How Important Is an Art Background for an Animator Who Is Starting Out?

A great thing about computer animation is that it's given people who didn't think they had the "drawing chops" the opportunity to do what they love. I personally never thought that my drawing skills were good enough to be a 2D animator.

That being said there are so many other aspects of an art background that are intrinsic to being an animator. An understanding of composition, silhouette, positive and negative space...an animator has to have an understanding of these to be able create a believable performance. I would also say that an understanding of music helps an animator as well. Performances and actions feel a lot like music with changes in rhythm and tempo. Most animators I know play at least one musical instrument.

Guest Blogger Matthew Russell

If You've Finished a Scene and Your Client Says They Don’t Like It, Do You Start Over?

One thing to remember is no matter what kind of work you're doing, you're doing it for a client. Be it your animation director or a company paying you for your freelance work. The first thing I do is find out "what" they don't like. If the client is an animation director or the film/show director they should be able to verbalize what it is they don't like.

Unfortunately, in a lot of freelance work the client may not know exactly what it is they don't like. Working with them to try and nail down a clear idea of what they don't like about the work can save a lot of time and effort on the back end. Sometimes it's can be a simple fix and sometimes it's not. If it's not, then you salvage what you can and go from there. Animators are artists but when someone else is footing the bill then we become "hired guns" and in the end that means doing what needs to be done to make the client happy.

Guest blogger Matthew Russell

Why Don't We Teach More Styles of Animation?

Hi everyone!

Wow, can you believe yet another year has gone by? And what a year it's been! We've seen so many amazing animated projects this year, from feature films (including major stop-motion AND hand-drawn releases!) to TV to some incredible videogames. The school has continued to not only be a personal passion for me, but has evolved into the most inspiring thing I've ever been a part of. The newsletter is cooler than ever, and our Tips and Tricks blog is jam-packed with amazing contributors and great feedback from the community!

It seems like just yesterday I was trying to decide what my first newsletter article should be about, and here we are, five years and 50 billion words later (sorry), and animation remains just as deep and endlessly interesting as ever for me. Hopefully, you feel that way too!

So – if you're up for celebrating yet another year of these articles with me, here's the plan. Grab a snack, whip up a Bacardi Anejo & Coke (mmm), and clink your glass against the screen for a virtual celebratory toast!

I got a great question via the blog from someone who is a big Animation Mentor fan, but has some legitimate concerns and questions that I felt were worth addressing, so if you're up for another way-too-long Kelly article, take a big gulp of your drink and let's dive in!

Does Animation Mentor run the risk of homogenizing online animation education, or even animation education in general? You would have to concede that AM has become a huge presence when it comes to the online animation scene. And while I appreciate that the tutors come from a broad range of backgrounds (if different feature studios could be called a broad range), the information does all come through a similar set of channels and systems. In spite of the diversity it is fair to say that an AM student generally create animation with a recognizable feel to it, and I don't just mean because we all know what the rigs look like, I'm talking about the posing, timing and spacing etc. Some might argue that its just "good" or "better" animating, but I'm afraid I don't accept that, I've been around long enough to know that there are so many different ways of approaching animation and many different kinds of movement that can be considered appealing.

Great question, right?

I'll be the first to say that there are many appealing and fun styles of animation, and none is more artistically valuable than any other. While the most experimental or stream-of-consciousness styles of animation may not have much demand in the workplace (as they don't tend to be as focused on storytelling, performance, and often aren't even character-based), the art behind those abstract styles is certainly beautiful and can even be moving.

So I think it's a valid question to ask: Why do we focus on teaching the style of animation we do?

Well, I'll say this: We're here to help people get jobs. That's it. That's our mission. Our entire school is based around the goal of giving our graduates the best possible chance at competing for the top animation jobs in the world. The type of animation we teach is by far the dominant and most popular "style" of animation out there today. We teach the range of styles found in nearly every modern animated project I can think of from popular culture, from Snow White to Lilo & Stitch, from Harryhausen to Transformers, from Zelda to Assassin's Creed to any iPhone game featuring a moving character – all of these and everything in between falls within the curriculum we teach at Animation Mentor.

