Progress

Yesterday after a heated discussion between Al and Dan Dalli, I had to help Al with the animation. Al did have the body drawn and inbetweened he just didn't have the head. So I decided that on another piece of paper to draw the keyframes for every head turn, hair movement and lip-sync. I then gave it to Al to fill in the inbetweens. We got one and a half scenes done by the time I left at six o'clock. I left Al to it.

New Animations

New Animations.

A banana

I tweaked the RAM in a panic sequence so that he takes more steps.

This is an compositing test with Susie over the background. It needs lighting and such, and I missed some white when colouring in Susie.

For some stupid reason Blogger won't let me upload the videos.

Prof's Intro

Hi, this is the Prof's Intro scene. James was supposed to do this but I had to take it over for time. Because of this lack of time as well I couldn't film any reference or line-test it before putting it into Flash. So I'm not entirely happy with it. Some of the lip-syncing doesn't work as well, but for an animation where the character essentially doesn't move their body it works quite well. I can't believe I managed to do 15 seconds in an weekend. Now to colour it.

Maya Animations

I finally put R.A.M in the environment. Thanks Mo for figuring out the Toon Line problem.

I also animated some of the objects as well.

Colour!!!!!!

I've done a scene in colour in Flash. It was hard because when the files from illustrator where copied into Flash, they came through as different sizes so they all had to be re-sized and placed individually. Also, because of the pen lines, the lines change thickness. Hopefully, this will give it a Ed, Edd n Eddy feel.

Updated Animatic

After having discussions with Dan and the group yesterday a difficult decision had to be made. Due to circumstances involving the delay in work, and the possible upcoming situation that I may have to cover this work, the scene with the professor's introduction has been cut down by more than half. Even though I really like this sequence and I am sad to see it go, we just can't physically animate 33 seconds for this one sequence in time. I have also added sound effects for the audience bits and the new theme song. The film might technically be longer now, but that is only because the credits are now longer.

New Animation Tests, Drawings and Such

Here are some drawings from the animation. They are still drawings that will be animated later in after effects.

Here is the Prof with the light shade on his head.
Here is the Prof looking inot the audience.

Here is the Prof shocked with lightshade on his head.

Here is Mort worried.

Mort Twang.

Mort in pain..

Mort

Fatbback Bits in gravy gloop.

Well Mike told me to put more bits of the audience in, which I hope to get some 2nd years to do. Hence these are shots to tell the 2nd years what I need. I'll put them in the animatic.

Here are the two pencil tests that I did yesterday. The first is Mort being selected from the audience. The second is Mort's head swelling up and down. These are all made up of different shots, so you will see a lot happen in these videos.

Animation Video Tests

Here are some of my recent animation tests.



This first one is a redo of the Professor's Goodbye scene. Everything is good, but the fall is too slow. It was filmed on twos, so I can either remove frames or shoot on ones.






This second one is Susie's Ending. I need to re-draw the waving sequence as I think I drew the hands wrong. Hands are tricky.






These are just two bits of Mort in the background.






These are just miscellaneous RAM animations. Mostly of him hopping around.

Animations

Here are some of the animations I have been working on the last few days.

The first is a collection of short R.A.M animations, running, jumping, screaming etc.

The second is a redoing of the prof puts on gloves scene.

The third is prof's goodbye and the fourth is look at the gums sequence. Unfortunately, I was using i-movie and I couldn't figure out how to cut the audio track, so that's why you have a image over those parts of the audio.

New Animations

Here is the second drawn animation. Even though it is the shortest, it was quite tricky because the head is so large and he is tilting his head towards and away from the camera. I hope it works. Now I just have to animate the next half of this scene.

Toon Boom Test

Here is just me having a quick practice with Toon Boom using the help guides Mike gave me. I will have to clean up this scene again anyway. I coloured a few frames for practice.

Quick Update

Basically I just wanted to give a quick update on my progress. I just finished timing out all the dialogue for all my scenes on dope sheets. I am now just looking at my live-action reference of myself for my quick thumbnails. I'm hoping to get another scene done by the end of term. I also shot more live-action reference for some new scenes.

Silent Comedy Youtube Research

I decided to do some quick YouTube research for my animation. Enjoy!

This is classic footage of the great Buster Keaton. Their are some great practical gags in here. The timing is impeccable.





Charlie Chaplin



Laurel and Hardy

Glen Keane Interview

http://lineboil.com/2009/02/interview-with-disney-animator-glen-keane/

Line Boil has done a great interview with Glen Keane, Disney Animator extraordinaire. Listen to his pearly words of wisdom. I've put the whole interview here.

