Students may find this recent interview with Nick Park interesting. He talks a lot about his student days and inspirations. Interestingly he talks about the connections he made as a student with other students. For example, making a connection with a music student.Interview with Nick Park
Students may find this recent interview with Nick Park interesting. He talks a lot about his student days and inspirations. Interestingly he talks about the connections he made as a student with other students. For example, making a connection with a music student.
'JoJo in the Stars' Animation Director - Marc Craste
Marc started his animation career in Sydney. His 2004 debut short film "JoJo in the Stars" won many awards. This is a short lecture he gave in Berlin in 2009 on contemporary character design. Very interesting comments about simplicity in design... "Animation works when it is simpler". Marc describes how his 'pica' characters were given the ability to express emotion because they could move their eyes... "It's all in the eyes". This video comes to us via a Keith Lango's blog post.
The Greatest Animated Film Ever?
A new poll has named TOY STORY as the greatest animated film ever. Click on the link to see the full list and an accompanying newspaper article.The poll is interesting reading, but it is FLAT OUT WRONG... there is NO MENTION of THE IRON GIANT! What kind of ignoramus would put ICE AGE ahead of Brad Bird's masterpiece?
(And, for the record, TOY STORY 2 trumps the first movie in my book.)
Your thoughts, folks? Any glaring omissions or bizarre inclusions?
Acting It Out - Eric Scheur
Click on the link. Then, if you make it back from that adventure, add what you have learned to these previous posts. You will have in your hand some of the shiniest animation gold nuggets ever unearthed for people interested in studying the craft of animation.
Zombie World - Wildbrain & Dark Horse Comics
"Uh-Oh!" indeed. Cool from the moment the guards pull up to the cemetery gates riding Vespas. The mash of comic book styling and motion graphics animation has high appeal. Not sure what vintage it is, but haven't seen it on the larger video share sites. Warning: Horror themes.
Scale Your Curves Up
Lately I've been working on some animation with a more realistic feel. It means there is a lot of time spent examining subtleties, and one thing you become painfully aware of is that when you're working on a piece that has lots of over lapping movement like a walk or run, its easy to loose sight of things. You can end up chasing little bumps and wiggles around in circles until you reach a point where you don't even know why they are there and what they mean. As your cycle gets nearer to completion it gets harder and harder to isolate the movement on particular parts of the rig.An example might be in the movement on your characters shoulder, in my recent work I decided I wanted a sort of rolling action on the clavicle bone. I wanted it up higher as the arm swung forward and down lower as the arm swung back, creating a nice fluid circular motion. The problem was that with there already being animation on the pelvis twisting back and forth and bobbing up and down, four spine bones twisting this way and that and the arm swinging around it was really hard to see what that little clavicle bone was up to.
So here's the tip, I found the rotation axis for the clavicles up and down movement and then used the scale tool in the graph editor to ramp up the size of the curve and make the movement much bigger. Now the shoulder is making big over the top rotations when I play the cycle in the view port, with the animation still playing and the curve still scaled up I start to tweak it. With the movement so big I can see where the high point and low point in the movement is, and can see it I have the changes in direction happening as smoothly or abruptly as I want. Once I have the over the top movement happening as I want, I start to scale down the curve again with the animation still playing. Using the scale tool you can get the action to a size that looks just right, it may be lost is a see of overlapping action, but you can know that you have the movement you wanted in there and that it contributes to the believability of your movement. You can always scale up the curve again it you want to make further adjustments.
Jesus 2000 & Cardboard - double feature
How many arms does Jesus have when he lands at the table after jumping through the window?
Interesting animation x 2 being watched by 1st year animators in their coffee break(s). Thanks to Andrej and Bobbi for these.
Check out some of these fantastic inbetweens from Jesus 2000
Moving to Music - Animafest 2009 Opener
Hey! Where is Zagreb? Maybe we will find out in the comments? Why so many unanswered questions? Whyeeeee?!Da, this is some more Russian spawned appealing animation. Check out the jittery owl in the flock shot. Animating to music with a clear beat is a great way to learn about the animation principle of ... timing.
