Category: Discussions/Essays

It was part of Wile E. Coyote’s ritual to always have a plan. His didn’t work (that was the joke), but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have one. Image from Warner Bros.

Rituals are cool. They help you get things done without having to stress too much about them. As animation artists, our jobs often feel too overwhelming, and if you’ve got the added responsibilities of running a team, the more you have to do, the more you have to think. Thinking requires extra energy and having rituals helps ease that burden.

Take for example the issue of exercise – exercise is so incredibly important yet it’s stunning how so many people don’t make it a ritualistic part of their lives. The modern life of working on the computer for long periods of time has been scientifically proven to damage the body leading to poorer vision, chronic pain, weight gain and increased risk of repetitive strain injury and heart disease.  Physical exercise alleviates a lot of these problems, including refreshing the mind, regaining energy and building confidence.

Still from  Goofy Goofy Gymnastics, part of Walt Disney Studios’ brilliant “How to” series from the 1940’s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TevArx75Pg

My old colleague Aaron Hartline always put in the preliminary work before animating his shots. This assured him that he’s explored as many options as possible, as well as having a solid reference point to work from. Video from his work on Blue Sky Studio’s hit series, Ice Age. (To see more of the artist’s work, go here.)

Like all routines, you have to try and experiment many things. It’s all very personal – what works for others may not work for you. That’s part of the fun in finding yourself.

“Try everything that can be done. Be deliberate. Be spontaneous. Be thoughtful and painstaking … Learn your own possibilities.” – George Bellows

Painting of the artist’s father, by George Bellows.

Here’s a list of routines you might want to consider incorporating into your daily life as an artist:

1. Review the days’ work ahead, write it down before beginning any work.
2. Set a timer for that break at 90-120 minutes. You’ll never remember to stretch, rest or walk away if you don’t.
3. Have a regular time of the day for that extended coffee break and walk outdoors – get away from that stale, office air.
4. Get into a habit of leaving the work day no later than a particular time  – again, set a timer or alarm if you have to. If you work from home, get some separation from your job – close the door and don’t return.
5. Set up regular activities, spent solo, or with friends or family, that will serve as something to look forward to after work – it’ll make you more focused and efficient.
6. Try your best to leave any internet browsing/chatting to certain times of the day — but know that it will NOT serve as a break from the computer.
7. Have references, materials and tools conveniently placed so you don’t have to drag stuff out in order to perform. (i.e. Always keep your work station clean and conducive to peak performance.)
8. Get into the mindset of showing your work to your peers regularly — don’t just wait for dailies.
9. Have the same organized routine for starting work. If you’re animating, it should be automatic to set time for listening to the track, to collect/record video, and to do thumbnails.
10. Have the same routine for finishing up your work, including file naming, folder clean up and basically a  standardized way of delivering things — this way you always ship and ship without issues.
11. Have a regular time of day/week to work on your skills as an artist — professionals in all fields do this. Don’t stop learning or sharpening your tools just because you have a “job.”
12. Tailor your routines to you and your body only. Only then do they have any chance of working.

These things may seem like a lot to do or even think about doing but that’s precisely the point; if you don’t make it a part of your “auto” routine, you’ll HAVE TO think about it. Once you’ve automated the procedure, you just do it, and you’ll be glad that you did. Routines will actually save you time and energy. And remember, it’s good habits and routines that separate professionals from amateurs.

A page from James Jean’s marvelous collection of sketchbooks. Jean, a prominent comics illustrator and fine artist, has a habit of drawing everything he sees, everywhere he goes. His works are filled with life, beauty and authenticity. (To see more of the artist’s work, go here.)

In the words of Twyla Tharp, Dance choreographer extraordinaire and author of The Creative Habit:

“I don’t think that scheduling is uncreative. I think that structure is required for creativity.”

What’s your ritual? Do you have one? And is it one that gets you going or keeps you going? If not, why haven’t you changed? Rituals and habits are powerful things — first we make them, then they make us. Make and design yours. One of the greatest sensations you get from having rituals is knowing that you’ve taken care of things. Not many things in art or life give you that feeling of security.

This poignant drawing by Ollie Johnston, shows that sometimes just a single pose can tell everything there is to know about a character and its situation. Production drawing from Disney’s The Rescuers.

For animators, the importance of posing can’t be overstated. It’s one of the key components that define this art form in terms of performance, appeal and story telling. Poses, fundamentally, should be thought of as a visual representation of an idea in the form of shapes. After all, animation is defined ultimately by the shapes and how they move. Hence the commonly heard expression that animation is all about pose and timing. But poses always comes first, everything else comes afterwards.

“The key part of action (needs to be) done first, ‘inessentials’ (are) added after the main action is completed.” – Bill Tytla

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF2jn9H7MoU&feature=youtu.be

A marvelous, albeit short, arrangement of “key” drawings (shot mostly on 4’s) by Ollie Johnston from Walt Disney’s The Rescuers . You don’t need a lot of poses to define what you want to say – but everything you do say must be strong, clear and accurately define the energy of the scene.

