An Evening with Phil and Troy

Last Thursday, April 26, the Contemporary Animation Society* had one of its biggest meeting turnouts of the year. Why? It wasn’t just because the club is awesome (which it is). At that particular meeting, we brought in two of SCAD’s finest animation professors, Prof. Troy Gustafson and Prof. Phil Young. The professors gave a sort of panel discussion about the Disney studio (both worked at Disney for over 15 years) and the animation industry.

The turnout at this meeting was especially high because these two men are very popular professors in the animation department. These guys have resumes to die for, with one or both of them having worked on each Disney 2-D animated feature since The Fox and the Hound. Professor Young was a character animator, bringing to life such characters as Mufasa and Ariel, and Professor Gustafson was an effects animator, creating such things as the magic and smoke in Mulan and the exploding house from Lilo and Stitch. I have never had the privelage of having a class with Professor Young (and sadly, never will, seeing that he is leaving SCAD at the end of the quarter), but from what I have gathered, he is energetic, funny, and encouraging. My friends that have taken his classes have had nothing but positive things to say about him (you should hear my fellow CAS member, Mike Ryan’s impression of him). I have had the opportunity to be in Professor Troy’s class for two quarters in a row. I took him for Animation I in the winter (his first quarter teaching here at SCAD), and I have him for Animation Layout and Character Design this quarter. He is friendly and fairly laid back, but he knows what he wants from us and is a tough grader. I have never worked so hard for a B in my life. He pushes his students to try harder and reach their potential. I look forward to being able to take another class with him in the future.

The stories the two Disney vets shared with us were both entertaining and informative. They reminisced about bosses and mentors and the countless others they have met over the years in the animation business. They spoke of the fun they had working on the various features, as well as how hard they had to work to get where they were before the department was drastically cut down. Both men tried three times before Disney finally took a chance on them, showing the importance of persistance and not giving up hope. I hope that one day down the road I will be able to sit down with a fellow animator and tell stories of my animating heyday. Their talk gave me an optimistic view of the future. After hearing what they had to say, I feel reassured that I really am in the right place, pursuing the right things. I love animation, and to see how much they still love animation after so many years is inspiring.

I am lucky to have had the opportunity to hear Professor Young and Professor Gustafson exchange their witty banter and words of wisdom. We really are learning from the best at this school. In a few years, when we all graduate, the animation world had better watch out.

* For more information about all of the awesomeness that is the Contemporary Animation Society, feel free to check it out at www.thehive.scad.edu/cas. We meet every Thursday at 8:30 PM at Montgomery Hall. See you there!

Sketching at the zoo.

The Contemporary Animation Society (of which I am the treasurer) took a trip down to the Jacksonville Zoo today.  Thirty-three of us (including Professor Jacques Khouri and Professor Phil Young and his wife) piled into a few cars and headed down to Florida.  It was a beautiful day; the sun was shining and the sky was an amazing shade of blue.  After two hours of napping in the car, we arrived.  Sketchbooks and cameras in hand, we invaded the zoo.

The animals must have know what we were up to, since many of them obligingly stayed in one position for a minute or two so we could capture a quick gesture sketch or two before they started moving around.  One of the giraffes had to have been standing in the exact same position for at least ten minutes.  I must say, however, that the otters weren’t so willing to hold still.  I was barely able to catch one in a photograph, let alone with my pencil.  My favorite sketch of the day had to be one I did of an African Bullfrog.  If you do not know what one of those looks like, I encourage you to look it up.  They look like globs of green mud with eyes.  Apparently, they are cannibalistic, too.  (Thankfully, there was only one to a tank.)  Some of my favorite photos were of the giraffes and some of the colorful birds that are scattered throughout the zoo.

Although the trip was fun (I had a blast), we didn’t go to the zoo just to get away from Savannah for a while or to take pretty pictures (although I did get some really nice ones).  We went to try our hands at capturing animals in motion.  Gesture drawings are important tools for figuring out how animals are put together and how they move.  It is not easy to draw an animal in only a few seconds or minutes, but it is good practice.  The zoo is also an excellent place to go to draw from life, which is much better than drawing from a photo (even though sometimes you need to if you can’t get down to a zoo).  It is a good place to go to do studies of people, too.  The zoo is a crowded place on a beautiful Saturday in April, so there are plenty of free models to draw.  Animation is all about motion, and gesture sketches of people or animals are very helpful in learning how to draw things in motion.  Gesture drawings help with figuring out proportion, perspective, foreshortening, etc., as well as helping to get you to draw faster.  And, the best part is that they don’t have to look perfect.  They are just sketches, they won’t end up as a final product, so there is no need to be self conscious about them.  You can just let loose and draw a monkey.

I am very much looking forward to next year’s trip, and if anyone is looking for a good place to go on vacation, I recommend making a stop in Jacksonville to check out the zoo.