“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” — Aristotle, Philosopher
In continuing our Student Showcase series of BEFORE and AFTER (Private Training with me here at Animated Spirit), I’d like to discuss today the progress of two artists who have exhibited exceptional patience in their development. One had worked a bit in television animation, the other in alternative media. Both had training at a solid and well-established online schooling program. The hope upon working with me was to bring their skills and confidence to the next level — one that would secure their future in terms of creative capacity as well as bring greater inner fulfillment from the work itself. Both these students displayed great discipline and sustained persistence in their learning and I’m most happy to say that their devotion has been well-rewarded. Both are now capable feature-quality animators.
Rachel Chelius — BEFORE
As can be seen above, Rachel’s work prior to her training with me exhibited the kind of standard rushed timing and vague posing common to television animation. There is action but there isn’t physical or psychological clarity in the work. Although some of it can be attributed to the design and style of the show, there is no real demonstration of acting or dynamism that either grabs or holds the viewer’s attention. Fundamental concepts such as Lead and Follow, Drag, Follow-Thru and Overlap are missing in most places lending a weightless quality to the animation.The posing is also lacking; shapes are flat and staging of the characters lack appeal due to repeated symmetry and poor use of straights and curves in their design.
Rachel Chelius — AFTER
In Rachel’s AFTER shot, we see a remarkable jump in the artist’s quality of understanding. Not only do we have an interesting well-thought out story and set up, there is both tension and rewarding action. The vampire character is noticeably fascinating in just the way he is introduced to the viewer and subsequently in his awakening. The poses are clear, bold and appealing. The timing is sharp. The body and all its appendages have just the right amount of weight and creative action. The variation in the shape changes and the depth in movement also give the scene great texture. There’s proper respect for body construction (anatomy) and the mechanics are rock solid. The animator’s joy can be felt in each perfect little movement, which is a direct indication of the amount of thought, planning and passion that went into its making. The result is remarkably fresh; a deliciously playful and entertaining shot that is loaded with character uniqueness.
Irina Wolf — BEFORE
In this “student” shot — which was done during her schooling but has been slightly fixed up afterwards — we can see that Irina already exhibited a very basic understanding of quadraped animation. The work is okay if not particularly interesting. The timing is fairly smooth, and although the weight is, like most other things about it — acceptable — it nonetheless doesn’t feel heavy or impacful. This was consistent in other work the artist had done prior to her apprenticeship with me. To do more interesting and more powerful work, we needed to revise how she needed to think, plan and approach her animations and not just add to the plethora of tricks and techniques that one is forced to remember.
Irina Wolf — AFTER
In this AFTER shot, Irina had by this time become a completely different animator. After two years of training, she had already demonstrated to me an understanding of bipedal naturalistic and cartoony animation — part of the program of assignments/tests I make all my students go through. By the time she was ready to be challenged with advanced camera work and storytelling, I wanted to see how she’d respond with a much more complicated quadraped animation than the one she did prior (a nicely done shot with two Siamese Cats, which can be seen here). In doing this multi-cut scene, a story with drama needed to be written and designed by the animator that felt cinematic, for that was the challenge. Using a dragon rig/model also added complexities of weight in flight, the unusual appendages such as heavy wings and large tail would force the animator to be extra mindful of both the acting and execution implications regarding their usage. The end result achieved is beautiful. The camera cuts are clean and clear (note the seamless cut between the second and third shot) and the dynamic action flows wonderfully within beautiful paths of action. The creature has solid weight, with nice holds and slow-ins/slow-outs, and her actions seem driven from within, making her a sympathetic character worth following. It is an excellent performance by the artist.
Summary:
It takes time to get there. But when students get results such as these after their training here, it gives me, their teacher, a great joy and satisfaction in having been part of their learning and growing experience — an experience whereby I know they had A LOT OF FUN going thru, and that afterall, is the most important thing of all.