How do you take criticism of your work in a professional environment?

You always have to be open to criticism and not fight it. If you're resistant to feedback and changes, then you're slowing down the process. You might disagree with the direction of the shot and the changes that you are being asked to make, but at the end of the day you are doing work for hire. You are being paid to bring someone else's vision to life. So you have to leave your ego at home when you go to work. That, to me, is the bottom line. You don't want to be the guy that goes, "That's stupid feedback, I'm not going to do that."

It's important to remember that it is not YOUR portfolio you're working on, but the DIRECTOR's portfolio (or whoever is calling the shots), but it's really not a common thing to go back to your desk after dailies cursing at your notes. And sometimes you disagree with the feedback but then when you watch the movie, you realize that in the grand scheme of things it was the right choice. It's easy to just focus on your shot and not think about the sequence or the whole movie, but the person in charge has the overview and he or she is more aware of how the whole thing plays out. So you also have to trust the director.

You can absolutely disagree with someone's critique and as long as you bring it up in a polite and constructive way I think it's okay. I wouldn't just say no to the feedback, of course. Try to bring another idea to the table. Try to find another solution instead of just disagreeing.

You should also be aware of the production schedule. If you start a movie, then there is enough time to talk about shots and brainstorm. But if you get a change during crunch time and you're in the final stretch, then it's not really the right moment to start a discussion. Everybody might know that the feedback is not the best, but it's about finishing the movie at that time, so you have to put your thoughts on the backseat. Pick your battles. :)

Guest Blogger Jean-Denis Haas

Animation Masterclass!

Wow, it's been a while since I was able to post something here, but man, has this blog become awesome or what!? It's been so fun to check in and learn from all the amazing animators posting here, so I just want to take a second to give a big thank you to all of the people generously sharing their thoughts on animation here. A huge thank you to all of you who are participating in the comments as well!

So... where have I been? Well, aside from busting my hump at work (just finished up on our first animated feature, Rango, which has been an absolute BLAST), I've spent the last few months refining my ideas and putting together a "Masterclass" that I'll be giving in Malaysia in December. Malaysia's "The One Academy" has kindly invited me to give a 2-day course in animation! I couldn't be more honored to have been invited, and I couldn't be more excited to share the talk I've been working on.

Which brings me to why I'm interrupting our regularly-scheduled animation awesomeness on this blog...

I'm really hoping to get to meet as many of you as possible while I'm over there, and wanted to let you know about the course in case you're able to attend. We'll basically be spending the first day going over body mechanics and physical actions, and the second day will be nonstop performance/acting stuff. It's been so cool to sit down and take the time to think even more deeply about this stuff than I have in the past.

I have a ga-jillion (approximate number) examples for you, and we're also going to be doing some Q&A as well as some live demo reel reviews so we can all have a discussion about what it takes to put together a reel that will stand out to the top studios. I think we'll have a lot of fun really drilling down into the art of animation together!

They're offering a discount to people who are able to sign up before October 29th, so I wanted to help get the word out early in case you're interested...

Here's the link with all the info... click on "Programmes" to read more of a breakdown of what we'll be covering each day. I really hope to see you there!

http://www.toaevents.com/index.html

(Thanks again to The One Academy - I'm so excited to do this course!!)


Guest Blogger Shawn Kelly

What's a Daily? Can You Explain the Process of Animation Dailies?

Dailies are an extremely useful communication tool that serve a multitude of purposes both for the artist and the supervisor/director.

In the broad sense, it's a place for artists to gather, view each other’s work on a large screen, and get feedback from the director. This helps keep the artistic vision consistent and provides a tighter community for the artists. There's really nothing like sitting in a dark room full of brilliant people trashing the work you poured your heart into the day before. Sigh...

Guest Blogger Mark Pullyblank

Can You Tell Us About Your Animation Checklist?

I actually don't have a checklist as such. At this point, I animate kind of in a flow, and I stop when I think it is all feeling good and complete (or when the director/supervisor thinks it's all good and complete). I think at some point the principles of animation and some other acting stuff becomes a second skin. You work with them not exactly “thinking” of them all the time. It's like when I learned how to play the viola (a musical instrument that looks just like a violin, just a bit bigger with a more velvety sound). You learn a million technical things for a long time, but at some point it all becomes natural and you just play without thinking too much. Animation works in a similar way.

That being said, of course there are things I pay special attention to, and I think they have to do with the difference phases of the animation process. When I am working on blocking, my mental checklist is something like: Is the idea clear? Is the character consistent and are his motivations and thought processes coming across clearly? Are the poses solid?

For the poses, I usually check the line of action, silhouette, twinning, balance, asymmetry, and contrast. When blocking, I also pay attention to the rhythm and phrasing of the scene, just like I would with a piece of music.

Then let's say that my blocking was approved, and the scene is going to be taken from blocking to first animation. In this phase, I usually work on my holds and my transitions. Timing, spacing and arcs are areas that I pay special attention to. I make sure the weight shifts read right. Then I start to break things down, adding overlapping and more detail here and there, until everything flows nicely. If it is a character with hands and a face, I block them and on the first pass animation I add more detail – finessing the hand poses, maybe adding a blink here and there, maybe sculpting the important face moments more. This will of course vary a bit – if the shot is a close up, for example, there will be a lot more face work from the get-go on blocking. Anyway, I think you got the idea so far. I would keep working on my transitions and holds, spacing and arcs, weight and fluency, and getting the acting as nailed as possible.

For the polishing phase, if things are going well, that is the time to make all the details come together. I carefully check the lip sync, and work any areas that need a bit more punch, contrast or clarity. Face animation is refined during this time. I refine the hands until they are completely done. I make sure the overlap and flexibility of the character is working properly – things like dangling ears, tails, clothing – it all has to work perfectly. I also check for any intersections and basically “clean the scene” before sending it to the lighters.

The process varies a bit from scene to scene, and depends on the evolution of the shot -- the feedback I am receiving, how the scene is fitting in the cut with the scene that comes before and after, the technical challenges of each particular scene, etc. But I guess what I described above is more or less what goes on in my mind as I work on a shot.

Guest Blogger Raquel Rabbit