Happy holidays, everyone! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I'm currently on break from work and from school. It's nice to be able to relax and just take each day as it comes as opposed to scheduling every single hour of every single day.
I always felt guilty if I didn't work every single day and if I didn't I felt like I wasn't working hard enough. Taking a break and stepping away from my art and work is one thing that I had to really get used to. I think that this is especially true in animation. It's good to be able to step away from your work from time to time and just live life. You only get one and it goes by so quickly so make sure to not take it for granted!
You need to experience what life has to offer not only so that you can live life to it's fullest, but also so that it will feed back into your animation. I regard animator's as the actors of animated films (I'll touch on this subject more in another post) and when we act out our shots for reference, we try to draw upon feelings and emotions that we've experienced in the past to get the most honest performance possible. If we don't have any experiences to draw from, then how can we get an honest performance? This touches a little bit on a topic I'd like to talk more about in another post that I'll entitle "Method Animating".
So go out and have experiences, feel emotions, and live life! Happy holidays! Keep that ball bouncin'!
Stephen
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Monday, December 17, 2012
Bouncin' Ball #2: KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid
Animation is hard... and rightfully so. If that's the case, then it would only make sense to keep things as simple as possible right? Right! So, why don't we keep things simple? It seems like after being told that over and over and over again, it continues to elude all of us at some point in time: whether it's the first time we're tackling something animation-wise, or we really already know better from experience but are choosing to over complicate things for one reason or another and will end up having to blow away a lot of our keys later on.
As simple as we think we're making it, MAKE IT SIMPLER! It's already challenging enough making sure that all of the principles are being executed correctly, why add more on top of that? Boil things down to their root essence, the bare bones in a sense, the pure guts and make it sing. This is especially true when you're still paying your dues and learning to animate and is even still true when you're working in a professional environment.
I hate to call it this, but it's somewhat of a rookie mistake, even though as I've mentioned previously in a post that there are no rules set in stone in animation. There quite a few rookie mistakes, or animation traps that we all tend to fall into while learning. I'll get around to more of those in later posts, but in the mean time, KISS! Keep It Simple Stupid and Keep that Ball Bouncin'!
Stephen
As simple as we think we're making it, MAKE IT SIMPLER! It's already challenging enough making sure that all of the principles are being executed correctly, why add more on top of that? Boil things down to their root essence, the bare bones in a sense, the pure guts and make it sing. This is especially true when you're still paying your dues and learning to animate and is even still true when you're working in a professional environment.
I hate to call it this, but it's somewhat of a rookie mistake, even though as I've mentioned previously in a post that there are no rules set in stone in animation. There quite a few rookie mistakes, or animation traps that we all tend to fall into while learning. I'll get around to more of those in later posts, but in the mean time, KISS! Keep It Simple Stupid and Keep that Ball Bouncin'!
Stephen
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Bouncin' Ball #1: Everything's a Bouncing Ball
“Everything’s a Bouncing Ball.” I wish I fully understood exactly what this meant as soon as I started. This one hit much later than I care to admit when I first went to college. It makes so much sense to me now and why we all started with the bouncing ball when learning how to animate.
The bouncing ball exercise contains all of the foundations of animation and everyone knows that, but I didn’t realize it’s full application until way later on. The bouncing ball exercise shows you how the principles are applied in animation and because the subject matter is so simple it’s so easy to understand. But, as soon as the subject get’s a little more complex, than all of what we learned quickly goes out the window. When applying those things to more complex subjects, that’s where it becomes a challenge because it’s so easy to get lost in so many other different things. The same can be said for the transition out of body mechanics to acting, but that’s another topic for another time. The ball strips ALL of that away and really forces you to see those principles in action.
It’s a little frustrating hearing from other/newbie animation students and listening to them say, “I already know how to do a bouncing ball”, and yet it’s clearly evident that they haven’t applied any of the principles in their work. What I don’t think they understand is that it isn’t about the ball, it’s the principles behind them that are so important. Those same principles are what really makes animation sing and can be applied to all aspects of animation in one way or another. It’s the foundation. You don’t bake a cake by starting with the icing. Just as the saying goes in animation, everything really is a bouncing ball. Whether its the root of a character, the wrists on an arm, the ankles on a leg, or a corner of a mouth: Everything’s a bouncing ball.