The pose test is the ultimate expression of the importance of shapes. In such a test, animators aim to find the most expressive shapes that define:

a) the story (main ideas)

b) the emotion and physicality (inner and outer forces)

Therefore, there is first the need to find the correct, most basic expressions that define the skeleton of the scene – as defined by the key story poses – the ones you’ve identified via your thumbnail sketches and notes.

This beautiful page of thumbnails by Milt Kahl, done for Disney’s The Rescuers, was used to help find and define story poses, rather than animation poses, which aim instead to support and refine the stated expressions in terms of a more complete physicality. Story keys lay the framework for the entire scene, and need to be very carefully explored.

A note about the concept of posing. The key pose is not so much a static “pose” (for example, like what’s commonly glorified in fashion photography), but a moment in time that defines an idea. It is the common mistake of beginners to think that these keys are frozen. More often than not, key poses, especially in the blocking phase,  represent an area defined by a particular expression – an expression that may take, more often than not, a range of frames which will continue to progress or recede in any particular direction. In other words, major story keys, are often just place holders for a region of movement, that defines a singular idea. When any animation is complete, story keys, like any other key frames, often appear seamless among other frames that surround them.

https://youtu.be/xKAGzOvFI9Q

A lovely animation test from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast by the magnificent James Baxter. Notice how each key demonstrates excellent weight, beautiful flow and is loaded with personality and charm.

Only after the basic outline of your scenes are set up, can you, as an animator, begin to refine and clarify the physical path your character takes in order to best express those ideas. This is where you define the physical, visual path that your scene must show so that your ideas, can come across believably. The story (idea) is the goal, but the visual shapes and movement are the foundation (physicality). Or as Paul Rand said so clearly:

“When form predominates, meaning is blunted. But when content predominates, interest lags … the genius comes in when both of these fuse.”

Although timing and movement is as crucial in making any animation complete, it is the poses that ultimately define the ideas, much like a great photograph, painting or logo, can say so much even when idle. Your images, i.e.  your poses, should be so strong and clear that the content that you are trying to get across to an audience is unmistakable, even before the additional elements of form, that is, the use of time and movement, are added to the equation.

The differences between “story” vs “animation” keys. Story keys form the foundation of the shot. Individually, story keys may change as supporting animation keys are added.

In terms of working order, it’s always best to know and test those key story poses first. Only then can you fill in the rest of the framework so to speak. Since your story keys are the major pillars of your shot, your remaining animation keys serve more to accurately flesh out the rest of the structure – defining all those elements that make for solid and entertaining animation.

“Start by thinking like a comic strip artist – if you can develop the ability to encapsulate an expression of attitude in a single drawing (pose), then you’ve already gone some distance towards successfully communicating to your audience.” – Eric Goldberg

When it comes to poses, I personally like to simplify them – thinking of them as remarkably obvious statements of shape and form. In other words, they work, even without detail or polish, or anything fancy.

https://youtu.be/paCj07fROds

With minimal detail, Milt Kahl’s wonderful rough animation test clearly defines the joy, enthusiasm and spirit of its wooden-puppet hero, Pinocchio.

Poses should have all the elements that make for great visual presentation. Here’s a list of things to consider:

1. Clarity of expression (idea)
2. Unmistakable visual form (reads even without movement or sound)
3. Balance (accounts for gravity and momentum)
4. Staging (what’s the point of view?)
5. Sense of movement and life (expresses/implies past, present and future action)
6. Line of action (unifies form and energy)
7. Believable construction (respect for anatomy)
8. Line and form (interplay of internal and external form)
9. Solidity in dimension (real depth)
10. Solidity in weight (acknowledgement of forces)
11. Absence of distraction, or disharmonious elements
12. Appeal

While mastering each element is a monstrous challenge to any artist, such a checklist would be a great way to assess your work. Failure in any one of them risks making your animation anything less than spectacular.

True, there is a lot more to making great animation than ‘just’ posing, but aiming towards making more distinctive and appealing posing will give you a stronger foundation for the rest of your animation to build on.

“For it to entertain, it must capture… it must rivet you to the screen, (and) it must demand your attention. It must hold the audience.” – Glen Keane.

We conclude this post with a delicious collection of scenes by the always excellent Doug Sweetland.  A sequence of animation like this is defined by great posing and supplemented by marvelous execution of movement and timing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNRZJTE9bNs&feature=youtu.be

Doug Sweetland’s character animation of the Pelican, from Pixar’s Finding Nemo, stands, in my biased opinion, as one of the best sequences in animation history. It defines all the elements that help distinguish this artform for its unparalleled combined expression of emotion, form, movement, and beauty.