2D Scene

Reflection

Throughout this semester, I’ve learned about: the history of animation, the 7 principles of animation, and several animation rules.

I found the history of animation, especially the different inventions and creation of companies to be interesting. I thought it was amazing that people from different parts of the world made, and improved upon, inventions to create the illusion of movement, like the: thaumatrope, zoetrope, and kineograph. Besides the inventions, I also liked history of the different animation companies. I thought it was interesting that people who started off in Disney left and created their own companies and made films like, Ferngully and The Brave Little Toaster.

I’ve written a lot about the principles of animation in my other write-ups and analysis paper, so I won’t go into detail about them here, but actually learning the principles was helpful. Although I still have a lot of practice to do before I really understand and know how to achieve all of the principles, I think that learning them in a lecture and seeing live examples in class were more helpful than reading about these (or similar) principles in a book.

Several of the readings throughout the semester gave animation tricks, tips, and rules, but what I found most helpful were the tricks given out in class, then elaborated on in many of the readings. Although some of them, like anticipation, vibrations, and cycles, seem like common knowledge, I don’t know if I’d know how to accomplish the right movements without first knowing these tricks. 

3D Walk Cycle

Reading Assignment Write-up 3

The readings for week 13 were about creating walk cycles and the animation process. I found the handout on walk cycles to be really helpful. The most helpful tips were the circular motion of the hips and the backward slide of the feet. When creating the 2D walk cycle, I made sure to move the hips and head in a circular motion (although I should have made it more pronounced). I also learned the importance of the overlapping action of the 3 body masses. In my 2D walk cycle, I left out the motion of the chest. I can see how important it is for all 3 masses to move with each other in order to create a more natural movement. I also found the Ollie Johnston article to be interesting. This article has 30 useful notes on animation. I thought that note 2, “Squash and stretch the entire body for attitude,” was kind of unusual (Johnston). I thought that only the most cartoony of cartoons squashed and stretched the entire body (ex. - Ed, Edd, n Eddy and Courage the Cowardly Dog). Although there is squash and stretch in more realistic cartoons, like Disney films, I don’t see the character’s entire body squashing and stretching; unless it means a more subtle type of squashing and stretching. I thought that note 12, “Everything has a function. Don’t draw it before knowing why,” was good advice (Johnston). I tend to draw before completely thinking it through, then adjusting my drawing to fit better. I also thought that note 13, “The facial expression should not be contradicted by the body. The entire pose should express the thought,” was good advice (Johnston). I still have some difficulty making the facial expression completely fit the body pose, but I guess that acting it out would help.

The reading for week 14 was about animation steps. I thought that the article on animation steps was interesting. I’ve never read about the actual steps of animating a scene. I thought that some things made a lot of sense, like thumbnailing everything and then creating rough key drawings, breakdowns, and in-betweens. However, I don’t really understand how to apply dialog to a scene. It seems like getting the timing right for dialogue might be harder than for action.

The reading for week 15 was about animating a scene. I found the Frank and Ollie article to be both informative and entertaining. The article starts out with the process of making layouts: thumbnails, traditional, multiple choice, and long shot/establishing shot. It then describes the steps of animating a scene: handout, pose test, and work reel; along with the jobs of the: supervising animator, animator, and assistant animator. I found it interesting that the animators, “…never made a picture starting at the beginning and working straight through to the end. We began with the section that gave the best opportunity to get hold of the characters, then moved on to a sequence that either had the greatest entertainment potential, or was needed most for the development of other phases of the picture” (Frank & Ollie). I knew that the scenes in a film weren’t animated in order, but it makes sense that the scenes that allow the animators to better connect with the characters would be animated first, so they have that understanding when animating the character in other scenes.

I think that the tips given for the walk cycle will be really useful in the future. Although my first walk cycle was pretty generic and has no real emotion to it, I look for ward to making more with a range of characters, emotions, and styles.

