Don Bluth's Classical Animation
 
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Don Bluth's Animation Academy


THE ANIMATOR


INTRODUCTION TO CHARACTER ROUGH ANIMATION
The purpose of this job is to animate characters, giving them personality as established by the voice talent and the Director, while under the supervision of the Directing Animator and/or the Director. Also, make every effort to bring the characters to life. Animation Flowchart
     It would be impossible to effectively put into words a truly comprehensive primer on "How to Become an Animator" of classical style animation. Years of preparation and training precede the full development of such an artist. An Animator is not only an accomplished draughtsman with the ability to draw with accuracy and believability, but must also have many other traits and skills at his of her fingertips. An Animator must also have the sense of an actor to bring personality and entertainment to a character, the mind of a dancer to give grace and movement to a scene, the instinct of an athlete to portray dexterity and power, the ear of a musician to incorporate musical ideas with graphic images, a good eye for caricaturing both characters and action to exaggerate and extract the essence of the subject or activity, a strong sense of discipline in applying these skills with consistency and concentration and a love and devotion for the art form itself. There are also technical skills which are part of the "tools of the trade" that the Animator needs to have command of, which will also be touched upon here.
EQUIPMENT
  1. PENCILS
    1. An assortment of black lead drawing pencils from HB to 2B.
    2. Blue pencils.
    • This is the pencil most of your construction and poses will be done with.
  2. ERASERS
    1. Kneader eraser.
    • This is the most essential eraser to use. It lifts off the graphite without damaging the paper.
  3. White Staedlter.
    • Useful for larger areas.
  4. Try NOT to use the eraser at the end of your pencil. It is too harsh and damages the paper surface.
  5. ELECTRIC PENCIL SHARPENER
    1. You may find you prefer keeping some pencils exclusively with rounder tips for drawing. Do NOT sharpen your pencil to a fine point, it will score the paper. Keep your black line soft and your blue line a bit softer.
  6. PEGHOLE REINFORCEMENTS
    1. For strengthening the holes in the animation paper to keep registration jitter to a minimum.
  7. PUNCHED ANIMATION PAPER: (As determined by the need of the scene)
    1. 16-field (13 1/2" x 16 1/2")
    2. 12-field (10 1/2" x 12 1/2")
    3. 16-field or 12-filed pan paper (various lengths)
  8. CARDBOARD SUPPORTS AND RUBBER BANDS
    1. For packaging and protecting a scene.
  9. ANIMATION DISC AND PEG BAR
    1. Has a frosted glass for backlighting and two peg bars, top and bottom, with increments for pan movements.
  10. BACKLIGHT
    1. To aid the visualization of the action created by successive drawings.
  11. OVERHEAD LAMP
    1. For illuminating drawing surfaces.
  12. GLOVES
    1. A painting glove with the thumb and first two fingers cut off on your drawing hand to help keep your drawing clean from graphite collecting on your palm and little finger. NEVER wipe your hand or finger across a drawing while shooting or handling a scene. The oil from your hands will smear the graphite.
  13. MODEL SHEETS
    1. Model sheets are essential in accurately drawing a character. They will show proper size, construction and detail for any given character in the film from many different angles.
  14. X-SHEET (camera exposure sheet)
    1. The x-sheet is the record of the scene and must remain with the scene. All important information and the names of people who work on the scene are recorded there.
  15. PAN STICK
    1. Useful for lining up drawings whose peg holes do not correspond because of a pan movement.
DESK ORGANIZATION
Animation is an art form which, by its nature, propels the artist into logistics problems. The number of drawings needed for and animated cartoon forces the artist to use a number system to keep track of the many drawings and a sense of orderliness so as to be as efficient as possible. The Animator must organize the working space so a scene is always kept orderly. The drawings being roughed would be stacked in an inverted position so the low number would be on top with blank side of paper up. A stack of clean paper of appropriate size should also be placed within arms reach as well as the pencil sharpener. It's important that an Animator develops a work system so as to not be delayed by unnecessary searching for tools and drawings. He can then concentrate his energy on the creative process of completing the series of drawings creating the action in an animated scene. A wealth of educational pamphlets, programs and materials have been prepared for the training of Animators, which have accompanied private and group instruction sessions including theatrical acting classes that have proved to be a great help to all. These handouts will continue to be distributed and the animation and acting classes are on an ongoing basis. The following is a brief outline on the Animator's task in bringing a scene to life and ultimately to the screen, followed by lengthy elaborations on many of the key features in learning the task.
METHOD ANALYSIS - ANIMATION
  1. PICK UP SCENE FROM DIRECTOR

    Discuss the scene thoroughly with your Director. Explore ideas for what the character should be doing in the scene: what he should be feeling, what he is thinking. Study the storyboard to see how your scene fits into the story. Always check "hook-ups" to ensure continuity and consistency from scene to scene (i.e., if a character is wearing a baseball hat in one scene and a derby in the next, then some Animator somewhere fell asleep and did not read this manual). Before returning form the Director's desk to your own, be sure to have the following:

    • Exposure sheet
    • Blow-up of the storysketch
    • Copy of that section of the storyboard
    • Model sheets of characters in scene
    • Audio cassette tape of dialogue track and/or music track (if scene calls for it)
    • Plenty of blank paper
    • Your head screwed tightly on your shoulders
  2. SIT DOWN AT YOUR DESK AND START YOUR SCENE

    Before picking up pencil and paper, "close your eyes to see", as Don Bluth would say. Literally shut your eyes and start working out on the stage of your mind exactly what the scene will be like. If you have a dialogue and/or music track to go with the scene, play it over and over and be sensitive to the mental pictures that start to get conjured up. Do not start a single drawing until there are some strong images to inspire you. Once the ideas are flowing and the wheels are turning, grab your favorite pencil and start to get your scene on paper.

  3. START WITH THUMBNAIL SKETCHES

    Explore poses, gestures, expressions and bits of business in small rough preliminary sketches. When you think they are wonderful, take them to the Director for feedback. Work closely with the Director throughout the animation process. Once the Director has approved the thumbnails and determined you're on the right track, you are ready to proceed to the next stage.