Category: Discussions/Essays

The Need for Order

Illustrator Norman Rockwell was one of the most organized and well-prepared artists of his generation.

“There is in me an anarchy and frightful disorder. Creating makes me die a thousand deaths, because it means making order, and my entire being rebels against order. But without it I would die, scattered to the winds.” — Albert Camus, Writer

It can be stated that order is as essential to living as is the need for security. Without the basics of food, shelter and clothing (warmth), human beings can’t survive physically or psychologically. The same can be said of the necessity for order. The mind is always prone to disorder; noise, distraction, desires and fears constantly intrude our mental well-being. Without order, there lives confusion and, as it’s often said, a confused mind leads to confused action.

In art, the need for order operates in much the same fashion; without it, the entire creative process runs amok and the results can often be disappointing if not disastrous. For animators, order provides a mechanic — not a formula — for staying on top of things. Hence, it’s important to develop a workflow that makes sure some of the essential parts of the creative process have been duly considered.

Here again are the basics to staying orderly in our work:

(1) Vision:

Without an idea or the spark of something possibly interesting there’s no impulse to create. It could be something seen, heard, read about or experienced, but whatever the source may be, it’s the seed of something new. Rarely are visions what people think they are for they are not things to be sought after and found; creative ideas come uninvited, they only find landing spots. Our job as artists (and the same I imagine goes for writers, musicians, and scientists) is to provide a place for these ideas to alight and take root. It’s why, as a teacher, I encourage play and playful research, the kind that is open, free and not so goal-oriented. Again, since creation is new, we must bypass the thinking analytical mind, which is always old and always controlling. Only free-form, loose and playful activity — in the form of drawing and/or improvisational acting for animators — can generate new ideas.

20th Century master Pablo Picasso exemplifies the spirit of play and exploration.

(2) Preparation:

Ideas are useless if the artist isn’t prepared. Once there’s an opportunity it must be developed and seized. Now’s the moment to use the mind’s intelligence and organizing abilities. The best artists not only explore all the various avenues their ideas might take form but anticipate the information and tools required to bring their ideas to life. We must due the homework so to speak: make the sketches (thumbnails), collect the right kind of reference, solve visual problems and design a solid visual map by which to follow. Then we set everything up — cameras, rigs, layout, schedules, etc — and get ready to begin.

Exploration sketches done for the film Cinderella by animator Ward Kimball, one of Disney’s legendary “Nine Old Men.”

(3) Performance:

At this stage, we should have a good clear idea of what we want to accomplish. There’s still uncertainty but it’s time to get the feet wet; we test our hypotheses. Animators at this point begin to animate: we block out the major keys and — only after the blocking is successful — proceed with the in-betweening (filling in the middle) phase. This is often the most satisfying part as ideas take shape and begin their way to becoming realities. What forms is new and exciting but all the time we’re constantly asking ourselves whether we proceed to the next step or re-work the foundations — the key acting moments, poses, arcs, timing, and breakdowns — of the shot. Emotionally speaking, this is where we commit fully, aligning ourselves with our vision, bringing together both the technical and artistic aspects of our craft.

“Does it look like how I feel?” — Glen Keane, Animator

When Glen Keane animates, he goes all out. From Disney’s Tarzan.

(4) Polish:

At the polish stage, we make minor tweaks and put in the finishing touches. THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO CHANGE THE WORK OR FIX MAJOR ERRORS. Students and amateur artists are always doing the latter. They question their ideas, fumble with technique and lose sight of the process so they noodle and noodle hoping to “rescue” the work. The polishing phase also shouldn’t be taken lightly or approached carelessly. Finishing touches matter — they can enhance or ruin the art. It is important to be attentive.

“While adding the finishing touches to a painting might appear insignificant, it is much harder to do than one might suppose.” — Claude Monet, Painter

Water Lilies by Impressionist Claude Monet.