Keep that ball bouncin’!
Stephen
The bouncing ball exercise contains all of the foundations of animation and everyone knows that, but I didn’t realize it’s full application until way later on. The bouncing ball exercise shows you how the principles are applied in animation and because the subject matter is so simple it’s so easy to understand. But, as soon as the subject get’s a little more complex, than all of what we learned quickly goes out the window. When applying those things to more complex subjects, that’s where it becomes a challenge because it’s so easy to get lost in so many other different things. The same can be said for the transition out of body mechanics to acting, but that’s another topic for another time. The ball strips ALL of that away and really forces you to see those principles in action.
It’s a little frustrating hearing from other/newbie animation students and listening to them say, “I already know how to do a bouncing ball”, and yet it’s clearly evident that they haven’t applied any of the principles in their work. What I don’t think they understand is that it isn’t about the ball, it’s the principles behind them that are so important. Those same principles are what really makes animation sing and can be applied to all aspects of animation in one way or another. It’s the foundation. You don’t bake a cake by starting with the icing. Just as the saying goes in animation, everything really is a bouncing ball. Whether its the root of a character, the wrists on an arm, the ankles on a leg, or a corner of a mouth: Everything’s a bouncing ball.
Keep that ball bouncin’!
Stephen
Ira Glass on Being an Artist
Hello all!
Just thought that I would add this to the blog as well since it certainly relates to the topics that will be covered. I found this a while back but decided to re-post it since it's so good. Personally, as a student/artist (because when you decide to become an artist for the rest of your life, you also decide to become a student for the rest of your life), I wish I had seen this when I started as clear as I do now. Keep that ball bouncin'!
Stephen
Just thought that I would add this to the blog as well since it certainly relates to the topics that will be covered. I found this a while back but decided to re-post it since it's so good. Personally, as a student/artist (because when you decide to become an artist for the rest of your life, you also decide to become a student for the rest of your life), I wish I had seen this when I started as clear as I do now. Keep that ball bouncin'!
Stephen
The Bouncin' Ball Blog
Hey there!
Welcome to The Bouncin’ Ball! The Bouncin’ Ball is a blog on animation theories, principles, lessons, findings, teachings, philosophies, and all of the above. All of which I encounter, experience, or am exposed to through learning this magnificent craft. Since there is no wrong method, workflow, or any drop dead rules in animation, I thought it’d be very interesting to hear what others have to say about many of the things I encounter or think about along my journey.
These entries are based off of my experiences through animation life (what I learn, read, research, watch, etc.) and are just my opinions and ramblings. I was an animation student, graduated from an animation school in 2008, have been working since then, and have recently become a student again.
A lot of what I will bring up will be closely related to what I initially learned in college and how that compares to what I’m re-learning now. I’ve already experienced a number of occasions where what I’m learning now completely transformed how I thought about certain things in animation that I’ve learned in the past if not shattering them altogether and I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks about them. It may also be about what I encounter while at work. There are things that I learned in school that were more or less true when it came to the workplace.
So in short, yes, this is just a place for me to empty my brain and rant. I hope you decide to join me on this adventure through animation. Keep that ball bouncin’!
Stephen
Welcome to The Bouncin’ Ball! The Bouncin’ Ball is a blog on animation theories, principles, lessons, findings, teachings, philosophies, and all of the above. All of which I encounter, experience, or am exposed to through learning this magnificent craft. Since there is no wrong method, workflow, or any drop dead rules in animation, I thought it’d be very interesting to hear what others have to say about many of the things I encounter or think about along my journey.
These entries are based off of my experiences through animation life (what I learn, read, research, watch, etc.) and are just my opinions and ramblings. I was an animation student, graduated from an animation school in 2008, have been working since then, and have recently become a student again.
A lot of what I will bring up will be closely related to what I initially learned in college and how that compares to what I’m re-learning now. I’ve already experienced a number of occasions where what I’m learning now completely transformed how I thought about certain things in animation that I’ve learned in the past if not shattering them altogether and I can’t wait to hear what everyone thinks about them. It may also be about what I encounter while at work. There are things that I learned in school that were more or less true when it came to the workplace.
So in short, yes, this is just a place for me to empty my brain and rant. I hope you decide to join me on this adventure through animation. Keep that ball bouncin’!
Stephen
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