HuHu - Pole Hole - Alexei Alexeev
Alexei Alexeev's "KJFG No.5" (aka. The Forest Trio) is still the best animation ever created, in my honest opinion. Note that this is not Ian posting. So a look at some more of Alexei's work is in order. More can be found under the 'short films' link @ Studio Baesarts.
Studio Ghibli 3D
I werz checking out Alonso's blog like. Werrrd! And he had a link to the Ghibli blog what-ev-fah, and since I'm 'hip with the Jennys' (the Gen "Y"s), werrd. I thought I'd link to something Alonso pointed out, duh!It's about Studio Ghibli and 3D technology. Quote atch ya: "What we're seeing on the screen is mostly computer models, with hand-drawn characters, but what's most striking is the painterly way everything is presented. Everything is a lush, wonderfully detailed watercolor painting, but moving in three dimensions. It's the perfect realization of Ghibli's brilliant sketches and storyboard paintings."
Some House Keeping
Apologies to anyone who has tried to follow links from the ARC to any of Jason Ryan's tutorials of late. He moved them from screencast to his webinar site some time ago I think, but I've only just caught up :P. I'm so glad he has kept these "ramp up" tutorials freely available, they are right up there among my favourites. Jason, you rock!
Henson Digital Puppetry
Puppets and animation come even closer together with the help of high powered computers, software and motion capture suits. It is very interesting how the puppeteer does the lip synch and facial expressions. A hand inserted in a special rig that links directly to the character's facial animation software so that the puppeteer can produce the voice and animation in real time. Some animators see the looming gates of doom for the craft with this technology. It certainly is an interesting career to be pursuing.Ooo, a bit of a mo' cap debate firing up in the comments. Don't go in there. There may be dancing penguins!
Bo Dem
This is way cool :) Sorry I haven't had much by way of editorials to post of late (maybe some of you are relieved :P), I guess I rely on work to inspire many of my rants and things have been a bit Topsy Turvy there of late. But in the last few weeks a some things have fallen into line and I've got a new project to work on that I can get really invested in and should make for a big challenge. Hopefully it will get the cogs turning and few good posts should come rattling out of the old clanker box as a result.
Electric Car + Science is Real
They Might Be Giants together again with great animation (and a good message or two). Its like there is some kind of cosmic alignment of something.
The Fantastic Mr Fox - Making Of
I don't post about feature films much, but just thought this was a nice making of about a film that hasn't got much attention yet. I love how they recorded the dialogue in real situations.
Eric Goldberg
An awesome lecture from legend Eric Goldberg, with heaps of examples of his work over the years. I was particularly amazed by his high school flip book animations, produced using information gleamed from just a couple of TV shows. Also inspirational is that Eric's entry into the world of animation didn't go as he has dreamed, but he continued to find ways to move forward and grow. What a rare treat provided by the Academy of Art University and an amazing guy. You have to select Erics lecture from the list on the right side of the page.
Animation in Australia
Since the ARC is an animation blog with its base in Brisbane Australia, it is time to post about the 'local' industry.Second year animators from the Southbank Institute course are starting to venture to the edge of the nest and look out at the big, wide world. Maybe we should say, "Look out! big, wide world"? Australia is a big (and wide and brown) place but animation is concentrated into various loci, usually the capital cities on the east coast, but there is a strange glow over Adelaide as well.
Screen Australia (mentioned by a recent guest lecturer) has a web site well worth looking up. Maybe you need $120G ("120 large") for your animated short film? Well you have only 2 months to apply for the annual funding round.
Screenwest has funding opportunities for animators in Western Australia. It is worth searching for your local state film funding body. For example, in Queensland, there is the Pacific Film and Television Commission. It seems most 2009/10 financial year opportunities close in October 2009.
For animators who have a short film but no credentials to write into a funding application, the film festival circuit beckons. SBIT animators always keep an eye on Tropfest as the deadline for entries occurs soon after completing their major projects, a nice coincidence. And for a fun road trip to northern NSW, there is always the Byron Bay Film Festival to consider (film deadlines at the end of September).
Maybe there is some more information about the Australian animation industry people would like to comment on? Any news on BIAF 2010? (Trent just passed out). Hope some of these links are of help or interest.
