Category: Tips/Demos

The Need for Order

Illustrator Norman Rockwell was one of the most organized and well-prepared artists of his generation.

“There is in me an anarchy and frightful disorder. Creating makes me die a thousand deaths, because it means making order, and my entire being rebels against order. But without it I would die, scattered to the winds.” — Albert Camus, Writer

It can be stated that order is as essential to living as is the need for security. Without the basics of food, shelter and clothing (warmth), human beings can’t survive physically or psychologically. The same can be said of the necessity for order. The mind is always prone to disorder; noise, distraction, desires and fears constantly intrude our mental well-being. Without order, there lives confusion and, as it’s often said, a confused mind leads to confused action.

In art, the need for order operates in much the same fashion; without it, the entire creative process runs amok and the results can often be disappointing if not disastrous. For animators, order provides a mechanic — not a formula — for staying on top of things. Hence, it’s important to develop a workflow that makes sure some of the essential parts of the creative process have been duly considered.

Here again are the basics to staying orderly in our work:

(1) Vision:

Without an idea or the spark of something possibly interesting there’s no impulse to create. It could be something seen, heard, read about or experienced, but whatever the source may be, it’s the seed of something new. Rarely are visions what people think they are for they are not things to be sought after and found; creative ideas come uninvited, they only find landing spots. Our job as artists (and the same I imagine goes for writers, musicians, and scientists) is to provide a place for these ideas to alight and take root. It’s why, as a teacher, I encourage play and playful research, the kind that is open, free and not so goal-oriented. Again, since creation is new, we must bypass the thinking analytical mind, which is always old and always controlling. Only free-form, loose and playful activity — in the form of drawing and/or improvisational acting for animators — can generate new ideas.

20th Century master Pablo Picasso exemplifies the spirit of play and exploration.

(2) Preparation:

Ideas are useless if the artist isn’t prepared. Once there’s an opportunity it must be developed and seized. Now’s the moment to use the mind’s intelligence and organizing abilities. The best artists not only explore all the various avenues their ideas might take form but anticipate the information and tools required to bring their ideas to life. We must due the homework so to speak: make the sketches (thumbnails), collect the right kind of reference, solve visual problems and design a solid visual map by which to follow. Then we set everything up — cameras, rigs, layout, schedules, etc — and get ready to begin.

Exploration sketches done for the film Cinderella by animator Ward Kimball, one of Disney’s legendary “Nine Old Men.”

(3) Performance:

At this stage, we should have a good clear idea of what we want to accomplish. There’s still uncertainty but it’s time to get the feet wet; we test our hypotheses. Animators at this point begin to animate: we block out the major keys and — only after the blocking is successful — proceed with the in-betweening (filling in the middle) phase. This is often the most satisfying part as ideas take shape and begin their way to becoming realities. What forms is new and exciting but all the time we’re constantly asking ourselves whether we proceed to the next step or re-work the foundations — the key acting moments, poses, arcs, timing, and breakdowns — of the shot. Emotionally speaking, this is where we commit fully, aligning ourselves with our vision, bringing together both the technical and artistic aspects of our craft.

“Does it look like how I feel?” — Glen Keane, Animator

When Glen Keane animates, he goes all out. From Disney’s Tarzan.

(4) Polish:

At the polish stage, we make minor tweaks and put in the finishing touches. THIS IS NOT THE PLACE TO CHANGE THE WORK OR FIX MAJOR ERRORS. Students and amateur artists are always doing the latter. They question their ideas, fumble with technique and lose sight of the process so they noodle and noodle hoping to “rescue” the work. The polishing phase also shouldn’t be taken lightly or approached carelessly. Finishing touches matter — they can enhance or ruin the art. It is important to be attentive.

“While adding the finishing touches to a painting might appear insignificant, it is much harder to do than one might suppose.” — Claude Monet, Painter

Water Lilies by Impressionist Claude Monet.

