A while back I did a lecture for the CTN animation expo in Burbank on the successful traits of an animator. For the lecture I asked a bunch of people what their thoughts were on the subject. I was unable to get this into my lecture for lack of time so I wanted to post this snippet of gold from Brad Bird. Big thanks to Brad for taking the time to do this. Brad is always so knowledgeable and inspirational. I hope you enjoy this short clip…

The question was: “What are some traits an animator should have?”

-Enjoy…Andrew

bird_traits

This was sent out the other day as a great reference of expression change. I wanted to share it…

Now that the Olympics are over we can look at the best clips. Like I said, some of the best clips are the reactions to events and sometime not the event themselves. This is a perfect example of that. You can see the Canadian reaction is so much different. When they cut to the Russian bobsled team you see the guy on the right get excited, then realize that he is on TV and react differently. It looks like there are 3 main beat changes in this reaction. Also, look at how his teammate reacts.  Click on pic for video… Please post links to your favorite reactions in the comments section.

PS: coming soon – more spline casts and hopefully some interesting posts.

-Andrew

-Andrew

Throughout my animation career, good ideas will always win me over as opposed to fancy animation. For me, seeing animation that is fresh and new always reinvigorates me. When I would come out of a lecture, or a dailies review or anything where I saw or heard about an exciting idea, it would make me say: Why didn’t I think of that? It almost makes you frustrated and keeps you trying to think about a different way of doing something. Yes, there are scenes that don’t always require some sort of brilliant idea, but they call for something fresh. How do you infuse your work with good ideas? Here are a few suggestions:

1) People Watching: You get so much gold just by watching people. Putting yourself in places that you have not been can be really helpful. Travel, if you have the means is always great. If you go to a place where the way people do things is different, you can really come up with some interesting ideas for gestures, acting, body posture and so forth. If you are not able to travel far, just riding the subway or bus can be enough.

2) Watching Films. Who doesn’t like to watch movies? If you didn’t have the chance to go to film school, you should educate yourself on the key films that many film students watch. A place to start is the AFI list of top 100 films, but you can go much deeper. Look at films with a different eye. See the difference between the canned Warner Bros. gangster films, then look at someone like Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront or The Wild One to see a new style of acting. Brad Bird was speaking about how Brando really was lightning in a bottle and how nobody knew what they had at that moment in time.

3) Do something out of your comfort zone: An example might be taking an improv class… Improvisation teaches you how to come up with ideas very quickly. I am not saying that I am currently in an improv class, but I have in the past. If you have the time, its a fun way of experimenting with acting and comedy. When I was teaching at Academy of Art, we brought in improv actors to basically create scenes for us to animate too. It was so fun watching them come up with scenes… Some sucked and other worked, mostly because of timing.

4) Look in your backyard. Often times, you need not go farther then your relative or immediate family for a way someone or something is done. One of the guys here likes to touch his nose a lot, another always seems to have his hands in his arm pits, another never makes eye contact. The point being that interesting characters are all around us, we just need to find a way of getting that into our work. I know this all sounds obvious, but I need to constantly remind myself of this. Its so easy to rest on your laurels, but extracting a good ideas out of your work should feel somewhat painful. If it doesn’t, then something is wrong… Or you are truly gifted… For me, animation is a mountain of pain. When I start out I am fresh and by the time I get half way I am winded. The last part of the climb can be treacherous, but reaching the peak makes it worth while.

-Andrew

I usually don’t review books here on Spline Doctors, but since Richard was nice enough to do a great Spline Cast with us, I wanted to talk about his new Expanded Edition Animation Survival Kit. Most animation students have the first book. It has so many great tidbits of information. The new book looks to be twice as thick and has so much more info, its a must have for animation students and professionals. I have been paging through it and some of the stuff I really like are the example of animal action. Fellow animator Holger has some examples of the images on his blog… I’m not sure if its out yet, but when it does come out, its a great book to have.

-Andrew

-Andrew

Martin Scorsese was honored with a Cecil B Demil Award last night at the Golden Globes. When interviewed by the press afterward he was asked about what students need to have in order to make movies. The common theme that always comes up is passion and story.

Click the image for the link….

Not sure if you have seen this, I had not. Someone from work sent this out and I thought it was great. Its so cool to see some of the giants of the industry respond to students of animation with  such honesty.

Check it out.

Andrew

The new semester is about to start for students and a new year for everyone working. I have been thinking about what I want to do better in terms of animation this coming year. I always remember way back on A Bugs Life a certain animator who would get a specific note all the time. “Less is More” It seems that most good art has to do with boiling down an idea to its core. Here is a list of a few things I want to try and do better in my work this coming year.

1) Gesture Less

2) Block out shots more clearly and with less controls

3) Utilize my time in a smart way that lets me be more efficient (less web surfing)

4) Explore more entertainment value in each shot. How can the idea be pushed to the place where it becomes better than just executing a story point?

5) Work on Physicality

6) Push acting ideas.

7) Stay healthy

In the crunch of any production its so hard to have anytime to really spend on making your shots have it all. You are rushing to meet the deadline. I get that. I can understand how game animators or TV productions just dont have the time to pull off all the stuff that they want. I guess the best thing to do is to try and choose the areas that you want to put the most effort into. Anyway, thats going off on a tangent. I’d love to hear what other animators want to concentrate on for 2010.

-Andrew