No. 171, The Actor Who Might Have Been an Animator: Scott Wilson
Scott WilsonMost fans of TheWalking Dead probably know that actor Scott Wilson died at age 76 on October 6 of this year. As a character actor he was also well known for movie roles in such films as...
View ArticleNo. 172, Indiegogo Campaign for "Hand Drawn" Feature Film
"Hand Drawn"As an enthusiastic supporter of anything promoting 2D animation in this CGI age, I am happy to make known to you an Indiegogo project called Hand Drawn. This will be a feature-length film...
View ArticleNo. 173, Making It Bigger
Working Too SmallWe all know by now that CGI character animation has the ability to be far more subtle in movement than hand-drawn work could ever be. The limit of hand-drawn subtlety is easily...
View ArticleNo. 174, Designing on the Fly
In feature animation production, the storyboard artists are not required to stay too much on model with the characters. As long as one can tell what character it is, and if expressions and body...
View ArticleNo. 175, Going To and Fro
In animation, sometimes a character moves, then returns to her original pose. Most obviously it happened all the time in games animation a few years ago, where a character always had what was called a...
View ArticleNo. 176, Staging with Perspective
Using Extreme Perspective in Staging, with Notes on Matching Consecutive ShotsCreating a layout with unusual perspectiveJust now I am working on a scene that has to match the previous scene closely;...
View ArticleNo. 177, A Wish for the New Year
At Year's End...A wish for Peace on Earth, at second thought, is not enough right now. An equally important hope is is for An End to Tyranny, which is on the rise, even in the United States where the...
View ArticleNo. 178, A Little Stop Motion Fun
Stop Motion InspirationJust a week ago, while visiting our nephew and niece, I entertained their almost seven-year-old daughter by drawing and inking a picture of her favorite doll. She did a lovely...
View ArticleNo. 179, Stop Motion as Pencil Test Software
Poor Pencil Test ImagesFor a long time I have been unhappy about the quality of my pencil test videos. Instead of being in easy-to-view black on white they have been a disappointing grey on grey.This...
View ArticleNo. 180, A Little Applause for Myself
A Woman Clapping Her HandsAs I have stated before, a good animation cycle is hard to get right. Why? Because, since it repeats and repeats and repeats, if there is anything at all wrong about it, that...
View ArticleNo. 181, Film Review: Saludos Amigos
Looking through Andreas Dejas'The Nine Old Men, I found myself marveling once again over Wooly Reitherman's gaucho Goofy sequence. A selection of drawings from this piece was also included in The...
View ArticleNo. 182: 21 Extremes + 1,599 Inbetweens = Amazing Perijove Movie
Automatic InbetweeningOne frame from the APOD video of February 5, 2019.I don't know if I have ever discussed this topic here before, but when computer animation first became possible, the hope among...
View ArticleNo. 183: Man Takes Picture with Tablet
Sometimes the simplest things can be the hardest. Overt action in animation happens to be easier than being restrained or subtle. I had to do a second try at this little scene before I got it...
View ArticleNo. 184: Getting into Color
A lot of color choices to be made here!Not My Favorite Thing, but...You know what my favorite thing is: animation. But of course if you are making films, and are doing it mostly alone, you don't just...
View ArticleNo. 185: Animation at Any Speed
How Many Frames per Second?Early on, I learned that it was not a good idea to think of timing in terms of frames. That is, how many frames it took to do something: throw a ball, take a step, do a take....
View ArticleNo. 186: That Steamer Trunk Gag
Size and WeightHere is a drawing you will feel but not see: a single frame ofthe trunk on impact, showing its squashed form.Back in posts no. 142 and 144, I discussed this scene in detail. It shows...
View ArticleNo. 187: Inking in Animate Pro
From Paper to DigitalAfter a month of vacation travel, I am back home and at work inking the first scene of my film Carry On. The traditionally paper-animated drawings were scanned and imported as...
View ArticleNo. 188: Taxi Arriving
Although character animation is for me the most satisfying part of 2D animation, it is sometimes necessary to do other animation along the way. This is animation of objects, like the Old Man's trunk,...
View ArticleNo. 189:A Finished Scene
That Heavy TrunkHere is the final version of my first scene to be finished in color for my film Carry On.My next scene, Scene 1-3, precedes this one in continuity; it will show the taxi with Old Man...
View ArticleNo. 190: Square to 16:9
Getting the Whole PictureWhen I began my film, Carry On, I had to decide on an aspect ratio; that is, the proportion of height to width of the film frame. I chose to use the 16:9 ratio, a very wide...
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