2D Walk Cycle

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3D Bouncing Ball

Reading Assignment Write-up #2

The readings for week 6 were about: timing, the animation process at Pixar, and general animation rules. The handout on timing also included information on rhythm and anticipation. Although I already learned most of the information on anticipation with the examples given in class, it was still useful to read more about it. I found it interesting that everything has a rhythm. I usually do not think of the importance of rhythm. But, like the examples given of a person sawing a piece of wood and hammering a nail, I can see how a good rhythm can make animation seem more lively. I also found the use of music to better understand rhythm to be interesting; “I think a good study of music would be indispensable to the animator – a study of rhythm – the various rhythms that enter into our lives every day…” (Larson, 3). Although it seems like common sense that music would be the answer to difficulties of rhythm, it did not occur to me that it would be useful to people learning how to animate. The handout on the animation process at Pixar was also fascinating. The 6 steps are: storyboarding, modeling, animating, shading, lighting, and rendering.  I learned that Pixar has its own animation software called Marionette. I knew about the 4 steps: storyboarding, modeling, animation, and rendering. But, I did not know that both shading and lighting needed their own stages. I assumed that they would just be built into the program, so when the animators animated the scenes, the lights would already be set up and the shading would be part of the modeling process. However, of these 3 readings, I found Glen Handout to be the most helpful. A couple of the rules that I found beneficial are: “Don’t move anything unless it’s for a purpose,” and “Concentrate on drawing clear not clean” (Glen, 3). In animation, where every movement is created, I can see how people can get carried away and make lots of movements for no reason. However, in order for the audience to pay attention to the right thing, it makes more sense for the movements to be more planned out. Besides planning movements, making clear drawings is important. I think this rule means making drawings that are expressive are more important than making drawings that are neat, which is something that I plan on working on in the future.

The reading for week 7 was about joints. The main idea I got from this article is the importance of parent joints. Although several joints may be connected to each other, a joint is always going to respond first to the joint that it is right next to it (which is closer to the base).

I think that of all the information from these readings will be useful to me as I continue on in the animation field. What I will remember most from these readings, however, are: timing (rhythm and anticipation), purposeful movements, and clear drawings versus clean drawings.

Head Turn

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Anticipation

Overlap

Reading Assignment Write-up #1

The readings for week 1 were about the history of animation. Some of the earliest attempts at ‘animation,’ were the boar drawings in the Altamira caves and the drawings on Egyptian walls and Greek pots.  Although these drawings weren’t moving, they were meant to suggest motion. Throughout history, people have made advances, using the “persistence of vision” (Thomas, 1), with inventions such as, the thaumatrope, phenakistoscope, zoetrope, praxinoscope, and kineograph. These attempts were improved, until the animation industry was created. It was interesting to learn about the history of animation, how it started and how it became successful.

The readings for week 2 were about: arcs, timing, movement, reversal of curves, and squash and stretch. Some of the things I found interesting about these readings were: arcs, timing, and squash and stretch. Before these readings, I didn’t think about things moving in arcs, I just thought of movements as movements. After reading the Arcs article, however, I can see how everything is affected by arcs. I found the drawings of hand gestures moving in correct and incorrect arcs to be the most helpful part of this article. Similar to arcs, I didn’t think of the specifics of motion in animation. I thought movement was only conveyed through the drawings, not the spacing. The spacing section in the Golber article, however, made it easier to understand, “The closer together your drawings are, the slower your action; the farther apart they are, the faster,” (Golber, 103). I still find it a little hard to do, but I understand how spacing affects timing. Even before the readings, I knew about the principle of squash and stretch. A lot of cartoons I’ve seen (ex, Ed, Edd, n Eddy and Cow n Chicken) use extreme examples of squash and stretch to create a more ‘cartoonish’ look. The most important thing I learned from the squash and stretch excerpt from The Illusion of Life, is the use of flour bags to make sure that anything being animated keeps its volume, “The famous half-filled flour sack, guide to maintaining volume in any animatable shape, and proof that attitudes can be achieved with the simplest of shapes” (Johnston & Thomas, 1).

The readings for week 3 were about: the breaking of joints and the principles of animation. Of these 2 readings, I found the principle of the breaking of joints (in the Williams article) to be the most interesting. The descriptions, and especially the drawings, were a great help. Although, I found the many options for the breakage of joints to be a little intimidating.

The readings for week 4 were about: the line of action, movement, weight, overlap, squash and stretch, and action. I found the line of action (in the Blair article) to be the most interesting. I still have trouble drawing on a line of action (I tend to draw without a line of action, so it doesn’t look as accentuated). I found the drawings to be helpful, especially those that said what was right and what wasn’t.

The readings for week 5 were about: entertainment and anticipation. I found the sections on character development and anticipation to be the most interesting. In the Dan’s Animation Tricks article, I found the parts about dragging to be the most helpful. Similar to the breakage of joints, dragging helps make movements seem more natural. Finally, the section on character development, in the Glen Why Animate article, was also helpful. Unlike the other readings, which focused mainly on how to animate, this section focused on how to create characters with: story, history, personality, environment, music, and design. This section would be useful in creating a realistic/believable character. The one thing I did not think about when creating a character is the music, “[the] style of music [that] reflects the heart and attitude…of your character” (Johnston & Thomas).

I think that all of the information from these readings will be useful as I move forward in animation. What stuck out to me the most, however, are: arcs, timing, squash and stretch, breaking of joints, line of action, anticipation, and character development. Some of these things, such as: arcs, timing, breaking of joints, and anticipation, seem to be the basics of any animation. However, I think that the amount of: squash and stretch, line of action, and character development, can make the difference between good attention-grabbing animation and forgettable cartoons.