Month: December 2015

“The Garden” by Joan Miró. This majestic Spanish artist’s abstract compositions play beautifully with shape, line and color to help evoke sensations that lie within the realm of the surreal – ideas which would be too difficult to present in more realistic form.

“What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it’s curved like a road through mountains.”  – Tennessee Williams

Character Design:

Shapes are the essential building blocks to visual art. In animation and film composition, design and movement of those building blocks will define the message you wish to deliver. It’s why it’s essential that animation artists study and practice the use of line and shape whether you work in story, concept, animation or modeling/rigging.

Solid understanding of the power of shapes, line and color will aid strongly in the construction and definition of any character. Size, variation and repetition of those elements strengthen the impression of any design. From Walt Disney’s 101 Dalmations.

Graphic Design:

In graphic design, the interplay between line and shape help define ideas, sometimes in the most simple yet powerful way. Street signs do this, as do company logos and superhero symbols. Great design is direct and unmistakable.

Design elements can signal power or danger. In the case of DC Comic’s Batman, it shows both. The welcoming curves played against the sharp edges and pointed bat ears not only define the characters physical traits, but indicate a conflicted agenda – a dangerous hero who both steals the spot light yet roams in the dark. It can be argued that the Batman symbol is the most distinguished and possibly best designed logo in the superhero universe.

Performance:

The primary edge of shapes can be defined as either straight or curved, implying either linear or circular movement or revealing a sense of intensive direction or gentle comfort and welcome. The choice of your shapes will define the overall aspects of your art.

The sharp, angular designs used by renown illustrator Gerald Scarfe gave Hades an edginess uncommon among Disney characters. In conjunction with James Wood’s sharp tongue and Nik Ranieri’s playful animation, it makes for a very interesting and particular personality. From Walt Disney’s Hercules.

While sharp, straight  edges give a sense of danger and lack of refinement, round smooths shapes convey comfort, harmony and wholeness. Sharp designs can be aggressive or dated, while rounded ones can feel welcoming and modern.

In the 2008 Pixar release Wall-E, director Andrew Stanton, plays with the contrast of time and space as exemplified by the difference in design and detail between the rustic, angular Wall-E and the simplistically modern, yet soft and streamline Eve.

 

Playing straights against smooth curves and sharp turns, Glen Keane’s exciting animation from Walt Disney’s Tarzan demonstrates great dynamic power and energy. Keane’s work is famous for its immense force and magnetism both in drawing and movement.

Gendy Tartakosvky’s creation, Samurai jack, is a different kind of fun. Charged with graphic zip and zaniness this director loves the use of extremely geometric shapes played against wild curves and movement that rips across the screen. Along with his brilliant use of composition, color and cutting, Tartakosvky has made a distinguished mark in the art of animation. (Courtesy of Cartoon Network)

Where as sweeping movements can display dynamism and power, less linear presentations using soft curves and round shapes are very gentle and comforting. The warm and pleasing design of Freddie Moore’s Mickey Mouse made him the most successful icon among the thousands of characters in the cartoon universe.

This marvelous sequence of drawings of Mickey Mouse by Freddie Moore are loaded with warmth, beauty and appeal. Not only are the shapes rounded, soft and plush, but so is the animation, which is loaded with bounce and pliability.

Film composition:

In film composition, shapes and line will dictate balance or imbalance, dictate movement or stability, or imply mood and atmosphere. The best directors pay close attention to the dynamics shapes and lines have on the viewer. For more on film composition, go here.

The famous ‘map room’ shot from Steven Spielberg’s 1981 masterpiece, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Using carefully delineated shapes and line via light and shadow, the director guides the viewers attention to exactly where he wants them.

The best art often makes balanced usage of both straights and curves, both in shape and movement. The degree and balance of usage will be determined, as usual, by the intention behind the work.

Akira Kurasawa’s Ran is one of the best film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s work. There’s astounding beauty in the stillness of some scenes while others engage sweeping movements of form. The film’s mastery on display from the acting to the cinematography is worth slow and intense study for both animators and live action filmmakers alike.

In summary, realize that as animation artists you control very specific elements of your craft, and one of those tools that you wield is your presentation of lines and shapes, which are, decidedly, straight or curved. Sometimes these effects can be overt, at other times subtle or inconspicuous. How you use them will have a profound effect on your audience, intentional or not. Just remember, contrast is everything.