Some Tips:

Now, working orderly is nothing new; it’s no secret to stay organized. Then why do so many fail time and again? Here are some caveats and suggestions that might help should you find yourself in disorder:

(1) Aim for Clarity. This is true from the vision phase all the way to the polish phase. You need to know where you’re heading. Fuzzy ideas lead to sloppy preparations and sloppy preparations lead to poor execution. Bad animating can never be solved by fancy polishing. Clarity is key.

(2) Treat Separate Phases as Separate Jobs: What do we mean by this? It means to treat each aspect of the job as if the next job is to be passed on to somebody else. If you block your shot poorly, you’ve made it brutally hard to in-between (spline/finish) the shot. Don’t screw the guy who comes after (which is tomorrow’s version of you).

(3) Stay the Course: Don’t keep changing your mind. The time to explore was early on. Once you begin your performance, you don’t change the song. If you find yourself doing this often perhaps your idea was not so good after all. That, or you’re a scatterbrain. Find out why you’re doing what you’re doing. Art is always providing you the opportunity to learn about yourself.

(4) Keep It Simple: Don’t over do it. Adding complexity, adding length or action doesn’t make things necessarily better. Quite the contrary. Your work should read clearly and directly to you and anyone looking at it. Why make the job harder? Besides, as you mature as an artist, you’ll begin to see and realize how beautiful (and difficult) it is to create work that is simple yet powerful.

(5) End it: At some point you have to stop. Finish the work whether you like it or not. We all need to move on. Perfection, even excellence, is a rare occurrence. Take what you’ve learned from the experience and bring that knowledge and drive to improve to the next piece of work. Life is something we build, not something we constantly fix.

“For nothing matters except life; and, of course, order.” ― Virginia Woolf, Writer

Beyond Self

One of artist Yayoi Kasuma’s amazing Infinity Room installations.

“Foregoing self, the universe grows I.” — Sir Edwin Arnold, Poet

Perhaps the greatest thing we love about making art is that it commands the utmost out of us. When we commit fully, we forget about ourselves. And thus, we waste no energy on such abstract matters as success, money, recognition, or even goals. All our attention, all our effort, is swiftly and most efficiently directed towards learning and creating. Even the idea of accumulating knowledge or skill matters little, for the process of creation pushes us above that simplistic dimension. Everything serves the moment. And in so doing, one’s life becomes magically effective. It also becomes more generous and joyful — the forgetting of what has happened in the past and what might happen in the future brings great peace.

“Real generosity toward the future lies in giving all to the present.” — Albert Camus, Writer.

All too often, our thoughts dominate us. Modern society especially idolizes cerebral activity. It worships images and words, even when they prove, as they most often do, to be completely illusive or false. That is such a world most of us live in; all of us competing, comparing, judging ourselves and others all due to our deep and often un-confronted insecurity. Sometimes an obsession with thinking and living in that manner leads not only to great unhappiness but also mental illness.

Painter Edvard Munch, the pioneering expressionist most widely known for his painting “The Scream” suffered severe problems with bipolar and other forms of psychosis.

Thinking, in its right place, is useful. Knowledge and skills acquired have practical application for survival in the physical universe. But thinking all the time, incessantly, is counterproductive if not harmful. Thoughts, when self-serving, puts the mind in obstruction to being and in the way of creating. I know from personal experience and deep inquiry, that I’m most ineffective and inefficient when I allow the mind to dominate the present moment. And when I have done so in my craft, the results are always less than spectacular.

The critical mind that measures, condemns and justifies prevents flow. Since all thoughts are past registrations — thinking is essentially a set of prior accumulations of information, opinions and ideas — our prejudices stop us from being absolutely true and sensitive to what is actually and always new, that which sits directly in front of us right here, right now. Both life and our art requires our fullest capacity. Only when we forget the self and lose the desire to compete, judge, or complain can our minds truly operate in a manner that is free, fresh and alive. When the mind is quiet and liberated from distraction or prejudice, we find clarity and arrive at truth.

