Show 003 – Andreas Deja, Part Three

It’s Deja vu all over again. The last installment of my first (but hopefully not the last) meeting with Andreas Deja is here. Hear his thoughts on his own work, as well as his friendship with animation legend Milt Kahl.

CORRECTION: At the end I say meant to say, “This conlcudes Part Three,” not part Two. Andreas’ German threw me off my game.

Get it here: Show 3: Andreas Deja, Part Three

(16MB, 23:19 minutes)

Show 002 – Andreas Deja, Part two

Andreas Deja

The conversation with Andreas Deja continues. In part two Andreas recounts his first years at Disney including working with Tim Burton on The Black Cauldron and Richard Williams on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Get it here: Show 2: Andreas Deja, Part Two
Animation Podcast Show 2 MP3




(11.9MB, 17:16 minutes)

Show 001 – Andreas Deja, Part One

It’s here, it’s here! Over a month of preparation finally pays off and I’m so happy to present the first show featuring superstar animator Andreas Deja. In part one Andreas takes us through his discovery of animation from a small town in Germany to the Disney Animation building in Burbank.

Check back for part two to hear more about Eric Larson, Tim Burton, and The Black Cauldron.

EDIT FOR CLARITY: Some people took the preceding sentence to be a list of future interviews. I assure you that Eric Larson will not be talking to anyone anytime soon. These are topics that Andreas talks about in Show 2.

Get it here: Show 1: Andreas Deja, Part One

(13.2MB, 19:12 minutes)

12 Principles in animation

12 Principles

by Nataha Lightfoot

Tips On Getting Started: there are a number of ways to start the process of learning animation. One is to buy books and teach yourself. The Bible of the industry is the "Illusion of Life" by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. The information and drawings in this book make it worth the fifty dollars or more that you will pay for it. These 12 principles became the gospel according to the nine old men of animation that worked with Walt Disney in founding the industry that you see today. Don't just read it; memorize it, learn it and use it every time you draw. There is no short cut for skills and knowledge. It all starts will heart and desire; do you have it?

THE 12 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION Paraphrased from the "Illusion Of Life" by Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston.(pp.47-69) Look these up and read the original version for a complete understanding.

1. Squash and stretch

2. Anticipation

3. Staging

4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose

5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action

6. Slow In and Slow Out

7. Arcs

8. Secondary Action

9. Timing

10. Exaggeration

11. Solid Drawing

12. Appeal

1. SQUASH AND STRETCH

This action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as it moves. Also squash and stretch is useful in animating dialogue and doing facial expressions. How extreme the use of squash and stretch is, depends on what is required in animating the scene. Usually it's broader in a short style of picture and subtler in a feature. It is used in all forms of character animation from a bouncing ball to the body weight of a person walking. This is the most important element you will be required to master and will be used often.

2. ANTICIPATION

This movement prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to perform, such as, starting to run, jump or change expression. A dancer does not just leap off the floor. A backwards motion occurs before the forward action is executed. The backward motion is the anticipation. A comic effect can be done by not using anticipation after a series of gags that used anticipation. Almost all real action has major or minor anticipation such as a pitcher's wind-up or a golfers' back swing. Feature animation is often less broad than short animation unless a scene requires it to develop a characters personality.

3. STAGING

A pose or action should clearly communicate to the audience the attitude, mood, reaction or idea of the character as it relates to the story and continuity of the story line. The effective use of long, medium, or close up shots, as well as camera angles also helps in telling the story. There is a limited amount of time in a film, so each sequence, scene and frame of film must relate to the overall story. Do not confuse the audience with too many actions at once. Use one action clearly stated to get the idea across, unless you are animating a scene that is to depict clutter and confusion. Staging directs the audience's attention to the story or idea being told. Care must be taken in background design so it isn't obscuring the animation or competing with it due to excess detail behind the animation. Background and animation should work together as a pictorial unit in a scene.

4. STRAIGHT AHEAD AND POSE TO POSE ANIMATION

Straight ahead animation starts at the first drawing and works drawing to drawing to the end of a scene. You can lose size, volume, and proportions with this method, but it does have spontaneity and freshness. Fast, wild action scenes are done this way. Pose to Pose is more planned out and charted with key drawings done at intervals throughout the scene. Size, volumes, and proportions are controlled better this way, as is the action. The lead animator will turn charting and keys over to his assistant. An assistant can be better used with this method so that the animator doesn't have to draw every drawing in a scene. An animator can do more scenes this way and concentrate on the planning of the animation. Many scenes use a bit of both methods of animation.

5. FOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING ACTION

When the main body of the character stops all other parts continue to catch up to the main mass of the character, such as arms, long hair, clothing, coat tails or a dress, floppy ears or a long tail (these follow the path of action). Nothing stops all at once. This is follow through. Overlapping action is when the character changes direction while his clothes or hair continues forward. The character is going in a new direction, to be followed, a number of frames later, by his clothes in the new direction. "DRAG," in animation, for example, would be when Goofy starts to run, but his head, ears, upper body, and clothes do not keep up with his legs. In features, this type of action is done more subtly. Example: When Snow White starts to dance, her dress does not begin to move with her immediately but catches up a few frames later. Long hair and animal tail will also be handled in the same manner. Timing becomes critical to the effectiveness of drag and the overlapping action.