Interview With Disney Animator Glen Keane

posted by Brendan, 10.45 AM

by Brendan Burch

One of lifetime Disney animator Glen Keane’s crowning career achievements takes place late in the 1991 Disney feature film Beauty and the Beast. The Beast, having heard of Belle’s love for him, goes through a transformation…

Keane, who was honored in 2007 with the Windsor McCay Award for lifetime contribution to the field of animation, has too has undergone some transformations in his career, and also watched the industry transform as well. A gifted football player in his youth, Keane opted out of a scholarship and turned his attention to painting - and eventually animation while at Cal Arts. In his first job at Disney, Keane’s work on The Rescuers marked the transition from the era of The Nine Old Men; subsequently beginning the era of The Nine New Men. Working alongside John Lasseter, Keane helped guide one of the seminal CGI projects ever conceived - a 30-second test based on Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are that merged 2D character animation with CG backgrounds. Along with films like Star Wars, Tron and Luxo Jr., the projected helped transition the world of animation closer to the CG landscape we now know. After his legendary work on Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas and Tarzan, Keane underwent another transition - that into director. He took the director’s chair in 2003 for the CG film Rapunzel, which is due in theaters next summer. In 2008, due to non-threatening health reasons, Keane relinquished his directing duties to Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, taking instead the role of Executive Producer on the project.

Glen also helped me transform into an animator - after seeing him in The Making of ‘The Rescuers Down Under,’ I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life.

I recently got the chance to run a few questions by Glen, and we go over the onset of the Lasseter-era at Disney, his Windsor McCay award his thoughts on passing his legacy onto the next generation.

BRENDAN BURCH: Now that you’re directing, do you miss the physical process of animating?

GLEN KEANE: Directing Rapunzel has been a great learning experience for me. However I have always seen myself as an animator at heart and have longed for the day to be back animating, living in the skin of the character I am drawing.

BRENDAN: How has the Pixar team changed the way things work at Disney?

GLEN: John Lasseter and Ed Catmull have brought with them a refreshing honesty and collaboration that is permeating the studio. They very quickly instituted a story trust made up of directors and heads of story to give honest critiques of each other’s films. To be open to this kind of feedback is both painful and liberating. Our films have made giant strides forward by this process.

BRENDAN: How has the transition from pencil to the Cintiq digital tablet gone for you?

GLEN: I have been doing my storyboards on the Cintiq tablet for Rapunzel. The first thing I noticed is how easy it is to get lost in doing very finished, rendered boards rather than exploring in quick thumbnails the many different approaches one may take to an idea. The computer seems to tempt one to commit too soon to an idea. Maybe it is just my habit but I find that I think better and more creatively on paper. So my solution is to thumbnail and explore on paper, then scan in my rough sketches into the Cintiq. I am now free to move forward knowing I’ve seen the problem from every angle.

BRENDAN: Do you have any routines for uncorking your creativity?

GLEN: Get away. That’s what I need to do when I am stuck. I go for a long walk and refresh my soul. I go to a museum to remind myself that I am an artist and need to think like one. Often the thing that can happen to someone working for a big studio like Disney, or any studio for that matter, is that you can forget why you love this art form. It can quickly become about meeting a production goal. Schedules and deadlines are important, even essential, because they create a fire and heat that seem to force you into your best ideas. However when you feel creatively empty and uninspired, the deadline mentality will say “It’s okay just let it go. So what if it’s not your best work - you’ll get another chance next time. Hand in the scene and at least you can feel good about hitting the numbers.”

I reject this voice and instead do something that feels entirely counter-intuitive. I take that seemingly all too precious time and walk out the door of the studio, hop in my car and drive to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. I marvel at the Rodin sculpture at the entrance. I study the Degas pastels and figurines… I start to remember that I am an artist first and animator second.

BRENDAN: Do you plan to work on any personal projects in the future?

GLEN: I want to explore new directions that hand-drawn animation can be moving in; directions that the computer has now made possible.

BRENDAN: How do you feel your work has progressed since you started your career?

GLEN: I am more and more interested in taking my lead from discoveries and observations from real life and letting that inspire my work. Whenever I have done that, I have done my best work. Whenever I try to make my work look and feel like other animation - I fall short.

BRENDAN: Congratulations on winning the Windsor McCay award at the 2007 Annie Awards. What does this award mean to you?

GLEN: One of the most wonderful memories of that night was meeting Windsor McCay’s family. He is such a legend that to meet other McCay’s who were so approachable and genuine I was reminded that animation has always been created not by legends, but by folks just like you and me.

BRENDAN: With all of the Nine Old Men now gone, who do you look to for artistic advice or guidance in your career?

GLEN: Frederic Back has always been a great source of inspiration. I believe his work points to the future of where I hope hand drawn animation can go. Anytime I can spend with him is precious to me.

BRENDAN: For animators, do you recommend watching live-action reference video?

GLEN: Of course. When you study live action frame-by-frame, you see the “secrets” revealed as to why a movement or expression feels the way it does. I am in awe of the world and it’s creatures.

BRENDAN: When you’re animating, how much importance do you put on weight and gravity?

