Holy Crap!

How is this possible?!?!?! Believe it or not this is oil and acrylic on canvas. Check out more amazing work from this awesome (yet somewhat twisted artist) by the name of Gottfried Helnwein.

(Detail)

Hmmmmmm

So something I have been thinking about lately. How much detail should be put into an animation, and where should that detail be placed?

I'm curious how other people work. Personally, I try to put as much detail into my shots as I possibly can. I like to try new things, and experiment (something hard to do in the middle of crunch time.)

I think sometimes people don't always agree with my approach of going into uber subtle detail. You know...the kinda stuff that isn't even really noticeable on the computer unless you zoom way in and focus on one area. By no means do I think my approach is the only way, and heck for that matter I have no idea if it is the right way at all (still my first movie) hehe. But my thinking is....those things may go unnoticed on a computer screen, but when they're like 20ft tall in a theatre...things could look different. *shrugs*

I am starting to learn that you can't put the same amount of detail everywhere...well umm I mean you can, but ummmm I don't know. My experience with doing that has been that things become too busy. I think perhaps you need to think of your animation as a moving picture. Before you go "DUH THATS ALL ANIMATION IS...A SERIES OF MOVING PICTURES" hear me out. :)

When you draw a picture..I mean really draw a picture, you think about your staging and your composition. You think about how you can lead the eye where you want it to go...nothing is left unplanned. Why not put that in your animation. Of course there is staging and composition in your overall animation and posing, but why not also lead your viewers eye around with where the detail is emphasized. Think of it kinda like a moving composition that's purpose is to lead the eye where you want the audience to be looking. What are your thoughts?

Spline Doctors

"Pixar Animators by day and Academy of Art Teachers by night (well Tuesday night anyways)."

Sweet rubber chickens!

The people that pretty much taught me everything I know about animation just started their own blog. Check it out...

The Animators involved:

Scott Clark
Andrew Gordon
Stephen Gregory
Angus MacLane
Billy Merritt
Mike Venturini

...

SCRAMBLES ARE HARD!!! :)

Observation

It was watching Dirty Jobs and I saw something interesting. If someone is experienced at climbing ladders they grab the ladder from the side as they climb. This allows them to keep their hands on the ladder at all times (for safety). A less experienced person would grab each individual step with their hands as they climb.

So if you ever have to animate someone climbing a ladder, you can ask yourself, the supervisor, or the director. Is this person experienced on a ladder? The answer may dictate the way he climbs the ladder, and where he places his hands.

"Postural Echo"

Examples of Postural Echo from Manwatching by Desmond Morris:


Ok so, I was looking over Manwatching by Desmond Morris again, and I happened across something interesting that may aid in animation. He calls it Postural Echo.

Have you ever noticed that two people sitting near each other sometimes seem to mimic each others pose? This is postural echo. It tends to happen mainly in friends and companions. The closer the friends are the stronger the postural echo. “There is a good reason for this. A true bond of friendship is usually only possible between people of roughly equal status. This equality is demonstrated in many indirect ways…In this way the body transmits a silent message, saying: ‘See, I am just like you’; and this message is not only sent unconsciously but also understood in the same manner.”

This postural echo even goes beyond mimicking a pose. Frequently they will synchronize their movements as they talk. For example, “when one uncrosses his legs, the other soon follows suit, and when one leans back a little, so does his companion.”

So what happens when people of different status meet? One will take the dominant position and one will take the subordinate position. “Whenever a dominant and subordinate meet, they signal their relationship by their body postures and it is a simple matter for a subordinate to manipulate such a situation. Just as the dominant doctor deliberately climbed down from his high status role by echoing the patients body posture, so a subordinate can, if he wishes, unnerve a dominant individual by copying his body actions…Even if verbally he is politeness itself, such a course of action will have a powerful impact…”

In the 1970’s they researched the subtle changes in posture with slow motion cameras, and they learned that “there is even a ‘micro synchrony’ of small movements, so sensitive that it is hard to see with the naked eye. Tiny momentary dips and nods of the head, tensing of the fingers, stretching of lips, and jerks of the body, are all beautifully matched when a pair of friends are in a condition of strong rapport…the movements they make as the speak and listen is often perfected to within a 48th of a second. When film is shot at 48 frames per sec is analyzed frame by frame, it is possible to see the way in which sudden, small movements start simultaneously, on exactly the same frame of film, with both the speaker and the listener. As the speaker jerks his body with emphasis he makes on different words, so the listener makes tiny, matching movements of some part of the body. The friendlier the two people are, the more their rhythm locks together.”

“An important discovery was made when similar films were taken of conversations with mentally disturbed patients. Here there was little or no body synchrony-the echo had vanished and with it the rapport. And it was this particular quality that contributed so strongly to the feeling of ‘strangeness’ when encountering and attempting social contact with these patients.”

There is a lot of useful info in that. I think there is definitely something in there that can apply to your acting and animation.

LOST

Lol I know this has nothing to do with animation, but omg LOST has to be the best show on tv. If you haven't seen it, I strongly urge you to rent or buy the first season. Every episode manages to top the episode before it. * for those that haven't been watching the show...possible spoilers below*

What the heck is going on...what's going to happen...what's up with the island...who are The Others...did you see the symbol on the shark fin...what happened to Walt...did you see the part in the first episode of the season where Walt was soaking wet in the field and speaking weird words that make no sense, did you know that if you play it backwards he says "Press the button. No button's bad."...what's up with the numbers? omg tell me, tell me, tell me...must watch. Yah...I know...it's an addiction.

My hat's off to all the incredibly talented people that make this show possible. Sooo ummm go watch it now!!! hehe