It has been almost a year since I last updated this thing, and I am sure that anyone who has ever been to this site has long forgotten it.  However, I am trying to change all of that.  Since I am now in charge of the website/blog for the Student Activities Council, which is also done through WordPress, I figured I would give this site another go, as well.

So, stay tuned for updates on all that is Sandy… hopefully I can get some of my newer artwork on here, since there isn’t anything on here that I have done in the past two years!

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!

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.

1) Squash and Stretch- This action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as it moves. Also squash and stretch is useful in animating dialogue and doing facial expressions. How extreme the use of squash and stretch is, depends on what is required in animating the scene. Usually it’s broader in a short style of picture and subtler in a feature. It is used in all forms of character animation from a bouncing ball to the body weight of a person walking. This is the most important element you will be required to master and will be used often.

2) Anticipation- This movement prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to perform, such as, starting to run, jump, or change expression. A dancer does not just leap off the floor. A backwards motion occurs before the forward action is executed. The backward motion is the anticipation. Almost all real action has major or minor anticipation, such as a pitcher’s windup or a golfer’s back swing.

3) Staging- A pose or action should clearly communicate to the audience the attitude, mood, reaction or idea of the character as it relates to the story and continuity of the story line. The effective use of long, medium, or close up shots, as well as camera angles, also helps in telling the story. There is a limited amount of time in a film, so each sequence, scene, and frame of film must relate to the overall story. Do not confuse the audience with too many actions at once. Use one action clearly stated to get the idea across, unless you are animating a scene that is to depict clutter and confusion. Staging directs the audience’s attention to the story or idea being told. Care must be taken in background design so it isn’t obscuring the animation or competing with it due to excess detail behind the animation. Background and animation should work together as a pictorial unit in a scene.

4) Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose Animation- Straight ahead animation starts at the first drawing and works drawing to drawing to the end of a scene. You can lose size, volume, and proportions with this method, but it does have spontaneity and freshness. Fast, wild action scenes are done this way. Pose to pose is more planned out and charted with key drawings done at intervals throughout the scene. Size, volume, and proportions are controlled better this way, as is the action. The lead animator will turn charting and keys over to his assistant. An assistant can be better used with this method so that the animator doesn’t have to draw every drawing in a scene. An animator can do more scenes this way and concentrate on the planning of the animation. Many scenes use a bit of both methods of animation.

5) Follow Through and Overlapping Action- When the main body of the character stops, all other parts continue to catch up to the main mass of the character, such as arms, long hair, clothing, coat tails or a dress, floppy ears or a long tail (these follow the path of action). Nothing stops all at once. This is follow through. Overlapping action is when the character changes direction while his clothes or hair continues forward. The character is going in a new direction, to be followed, a number of frames later, by his clothes in the new direction. “DRAG,” in animation, for example would be when Goofy starts to run, but his head, ears, upper body, and clothes do not keep up with his legs. In features, this type of action is done more subtly. Example: When Snow White starts to dance, her dress does not begin to move with her immediately but catches up a few frames later. Long hair and animal tails will also be handled in the same manner. Timing becomes critical to the effectiveness of drag and the overlapping action.

6) Slow-Out and Slow-In- As action starts, we have more drawings near the starting pose, one or two in the middle, and more drawings near the next pose. Fewer drawings make the action faster and more drawings make the action slower. Slow-ins and slow-outs soften the action, making it more life-like. For a gag action, we may omit some slow-outs or slow-ins for shock appeal or the suprise element. This will give more snap to the scene.

7) Arcs- All actions, with few exceptions (such as the animation of a mechanical device), follow an arc or slightly circular path. This is especially true of the human figure and the action of animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. Think of natural movements in the terms of a pendulum swinging. All arm movement, head turns, and even eye movements are executed on arcs.

8 ) Secondary Action- This action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. Example: A character is angrily walking toward another character. The walk is forceful, aggressive, and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk. Also, the possibility of dialogue being delivered at the same time with tilts and turns of the head to accentuate the walk and dialogue, but not so much as to distract from the walk action. All of these actions should work together in support of one another. Think of the walk as the primary action and arm swings, head bounce and all other actions of the body as secondary or supporting action.

9) Timing- Expertise in timing comes best with experience and personal experimentation, using the trial and eror method in refining technique. The basics are: more drawings between poses slow and smooth the action. Fewer drawings make the action faster and crisper. A variety of slow and fast timing within a scene adds texture and interest to the movement. Most animation is done on twos (one drawing photographed on two frames of film) or on ones (one drawing photographed on each frame of film). Twos are used most of the time, and ones are used during camera moves such as trucks, pans, and occasionally for subtle and quick dialogue animation. Also, there is timing in the acting of a character to establish mood, emotion, and reaction to another character or situation. Studying each frame movement of actors and performers on stage and in films is useful when animating human or animal characters.

10) Exaggeration- Exaggeration is not extreme distortion of a drawing or extremely broad, violent action all the time. It’s like a caricature of facial features, expressions, poses, attitudes and actions. Action traced from live action film can be accurate, but stiff and mechanical. In feature animation, a character must move more braodly to look natural. The same is true of facial expressions, but the action should not be as broad as in a short cartoon style. Exaggeration in a walk or an eye movement or even a head turn will give your film more appeal.

11) Solid Drawing- The basic principles of drawing form, weight, volume solidity and the illusion of three dimensions apply to animation as it does to academic drawing. The way you draw cartoons, you draw in the classical sense, using pencil sketches and drawings for reproduction of life. You transform these into color and movement giving the characters the illusion of three- and four-dimensional life. Three-dimensional is movement in space. The fourth dimension is movement in time.

12) Appeal- A live performer has charisma. An animated character has appeal. Appealing animation does not mean just being cute and cuddly. All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic, villainous, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will capture and involve the audience’s interest. Early cartoons were basically a series of gags strung together on a main theme. Over the years, the artists have learned that to produce a feature there was a need for story continuity, character development and a higher quality of artwork throughout the entire production. Like all forms of story telling, the feature has to appeal to the mind as well to the eye.

OK, so those are the twelve principles. Use them well. I intended to say more here, but the principles took longer to type than I had anticipated. More will come later.