It Seems I'm It!

Brian Sibley has kindly stripped me of one of my evenings by tagging me with a request for seven songs that I like at the moment. I found this oddly difficult! Well here we go. I hasten to add that some of these are embarrassing!!

1. We're Gonna Change the World - Matt Monroe
I heard this recently on the radio and it instantly made me think of travelling in the car as a child with my parents, listening to their music that I hated at the time but actually like nowadays. I haven't actually listened to it since that one radio broadcast but I've had it stuck in my head for the past two weeks! (Apologies for the lack of proper video, I couldn't find one).


2. Joy to the World - Three Dog Night
This was featured on a fairly recent TV advert for Sky TV and I really loved the jolly tune. Of course the ad was animated in 2D which sold it to me even more!


3. Never Had a Friend Like Me - Robin Williams
I couldn't have a list of favourites without Disney creeping in. My current favourite Disney song is this fantastic offering from Aladdin's Genie.


4. Sweet About Me - Gabriella Cilmi
Just a recent song that I like as it has an interesting sound that isn't on every other song on the radio.


5. You've Got a Friend in Me - Randy Newman
Another Disney one. I find this the most comforting of any song from an animated film. Always nice to know you have a friend! I hope Randy's music in next year's new 2D Disney movie is as good as this.


6. Here It Goes Again - OK Go
Yes after countless series, each worse than the last, I'm still watching Big Brother. This song was recently featured on it, with the housmates having to recreate the famous video. What a life I lead watching this stuff!


7. Singin' In The Rain (Original Version) - Gene Kelly
You may know of a break-dancing kid from Manchester making the remixed version of this popular after winning Britain's Got Talent...hmmm you wouldn't know from watching that show. Anyway I like the music but not as much as I like the original version. This scene from the movie is something that sadly isn't in films anymore. From both a moviegoer's and animator's point of view, this is fantastic to watch.


So there we have it! Now I have to tag seven other bloggers. Well this unfortunate lot are next:
Craig (Gooseania)
"Bitter" (My Medicated Cartoon Life)
Franco (Enliven Animations)
Kevin (Cartoons, Model Sheets and Stuff)
Mel (Melmade the Blog)
Arthur (Arthur Gil Larsen)
Andrew (Andrew Glazebrook)

What Kind of Hippie Are You?

I was sitting in a coffee shop today having a bite to eat when I suddenly started to really notice subtle variations in the way people walk. From what I could tell, most of the variation occurred as a result of differences in the hip movement.

I had a load of things on this subject that I wanted to write about, but for the life of me, I can't remember them! I should take a notebook around with me for such occasions. However one thing that struck me particularly is differences in passing positions. For those who don't know what this is, it's the point in a person's walk where their legs begin to swap positions between being in front of the body and being behind it. I explained this quite a while ago in a previous post.

I noticed that in some people, the hips rotate upwards to accommodate the extra space needed to lift up the passing leg, but in other people, the hips rotate downwards. For example, in some, if the person raises their left leg to take a step, they also lift up the left side of their pelvis. This seems perfectly intuitive. However in other cases, the person may lift their left leg, but lower the left side of their pelvis. Here's an absolutely awful drawing to illustrate what I mean:
Drawing (a) shows a person standing still with hips level. Drawing (b) shows a passing position with the hip rotated upwards as the corresponding leg is lifted. Drawing (c) shows the hip rotating downwards as the leg is lifted.

The thing is, although I could see this difference occurring, I couldn't decide what the cause of it was, so the experimenting scientist in me decided that maybe animating it would give me the answer. So I did that, keeping every other movement in the body the same in both cases.

I subsequently discovered that in the case of (b), which can be seen on the left Batman in the video below, the charater seems to require more effort to walk, making them appear to be carrying more weight. I have exaggerated the movement in this example, causing Batman to look heavily overweight. In case (c), seen on the right Batman, the character feels a bit lighter, like they are having an easier time walking.