Rainplace
The Rainplace Blog has a great series of posts on squash and stretch, its in 3 parts (Part1, Part2, Part3). Frank found this one and brought it to my attention, thanks Frank. Adding to the Basic Physics section.
Second Wind - Ian Worrel
Sometimes having a giant cat as a friend can be interesting. It is really worth looking at both films by Ian Worrel.Some new goodies for the ARC
3D world magazine has made some tutorials from Kyle Balda on animating with dialogue available. Adding to the Character - Dialogue section.
I have mixed feelings about teaching process, the risk of trying to push a square student into a round hole can have some nasty consequences. But this process overview from Mike Walling is so simple and to the point I find it hard to imagine it not being useful to most students. (A new director I have at work felt the need to show this one to me the other day, proving that we all have more to learn and being an animator means being a student for life :P. ) Adding to the Process section.
Share CG has heaps of goodies to help you come to terms with that pesky animation software. Adding to the Software Tutorials section.
Animated Music Clips & Who is David OReilly?
The second year animators at SBIT have an exciting opportunity with experimenting with an animated music clip. This comes hot on the heels of the Steve Baker lecture, within which it was suggested for animators to forge connections with local musicians. Then I was looking at some posts by some blazing, new UK animators I met in Paris and they pointed me over to Berlin animator David O'Reilly's site (check out his recent essay about animation aesthetics) and Vimeo channels. The 'Click' link is to a recent animated clip he directed for U2.
THE JOY OF ANIMATION
Recently myself and some of my fellow QUT Education students made a short doco titled THE JOY OF ANIMATION. It profiles four Brisbane-based animators discussing why they love animating. It's not a "how-to-animate" film, but rather it's a celebration of the creative process. Or something.And it stars ARC contributors Ian and Frank, as well as Steve Baker (Tropfest winner) and Jason Lynch (stop-mo genius).
Here it is!
Il Naturalista
A recipe for something interesting: Italians + 2D + 3D + stopmo = short film wow. Read the About Us on the film website. 2nd year animators planning their environmental film: do not make this one.
Steven Spielberg talks about animators
On August 6, 2009 at Southbank Institute of Technology, film maker and award winning animator Steve Baker was a guest speaker. Steve gave an excellent 2 hour interactive lecture and Q&A.Part of the presentation reminded me of a comment made by feature film animator and director Kyle Balda in a recent masterclass about acting and animators. Kyle understands the common idea that animators are another form of actor. Or, as Ed Hooks may have said in his "Acting for Animators" masterclass, "Animators are frustrated actors". Kyle rekindled that idea by describing animators, not as actors, but as film directors. And yesterday Steve spoke from a similar point of view.
Neither point is mutually exclusive and looking around class at first year and second year animators I see actors, film makers, people asleep, directors and, hopefully, eventually, animators.
I had a short and very interesting chat about these ideas with Jane Harty (Head of the Animation Course at SBIT), and Jane's concept of what an 'animator' is, is a vast vision that could fill a wall of the Louvre compared to the postage stamp concept that I emerged with when I graduated. Just as it takes many masterpieces to fill le Louvre, it takes many different types of people to populate all the niches on Planet Animation.
Anyhow, all that being said, and meaningfully pondered, I found a clip on the Mayerson on Animation blog that gives another point of view.
Rhythm, Silence, Mah and Mahnahmahnah!
First year animator Michelle has an interesting commentry and excellent clip (Roger Ebert on Grave Of the Fireflies) on her student blog. The discussion and part of the video critique is about what may be called animating silence but Michelle describes as breathing space: a shot placed between key scenes, giving the viewer visual "thinking"/absorption time to process the information. Jim Henson's Mahnahmahnah gets a mention in the discussion.Laundry Day - Guillaume Chartier
I was over on 2nd year animator Mitch's blog trying to find out about a short film creating a buzz in class this week. It was a student film from Sheridan College. The fact that it remains unfinished allows us to look "under the skin" to reveal lessons for students of animation.
