help you out and return the favor.

In terms of efficiency, there’s definitely a balance between working to people’s strengths and what they ultimately want to do on a show. For example, if an animator is very good at complex physical animation, I’ll obviously want to throw those kinds of shots their way. They’ll be able to knock them out of the park quickly and I’ll know that the quality will be there. But if they really want to try out some subtle acting, it’s important to recognize that and allow them the opportunity. Seeing someone’s face light up when they get a shot that challenges them and inspires them goes a long way on a hard production schedule. I know it might take them a little longer then someone who specializes in that particular style, but they make up for it with their enthusiasm. Making sure I give my team those opportunities is one way I can help foster teamwork and efficiency. If everyone’s in a good mood, everyone works hard. Makes sense right?

Guest Blogger Chris Williams

How Do I Address a Change That Was Made to My Animation (by a Fellow Animator) Without Looking Like I Have a Big Ego?

Hmm - that's a tough situation. I wanted to answer this on the blog, because I'm curious if anyone else out there has had something like this happen to them. I've certainly heard of more senior animators changing the animation that someone junior may have done, or a lead or supervisor fixing up a shot late at night at the last minute (although most companies and animators in leadership roles certainly try to avoid this whenever possible, for obvious morale reasons), but if you mean that a fellow animator who isn't "above" you in the company randomly decided to change your animation overnight - well, that's just bizarre and plain old rude!

My advice would be to ask the animator in a very professional and polite way what happened, because most likely there is some misunderstanding going on, and more likely than not, someone probably asked him to make the change. If that isn't the case, though, then I don't think it's egotistical for you to follow up and find out what happened or why it was changed - even though you're doing commercial work, it's still your art someone is monkeying with, and they should have some kind of good reason to be fiddling with your stuff if they aren't supervising you.

This sort of situation is a good example that we can all learn from. If you're working at a company, then you are part of a TEAM, and you need to not only treat each other with professional courtesy and respect, but you need to treat the project and work with a bit of reverence. We're all pouring our hearts and sweat and souls into our shots, and we need to keep that in mind whenever we're giving feedback, constructive criticism, or deciding whether or not to change someone else's work without telling them. (Hint: don't do that unless you want to hurt feelings, anger people, and tank the morale of the whole team!)

Well, hopefully you're just stuck in a misunderstanding, but I think you're well within your rights to at least ask to be told when something in your shot is going to be changed by a peer. If it's someone in a supervisory role, though, then my advice would be to express to them that you wished you had had a chance to make the change yourself, but leave it at that. Sometimes being part of a team means being willing to let someone else finish your shot if it's for the good of the project, and if a supervisor decided he wanted to tweak your shot, he or she probably had a good reason for it that you just might not be aware of.

-Shawn

Free Webinar Replay Celebrates the Life of Walt Stanchfield

Animation Mentor recently hosted a free webinar ‘Passing on the Legacy: The Power of Mentorship.’ The webinar featured a live conversation between Animation Mentor CEO Bobby Beck and Disney Animation Producer Don Hahn about Walt Stanchfield, a well-known animator who mentored an entire generation of Disney animators. Famous for gesture drawing, he taught weekly drawing classes at Disney Animation for many years.

For the first time, these lessons have been collected in two illustrated books edited by Don Hahn. The books are titled Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Classes. If you missed the webinar, you can watch a replay of the discussion about the life, work and teachings of Disney legend Walt Stanchfield by going here:
http://www.animationmentor.com/webinar/index.htm

Let us know what you think!

What Is the Most Valuable Principle of Animation in Your Opinion? How Do You Apply It on the Job?

Starting off with a tough question! I pretty much use every single one of them so choosing just one is a challenge. I think for students, it’s very important to get your arcs correct as soon as you can. Something like a bouncing ball falls apart if the path of the ball has pops in it. If you are animating a character performance, and you don’t manage the arc of that left arm for example, a pop in its arc will draw the eye and take the audience off of the true focal point of the shot. But if I based it on my most recent show, I’d probably have to go with slow ins and slow outs. Why would I pick that one? Well, we were referencing a lot of very stylized animation and if you watch any UPA shorts, you’ll see there are fast transitions and static holds all the way through. We found that long static holds that were successful in 2D animation just didn’t work as well for 3D, so we animated micro slow ins and outs of the held poses. Three or four frames of padding meant you could still feel the character was alive, but be true to the limited style we were referencing.