We teach what is classically considered "character animation," and we keep our focus as tight as possible in order for our students to get the maximum bang for their buck in the shortest possible amount of time. I agree that teaching other styles could broaden some minds and expose students to more abstract artistic approaches, but in the end, it comes down to what they want from their education.

If their goal is to work at a big animation studio, then the abstract stuff would be an expensive distraction and a waste of their time. The cold truth is that 99% of the studios out there, regardless of medium, are not looking for demo reels filled with explosions of colors flying around or short films that they don't understand. They're looking for reels filled with personality, entertaining animation choices, rock-solid body mechanics, and clear emotional performances.

So that's exactly what we teach.

The principles of animation that we teach at Animation Mentor transcend style or medium. They are applicable to the wackiest of characters and to the most underplayed performance. The exaggeration or under exaggeration of these principles is what results in the zany Looney Tunes characters, the fantastical Miyazaki characters, the more subtle Disney characters, the exaggerated motions of some European characters, and the life-like performance of a character like Davy Jones. All of these styles are done by animators employing the exact same set of principles and skills, simply using them in slightly different amounts.

It's like you have a huge set of ingredients, and you can mix and match all of them in order to create any style of animation. While some may be more tasty than the others, it's the ingredients we teach, and the particular studios and projects themselves are the chefs demanding any given recipe. And those recipes often change at least somewhat from one project to the next!

As such, we encourage our students to work in a "recipe" that is the most broadly appealing and commonly used recipe out there. (Once again, if the goal is to get a job, your demo reel better show a style of animation that makes it clear to recruiters that you know all the ingredients that go into the recipe). This style we encourage lives somewhere between ILM and Disney, but it's a nice balance that shows recruiters that the animator has the chops to handle any style.

However, that said, we don't force animators to work in any particular style. It is up to them to choose the style they would like to work in. Many of our international students choose to work in a style that is found more locally to them, and we certainly encourage that. In most cases, their first animation jobs will likely be local to where they live, and we want them to have the best possible chance at landing that animation job!

I do have to disagree with your premise that there is no "good" animation or "bad" animation. I believe that there are certainly varying styles of animation, and that "bad" animation in one style could be "good" animation in another (or vice versa. Try putting Mr. Incredible into Transformers and he's going to stand out like a sore thumb. Or go ahead and put Optimus Prime into The Incredibles – he's going to look stiff and lifeless! However, if you are talking about animation that a hopeful job applicant is going to put onto a demo reel, there is absolutely "good" and "bad" animation.

You are almost never going to be standing next to a recruiter as they review your work, so there will be no opportunity to say, "I know that looks kind of weird, but I made the character off balance on purpose to subtly emphasize their emotional imbalance." Nope. They'll see the character's balance is "wrong," and toss your reel in the "no thanks" pile.

Even if that studio miraculously happened to be crewing up for a film that actually featured a character that is off balance, I *still* think that this demo reel would be denied because they would still simply assume that you don't know what you're doing.

So, while experimental animation can be fascinating and engaging, and while there is a great diversity of animation styles out there, our school is designed to prepare our graduates for the type of animation that studios are actually recruiting for.

We're here to help them get their dream jobs, and what we've found is this: If you take some of the brightest animators in the world and have them mentor and prepare students at the highest possible level, then no matter what studio or medium they end up working in, they will be ready to hit the ground running and excel.

As for your other question of whether or not I feel that we are running the risk of changing animation education in general, I sure hope so!

Too many students at too many schools are throwing their money away on educational programs that are not preparing them in any way for today's high-level job market. In some cases, we're talking about students losing US$100,000 or more, which really makes me angry considering the shockingly small amount of actual animation instruction they received for that amount of money, and the sad state of the demo reels they leave their schools with.