Log Jam - Alexey Alexeev
There is a whole series of these Log Jam animation shorts by Alexey Alexeev. The timing is so delicious methinks, it had me in tears. Have a look at the Studio Baesarts (Hungary) web site where the first one was featured.Animated Stork Story
While at the Gobelins Summer School in Paris this year we were deeply absorbed in a lecture by Shelley Page from DreamWorks. Shelley is a DreamWorks recruiter with an eagle eye for excellence in student animated films. She mentioned an interest in narrative and a focus for finished product, but was most interested in the interaction between characters in student films. Among some examples of character animation with narrative, interaction and creative communication we viewed this short film about the struggle a stork has in delivering a baby.
*New* Simon's Cat
Another study in entertaining cat behaviour. (Previously on "Simon's Cat".) Came by the clip via the Spungella blog.Knight Games
2D and 3D blend in this clasic inspired film from Australian animator Christopher Minos. very nice.
Animation at BIFF!
The Brisbane International Animation Festival is kicking off now, and there are a few sessions that could be of interest to animators.Dennis Tupicoff is a Melbourne-based animator whose short films are national treasures. Films like Darra Dogs, His Mother's Voice and the new film Chainsaw must be seen if you're an Australian with an interest in animation. BIFF is presenting two sessions of his short films. Heavy-going but beautifully made stuff.
The Secret of Kells, the Irish feature I blogged about recently, is part of the program. I'm definitely going to try to catch that one.
Nocturna is a Spanish children's feature that looks quite beautiful.
There are also several short films scattered about the program, mostly teamed up with other films - like The Cat Piano (a great Aussie short narrated by Nick Cave, and more than a little creepy... but then, it IS narrated by Nick cave!) and Slaves (a Danish short that looks pretty depressing!).
Big thanks to Cassie Ward for reminding me about BIFF!
Measure Your Poses Energy
I'm obsessed with posing, so much so that sometimes I find it hard to muster enthusiasm for any animation or illustration I might have to do that doesn't have characters in it. But often I see student animation where the students focus on depicting the action has become a distraction from getting in some great poses.
I suspect that what happens is the student start to think in a linear fashion, or just follows one pose on from the next. Thinking things like, "well now the character needs to lean over in this direction, and the hand needs to move over there so it can touch that, then the foot needs to go there and so on." There is even probably thinking along the lines of, "I think that would look better if the hips twist this way, or I'll move that hand over there so it read clearer," and so on. But this is no substitute for taking time out to consider the overall pose at a specific moment.
Good planning with lots of lateral thinking, thumbnailing and acting it out is a good start. But then I think people get lost in the process and the poses worked out while planning can become a vague memory or feeling in the back of your mind while animating. So I thought I would try to introduce a new word into your animating vocabulary, its something that I find useful for staying true to my original vision for a scene.
Its simply ENERGY.
I like to boil down my vision for a moment in a scene to a description of the energy in the pose. Is it a high energy moment? Is it the highest or lowest energy point or do i need to hold something back for another point in the scene? Is it positive or negative energy? What direction is that energy moving? Is the energy directed out at someone or something, or focused inwards?
Then when I start to work on the pose (no matter what the medium) I start to hunt for that energy level in that moment. I will work a pose over and over (what was that Frank mentioned in the coments from the previous post about animation being "sculpture"), always thinking back to that simple, easy to remember idea about how the energy will work in that pose. I know that I will also have to make the pose work in with the movement too, but always try to remind myself that I can't sacrifice the energy level to achieve that.
With me there is almost always not enough energy in my first stab at a pose, my natural tendency is towards a stiffer less energetic pose than what I initially visualized. So the question, "How can I get more out of this pose?" is a constant companion for me. It might be worth thinking objectively about your work in general and how you want it to improve it, keeping the energy of your poses (and consequently animation) in mind may be a good way of nudging you work in that direction.
Human Contact - Are animators lone rangers?
This post isn't so much about the animation (feat. Blur), but how I came to see it. It was from a recommendation by a friend who lives about 3604km away. Nic is an author and she suggested looking at the artistic works of David Shrigley. Then there is my stockbroker friend Chris, who regularly sends me animations he finds on Vimeo. I look forward to these contacts, maintaining friendships.Another part of the networking communication dance I observed at a recent summer school course, was the sharing of animation between animators. (It's also what Ian does with this blog, the ARC).