Guest Blogger Chris Williams

How Much Detail Should I Include in My Thumbnails? Should I Draw the Beat, Balance, and Character Movements and ALL of the Breakdown Poses?

Hi Angga!

For your thumbnails, which - if you're still newer to animation and are in your first five or six years of learning - should definitely be based off of solid video reference, I'd recommend using a VERY simple character (a stick-man is just fine - just make sure it shows the angle of the hips, the angle of the shoulders, the limbs, and the head direction) and drawing all of your key poses and breakdowns.

Study your reference carefully, and make a note and/or drawing of any moment that has a change in direction for the character or a weight shift or important gesture. Animation is so complex, and ignoring a footstep here or a weight-shift there can throw off all the body mechanics in your scene, so be careful to include anything important in your thumbnails!

I don't draw thumbnails for *every* breakdown, though. I won't draw a new thumbnail breakdown for a blink or a minor eye dart, for example, instead I'll just make a note of it on my planning sheets that I'll want a blink at frame 53 or some quick frantic eye darts at 102, or whatever. That's totally fine - the important thing is that you know exactly what you're going to animate before you sit down at the computer. As long as you feel confident that you are prepared, notes are just as good for that sort of thing.

For the major body moves, however, drawings will be much more helpful. And even if you aren't the best artist in the world, drawing him leaning over his left foot is going to be a lot faster than describing in notes all the different things that happen in the body when someone leans over their left foot.

Last, I want to recommend a great book for this stuff called Simplified Drawing for Animation Planning by Wayne Gilbert. Wayne's book is invaluable for this stuff, and actually covers a LOT more than just thumbnailing - check it out at: http://anamie.com/anamie_buy_now.html

Hope that helps! Thanks for coming by, Angga!

Shawn :)

What Is the Best Way to Go about Animating Walks?

Many animators agree that animating a walk is one of the hardest things to do in animation. Not only do you have to make sure the character’s body mechanics are all working properly together, you must also make sure you imbue the walk with as much personality as possible so that the audience clearly reads their personality.

To successfully animate a walk, one must first analyze the character’s state of mind. This will greatly affect the way the character will carry himself. A depressed guy will move completely different than someone who has just won the lottery, for example. Once you know WHAT your character is thinking within the context of a shot, it becomes very easy to see HOW that character will move. Now, it’s up to you as the animator to act out the walk and see what makes it tick.

A good way to start is by filming yourself and analyzing what it is about the walk that makes it so distinctive. Frame through the footage to get a better feel for your timing. I’ve found that watching video reference in conjunction with thumbnailing your major keys and taking notes about timing is a great combination to achieving a successful walk.

Beware of sticking too closely to the video footage, though. Animation is about exaggeration! Take your keys and really push them. Go for BELIEVABILITY over REALISM. Sell the weight and push your poses to the next level.

Once I finish thumbnailing, I usually proceed to block out my keys (ups and downs), being careful to include the contact positions for the legs so that I know the character’s stride length. I usually stay in stepped/held mode as I add in more keys and breakdowns, constantly going back and forth from key to key, feeling things out and making any necessary adjustments to my timing and animation.

After I get the general feel of the walk working in my blocking, I then begin to spline my animation. I first isolate the root by hiding the other parts of the body such as the head, neck, arms and legs. Since the root drives everything, I try to make sure it retains the timing and overall feel I gave it in my blocking pass while concurrently striving to push my poses wherever I can.

Just a few last things to keep in mind:

-Make sure your character takes time to gain speed or slow down. Use slow-ins and slow-outs to give your character weight.

-You can simplify the ups and downs of the walk by treating the root like a bouncing ball. Pull the handles on the top of your spline to give it that nice bell shape. This of course is not a formula and each walk must be treated appropriately but it’s a good way of avoiding your animation from getting too mushy.

-Make sure to plant the character’s feet once it hits the ground. Nothing destroys the illusion of a walk quicker than sliding feet!

-Lastly, remember to keep the character’s state of mind first and let that dictate the walk.

Guest Blogger Chris Chua

How Do You Plan a Great Fight Scene with Weapons?

Hi Yatin!

That's a tough question because it is so specific to the situation at hand. It depends on the characters, the fighting style, the animation style, and what weapons you're given to work with.


However, here's some quick fight tips:

1) If there is any rule for planning a fight scene, it's that the fight scene needs to eventually look like it wasn't planned!

