What Are Some Tips on Creating Effective Key Poses?

A strong line of action through the character would be one of the first things to work into the pose. Avoid the dreaded straight up and down torso, you know, the torso that looks like there is a metal rod going up the spine. Work in C shapes and S shapes, to give some curve and interest to the spine. This will help you start to build weight into the character. Oppose those hips and shoulders, and get some bend in the knee(s), position one shoulder lower or higher than the other. Chances are, if the weight is not working in the pose it won't work once you start splining.

Look for contrast between your poses. Unless the acting is very subtle, the character won't be in the same shape for the shot. Use reversals in shape, as well as moments of compression (squash) and extension (stretch)to add texture.

Remember, the key poses are your main storytelling poses. Be sure that they support the key beats of the shot. They may signify a change in the character's emotional state or a change in posture or screen position. And they must be clear.

Say you wanted to find the keys poses from a scene starring Tom Hanks. You get out your scissors and slice up the film, as doing this to a blue-ray would be extremely hard. Now you search through all the frames looking for the extreme moments that tell the story of what the scene is about. These will be the frames that are the most clear and readable. And most of the time you will probably be looking for the extreme change in facial expression or body posture.

The face is super important, when we go to the movies we aren't watching Woody's left arm. But let us not forget the importance of body language. When I block a scene I key the character from top to bottom, including the facial expression and phoneme. I want the pose to be a complete picture of my intent for that character at that point and time. Often times however, before I add the face I will focus on the body alone. Is the body communicating my intent effectively? If I watch my blocking with no facial animation of any kind...is it working..is it clear? Once your character has strong, clear body language, the facial animation is the icing on the cake.

Guest Blogger Ray Chase

What Should a Young Artist Do to Prepare for the Professional Animation Industry?

With so many blogs and web sites devoted to animation, there is a wealth of information available. I run through my list every morning to stay up to date on the many happenings.

When preparing your reel, it's a good idea to know a bit about the studio to which you are applying. Under the umbrella of the "animation industry" there are studios working in fully animated feature film, television, FX for live action, games and internet. While there may be some cross over, many studios have specific things they look for on a reel.

Speaking of reels. Never, ever, ever put work on your reel that does not belong to you. It seems like common sense, yet I have heard of it happening more than once. It can be quite frustrating to get rejection letters, I know, I have my own pile. But your reel represents who you are and what you can do. To try and pass another animators work off as your own, is fraud. Don’t do it or the animation gods will become most displeased and frown upon you for a thousand years….or even longer.

Once you are at a studio be prepared for “crunch time”, that glorious time when everyone pulls together to finish a project. The length and severity of crunch time will vary by studio and project, but know that it’s rare for a production to go from start to finish without some sort of crunch.

Meeting deadlines is important in all industries and the animation industry is no different. Depending on where your working you may frequently have reasonable deadlines or ones that are not so reasonable. Regardless, you will need to get your work in on time. Being consistently late will certainly put you on the naughty list and who wants that? Practice good time management to help you stay focused. If you have a week to complete a shot figure out when you need to have blocking approved, when you must be splining etc, in order to hit your target date. Having your own mini schedule will keep you on track and make your coordinators very happy.

And finally…upon landing that first gig in the industry, don’t ruin it by being a jerk. People in the professional animation industry like to work with nice, fun, modest people. You don't have to bring in donuts everyday to win over the hearts of your coworkers; although if you want to, I like chocolate. Check any ego at the door, be open to learning, listen, ask questions, have a sense of humor, be respectful of varying points of view, be part of the team. Studios want to foster healthy, positive, team-building environments.

Guest Blogger Ray Chase

Is It Better to Animate Pose to Pose or Straight Ahead?

In my experience it has been useful to use a combination of pose to pose, layered and straight ahead. I use them all!! Shall I explain? Oh yes, I shall. So when beginning a shot I will use pose to pose to map out the performance of the shot. I will use stepped keys to do this so that when the animation plays, it's popping through the poses. This allows me to focus on the key storytelling poses, to create nice silhouettes and to work on contrast.