I think working in a studio environment, with actual other people in it, rather than remotely, is so very important for a healthy animator, due to the contact with other human beings. Even in these times of swine flu. I would say an important part of being an animator is being a social creature and being able to communicate, communaly occupy the same space and work with other people. It is an important skill set. So, if you've been cooped up all day, all week, all month, all your life on your own in the thrall of a screen and animation software, it is time go out to a cafe, or for a walk and meet up with a friend.
Ian, we have to catch up for lunch next week on Monday or Tuesday.
Gobelins 2009 - Student Films
This year's student films have been uploaded to the Gobelins YouTube channel. I met some of these students on their presentation night when recruiters from big studios such as DreamWorks were ploughing the corridors. The students put on a very professional display. Gobelins (pr. 'Goblan') is an animation school and design technology college in Paris, France.
Story Post- An Appreciation
Sometimes I go hunting for resources, but other times I'm just ambling around the net and wonder across something simply wonderful, this is my favourite kind of discovery. The Iron Scythe is the blog of Pixar story artist James Robertson, and its full of captivating, beautiful rough and loose drawings. Of particular use as a resource for students is this post about using interesting and smart shots to tell a story, I'm adding it to the storyboarding section of the ARC.
Ever wonder why your animation is not that good?
Ever wonder why your animation is not as good as the animators' you look up to? Eric Scheur advises animation students to give themselves some time and permission to improve their animation in his latest "helpful hint".
Interactive Animations
We interrupt our regular ARC programming for this special bit of SBIT classwork...The SBIT 2nd Year students are just about to begin working on a piece of interactive Flash animation. They can either make an animated website or some other kind of interactive animation, like a simple game. (We're not programmers though, so I emphasise the word SIMPLE.)
In this thread, I'd like students and anyone else who'd like to contribute to post links to some good examples of animated websites and interactive animations. (Please note that we're not looking for static webpages featuring a nice animated film playing in a Youtube box! The animation needs to be INTEGRATED into the site.)
I'll start by linking to the Liquid Animation website. This is a stylish and attractive site that is animated very nicely indeed. It's mainly the transitions that make this an "animated" site, and they're simple but effective... they bounce nicely! Also, the interface is clean and uncluttered... it's easy to find your way around.
This funky Dogstar site promotes the Australian-made children's series. Gorgeous stuff.
Flinch Studios' website is a great model for SBIT students... very clean, with some nicely integrated Flash character gags and stylish transitions.
Joe Shields (aka. Joe Cartoon) was one of the earliest and most popular creators of interactive Flash animations... I remember seeing "Frog in a Blender" back in 2000. His interactive Flash gags are a bit nasty, but if you're the kind of person who enjoys seeing cartoon gerbils getting their nether regions chewed off by pirahnas, you'll love his stuff!
This Alice in Wonderland interactive animation points to another path that students might want to take... making an interactive narrative. It could be a linear story with clickable elements, like this one, or you could easily make a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" styled branching narrative.
What are some of your favourite examples of Flash interactive animations? Post them here, and tell us why you like them!
Caught in the Crowd
Here's a lovely example of a locally produced music clip that's live action, but cleverly combines some Flash animation and motion graphics. It's a song by Kate Miller-Heidke called Caught in the Crowd. The animated bits are by Brisbane-based animator Steve Baker. I love this clip and I love this song, and not because I'm a friend of Steve's, but because (A) I'm a big softie and (B) I think that Kate Miller-Heidke is ridiculously talented.Oh, and by the way... if you like it, vote for it in the IF Awards, where it's a contender for Best Music Video!
The Secret of Kells
Here's the site for an Irish-Belgian-French animated feature film by Cartoon Saloon (who also created the television series Skunk Fu!). Lovely, flat, graphic style. But my favourite element is those accents!There's also an interesting production blog.
Hopefully the film will get released in Australia sometime soon.
Professional Struggles ~ Jeff Gabor
This showreel shows a playblast at the end of each day of developing a feature film sequence. It may be interesting to see the process for students pursuing a feature film career? Compare it to your process in developing a sequence for your own reel. (Sorry Ian, haven't had time to make a picture)
Arludik Gallery - Paris
Found this interesting gallery called Ardulik on the Ile St Loius in Paris. It focuses on artwork from animated films. Currently it has an exhibition of original artwork from Ice Age 3.
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