Fights are chaotic and messy, and maybe it's just my personal preference, but the more choreographed a fight looks, the more bored I am watching it. As an animator, fight scenes are the one place where we have a terrific advantage over our real-life actor counterparts! Actors must work closely with their fight choreographer and rehearse their fight over and over in order to try to create something that doesn't look *too* staged, but also doesn't result in anyone actually getting hurt. Inevitably, the vast majority of these scenes DO feel like two people trying to hit their marks and not injure each other.

As an animator, you don't have to worry about any of that, and can actually create something that has the ferocity and "messiness" of a real battle! To me, this is one of the single most exciting and fun things about animation, so I'm always extra disappointed when I see a fight scene on a demo reel or in a show or film that feels needlessly choreographed.

2) Reference!

Yeah, yeah - I know I'm beating a dead horse with the reference thing, but if you're planning a fight scene, it's one of the most important steps.

My advice would first be to watch and absorb as much footage as you can of actual people using the actual fighting style you will be employing. Actors are generally not the best to look at in these situations, and I'd especially avoid any "wire-fu" or footage of people doing wirework to pull off their moves (such as Crouching Tiger, etc) because it throws the physics off so badly and looks so weightless (though some of the sword-fighting, for example, in Crouching Tiger might be terrific reference!). Instead, my advice would be to watch some mixed martial arts such as UFC or some Thai Kickboxing or things of that sort. Look for moves you can use in your scene, but at first, just watch and absorb. Maybe go to a gym and watch some fighters and get an idea of how quickly they move, or how their feet move when they punch, etc.

Once you feel like you're getting the hang of the style you're looking to recreate or stylize, then you want to spend some time figuring out your actual scene or scenes. How much time do you have to work with? How many frames per shot? How many shots? How many characters? Who will win? How?

Once you have that stuff nailed down, THEN you can start looking for shot-specific reference that can inform the blocking of the scene and help you plan a blow-by-blow choreography.

3) DYNAMIC!

Fights should be dynamic! Stage them and cut them to be exciting, but (if it's for a demo reel) also to show off your animation. If every shot is a close-up of a face getting punched or kicked, that's going to tell recruiters exactly zero about your animation abilities, so pull that camera back and lets see what you can do!

4) My last recommendation, if you're animating the entire sequence of shots, would be to block them all in first before polishing any one of them. Maybe get the whole thing feeling 60-70% done. At that point, you can lock down your camera angles, lock down your edit, and figure out if you are missing any shots, or if the whole fight is clear and making sense. Once you have all that stuff locked down, then you're ready to get in there and polish them up on a shot-by-shot basis!

Hope that helps! Thanks for writing in, Yatin!

Shawn :)

Tips on Anticipation

Anticipation is a really helpful tool that animators can use to make their shots clear and readable. Combined with solid poses and clear silhouettes, it prepares the audience to what is about to happen in your scene. It gives them time to process your character's actions and intentions, thereby making it absolutely clear what the character is doing or thinking.

On another level, anticipation helps to emphasize the physicality of your character. Flesh and blood characters have muscles and need to overcome gravity with each move they make. If you wanted to animate a baseball pitcher throwing a fastball, for example, you would need to have a big wind up (anticipation) pose before going into his throw. If the wind-up is left out of the scene, the physicality, believability and the clarity of the animation would suffer.

As a general rule, the broader an action I'm animating, the bigger the anticipation I put in. I also try to make sure that I incorporate it into my blocking as early as I can to feel out the overall timing and the rhythm of my shot. The advantage of doing this is that it is easier to dial down, delay and adjust it accordingly down the road.

Another thing I try to pay attention to as I flesh out my animation is to delay the various parts of the anticipation so they don't all fall on the same point in time. Try to offset the brows, lids, or a head move to give your character that nice organic quality, even if you are animating something that is really pushed or cartoony. Remember to keep things clear and simple to get the most out of your poses.

The last thing to remember with anticipation is to make sure that it feels natural and not over done. A common mistake is to put in a big anticipation on EVERY action. This will end up giving your character an odd pattern of movement that will distract and unsettle the viewer. Some robotic objects, for example tends to move quite linearly and have very little (if any) anticipation. Similarly, some insects or animals will have quick staccato movements that are inherent in the way they move. Know what you are animating and use anticipation accordingly!

Guest Blogger Chris Chua