Lessons from the masters 01

This is going to be an ongoing series of informational lessons on how animation was established and how you should not re-invent the wheel of it worked perfectly the first time.

Our first lesson is the "Three Ways to Animate".

The first way to animate weather it be 2D or 3D is the strait ahead method.

This method is rather impulsive and requires little forethought when developing the shot. Basically you just start drawing and see where it leads you. There are more disadvantages to this method then benefits. The greatest benefit to this is that mystery or happy accidents that develop out of pure experimentation.
Here are some of the benefits :
1. Spontaneous Action
2. More Natural Flow
3. Embodies Improvisation
4. Able to adjust rhythm and action on the fly
5. Can produce Happy Accidents or "Magic"
6. Since it is Spontaneous, it is fun

Here are some disadvantages:
1. Lines and mass start to wander
2. Squash and stretch starts to loose cohesion
3. Characters don't stay the same size
4. Timing and plot seem to go to the wayside
5. There is A LOT of clean up
6. Not easy for other animators to assist you
7. Not cheap
8.With deadlines and iterations, nerves can become frayed

Our second way to animate is the Pose to Pose method.
First you need to find the extremes or key drawings in your shot. These again are the extreme poses where the feet touch the ground or there is action taking place, it is the point of main interest. In the days of development of this art form, the masters called the key poses the storytelling drawings. They are the images that tell what that shot is about. The in-betweens are the images that lead up to or down from those high points. Once the poses are established you can begin making your charts and your ease in and out's. These charts and indicators are used to tell your assistant or the tweeners what needs to take place and the timing of the shot from pose to pose. These charts where so accurate and methodical, the key animators would just hand them off and come back later to see the work done and take credit for what the tweeners did.
Here are some advantages to this method:
1. The shot is laid out clearly
2. The plot or point of the shot is clear
3. Very methodical
4. The drawings are more cleaner, less clean up
5. The positions of the characters are more clear and definable
6. The pace and plot is in order
7. your assistants can do most of the work (LOL)
8. The production is quicker and allows more scenes to be completed
9. Nerves and sanity are more entact
10. More productivity, more money (not always a sound route)

Here are some disadvantages to this method:
1. You miss the Flow or "Magic"
2. The action become steril and choppy, unnatural
3. If you try to over correct with overlapping, the integrity of the character starts to suffer
4. Not enough spontaneity or surprises, which audiences crave

The last method is the BEST out of all three, this is a combination of strait ahead and pose to pose.
The first step is to create thumbnails, this step is actually utilized in any project no matter how you approach it.
When we are done mapping out the scene we will then create the key poses or storytelling drawings. Then step three of the rough animatic is to create the extremes, these are the frames where the character touches the ground such as in a walk cycle.
    With this structure we have the elements of the pose to pose method.
Now we can take these key-frames and extremes and use them as guides for things such as action and direction of the scene needs to take place.
Work on one element at a time, such as the body movement, then the cloths or capes next and then finish with the hair or other objects that move in relation with the characters movement. Then we can use these "guide post" to improve on or finalize as we work strait ahead, while maintaining spontaneity of pose to pose to capture that magic!
     After completing a few strait ahead runs on different elements of the scene, making sure to work on the important storytelling drawing first, changing what you need as you go along.
So first we make a strait ahead run, second we do another strait ahead run to work out the "Kinks" from the first pass. Then you keep repeating this process until the shot is complete, while adding the secondary action of cloths or other objects within the scene that compliments the movement or story.

So the advantages of this hybrid method:
1. Lend the strength and fluidity of both methods
2. Balances between planning and being spontaneous
3. Infuses that technical cold sterile feel and your passion into one successful project.
And above all you made magic and had fun doing it at the same time!

 

(Tangled: Disney)