Inspired to Action

Since uni I've been finding it a bit hard to find the motivation to do creative work. Since my last post I've done some helpful research and have been working harder to actively fix the problem. And...it's working :)

With drawing, the thing that's been bugging me is that whilst I feel that I can draw ok, I struggle a bit to imagine and achieve 3D or 'solid' form in my drawings; or what comes out on paper may not match what i had in my mind. So my plan of attack had been to go back to the fundamentals of drawing by doing some drawing exercises. The most helpful, inspiring and fun resource I've been working through is a book called 'Fun with a Pencil' by Andrew Loomis - which i obtained last year from my good ol' Honours Supervisor Steve Weymouth. I'm really greatful for the 3 out of print drawing books that he gave me on PDF. The book is cool as it shows you simple ways of constructing heads and bodies, and then how to put those forms into motion. And to construct them with 3D dimensions which is great.

Something which I've decided to do over these upcoming years is to get a hold of a variety of drawing books that teach different styles and work through them. That way i can both learn from others to improve my drawing and take the bits that I like to create my own style...or to develop it. On the one hand I want to learn the cartoony way of drawing because the cartoon style of animation is my favourite style; but at the same time I would also like to study human (and other creature's) anatomies and have the ability to draw realistically also. That is, I think life drawing offers help too and that I need to work at that also.

Now my plan of attack to get the animation ball rolling has been pretty exciting. I've decided to expand out and do some traditional hand drawn 2D animation also. I feel that because the animation principles were largely developed in the days of pencil and paper, in order to truly understand, appreciate and apply them to various forms of digital animation, one needs to first master traditional animation in its true form. So what I first did was go to Rachel Chua's house to see her 2D animation setup and how she goes about it. I was happily surprised to find that the tools are relatively simple - a persplex animation disc, a peg bar, and a drawing table with a hole for the light to come through. Thanks to Rach, I thought I could find a temporary solution with the tools I had that could achieve what her tools do while I go about obtainining the real gear. I actually made an amateur peg bar from an old ruler and tooth picks and started planning out some simple animation exercises.

Even so, I decided that seeking the guidance of a seasoned pro would also be very valuable on this road to getting better. My line of thought is that if someone teaches me animation, then a) it'll force me to be disciplined and regular, and b) they really know how it's done better than I do, so they can guide me and help me learn how to improve, fix mistakes, etc.

During my animation company research I was fortunate enough to happen upong 3 2D animation studios that said they offer classes on their websites. I called all 3, and 2 won't have classes 'til later whilst the other one can do classes right now and prefers one-to-one tuition so that your needs are being met. I thought that was pretty cool, and so today I had my first introductory class at RKA Animation Studio in Clovelly.

I was excited to discover that the the teacher/tutor, John Kratovil, used to work for Richard Williams. Yes, Richard Williams - the all important author of the Animator's Survival Kit. Man, that's one book I'm really keen to understand, and who better to have as a guide to run things by then a guy who used to work for the author before he started up his own studio here Down Under. Neat stuff.

Anyways, he had a similar setup to Rachel. A home made drawing board (with adjustable angles) and an animation persplex disc with acme peg bars at the bottom. His disc was much larger than Rachel's though, and he thought that big discs free u up more. It was also custom built, and a guy at william's studio came up with the idea. So eventually I'm very keen to either buy or have that kind of setup made.

So John basically gave me an overview of the traditional 2D animation process, and we got started on some simple exercises. The thing he thinks he can offer most as a teacher, is an understanding of timing. And I think I'm already getting it a bit more than before. Traditional animators use special markings and exposure sheets to figure out the timing before they even start to draw. None of that even timing in Maya and then lets slip it along on the dopesheet later. Which is really cool, 'cos if I can get a solid feel for timing this year, that's really going to help my 3D animation too.

So I scored myself some homework, borrowed a peg bar and was given some acme punched animation paper to get some more traditional animation going this week. I also learnt how to flip pages. i'm not that good at it yet, but it sure is cool.

That said, RKA is just a part of the plan. I've been inspired to also get back into 3D, starting this week. i think i'll actually enter the 11 second club comp this month and mess around in Maya. Another type of animation which I am yet to try, is Flash Character animation. That's something I also want to be able to do - to keep my options open and to expand my mind.

So really soon, these post will actually have pictures and movies that go along with it too. And on the job front, there are some possibilites emerging, so i'll report back when more progress happens there.

This is it, a new month has begun and I'm feeling motivated. Let the progress and improvement begin!