This blog contains information about the principles of animation. The blog is made for me and other people who are interested in learning more about animation.
Most of the information in this blog will be mostly for people who are just starting animation and help them build a good foundation.
I will be using videos and pictures for examples to help demonstrate.
“Animation is different from other parts. Its language is the language of caricature. Our most difficult job was to develop the cartoon’s unnatural but seemingly natural anatomy for humans and animals.”
Source:
The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams
The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston
The Animator’s Workbook by Tony White
Hello Animation Basics readers, my name is Hieu Vu and today I will be a guest poster for my good friend John Q.. I will reporting my personal thought on the two styles of animation that I noticed the movie How to Train a Dragon.
In the movie How to Train a Dragon I think movie makers did a excellent job at setup the staging and appeal aspect of the movie. The movie stages a idea into your head from the start then slows transitions over to appeal for the antagonist.
Staging - The main character Hiccup build a common idea of how dragons are dangerous. The movie starts a attack on the village and with a mini introduction into a few of the many dangerous dragons in the world they setup. He try's to plan and idea of how the viking are the heroes of this world and how they have to continuously defend themselves from raid by dragons.
Appeal - From that start of the movie the audience is told to hate dragons but then the slowly start building the appeal for the dragons mainly the opposite lead Toothless. Toothless starts off as a very isolated dragon and very defensive to Hiccup but then the start building the appeal for Toothless. The first thing they show his playful side but slowly trying to interact with the Hiccup. Which leads to Toothless trying to share his food with Hiccup and at the points the audience forgets how dangerous Toothless is.
In today’s podcast I will be talking about anticipation and exaggeration and how they affect animation.
Anticipation – is the preparation of an action.
For anticipation think of Newton’s third law of motion, “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This can be seen in many Warner Brothers and Disney animations.
Anticipation is used “…to catch the audience’s eye, to prepare them the next movement and lead them to expect it before [the action] actually occurs.” [1]
A real life example is a track runner. The runner gets into position then goes low and explodes into the run. The dip that the runner does is the anticipation.
Exaggeration – accentuating the essence of an idea.
“If a character is sad make him sadder; if he is bright, make him shine; worried, make him fret; wild, make him frantic.”[2]
Exaggeration is not only used in actions. It can be used in “…the design, the shape of objects, …the emotion, the color [and], the sound.” [3]
Exaggeration adds a bit more life to the animation or can make it even silly.
Lesseter, J. (1987). Principles of animation applied to 3d computer animation. Proceedings of the Siggraph 87 (pp. 35 - 44). Anahiem:
Secondary Action and Follow Through/ Overlapping action
Secondary action – an action resulting from another action.
Secondary action is another tool that an animator uses to add realism to an action. A thing to remember is the secondary action should never distract the audience from the main action. The secondary action is the result of the main action.
When a character is confused and scratches their head is a good example. The secondary action helps the audience in reading a characters expression.
“Secondary Actions will add richness to the scene, naturalness to the action, and fuller dimension to the personality of the character.” [1]
Follow through/Overlapping action – the end of an action that connects to the next action
Follow through/ Overlapping action
An example that my 2d animation Professor uses is a baseball pitcher. When the pitcher releases the ball they won’t stop moving their body and continue until they come back to a standing, balanced position. This creates a breaking of the joints.
Another example would be when Batman jumps (the main action) off a building and lands, his cape would flap (the follow through) after he lands down kneeling. Even though the body has stopped its movement, the cape follows the main action and stops last.
Thomas, F, & Johnston, O. (1981). Disney animation the illusion of life. New York: Abbeville Press. [1] (Thomas, & Johnston, 1981) P 64
An animator would want good staging so the action during that time is seen clearly by the audience and be the focus at that time. This can be applied to the mood and setting also. If an animator wants the setting to be happy, they would use bright colors or upbeat music to add the animation.
"Staging, anticipation, and timing direct the audience to the focus at that time frame." [1]
In the video A Go Go the animation starts with an establishing shot leading the viewer to a still shot where a trail of smoke enters the shot from the mid left side which then leads the viewer to the next shot. The camera pans right and shows the trail of smoke and cuts to a shot of Road Runner running. The animator set up the scene to lead the audience to the main character.
Appeal –a design or action an audience will like.