NOTE: I have temporarily removed the video from this post because I'm unsure about what Warner Bros copyright allows. I will replace it soon with an animation using a different character.

Be Honest, You Want To See It!

Coming soon to a blog near you....

A Feared Conversation

What exactly is the public perception of what an animator does? I have heard animators talk about how people think of the characters being brought alive by the voice actors. Say to someone "Woody" and they think Tom Hanks.

Now, while I love Tom, his performance in Toy Story is of course only half the story. Noone watches Toy Story and thinks "god, that geeky guy that has spent four years sitting behind a computer screen has done such a good job". I suppose from that point of view being an animator is a bit of a thankless job.

I used to study Physics, and as such I'm used to the following conversation:

Someone: "So What do you study?"
Me: "I study Physics."
Someone: "Oh..."
Me: "Yeah...ha ha."
Someone: "Well I'll see you around."

I know the nerdy image of a physicist isn't the most appealing, and I know that most people don't have much to say about physics other than "I was always rubbish at science at school", but it did get a bit annoying when noone had any interest in my work.

The thing is that nothing has changed. Now the conversation goes:

Someone: "So what do you do?"
Me: "I'm an animator."
Someone: "Oh..."
Me: "Yeah...ha ha."
Someone: "So what do you actually do?"
Me: "Well to put it simply, I move characters around to make them look alive."
Someone: "Oh right...well I'll see you around."

I suppose I get that extra question that I didn't get before, but it still feels like noone knows what to say to me. The thing is though, that I grew up leaving cinemas knowing what a cool thing animators had done to put a big smile on my face, so why did noone else?

I think the problem is that most people get to adulthood leaving things like Disney films behind in their childhood. It's considered a bit silly to still be into those things at my age. And even if they have fond memories of those films, then it's the story that stands out in their minds, along with funny things that the characters say. How many remember the funny way a character moves at a particular point in the film? Not many.

I sometimes think that a film like Aladdin or the like could have the worst animation in the world and the general public wouldn't care. I hope they do, but I'm not convinced. Even if they do care, I get the feeling that most of them think that bringing a character to life is a fairly easy thing to do.

To be completely honest, it doesn't matter to me that much. I didn't get into animation for the praise. I got into it because I wanted to do something that has the power to influence people's emotions. If I ever get to be an amazing Disney animator, I'm quite sure that an audience will forget about the movement in a scene I spent months on as soon as they leave the cinema, but the effect my work has on them in the instant that it is seen is enough for me.

And if one child leaves the theatre with a big smile on his or her face, then I'll be very happy.

Ticked Off? Cintiq On!

Yesterday I picked up a pencil for the first time in ages. Actually for the first time since I started my new job, which works out at about a month. And while we're ammending details, it was a pen.

So the result? You guessed it, I sucked. However before you roll your eyeballs and move onto a more interesting blog, something odd happened. I didn't throw my pen and paper down and have a tantrum. Instead I carried on drawing, and even started working on a 2D animation on my Cintiq! This is unheard of.

Of course things can never go completely smoothly can they? As much as I was feeling pleased with my animation effort, I ended up losing it due to a computer crash. I guess that can't happen with good old paper. However, again, I didn't lose my temper. Well I did for a while, but after some sleep I sat down again with the Cintiq and plodded through another animation. I wanted to do something as quickly as I could as I was going out to meet my parents at lunchtime, so this very rough thing probably took less than an hour to make using a nice little program called Plastic Animation Paper:

The free version of the software isn't something that you could do production work on really, but it's good for practice. I have used a trial of the "professional" version, which I would love to use more, but it's not cheap.

Oh, and I know the drawings are rubbishy and out of proportion, with a shrinking head amongst other things, but I'm just pleased to have done something.

I Will Survive....Somehow

How much do I want this?!

