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No. 151, Using the Z Axis
Most of you, except those who have never worked in or experimented with a 3D application such as Maya or 3D Studio Max, will know what the Z axis is. Whereas the X axis indicates movement to left and...
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No. 152, Off Screen Animation
When a stage actor enters the stage, she must be already in character by the time she becomes visible; otherwise, the illusion of the moment is lost. Going offstage is the same. If an actor's character...
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No. 153, Rope Trick
Make It Interesting!Sometimes, if you are on a severe deadline or your client or employer cares more about speed and quantity than artistry, you will have to animate a scene in the simplest possible...
View ArticleNo. 154, Stan Green: Animator, Part One
Who Was Stan Green?I have long wanted to do a blog post on Stan Green because the brief time I knew him had rather a profound effect on me. But as always when I do a post, I like to have some pictures...
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No. 155, Stan Green, Animator, Part Two
In my last blog post, No. 154, I spoke of my excitement at meeting and getting to do some animation work with Stan Green, animator and principal assistant to the great Milt Kahl. I remember being...
View ArticleNo. 156, Another Rope Trick
This is the same rope seen dropping to the ground in Post No. 153, Rope Trick.Now the rope or cord is being tied by the old man to the handle of his trunk; he will drag the trunk by this means through...
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No. 157, Plus Your Drawings!
PlusI am using the word plus as a verb here, meaning to improve upon. As a writer, I am a big believer in the second draft and the third draft. Parts of the first draft may survive intact, but many...
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No. 158, Developing the Scene, Part 1
Impatient Man Consulting his WatchIn my last post, No. 157, we looked at translating storyboard poses into actual animation poses. Now I want to follow through for you as I develop the additional...
View ArticleNo. 159, Developing the Scene, part 2
Not Quite ThereLast time I revealed the extremes and breakdown drawings of my scene of an impatient man making a show of looking at his watch to express irritation with my main character.(In following...
View ArticleNo. 160, Developing the Scene, part 3
Getting It RightTo conclude the current blog series (No's 157, 158 and 159) we now will have a look at my revised pencil test. I had said I would be erasing arms from the original drawings rather than...
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No. 161, My Next Assignment...and Yours!
My Next AssignmentThe is a reaction shot from the same character we have been working with in posts 157 thru 160, the impatient guy who makes a show of looking at his watch.Aww, let's give him a name,...
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No. 162, My Next Assignment...and Yours!, part 2
The Inbetweens and Key DrawingsI have now done my animation of this scene, and there were some surprises. More about that later, but first let's look at the main poses. We began with the two...
View ArticleNo. 163, My Next Assignment...and Yours!, part 3
"Take" TwoThis scene posed some problems I had not anticipated. But I finally got it sorted out. Here is the result, with discussion following.If you compare it to the video in the previous post, No....
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No. 164, Smear Drawings and How to Use Them
If you look back at the video in post No. 162, you will see the character, Nelson, glancing quickly right and left before going into his cringe. This was done with the use of smear drawings, which I...
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No. 165, Gesture Drawing at the Old Ball Game
Baseball Drawing FunYesterday I went with my wife and some friends to a local baseball game. The team is a collegiate woodbat team, a member of the West Coast League. It was a beautiful baseball day,...
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No. 166, Beware of Re-writing Unintentionally
Beware...It is one thing to enhance a scene with character movement and acting; it is another to change the meaning of the scene by what you add. A storyboarded scene may be fairly interpreted in many...
View ArticleNo. 167, Work-around for a YouTube Quirk
Where's My Hold?!!To my annoyance, I have noticed that my YouTube uploads have often been shortened at the end. The problem arises when I have a hold at the end of my pencil test. If it is 6 or 10 or...
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No. 168, The Simple Things
The Simple ThingsIn animation production, as I have mentioned, it is wise to organize the scene "handouts" in their order of importance or complexity, the idea being to get the best work from the...
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No. 169, Two in a Row
Often, a single short scene viewed alone will not be as effective as it is when seen within the flow of the scenes before and after. Here I had an instance where it made sense to me to present two...
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No. 170, Planning and Executing a Complex Scene Timing
This continues my discussion of the scenes shown in blog post No. 169.How to Plan the TimingLet's look now at the four extreme drawings for this scene, numbers 1, 29, 45 and 61.DRAWING 1This is the...
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