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Strong poses are preferred to communicate emotions and inner states of characters. Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Chaplin are great references. It should be possible to ‘read’ the pose without seeing a face or body parts:Īnimation acting has more in common with pantomime, or the physical comedy of the silent era. (Images from my Lynda / Linkedin course ‘Storyboarding’)Ī classic performance test is to draw a sack of flour or simple object in various emotions and actions. To be consistent, the shots should be on one side or the other. In the illustration below, there are two possible sides, A and B. One common technique is to draw an imaginary line between the characters, and to stage the sequence on one side of that line. The power dynamic between employee and boss is much clearer in panel 2, below:ĭifferent placements of the camera can produce radically different shots. In the right panel, we see that the small character is having a very hard time convincing his friends in the left panel it is not obvious what is happening. Correct staging communicates character and story elements, and is visually interesting. Incorrect placement of characters and camera results in a banal shot, boring to animate and boring to watch. Model sheets dictate the correct proportions and designs of characters. It may help to think of appeal as ‘charisma’, ‘interest, or ‘charm’.Ĭharacters are constructed out of basic forms like spheres, cylinders and boxes, with great care taken to make sure that the designs remain on-model throughout a production. (Images from my Lynda / Linkedin course ‘Drawing Cartoon Characters’) Of course cute characters have appeal, but villains can also have appeal, and ugly or villainous characters can have appeal: Let’s take a quick introduction to each foundation, with examples.Īppeal does not merely mean ‘cute’ – though cute characters do tend to have instant appeal – especially those with large eyes or button eyes (making them a bit like teddy bears): With all due respect to the masters, here is my updated list: 1. At the bottom of my list we find principles that determine more subtle aspects of animation (e.g., overlap/follow-through). For example, #1 through #7 on my list can be used by any performer – they would be relevant to an actor or dancer. I have tried to arrange them in order of logical priority.
Lynda courses animation update#
UPDATE #3: Frank and Ollie excluded a few principles.
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‘ Staging‘ is a more fundamental principle than ‘ Squash & Stretch‘. UPDATE #2: The sequence is not ordered by priority. If you don’t have appeal, all the technical mastery in the world won’t save you. Many children have produced appealing drawings without any knowledge of technical principles, and many skilled works have no appeal. UPDATE #1: Placing ‘ Appeal‘ as #12 creates the impression that it is a natural consequence of mastering #1-11. I’ve also titled my list the ‘Foundations’ of animation to reduce confusion. I’ve therefore edited and expanded the list, and hope that you will find it useful. In the process of creating my tutorials for Lynda / Linkedin, I’ve felt it might help students if a few more principles were included in a more chronological order. Most animators have encountered the ‘Twelve Principles of Animaton’, coined by Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston in their 1981 book ‘The Illusion of Life’: 1. Here’s the rest of the overview with individual samples: I’ve compressed this essay into a 9-minute movie:
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