Some Tips:

Now, working orderly is nothing new; it’s no secret to stay organized. Then why do so many fail time and again? Here are some caveats and suggestions that might help should you find yourself in disorder:

(1) Aim for Clarity. This is true from the vision phase all the way to the polish phase. You need to know where you’re heading. Fuzzy ideas lead to sloppy preparations and sloppy preparations lead to poor execution. Bad animating can never be solved by fancy polishing. Clarity is key.

(2) Treat Separate Phases as Separate Jobs: What do we mean by this? It means to treat each aspect of the job as if the next job is to be passed on to somebody else. If you block your shot poorly, you’ve made it brutally hard to in-between (spline/finish) the shot. Don’t screw the guy who comes after (which is tomorrow’s version of you).

(3) Stay the Course: Don’t keep changing your mind. The time to explore was early on. Once you begin your performance, you don’t change the song. If you find yourself doing this often perhaps your idea was not so good after all. That, or you’re a scatterbrain. Find out why you’re doing what you’re doing. Art is always providing you the opportunity to learn about yourself.

(4) Keep It Simple: Don’t over do it. Adding complexity, adding length or action doesn’t make things necessarily better. Quite the contrary. Your work should read clearly and directly to you and anyone looking at it. Why make the job harder? Besides, as you mature as an artist, you’ll begin to see and realize how beautiful (and difficult) it is to create work that is simple yet powerful.

(5) End it: At some point you have to stop. Finish the work whether you like it or not. We all need to move on. Perfection, even excellence, is a rare occurrence. Take what you’ve learned from the experience and bring that knowledge and drive to improve to the next piece of work. Life is something we build, not something we constantly fix.

“For nothing matters except life; and, of course, order.” ― Virginia Woolf, Writer

The Breakdown Key

Frames from James Baxter’s excellent animation on Disney’s The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Can you identify the breakdown keys in this series of drawings?

“Music is the space between the notes.” — Claude Debussy, Composer

Today I’m gonna share a simple tip that will greatly improve one’s animation. We’re talking, of course, of what is commonly known as the “Breakdown Key.” Whichever method an animator may choose work in, straight ahead or pose-to-pose, we all know that all shots are built around major “key” poses — snapshots of crucial moments in time and space. They are the guide posts and very foundation of any visual narrative. Like in the architecture of a building, the main story/animation keys are the cornerstones of the structure, being the most crucial elements that both hold up and ultimately define the look and feel of the entirety of work. The breakdown keys support, strengthen and clarify that structure.

The always magnificently creative and beautiful Animation Keys by Milt Kahl.

Good key poses are important but even when they’re well-placed and well-choreographed success isn’t guaranteed. Ultimately, the space between them must be filled. 3D animators who work pose-to-pose in stepped mode often dread this phase — often viewed incorrectly as the “spline” phase — because it’s very hard to work backwards or rework what the computer has done. The technical switch over from stepped or spline mode is actually not the issue, rather it’s the mindset in how to approach filling in the rest of the frames. The issue is the breakdowns; keys that aid in the transition to full implementation of all the remaining frames in the animation.

Therefore, what presents itself as a problem is actually rather an opportunity. During this “inbetweening” phase — as it’s commonly referred to in traditional hand-drawn animation — the animator is given the critical option to either exercise his attentiveness and creativity or allow the computer to lazily do the interpolations for him. We all know the results of the latter choice; work that ends up weightless, structurally weak and unimaginative. What else could we expect from an inattentive or blasé approach? The astute and responsible artist takes matters into his own hands — incorporating his vision and wit to maximize clarity, weight, feeling and interest. And he makes this happen using well-placed and often beautifully designed breakdown keys.

Here are 3 very simple ways of improving your animation by controlling the various aspects of the breakdown (middle) key:

(1) Work with an ARC in mind:

(2) Use Graduated Spacing:

(3) Incorporate Shape changes:

In Summary, working to incorporate some of these suggestions will open up your work and your mind. If you let the computer do a large portion of the work, your art will be weak. And if all you do is follow your less-than-stellar live action performances caught on camera, don’t expect stellar results. Good art comes from not just planning and hard work but also clarity, awareness, and the dutifulness to think outside of the box. Don’t be afraid to exercise your imagination.

“Imagination is more important than intelligence.” — Albert Einstein, Scientist