Sure, there are very few experimental abstract animators out there who are happy to pay for a non-traditional animation education, knowing full well that while they may not be truly trained to work in today's animation industry, because they will be pursuing a personal artistic endeavor instead. I think that is fantastic, and will be eager to see what these artists create in the coming years. However, the people that can afford to pursue a style of art that will at best severely limit their job options, are few and far between, and are just not the students that are interested in attending Animation Mentor.

Experimental and abstract animation is a worthy pursuit, but Animation Mentor is not a hobbyist school. We aren't here to teach people who are casually interested in animating in their spare time to create pieces they only show to their moms or submit to the occasional film festival. There's NOTHING wrong with that, but that just isn't what we're here for, and it isn't what our students are paying for.

We're here to teach people who have a passion to reach Disney or ILM or Valve. We're a serious school teaching serious students, and I just don't think it'd be right to slow down their education by distracting them with types of animation that there is sadly little demand for in the job market.

I'd encourage any student to pursue any art or style or medium of animation that interests them, but for us to force our students to spend a single day on something that doesn't take them a step closer to their dream job is just something that I think is fundamentally wrong, even immoral! We would be sinking to the level of the schools who are only in it for the money, and it would make us no better than these schools that we are specifically trying to be a positive alternative to.

Thanks again for the great question! I love that you guys all care so much about not only our school, but about this amazing art in general!

Shawn :)

Do You Have Ideas to Speed Up Your Work? How Do You Decide When to Sketch Things Out?

The one thing that is always key in my work flow is preparation...thumbnails, rough sketches, video reference. Taking the extra little bit of time to think through the shot or action needed saves tons of time on the back end when you're keying.

For me it's quicker to sketch out simple shapes to test silhouettes, line of action and reversals then trying to jump right in to the software. I don't use an exposure sheet but I do time out my actions so I have that written down along with my thumbnails. I go in and make notes on how I want the arcs to move in my transitions. Once I have this basic blue print I can go in and make a straight on pass. I try not to worry about editing myself until I'm done with this first pass and can take a look at it as a whole.

Guest Blogger Matthew Russell

What Makes a Good and Honest Animator

Critiques & Opinions

Often in animation we are subjected to critiques -- most likely daily. I try to impress on my students the importance of learning all the principals of animation, but temper it with a bit of realism. It's a simple fact that everyone has an opinion, and no matter how good you are or how long you've been working there is always something new to learn. So seek out criticism, or take any thrown your way. Take what everyone says... Weigh it against what you've learned up to that point, and if a particular problem, or complement keeps cropping up, there must be some truth too it.

I’m sure we've all met someone who isn't crazy about our work for one reason or another.... but that doesn't mean you can't get something from their opinion. It's kinda like learning to fight... The more you mess up, the more you learn what not to do.

Animation is an art form, and as artists we all have our own sense of aesthetics. Don't take criticism as a punch to the gut -- most likely it isn't personal. Strive to do your best work, and remember it isn't your show/game. You are providing a service. If a director wants something, and you think it’s a bad decision or a problem, make it known to your supervisor or animation director, but don't fight it. If they elect to follow your opinion great, you’re a hero for pointing it out. If not don't latch on like a pit bull, leave it at that and do the best you can given the constraints. I think that makes a good honest animator: you are showing that you recognize issues, care about your work, and confront them head on, but are still a team player.

Technique

As a student learning animation, which most of us are until the day we kick the big one, we meet lots of other people doing the same work...yet everyone seems to have their own flavor of "How to do it?" What I like to do personally, and also tell my students is, whomever is currently teaching you is who you listen too.

In other words, if you are in school do what any given teacher tells you at that time -- learn what they have to give. When you move on from them, do the same with the next teacher. "But everyone does it differently, won't it get confusing?" Ahhh ...no, what you are doing is focusing on what you have to learn...not looking down the road.

Before you know it, you will have picked up a ton of knowledge and techniques, the next step is deciding what works for you and what doesn't.