Truth is the offspring of silence and meditation.” — Isaac Newton, Scientist

The legendary Bill Tytla was deeply serious about his craft. Like all great animators/actors, he works to forget himself and become his character.

So we must ask, how serious are we about our craft? How serious are we about ourselves? Because if we are serious about our work and about who we are as human beings, we move in a direction that is conducive to real living — one of attentiveness and sensitivity. It means looking at life and our work as if we’re seeing with fresh clear eyes rather than “seeing through glass darkly.” Very few people on this planet are truly serious about living. They prefer to view the world thru coloured lenses, choosing to live for pleasure or in avoidance of pain.

Most of us live dominated by some degree of psychological fear, whether we are conscious of it or not. Even those who lively strictly, such as those who abide by the customs or practices dictated by established institutions are not so serious about life despite such apparent stoicism and devotion. Strict guidelines for work, play and family and devout conservatism is not the kind of seriousness we’re talking about here. Instead, we are talking about the kind of discipline that requires us to reject all conditioning, to unlearn what has been learned. The artist inherently knows this and he knows that he cannot follow another person’s way, regardless of their authority or its tempting path to material success. He knows it takes great personal responsibility to actually live free, unburdened by education or propaganda. He must find and live his own journey for truth because truth is not so easily found in books, rituals or authority figures.

“It’s life that matters, nothing but life — the process of discovering, the everlasting and perpetual process, not the discovery itself, at all.” — Fyodor Dostoryevsky, Writer.

Sometimes, as a teacher, I meet a student who wants answers, but in truth what he wants is results. What is forgotten, or clearly not realized, is that knowledge in itself is fairly useless (as proven by the fact that almost everything and anything can be found today on the internet). Even the mental grasp and understanding of something has limited usage. It is only when we explore — such as when we are free to play — can we possibly turn such mental, verbal information into something real, something experiential, something possibly exciting. Only then is there hope of realization. Until we realize the truth of something, we can’t truly understand it. This is why there is such failing in the entire education system, both inside brick and mortar institutions and at online schools. Knowledge is given, but know-how is not because know-how must be preceded by knowing why. And the only way to learn about the “why” is to look slowly, deeply and attentively at our work and more importantly, at ourselves. This requires both patience and the ability to ignore our mind’s propensity to tell us to hurry up and succeed. If there’s anything I’ve learned about learning is that information alone has no staying power. It’s bound to be ignored or forgotten.

This was the kind of math I was doing during my studies of macroeconomics in University almost 30 years ago. I never knew why I was doing any of this at all. Miraculously, I landed at the top of that class, but truthfully speaking, I succeeded only for the sake of succeeding. Hence, I didn’t understand any of it. I learned nothing then and I know nothing of it now.

Perseverance, secret of all triumphs. ” — Victor Hugo, Writer

It may not be easy but it is simple. If we persist, if we live generously in the moment — which means to be 100% attentive — then all things will work themselves out. Then maybe our thoughts can leave us alone (at least more often) and let other parts of our mind and the rest of our entire being do their proper jobs. The human being is an amazing thing. Let’s not waste it in the pursuit of nonsense. Living and learning (which is what discipline means) is the vision, rather than ambitiousness. Even goals are just temporary targets, placeholders to keep us moving forward. We only have to make sure we’re on the right path which means, of course, that we must know where we are now. Making art is a great way to finding out that truth, ironically, by forgetting; we find ourselves by foregoing our obsession for personal security. And the search for truth, like virtue, is its own reward.

The inspiring Yayoi Kasuma was berated and ignored most of her artistic career. Now, at 91 years of age, she’s regarded as a genius, someone who’s viewed as ahead of her time. But what’s important is that she found peace and her own sense of truth thru her work. Her complete devotion and passion for art drove her to continue despite the rejection and her long battle with mental illness. Today, Kasuma’s exhibitions/installations are the most highly-attended art shows on the entire planet.

“Every time I have had a problem, I have confronted it with the axe of art.” — Yayoi Kasuma, Artist