 “A curve does not exist in its full power until contrasted with a straight line.” ― Robert Henri

Still from Cordell Barker’s 1988 animated short film classic, The Cat Came Back. The expressionless cat in the film drove me nuts, and to this day, I still marvel at its effect on people and its karmic message. To see the film in its entirety, go here.

“(Buddhism) takes change as a given and suffering as the inevitable consequence of attachment and then asks what are you gonna do about it.” — Rebecca Solnit

Transience is both difficult and wonderful. We’re all born and we’ll all die. Mixing together past, present and future, each day we live, forget, remember, enjoy, anticipate, fear and worry. Life is a wonderful concoction — a mixed melody of experiences far too difficult to describe with mere words, sounds or images.  As artists, we try our best to capture this essence despite the limitation of our tools and our abilities. The opportunity to capture such transience and the sensations that accompany it is what we yearned for the day we signed up.

Animation is among the few disciplines where we can exclusively isolate and control the visual representation of time and space. With such precise tools in hand, we’re sometimes able to evoke very intense emotions by bringing the past into focus, or inspire insight by looking deeply into the yet-to-be discovered future. It’s the magic that lies within the power of this craft.

Chihiro and her tiny mates take a ride on Haku, the dragon-boy, from Hiyao Miyazaki’s 2001 magical masterpiece, Spirited Away — a film that deals with various dimensions in time and space.

As such, one must be reminded of the struggle that’s inherent with being an artist. Facing problems, both of large and small nature, can be daunting, for the artists takes all matters quite seriously. Animators fret for hours over the accuracy of pixels and frames, despite their seemingly endless count in any given scene. Determined to deliver, aiming to impress, and hoping to make a difference — it is easy to get lost in the challenge of getting everything right and even easier to take it all much too seriously.

The sage advice of animation pioneer Chuck Jones comes to mind:

“The rules are simple. Take your work, but never yourself, seriously. Pour in the love and whatever skill you have, and it will come out.”

The expression “What’s up Doc?” pretty much sums up the attitude of the creator and his creation. From the magical, freckled hands of Chuck Jones.

Art, like life, is hard. It’s a great reminder of the risks we must take to grow and find meaning and enjoyment in our daily lives. Without taking chances, not venturing into the unknown, there is little opportunity for excitement or growth. Hence, formulas run their course – work gets stale, and the day-to-day routines lose their luster.

The endearing Oscar-winning Nation Film Board animated short “Crac” by the Frédéric Back, a legendary French Canadian animator whose work has inspired artists like myself since the early days of animation school. Now, it’s rare to find films done with as much care and natural faith in the process without excessive pandering or overt sentimentality.

In our work, we must remember to resist staying too comfortable, both with our abilities and our desires. Listening to the voice within is extremely important. Of course, failure could be just around the corner, and its message is there to remind you that you’re learning and that you’ve taken risks. This takes great will and courage, but it’s also immeasurably powerful and rewarding, even if it doesn’t feel that way at the time – the blows of defeat and disappointment weigh on every single artist out there.

Take Ralph Bakshi for example, an animator who made a name for himself exploring more adult subject matter and who wasn’t afraid to break away from convention, like using rotoscope and mixing live action with animation. He took chances and pushed boundaries, tackling subject matter generally avoided by his peers.

Poster image from Ralph Bakshi’s 1992 Cool World, a live action/animated film aimed at an older audience. Featuring the talents of Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger and Gabriel Byrne, the film tested the boundaries of adult themes and good taste with fantastical art and animation. It was both adored by cult fans and loathed by critics.

Sometimes you have to take the wrong road to get on to the right path. When I switched careers (more than 20 years ago), My mother used to say to me — “why didn’t you study art in the first place?” I could only reply that “you just don’t know at the time” — which is a simple yet profound truth on how and when we make choices in life. Trials and mistakes are the path to a proper and well-lived life — one that is learned and fully experienced. Where else could reflection, growth and gratitude come from?

A moment of profound truth and revelation from the international indie hit, Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. (warning: scene contains mature language)

Life is lived taking chances and experiencing the day-to-day. If your daily routine stinks, change things up. If your environment proves not to be the cause of your problems, then change yourself by altering your attitude. I recently read an article about an athlete — one who had a storied yet controversial career — giving a speech during a team ceremony in front of its youngest and newest members. He said, “You don’t realize it at the time, but it all ends all too quickly.”

Savor the moments.

“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” — Soren Kierkegaard