The Animator's Survival Kit is a very popular book amongst animators (I don't know one person at work who doesn't have a copy). It is written by animation giant, Richard Williams, who directed "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Mind you, if you are into animation then you will already know about all this.

What you may not know is that in November a DVD version is being released, containing recordings from Richard's animation masterclass, as well as lots and lots of animated examples. There are 16 DVDs in the set, meaning that it comes with the hefty price tag of nearly £600!

I need to find a way to afford this.

Feed Me Seymour!

God I wish I could post what I'm doing at work. I'm doing all this animation and I can't show any of it off! Hence why I'm just putting pictures on from the net.
I finished my first animation last week. It was a big one! It took me forever and I'm not really happy with it, but time stops for no man. It's not yet working in-game, and I haven't started to deal with that yet. I have started my second scene though, which is a lot more straightforward and proving to be more fun as a consequence. It's a small sequence that happens just before a boss fight between Batman, Robin and Poison Ivy. Well, Poison Ivy riding atop a large venus flytrap monster (kinda like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors).

My friend from my last job, called Franco, is in a similar position to that which I was in before starting at Traveller's Tales. He's trying to get into animation as a career, but he has the advantage of having an animation degree. Anyway, he has learned using XSI, but wants to learn Maya, so I put together a very brief introduction to the program in pdf form, which I thought I'd share with the world! It is simply intended to make Maya look a little less daunting and explain where all the animation tools are. I guess it assumes the reader has some knowledge of the process of 3D animation, and definitely assumes that they will look into each of the subjects more thoroughly elsewhere. I wanted to share it because I think I would have found such a document quite helpful when I first started using Maya. Until I have found the time to integrate it into my website, you can get the pdf here. Click to read or right-click to download. I'd appreciate any feedback on whether it's at all useful to anyone!

Troll

There is a blog by Danish animator, Arthur Gil Larsen, that I have been reading for quite some time, and the other day he put on an animation test of his. He showed the different stages of his animation, from rough gesture to final clean drawing. You can see it below or go to his blog.

Anyway, I loved watching this and it really sparked a need to do some 2D animation. I have been getting lazy on that front, but I found this video alone to be really inspirational.

Filling the Glass

Hmmm, well I should write some words here from time to time shouldn't I?

I'm off work sick today so I guess this is a good time to put something on here, even if I do have to keep running to the bathroom every two minutes! My last post was a bit miserable. I get miserable from time to time when I'm trying to learn things. It's usually brought on by my laziness. I expect to get better at things without putting in the hours. I need to get on top of my lethargy before it gets on top of me!
A day of illness is a strange time to make a resolution like I'm about to make, but I feel that it needs to be made. I'm going to be more positive. I have come, in recent years, to complain about things a fair bit, whether those things are health problems or annoying things on TV or whatever. I never used to do it, so I'm not sure why I have started. The thing is, it annoys the hell out of me when other people are constantly negative. I feel like their pessimism is infectious. I don't want to pass on that feeling to others, so am going to make an effort to break the chain.

I used to work with someone who was negative about absolutely everything. I think he knows he's like that and so hopefully won't be offended if he reads this! He would complain that he was being worked too hard, but wouldn't say anything to the boss about it. If you said you liked something, he had a tendency to pick holes in it and find everything unlikeable about it.

I watched an episode of Frasier this morning involving a girl who was constantly negative and critical about everything, driving the usually positive psychiatrist round the twist.

Anyway, all this rambling amounts to the fact that I'm going to try to be positive in future because I really thing it will allow a better attitude towards my drawing and allow me to put in some hard work.

At work, my deadline for my first Lego Batman cutscene is tomorrow. I'm hoping my day off won't stop me making it. The whole scene is there now, I'm just in the process of tidying up the animation. I'm looking forward to starting my next scene as I will have more of an idea what I'm doing, although until it comes to putting a scene in the game, I can't be sure that I have got it right with this first one! I can't wait to see what it looks like when rendered by an Xbox or other console.