Quickest way to improvement? It’s a simple bit of advice that rings with absolute truth.
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Articles, tips, mentors, and study will never get you as far as rolling up your sleeves and getting down to work, be it animation or any other skill. Today we’ve compiled a list of exercises, like animation push-ups, that will get your art skills buff and toned. Maybe you still need convinced of how important the “Art of Doing” is? Look no further than the early days of animation, especially at the Disney studio. Here were a group of animators (before being an animator was even a thing) who HAD no books to read, or websites to visit, or even experienced animators to ask. They learned via the age old art of hands-on training, experimenting and discovering as they went.
And some would argue they created some of the greatest animation to ever be seen. Masterpieces like the dwarfs dancing in Snow White or the terror of the Monstro scene in Pinocchio. So be like them! Get out there and do animation! Some of these exercises you may have done or seen before; some maybe not.
Consider doing each of them, even if you did once previously, because returning to an old exercise to see how much you’ve progressed is a very valuable experience. Level 1 Exercises (Do not discount their simplicity! Here you have the principals of animation, which all other animation is built on. I truly have to ponder just how useful doing such simple things can be.
If one wants to be a professional animator at the likes of Pixar or Dreamworks or Lucasfilm we will be doing much more complex items than just bouncing balls or brushing teeth (when was the last time anyone in a film brushed their teeth!) Instead rather you should practice complex exercises copied directly from actual films so that you will be prepared for the real world. These are all silly school exercises and school is nothing like the industry I think. You never see a bouncing Read more ». They’re useful because you learn the basics and foundations of animation through varied and diverse forms of movement, not because you’re preparing because one day you.might. have to animate someone brushing their teeth. And I can’t think of many bouncing balls in films, besides maybe Toy Story, but that’s not the point.
The point is that the principles behind the bouncing ball are applied to many different forms of movement, such as walks. They are not in the same form, obviously, but the same principles (squash and stretch, timing, spacing) are all there.
Yep, Jonah hit the nail on the head! These exercises guide you through the principals that you can take to ANY scene you might work on. The bouncing ball tunes timing, spacing, and squash and stretch. The tooth brushing one you mentioned will take you through thumb nailing and a range of actions (all part of one larger action) that you will absolutely use when planning whatever story Pixar or Dreamworks throws your way.
? Cool idea about trying your own version of a real movie scene, though, that sounds like a great concept for a future article! How can they be useful? I will say something that is not to be taken as gloating but for credibilaty.
As an animator i make sure to take all opportunities to make myself better at the craft. Ive taken a Pixar Masterclass taught by Andrew Gordon and Matthew Luhn. Ive gone to the Pixar benefit where me and a good friend got incredible advice from Mark Walsh and Ronnie Del Carmen.
Currently I am taking animation workshops taught by the animators from disney such as Michael Woodside and Marlon Nowe. They all said what is said right in Read more ». Excellent list. Already passed on to my students. Another one – a little complex, but involves timing, spacing, acting, thinking character, etc: A walk across screen where the pacing changes. For example: moderate walk pace, then a pause for a thought or glance at a text on a phone, slow walk as the thought is processed or the text is read, then a faster walk offscreen as the thought is completed or as a reaction to what the text message said. Three different walks, and transitions between for thinking time.
Have at it!:0). Hey, good job with the practice, Aaron!
Looks like you’re really blazing through them. A few thoughts, since you wanted some feedback: The early exercises are really, really important ones. They are the basis for pretty much all the ones that follow, and the principals and foundations they build are essential if you want to improve in the long run.
Because of that, it would be very helpful to you to stick with them until you get the just the way you want. I see on the flour sack jump you mentioned your awareness of the timing issue.
That’s great, Read more ». I think this is a really great list. I’ve done a lot of these as assignments in classes and I think they are really useful. The only thing is that I was interested in why in Level 1 you put the flour sack exercises after the character exercises. I would have thought the flour sack would have been better to start with as the inexperienced animator might choose a really complex character design to use and thus become overwhelmed by the exercise. The flour sack also has no face so that’s a few less things to think about when creating Read more ».
I’m personally not familiar with animating in Anime Studio, but generally speaking you are going to follow traditional animation workflow. Start by doing thumbnails, then figure out your timing. Do a pose-test (essentially your keyframes timed out) and then begin doing your inbetweens. Keep checking to make sure things are flowing from one frame to the next, and that it has an overall nice feel to it.
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If something is wrong, change it as soon as you notice! Hopefully at some point we’ll do a few in-depth tutorials on these exercises in case anyone wants to follow through step by step!
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