I think of the pose to pose pass as the comic strip of my shot, telling the story through key images. After establishing my keys I will take another pass adding in breakdowns, all while staying in stepped. I want to make as many decisions as I can in stepped mode so that when I move out of stepped and into spline there is less chaos. Chaos is a noun -- a state of utter confusion or disorder, like when animation is taken out of stepped blocking too soon resulting in mushy movement of virtually everything on the character.

With the shot blocked out and broken down, I change into spline mode (I actually use plateau in Maya) and begin to work in a layered method. I like to work from the inside out, hiding everything on the character except the hips/torso since that is from where, all the movement is driven. Once I'm happy with the hips and torso, I will switch layers perhaps moving to the head or the arms.

Straight ahead animation is usually something I will only do on things like floppy ears, tails or clothing. Here I'm starting on frame 1 and steaming ahead through the shot. Since my straight ahead animation will be driven by the body animation, its super important to get the body working first.

That's how I incorporate all three methods into my work flow. I find my approach to be very efficient, however it may not be the ideal approach for everyone. Developing your own work flow, one that works for you, is an important part of the process.


Guest Blogger Ray Chase

What’s One Step That Is Often Overlooked in Student Animation?

The step I see missed time and again is that students transition out of stepped blocking and into spline too early. What was a nice blocking pass with some strong poses has now turned into a mushy pile of chaos. The poses are still there, but now the character slides and drifts from one pose to the next. Now it is possible to take the goo and mold it into something decent, however it will probably take extra time to do so with a lot of trial and error along the way.

Now, I understand the eagerness. The shot is mapped out...you have your keys....let's get it moving!!! Well slow down there skipper. Blocking IS animating. Take a look at those keys and how much room you have between them. Guess what will happen if you convert to spline now? Yes, that's right -- Maya, the goofball inbetweener, will fill in those gaps for you in the most literal and boring way possible. God bless Maya for wanting to help, but you are better off making those decisions yourself.

Once you have your key poses in blocking, take another pass adding some breakdowns. How will you transition from one pose to the next? Make decisions up front..you can tweak later if you must. The more decisions you can make while in stepped, the less mess you will have to deal with later.

Guest Blogger Ray Chase

What’s the Importance of Clean Blocking? Can You Provide Some Tips on Clean Blocking?

The importance of clean blocking comes back to why we block in the first place. To present a clear direction or intent, to the supervisors and directors. If you have done your job in your blocking, anyone who views your shot should be able to tell exactly what is happening. Should anyone ask “yeah so...what's he doing riiiiiight...THERE!” Well, then you probably weren't clear enough, pack up your desk and get out.....

No, no it happens. You thumbnailed, you shot reference, your blocking is clear to you, but we must be sure it reads to everyone else as well. That's why its important to show your blocking to fellow animators while your working; don't work in a vacuum...not that you could fit in a vacuum, unless it was one of those giant industrial kinds.

A question I will get a lot from my students is: How far do we go with the blocking...how much is too much? Again it's important that the blocking reads clearly. Sometimes two poses can tell the whole story. Other times you may need several breakdowns to make a particular pose change clear. Basically, you want to put in as much as you need to get the idea across, while at the same time, keeping it simple.

Often times student's dirty up their blocking by including too many ideas. So a scene that may only have two ideas...two beats, will be blocked with four or five ideas. It's important to make sure that the key poses are working with the key beats or phrases of the shot. Don't get all crazy with trying to cram in too many ideas. Some questions to ask when planning your scene: what is the purpose of the shot? ...what do I need to say to the audience?

When I block out a scene I will work in stepped keys, this way when I view my animation I am flipping through the poses. I key everything on the character for each one of my key poses, which keeps everything neat in my timeline. This way, if I receive notes from the supervisor or director, I can implement the changes quickly and easily.
Keep it clear and keep it simple.

Guest blogger Ray Chase