PENCIL LINES
Journeys from the desktop of a traditional animator in the digital age!
PENCIL LINES
ANY QUESTIONS?
My latest contribution ~ "2D OR NOT 2D ~ What is your Question?" ~ is currently printed in the UK's "Imagine Magazine ". If you're a student or rookie animator in need of some feedback on your work, why not submit your questions to tony@imaginemagazine.net. I'll be more than happy to help you out if I can. (Send a link to your existing work if it is online, so I can see what you've done.)
Note: There's no guarantee that all questions will be answered - however if it is published I'm sure it'll be helpful to you!
Tony. :^{)}=-
KOREA MOVE!
I just discovered that "Pencils to Pixels" has been published in Korean too.
Its nice to feel wanted!
Tony. :^{)}=-
WATCH OUT WORLD - DIGIPEN STUDENTS A-COMING!
With a new generation of our students about to graduate from DigiPen Institute of Technology I thought I'd just give you a sneak preview of just some of their final projects. Two are still 'work in progress', one is not.
"UMBRELLA": Check out this exciting CG animated film!
(View it full screen by clicking on the square, arrowed icon at the bottom right of the Vimeo window!)
"SYNE": A screen capture from a truly beautiful video game with a difference!
"LIGHTHOUSE GIRL": A rare 2D-animated short!
or
So watch out world! There's some really exciting talent arriving out there to shake the industry up!
Tony. :^{)}=-
THANK YOU!
Can't wait to see the 'Klingon' version!
'TIRED WALK WITH STAFF'
This animation is on one's and it took about a day and a half to complete the 52 necessary drawings that make up the entire scene.
Tony. :^{)}=-
FUTURE TALENTS AT DIGIPEN 'CAREER DAY'!
A mega employment contract signed one would hope!
Seniors at DigiPen strutted their stuff during this year's 'Career Day' at the main campus on Friday. A large number of industry employers from far and wide came to review the work of this year's graduates who hope to graduate May. It seems that a number of business cards were passed in both directions at the event, so that has to be a good sign!
A major presence at the show this year was the 'Umbrella" film project, led by BFA students Neil Hanson and Tyler Gibbons. "Umbrella" is an exquisite 9-minute CG animated short that promises much success for its creative team. Heads certainly turned when a short rendered section from the film was shown at the team's booth.
Another feature of the BFA students work this year were their games-based projects. Senior animation students at DigiPen are given the choice of either creating a film-based production for their final senior project, or else a game-based one. "BearPile" is a game-based project, created by a combined team of animation students and those on the programming side who are part of the RTIS program.
The proof of a pudding is in the eating - visitors game-testing student projects.
Another game-testing moment - this time on the beautiful project created by BFA senior Jami Lukins and her programming colleagues.
Finally, even a significant number of DigiPen alumni showed up to give their support to the current crop of senior students (nice to see!) - as well as hopefully put the word out there on the jobs network for them.
Some of the first ever BFA graduates from DigiPen - Drew Mueller, Ronald Kury and Will Patrick.
Of course time will tell just how this current batch of students will succeed in this extremely tough, recession-hit job market. But a fair amount of favorable feedback came to me from those who were clearly impressed with some of the work that was on show. So the omens are good!
Makes yer kinda proud ter be a teecher, don't it!
Tony. :^{)}=-
ANIMATION THERAPY!
While finally recovering from a few days of poor health I decided to animate another of my random 'eccentric walks'.
I haven't animated for a while now and was beginning to get somewhat gloomy from having to deal with other things in life. So, I decided it was time to get back into the animation saddle again and become positive about things once more. The walk I chose to animate had to show the kind of indomitable determination I'm feeling now. I have to say doing so has been like a tonic to my soul!
Anyway, I thought I'd share it with anyone who was feeling that same sense of flagging spirits that I was feeling. It took about an hour to animate on 2's, then a couple more hours to inbetween it on 1's.
This walk (as well as other animation I will be creating from time to time) will be featured in my forthcoming online, interactive tutorials that will be published under the name of "The Animator's Notebook" series by Focal Press. I'll let you know more details when they're available online.
POSTSCRIPT: A follower on one of my YouTube sites has asked for me to add the 'Charts' to this action, so they can better understand the timing I used. In all honesty I invariably use very simple charts to achieve my actions and here are the ones I used on this particular occasion...
Note that I only chart-out the action on two's and animate that way. Then, when I have tested and adjusted the two's animation, I go back an put the one's in (i.e. even numbered drawings) and then re-shoot everything on one's. (And the one's inbetweens are not always a precise inbetween of the two's action - especially when the action is broad and/or fast moving!) I rarely bother to go back and add the one's to the charting afterwards, hence the charts above appearing as they are.
