Superman (1978), played by the late Christoper Reeves, was a pretty cool cat. But even the Man of Steel can only do one thing at a time.
“Do not plan for ventures before finishing what’s at hand.” — Euripides, Poet
There’s a good saying about not being able to do everything, at least not all at once. The same goes with skill/talent development.
As artists, we can often feel compelled to not only multitask (which doesn’t work) but also to work on “everything” when it comes to developing our skills. But there’s only so much time, only so much energy. Furthermore, our current situation (work or otherwise) as well as our emotional state (i.e. do we even feel the urge?) both heavily impact our ability to further our skill sets. My advice is that you work on your MOST PRESSING NEEDS FIRST. Identify that, then go forward.
Now, the laundry list of items requiring development can be daunting for any artist regardless of his/her current skill levels. Each element is difficult and takes a serious investment. A good example is drawing or acting abilities — no one can ever be too good or even good enough. But there are a few problems that might need addressing immediately if your animation struggles are substantial or holding you back. Here are the most common problems I see in the many cumulative years that I’ve been animating, directing and teaching.
PLANNING:
Planning out your work is not unlike making a travel plan across the continent. It takes thought, preparation and a budget.
Time and time again, where I see where most beginners, amateurs and even lower-level professionals suffer the most from is POOR PLANNING. Being prepared is more than just doing a few thumbnails or shooting some video reference. It’s about having a GAME PLAN. If you don’t know what your scene or character is about, or haven’t identified correctly the context or subtext, then you’re already on the wrong path. Questions must be asked and options must be explored. Furthermore, have some clear and FINAL IDEA what you’re doing, otherwise you’ll deviate once the going gets rough. WRITE IT DOWN. Don’t count on memory or your passion, both of which can change in an instant.
A good plan is a clear road map that sets you up for an exciting but possibly long and difficult trip. Know where you’re going, know what tools or skills you’ll need for your project, and have a solid sense of how long you plan to spend at each interval and on the total adventure. Having a game plan means clearly understanding how you’ll go from start to end. It’s about being prepared.
CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Mad Max Fury Road (2015). Good composition and choreography directs the eyes. You always know where to look in a George Miller movie no matter how frenetic the action may be.
Understanding camera, composition and choreography are some of the biggest deficiencies among working animators today. This is likely reflective of the current state of movies, television as well as the vast amount internet-quality productions by amateurs. This lack of care of good quality placement and movement of characters puts many animators off to a poor start. If you get used to seeing junk, you develop a taste or comfort with it.
If your skills in camera are poor there many books that teach the basics, including books such as Joseph Mascelli’s Five C’s of Cinematography, where you can get a better grasp on the placement and use of cameras. Knowing how scenes are set up and how they flow/edit together helps an animator understand not only the flow of a shot but also the director’s intent from a big picture perspective.
Learn the difference between good and poor composition, as well as choreography that’s interesting and clear versus that which bores and/or confuses. A study of art and film history featuring quality paintings, illustrations and movies will strengthen your eyes and enlighten your tastes.
SHAPE:
I love Andreas Deja’s animation of Scar. This compilation of scenes done for The Lion King show how powerful the use of shape and the changes between them can be when driven by solid acting.
Animators often struggle with finding the best poses for their animations. This problem comes from a poor understanding of how shapes work and what they mean. Without a proper period of artistic study and education, things like the power of straights versus curves and basic design elements such as the relativity of size, duration and visual textures, animators will never achieve appeal or charm in their work. This is why I’ve never met an animator who drew well be a poor animator. Drawing teaches us how to use our eyes. It’s never even been about physical hand-eye coordination.
The study of shapes and lines informs the mind what the image says to the viewer. This takes time and practice like anything else of course, but it’s astonishing how so many CG animators out there seem to dread the act of drawing or choose to diminish its value. It baffles the mind that an “artist” would want to avoid drawing. A laughable paradox if there ever was one. Studying nature, studying the creations of good artists, as well drawing from imagination, are all magnificent ways to improve your ability to make good poses. Draw, copy, or trace if you have to.
WEIGHT:
Stromboli from Walt Disney’s Pinocchio. Bill Tytla’s animation of this Disney villain shows what can be achieved when one has a thorough understanding of forces. This pose has not only fantastic weight and power but feels like it’s in perpetual movement even though it’s just a single drawing.
The lack of understanding in weight is the number one obstacle for beginning animators. It’s simply not something you can just fake or copy. It’s either there or not. The fundamentals behind understanding weight and knowing how to execute work that has weight comes down to one word, forces. Good animation displays the elements of force working at all times, and the best animation uses forces to accentuate or even amplify the quality of scene (e.g. the powerful artistry of Glen Keane comes to mind).
There are only several primary forces when animating: gravity (which pulls a character/object down constantly), a character’s inner force (i.e. the will and physical effort used to oppose forces in its way), and external characters or objects (which might exert their own force upon your character(s). Only by accounting for all the forces in play will a scene carry real and believable weight.
PATH OF ACTION (POA):
This analysis I made of Frank Thomas’ animation of Baloo shows the importance and beauty of arcs and overall paths of action. From Disney’s The Jungle Book.
Understanding arcs is a the key to getting movement right. But arcs are only a small portion of the path any object takes. The path of action (POA) is the total physical and visual journey of say a hand or head of character in movement. This needs to be clear and believable, which means the animator must be aware of its placement and path the whole time within the world space.
Unfortunately, most artists just haphazardly go about animating the movements of their characters not thinking about the time, spacing or path and how it impacts the final results. With good awareness, you can plot out visually, or mentally in your mind’s eye, how any particular part of your character is traveling in space. That’s the key — seeing and visualizing things moving in space — visual rhythm. When this is neglected, animators could easily find that their scene either lacks appeal or moves far too much (or both). Appeal is not something that comes exclusively from shapes (i.e. poses) but also from movement.
SUMMARY:
These areas of our craft are all very basic yet difficult to master. Simplicity is the aim. So this means that if you struggle in one of these areas especially, work specifically on them. Isolate your issues and dedicate serious time addressing your deficiencies. For example, if you’re really struggling with spacing, then grab a bouncing ball and test out what different kinds of spacing looks like while NOT having to deal with fancy arcs or multiple limbs. Work only on one thing at a time. Don’t worry about other problems so much, at least for now. It’s the best and most simple way to learn — isolating your focus. It’s akin to limiting the number of balls you need to juggle in the air. Of course being simple is often the hardest thing to do because we’re so obsessed with doing more, all the time.
“The bane of Americans is overwork-and the ruin of any work is a divided interest. Concentrate-concentrate. One thing at a time.” —Mark Twain, Writer