This is where each animator, like some home brew from Grannies barn, picks their ingredients and heads off into the world. The only difference in animation is as we work with new director, supervisors, and animators.... we are constantly show different ways of the force. Take that ever-growing list and give it a fair tryout and see if you can incorporate it into your working method. Maybe it speeds you up, maybe it slows you down, maybe your work jumps to that next plateau. It's a simple fact that you will grow, and improve as an animator always but it won't be a simple strait shot to the goal.

Guest blogger David Breaux

How Does an Animation Supervisor of a Big Studio Like ILM, Pixar or Blue Sky Plan the Distribution of the Shots Done by the Animators?

How does an animation supervisor of a big studio like ILM, Pixar or Blue Sky plan the distribution of the shots done by the animators? By sequence, by shots, by continuity shots, by animators's abilities?

This probably depends a lot on the size of the studio, the size of the animation crew, and the diversity of experience levels on that crew. The smaller the studio, the less options available to the supervisor, and the more likely it is that the animators may be thought of as interchangeable artists.

However, you ask about the larger studios, and you're right that it's treated differently.

The larger studios have the luxury of a larger animation crew, probably with a somewhat diverse set of backgrounds and specialties. The process that you're asking about (handing out shots) is often referred to as "casting" at these types of studios, and that's exactly how many of these studios approach the process.

They often view the assignment of animation shots or characters as "casting" those animators in the role that they are most appropriate for. Someone who's shown great comedic timing in the past may be cast to work on a lot of shots that feature comedy relief, for example. Or someone who's shown that they have amazing body mechanics might get cast on a lot of fight scenes.

However, many other factors come into play with casting, and it's rarely as defined and simple as I laid out above. While the goal for any of these larger studios is to use their crew as efficiently as possible, many other factors are considered. Among these would be:

• What the animator is most passionate to work on
• What the schedule and budget allows or forces
• Scene difficulty level vs. animator skill level
• What the surrounding shots are\
• Crunch time
  

These are all important factors, and in any good studio, all would play a role to some degree in the casting of shots.

Near the end of a project, though, crunch time and deadlines increasingly become the deciding factor in crewing a shot or sequence. The project has a deadline, and when it really gets into the final weeks or months of a project, the most important deciding factor in casting becomes availability. Who is free to work on this? If the Supervisor feels that their talent level is sufficient, and they are done with their other shots, they'll probably get thrown onto whatever shot is next in line, regardless of any of the other considerations.

This is totally normal. Many projects at many studios start out by casting long strings of sequential shots to one animator, but by the end, it's natural for the schedule to force a more scatter-shot approach in order to hit the looming deadline.

Shawn :)

How Fast Is a New Junior Animator Expected to Work?

How fast is a new junior animator expected to work? How much would he/she be expected to produce per week?

Junior animators do need to be given time like anyone regardless of experience to get used to a studios pipeline, procedures and rigs. But from a strict animation point of view, I'd say all animators speed are a more or less controlled by the supervisor or animation director. By that I mean they will kick off a shot (describe what needs to happen in the shot) with the animator.

After that the animator blocks the shot and submits for approval in dailies, this could then be approved or sent back for changes....sometimes the animator missed something or misinterpreted what was needed, other times the animation director sees that an idea didn't work as they thought so it just needs a change no fault of the animator at all. Then there are times an animator will do something, it gets approved by the animation director but turned around by the film director....so there are lots of things that can affect how fast a shot moves through the pipes.

After getting blocking approval from the film director, the focus shifts more onto the animators speed to finish a shot. Every day you attend a dailies session where the animation director, or animation supervisor will critique the work to a finer degree, timing, breakdowns, etc., as the animation moved from blocking to temp animation and on to final polished animation. The animators job is to address the fixes pointed out in these dailies sessions, generally if they are small tweaks that can be done by the end of the day depending on what time you have dailies.

Larger fixes can take a day or two... If you have a big change which would usually only happen if there is a direction change from the client or if you are working for a (client) film director who can't judge blocked animation but instead needs to see fully splined animation to make a judgement. It happens.... I've seen it many times.

Guest blogger David Breaux