6. SLOW-OUT AND SLOW-IN

As action starts, we have more drawings near the starting pose, one or two in the middle, and more drawings near the next pose. Fewer drawings make the action faster and more drawings make the action slower. Slow-ins and slow-outs soften the action, making it more life-like. For a gag action, we may omit some slow-out or slow-ins for shock appeal or the surprise element. This will give more snap to the scene.

7. ARCS

All actions, with few exceptions (such as the animation of a mechanical device), follow an arc or slightly circular path. This is especially true of the human figure and the action of animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. Think of natural movements in the terms of a pendulum swinging. All arm movement, head turns and even eye movements are executed on an arcs.

8. SECONDARY ACTION

This action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. Example: A character is angrily walking toward another character. The walk is forceful, aggressive, and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk. Also, the possibility of dialogue being delivered at the same time with tilts and turns of the head to accentuate the walk and dialogue, but not so much as to distract from the walk action. All of these actions should work together in support of one another. Think of the walk as the primary action and arm swings, head bounce and all other actions of the body as secondary or supporting action.

9. TIMING

Expertise in timing comes best with experience and personal experimentation, using the trial and error method in refining technique. The basics are: more drawings between poses slow and smooth the action. Fewer drawings make the action faster and crisper. A variety of slow and fast timing within a scene adds texture and interest to the movement. Most animation is done on twos (one drawing photographed on two frames of film) or on ones (one drawing photographed on each frame of film). Twos are used most of the time, and ones are used during camera moves such as trucks, pans and occasionally for subtle and quick dialogue animation. Also, there is timing in the acting of a character to establish mood, emotion, and reaction to another character or to a situation. Studying movement of actors and performers on stage and in films is useful when animating human or animal characters. This frame by frame examination of film footage will aid you in understanding timing for animation. This is a great way to learn from the others.

10. EXAGGERATION

Exaggeration is not extreme distortion of a drawing or extremely broad, violent action all the time. It¹s like a caricature of facial features, expressions, poses, attitudes and actions. Action traced from live action film can be accurate, but stiff and mechanical. In feature animation, a character must move more broadly to look natural. The same is true of facial expressions, but the action should not be as broad as in a short cartoon style. Exaggeration in a walk or an eye movement or even a head turn will give your film more appeal. Use good taste and common sense to keep from becoming too theatrical and excessively animated

11. SOLID DRAWING

The basic principles of drawing form, weight, volume solidity and the illusion of three dimension apply to animation as it does to academic drawing. The way you draw cartoons, you draw in the classical sense, using pencil sketches and drawings for reproduction of life. You transform these into color and movement giving the characters the illusion of three-and four-dimensional life. Three dimensional is movement in space. The fourth dimension is movement in time.

12. APPEAL

A live performer has charisma. An animated character has appeal. Appealing animation does not mean just being cute and cuddly. All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic, villainous, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will capture and involve the audience¹s interest. Early cartoons were basically a series of gags strung together on a main theme. Over the years, the artists have learned that to produce a feature there was a need for story continuity, character development and a higher quality of artwork throughout the entire production. Like all forms of story telling, the feature has to appeal to the mind as well as to the eye.

Hopefully these tips will help you understand more about the process of animation and spark your interest in the field of ³The Fine Art of Animation².

Megamind today!

Megamind hits theaters

Steve and I had the opportunity work on this film along with all the incredibly talented people that brought it to life. The animation looks amazing, and therefore it is no coincidence the team was lead by the super talented Jason Schleifer. (who may or may not be our next podcast guest. wink, wink. You didn’t hear it from me though…)

I want to encourage you to go see Megamind. A LOT of people worked really hard to make the film the best it could be. It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s action-packed, and best of all – it’s wildly entertaining. Enjoy.

|Jacob

I agree with Jacob, it was a lot of fun working on this film and I think that it shows. I’d also like to say congratulation and thank you to the Animators up at PDI Dreamworks. It was a blast working with all of you and its a shame we don’t get to do it more often. You are an extremely talented group of animators and I’m so glad that we are all apart of the same studio, even though we are separated by hundreds of miles.

Also if you get a chance to see the film, hit us up in the comments section and let us know what you think! Thanks

|Stephen

Art of Animated Films

Pixar Animation Studios, the Academy Award��winning creators of Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug�s Life, and Monsters, Inc., are bringing a new animated movie, Finding Nemo, to the screen this summer. This visually stunning underwater adventure follows eventful and comic journeys of two fish�a father and his son Nemo�who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef. The underwater world for the film was conceptualized and developed by the creative team of artists, illustrators, and designers at Pixar, resulting in a lush landscape rich with detail. The Art of Finding Nemo celebrates their talent, featuring concept and character sketches, storyboards, and lighting studies in a huge spectrum of media, from five-second sketches to intricate color pastels. This behind-the-scenes odyssey invites the reader into the elaborate creative process of animation films through interviews with all the key players at Pixar. There will be children�s books related to Finding Nemo, but no adult titles other than this definitive volume. Revealing, insightful, and awesomely creative, The Art of Finding Nemo will delight film-goers, artists, and animation fans alike. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Code:

http://hotfile.com/dl/40821852/403ad43/The.Art.of.Finding.Nemo.joeschatterbox.pdf.html or http://sharingmatrix.com/file/4135126/The.Art.of.Finding.Nemo.joeschatterbox.pdf