Note also that although charting is extremely important, the most important thing in any animation are the POSES (or 'gestures' as they are often termed). If you don't tell your story in the poses, no amount of timing, or inbetweening, or clean-up, or coloring will make your animation work. Therefore concentrate ALWAYS on the poses first and worry about timing as you get further into it.
(Nice to be asked animation-related questions by the way! It does at least show me that there are people out there who still want to learn the traditional knowledge. My animation is [sadly] reserved for recreational purposes only these days as no-one seems keen in making traditionally animated movies anymore. [Shame on them... we're still missing HUGE opportunities here folks!] But at least my 'passing down the pencil' like this keeps me connected to an audience somehow.)
'Keeping on, keeping on!'
Tony. :^{)}=-
MOEHRLE MAGIC!
Inside the DigiPen 2D classroom with Peter Moehrle.
I was privileged to attend a Peter Moehrle lecture at DigiPen during my lunchtime today! My own project class had ended and as I ate my lunch I watched Peter present to the 2D project class, a wonderful class conducted by excellent instructors Dan Daly and Pamela Mathues. The students have reached the background stage of their team productions and Peter was asked to show them slick, quick ways of creating a color concept representation of the final background. He speedily worked his magic in Photoshop and entranced the students (and myself) as his skillfully created background guide materialized before our eyes!
Peter demonstrates on the screen as Pam, Dan, the students and I watch fascinated.
And if you're wondering what the demo material looked like, here's final piece. Its essentially a color & lighting guide for a final background that will be completed later. The whole thing took Peter about 30 minutes to produce with his amazing Photoshop trickery!
Note how the skillful use of light and color value are used to give strength and focus!
The DigiPen 2D sophomore projects follow a year of intense instruction (2D) in the principles of movement during the freshman year, where they are guided through 'walks', 'runs', 'jumps', 'weight', 'overlapping action', etc. The class follows as closely as possible the production process or a genuine 2D production, wonderfully supervised by ex-Disney artists Dan and Pam.
The students are required to produce model sheets and observational sketches before they animate.
They even sculpt models, so they can understand their 2D-designed characters three-dimensionally.
Of course, this all took me back to the wonderful days I spent working on 2D films myself - alas seemingly so far away now. But it was in listening to Peter that I committed to the notion that it won't be that last time I'll spend my lunchtime watching a maestro at work!
To witness the real magic of Peter Moehrle's artistry for yourself, don't forget to visit his marvellous blogsite!
Tony. :^{)}=-
SPREADING THE WORD!
Angela and I taking a breather from onslaught of visitors at the event!
It was that time again! A time of fantasy and foolishness. A time of mystique and madness, artistry and outrageousness. Yes indeed, it was the enormously popular 'Emerald City Comicon' at the State Convention Center in Seattle!
DigiPen always takes a booth at the event as so many young artists and enthusiasts who come for the comics, the artwork and the dress-ups are also interested in what the school's animation and science programs have to offer. That's why we were there. Head of Admissions, Angela Kugler, was in attendance for the entire weekend (and looking surprisingly fresh and vital despite all that!). I was just there for the Sunday afternoon shift and have to say that I was getting pretty exhausted answering the questions thrown at us by the succession of interested visitors. But I do believe it is time well spent. When everyone hears what the program (the animation program especially - a least from my point of view) they seem intrigued. When they see the student portfolios and the animated work playing on the screen in the background behind us they seem decidedly impressed!
We even had some student alumni from the animation program drop by from time to time as well. It was really nice to see the students we've helped graduate in the past - and to hear them tell us of the work they are now doing in the games industry, or their adventures in working with MoCap (for their sins!) or building models, or texturing environments or even animating cinematics. This somehow makes all the efforts we make seem well worth it.
But all this hard works seems in stark contrast to Leonard Nimmoy who just showed up for a while and charged $60 for an autograph! Give me the challenge of the classroom and the commitment to the animation desk any day. It may not enable me to charge $60 for an autograph personally but it sure makes me feel rich to see the result of our collective labors when we know graduates are finding fulfilling careers in the industry!
Roll on next year! (Maybe I'll even dress-up as 'Spock' next time myself!)
Tony. :^{)}=-
Bowing to MacCA!
I have to say that since switching to an all-Mac studio environment its like I'm in 'animation heaven'! This week is 'spring break' at DigiPen so I've taken the opportunity of totally rebuilding my studio environment. Therefore out goes the old and tiresome PC and in comes the slick new Mac desktop/laptop. I've even added a 'Cintiq' to the mix too.
Its taken me a while to join Mac's digital revolution but I have to admit that its definitely 'better late than never'!
Tony. :^{)}=-