GLEN: If a character lacks weight in how it moves, it lacks credibility. I don’t believe it exists. It becomes just a drawing or a frame of film. As I animate, I have an inner-feel of the weight of the character that I am always very aware of with each step, twist and movement. If, as I animate, the weight of a character feels in any way untrue, all sorts of animation alarm bells sound off in my gut.

BRENDAN: You’ve left a significant mark on the animation industry over the last 30 years. What will the next 30 years look like for you?

GLEN: I want to spend it giving back to others as I have had so many give so generously to me. I want to improve as an artist and find better and more personal ways to express myself in animation.

Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Eric Larsen gave so freely to me that I feel not only a debt of gratitude but also a great responsibility to hand the baton on to young animators today. I am still learning, in new ways, principals that I learned from those masters in my early twenties. I find myself saying, “Oh so that’s what Ollie was talking about. Now I get it.” Anytime I get that “now I get it” feeling, I have to find someone to pass it on to.

BRENDAN: Would you ever be open to teaching animation?

GLEN: I have always taught animation at the studio as I work side by side with other animators. At times, I give lectures outside of Disney and someday the idea of teaching animation full time may be what I choose. I’m not sure if I’m ready for that yet.

BRENDAN: You have worked at Disney throughout the majority of your career. Do you ever feel limited, having worked at only one studio?

GLEN: What one might consider as limiting (working at only Walt Disney Animation Studios) has actually been incredibly expanding for me. Because of it’s stature, Disney has attracted so many of the best artists in animation within it’s walls ever since I’ve been here. The animation world is actually a rather small family and so many animators I know at other studios have come from Disney or are going to come here. There is a constant influence from outside of our studio walls. Disney itself is ever evolving and continually re-inventing itself. The studio of today is nothing like it was in the 70’s and nothing like it will be 10 years from now.

BRENDAN: As you survey the animation industry in 2008, are we in a new golden age?

GLEN: It seems to me that a “golden age” starts with a movement to discover and learn. It worked that way when Walt turned Hyperion studios into a veritable animation university complete with animal pens to keep deer for study. The result was Snow White, Bambi and Fantasia. In the seventies, when Disney re-started its training program, there was an influx of new talent, new discoveries and wonderful new films like Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Lion King. Branching out from Disney, there are the films of John Lasseter, Brad Bird and Tim Burton.

We need to be stretching out and learning, discovering, trying new things. We cannot rest on where we are. There is always a stronger, more convincing, more personal and expressive way to tell our stories and to animate our characters. If we do that then we can move into another “golden age.”

Lineboil contributor Brendan Burch co-founded and runs Six Point Harness Studios in Los Angeles. Brendan also teaches part time at Cal Arts in the Experimental Animation program.

Dwarf Fight by Bill Tytla

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=1775

Michael Sporn Animation has posted some drawings by Bill Tytla of the Fight Scene form Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. There fantastic.

Just a update

Firstly, I would just like to say that I think the project is going well, especially considering all of the dissertation work. Everyone is posting good things on their blogs. Just a couple of things.

Firstly I would like to see everyone's work the last week of term so we can prepare for the presentation to Mike.

Secondly, over easter we need all backgrounds completed and all rough animation must be done.

If not we won't get the project completed.

Okay guys.

Let's get our dissertations over with.

Flash Coloured Practice

With all the dissertation work it just feels like term just began. It was suggested to me that we use Toon Boom Studio. Simon and I tried that but couldn't make no heads or tails of it. Then we use illustrator, hopefully using the live trace tool, but that came out fuzzy with broken lines, and it's difficult to colour. I just spent the last few weeks colouring all my frames in photoshop with no luck. Finally Simon discovers that flash will do it just fine. What a colossal waste of my time! Oh well, least I know how to make the film now.

I decided that it would be useful for me to practice flash, so using the coloured frames I did, I used them to do a bit of this Mort scene in Flash. Because they were coloured in photoshop it is a bit fuzzy. Also for some reason the frame rate a bit weird. That may have happened when it compressed the quicktime video. Gotta go two weeks to dissertation deadline.

Tutorials for 2D Animation

Harry sent me a link to this website that has tutorials for Digital Inking and Painting for 2D Animation. Hopefully, it can help, because I'm worried that my current method is taking too long.

http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/8173_digital-inking-painting-2d-animation.htm

Digitizing & Inking Line Art Drawings -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Cleaned Up drawings

I've cleaned up the drawings. I am hoping to start colouring them real soon. Hopefully Simon, will help. When parts of the characters are not moving, I drew them up on layers. I think we will either colour them in Toon Boom or Illustrator.

Prof put on gloves test animation

Well, here is the prof puts on gloves test animation scene. It's without the dialogue at the moment, but I hope to fix that. I noticed a couple of things I would like to change, places where it jumps. Hopefully I can see what it looks like with dialogue soon. I pretty happy with the change of expressions and the arcs.

Amendment

Here it is with the tweaks and the dialogue. Their are a few minor lip-syncing issues but overall I'm happy with it.