Jamaal Bradley Wise Say

While I was teaching and after, my students and a few other people asked the same question a lot.

" ...Does it take a long time to break into the business and what are the steps..."?

-There is no one answer to that question.  Obviously hard work and dedication are going to take you a long way, but there is going to be other factors that come in to play. Timing is a big part of the equation and you have to know what jobs to take and how to utilize every minute while you are there.  I knew I wanted to work in features but I never neglected my duties as an animator at the game studios.  I tried to apply the same level of work to the game studios as I do in feature.  Believe me, there are animators that can animate circles around a lot of guys in feature film.  I worked at the office and when I got home, because I wanted to be better.  There are many people still doing this.

The big thing for me is not forgetting that.  If you busted your hump in work and after work, keep doing the same.  Granted the hours you spend working at home may be considerably less, but that is the thing that got you to where you are.  Take some time to continue working on your craft.  Teachers still go to lectures and workshops to improve on their skills, singers still practice so that their voice is always in good condition, and even good mechanics learn how to work on the latest engines so they are always on top of their game.

If you remember to do the things that got you to where you need to be, you will be successful for a while.

Remember to balance it!!

Link - http://www.jamaalbradley.com/2012/02/just-keep-going.html

The Importance of Poses! Dynamic Poses!

 

Poses reveal character's personality.

\

How dynamic the poses to show the power of the JUMP! 

 

You can imagine how strong the animation could be if all these poses are blending smoothly.

 

 

Just the difference of the eye brows can sell different emotion.

 

Just a sleepy pose. But you can see how they play with different options to explore which is the BEST one!

Most of the sketches are from Cedric Hohnstadt Illustration. Thanks!

Attitudes & Acting Beats

http://splatfrog.com/videos-2/attitudes-sample-clip-2/

Pixar Story Rules

http://www.pixartouchbook.com/blog/2011/5/15/pixar-story-rules-one-version.html

Animation Article Database

http://monstroanimation.blogspot.com/p/animation-article-database.html

Pixar’s Story Process

Great lecture about create story

Animation Is a Never-ending Process

Animation Is a Never-ending Process, but What Are a Few Things Animators Are Expected to Know?

That's a great question!

You're definitely right that this is a never-ending journey of education. It encompasses darn near every conceivable aspect of life in one way or another, so there is just no way to "know everything" about animation.

However, there are certainly many things that any studio would expect an incoming animator to know. This would change a bit, depending on the level of animator they are hiring (they would certainly expect a much broader level of ability from an incoming Senior Animator than a new Junior Animator), but for the most part, they would be looking for different levels of experience within the same general skill set.

I would say that any animator looking for work should be expected to understand the infamous 12 principles of animation and how they apply to the medium that animator is working in. But that's only the beginning. In addition, the animators should be expected to understand how those principles all work together and interrelate. How they come together to explain and decipher "body mechanics" in general. How the concepts of internal and external "force" create momentum, and how those forces are more important to the creation of a dynamic pose than the actual body parts or "form" is.

Any professional animator should know how the body works. Period. What moves what, and WHY. Not just that the hips shift this way or the shoulders shift that way when you're lifting this or throwing that, but WHY those shifts and rotations are happening. This is key to being able to create these movements on your own, and understand how to fix your work when you get into a pinch and something just doesn't feel right.

Any junior animator should also have some understanding of acting, subtext, how to use blinks to create thought process and emotion, and how to communicate an idea through clarity, posing, and timing.

Finally, I think it's safe to assume that any studio looking for animators would expect them to be eager, easy to work with, and hungry to learn. For me, that's just as big a prerequisite as understanding arcs or overlapping action!

Hope that helps! I know that sounds like a lot of stuff to know, and in some ways I'm only just scratching the surface with the basics here, but as you say, learning animation IS a life-long journey, and you have to have a strong and solid and WIDE foundation of knowledge upon which to build.

For me, the stuff above is that basic foundation, and it's all essential stuff.

*Found it from student sharing notes. Thanks!