Appeal on the other hand adds likability to an object or character. Either it be by design, personality or actions.
The character Wall-E is designed with big eyes and small in body size making him look childlike and cute in appearance. Along with that he has a gentle and caring personality, making the audience have a connection to Wall-E and like him.
Even the villains need to appeal to the audience. Little children can tell who the villains are by their appearance when they come into screen. Maleficent's character design in Sleeping Beauty depicts her with her hair up looking like horns. She has a very angular, and sharp face which makes her look dangerous. The color of her clothing is black and purple and her skin has a green shade.
Steven N. a student who is going for radiology. He used to teach Judo at his father's dojo before they closed down. Has been practicing Judo and other martial arts since he was young. He is currently working and attending school.
Do you have a favorite animation (animated film, cartoon, game, 3d or 2d) as a kid that just stayed with you till today?
Yes I enjoyed Dexter's Lab as a kid too bad it was cancelled.
What was the most recent animated film or series that you have watched that you were impressed with? What part of the animation did you like?
Summer Wars! That animated movie was great. The story and animation was superb. The combination of 2d and 3d animation was impressive. I've probably seen it 4 times already. I liked the art style of the animation, the backgrounds and the character designs fit nicely.
Have you ever considered getting a job in the animation industry and what kind of job would you like to do?
Yes I have actually. I would really like to do some voice acting. I've had experience with acting in theater and choreographing fight scenes. I am actually trying to get into the field right now, trying to get a demo reel out by this summer.
Funimation is what I am aiming for.
What do you think of the old animated cartoons compared to how they are made today?
The older animations were heavy on story telling while today's animations thrive on visual aesthetics.
Scott U. is currently a student at UTD in the ATEC program. He will be graduating this semester and is planning on continuing his graduate studies.
Scott is a generalist, being able to animate in 2d and 3d; concept art to backgrounds; and web development. He also has background in music and is able to compose songs for his shorts.
When did you get interested in animation? Was there anything that you saw made you think “I want to do that when I grow up!”?
I got interested in animation early on. I used to watch Batman and other cartoons in my childhood and the way characters move really intrigued me.
I was fortunately gifted in the arts, but lacked the knowledge and means to create cartoons. It wasn't until middle school that I discovered Adobe Flash 4. Itnever occrued to me that I wanted to be an animator when I grew up. Instead it was something I enjoyed that eventually turned into a passion for future study.
Do you have any favorite animations, directors, or studio houses?
Favorite animations: There are some animations I like purely for the quality of animation (and not necessarily story). In terms of animation quality, I liked the actionsequences from Bounen no Xamdou (X'amd), 鉄腕バーディー (Birdy the Mighty Decode), and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. I'm not a big fan of Disney, but I also enjoyed the animation quality of Bambi, The Lion King, and The Sword in the Stone. I'm a big Miyazaki fan and really enjoy the works of Studio Ghibli. I'm also a fan of studios such as: Studio Deen, Madhouse, I.G. Productions, Studio David, and Bones.
How did you get your first animation job? How did you feel about working with them?
I got my first internship/job in high school. A local animation company, Epic Software, located in The Woodlands, is run by the father of my older sister's acquaintance. It was as very educational experience, and I worked very hard to produce a fighting game in Flash with a small team of interns. The work was enjoyable and my colleagueswho were really industry professionals, gave me good advice.
Are you working on any projects as of right and what role(s) and responsibilities do you have in the project?
Right now I'm the director of Project Seasons and part of S.A.T. (Students Animate Together, a rogue group from A-Z Productions). I'm working a short called Flower of the Heart which is a story about a young and frustrated photographer finding love in a bittersweet tale. I also do 3d animation contract work for Veristics Technologies in Houston. I'm currently animating a product called the Rocket Rig.
Any advice for upcoming animators who want to get into the field?
Advice I can give: don't complain and work hard, there are thousands of artists overseas who would kill for a position and possess a LOT of talent. Be consistently on-time with your assignments and learn to budget time. Always communicate with your team-members, if you have any, and promote your fellow artists.
Scott and I are currently working on a short called 'Flower of the Heart' which will be finished by the end of the semester. The trailer will be released first at the 2011 ATEC.EMAC Showcase on April 20, 2011 at 6:30 P.M. at the UTD Conference Center. I will be posting the trailer here also when we finish.
