So I’ve decided to embark on expressing myself in a more public forum. It’s fairly narcisstic in my opinion, but I think it looks like a lot of fun so I might as well give it a shot and see where it goes. I’m planning on updating the template eventually to add a brief bio on who I am, where i’ve been and what I’ve seen. I don’t want to put any limits on it, but for now… I’ll write this for friends and family and if I decide to take it to a more professional level… so be it.

Every time we get to the end of a film, i go thru this minor depression. It ususally has to do with not feeling like i did as well as i could have, eventhough i generally feel like I learned heaps. For me, it’s never really been about the end result; It’s always about the process. But there’s something about the end of a show that always makes me feel down. Maybe because when I start a show, i always start it with a feeling of excitement: wondering what kind of shots I’m going to get? what kind of opportunities? what am i going to learn? and how well am i going to do? And the end is always humbling because I can look back and see all the missed opportunities and mistakes I made and say, Shit. I can’t go back and fix it now. What a loser.As i’ve grown in experience (and possibly because i’ve grown up a bit) I have gained a perspective about myself on this: I’m always going to be my worst critic, and its never quite as bad as I imagine. It would be really really boring if i looked back on a show and felt like I had no room to grow.

I had an amazing teacher when i was back in CalArts by the name of Mike Giamo. He taught character design. I was a really terrible artist in school; especially in my first two years… but I worked really hard and eventhough i was never a steller draftsman, I improved 200% by the time my forth year ended. I remember one day during my second year, when i was particually feeling like the bottom of a manure pile, and i had review with Mike. He gave me some of the best advice of my career that day, and eventhough its fairly obvious now, i still have to remind myself time and time again.

He told me that growth as an artist is never a steady progression. If you were to chart it on a graph, it wouldn’t look like a steady uphill line. Instead, you would see plateaus. You plod along, and then you make huge jumps; either to the next level or sometimes you backtrack. But if you keep going, you’ll wake up one day and look behind you and realize how far you’ve come. And when you feel the most discouraged is usually when you are about to make a huge leap forward.

Seems simple advice.. but it sure has gotten me through a lot of heartache.

Ok. It’s waaaaay too late but I managed to fix my blog and make it a smidge prettier. Eventually I want to re-organize the description and the Title so I can have room for drawings.. but for now this works. Yay!

Just another ordinary day in dailies…
Originally uploaded by otherthings.

This was awsome! My friend Cassidy managed to capture yesterday’s events quite nicely. Thanks Cassidy!!!

So the film is official over. Sadness…

I had an interesting conversation with another animator about inspiration the other day and it got me thinking. There seems to be this trend in my profession when looking for inspiration, animators will watch other animation to glean some important insight. While i think looking at great animation is valuable, i actually think it’s important NOT to look at other animation when trying to collect reference for your shot. The only time its really a good idea is when there is a particular style you are trying to emulate. Otherwise… my advice is to stay away.

One of the beauties about what we do is capture the essence of a performance. Already, I think animators copy each other way too much, so everything you see is replicas of somebody else’s bright ideas. Also, we so easily fall into our “bag of tricks.” An example of this: you get a shot and instead of thinking of truly inspired motivational response, you rely on an action or a “trick” that you have used before. (More than likely you know that it works and you can do it fast.) Everybody does this, even the Greats. Watch a Milt Kahl scene and see how many times he bobs a character’s head from side to side when doing dialog. But it’s the wrong attitude to have, i think. The real goal is to know the character so well, that you find an entertaining way to express an action thru his/her eyes and find something completely original to his/her personality. In my little idealist mind, i believe that animators should be striving to push it and try to go somewhere that hasn’t been explored… but realistically i know that deadlines and other constraints don’t always make this possible.

Thats why getting your inspiration from real life is so important. In a way, you already shooting yourself in the foot if you are turning to other animation for your ideas.

Every now and then, i might diverge from animation and general personal stuff to post an occasional political rant. Forgive me if you don’t agree with my politics, but this is my blog.

A news group posted this at work and it completely chaps my hide. The whole country is focused on this Schiavo circus day in and day out on every news media available, and while they are tuned in…this got pushed thru:

Trophy Hunting Advocate Named Acting Director of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
GO HERE

That’s like saying… “Hey. Who should we make the head of child development services?… Oh I know! Michael Jackson would be a PERFECT candidate. He loves children…”

It was 10 years ago that I first became a professional animator. It’s been a little less than 15 years from the time when i entered school and became enveloped in the subculture of Life as an animator. Funny how i still feel like a novice. In that time, i’ve forgotten almost as much as i’ve learned. Not because I have any kind of amnesia or anything…(tho, my brain does take little trips into the stratesphere from time to time) but mainly because there comes a point where the over-saturation of a topic becomes more intrinsic than learned. I know stuff… but that knowledge only shows up when i’m using it to work thru a scene. Don’t ask me to actually TALK about it.

That’s why I admire good teachers and good directors. They are ALL about talking about it. If they ARE good, they have this unique ability to communicate a concept to any level of understanding. The worst teachers/directors are the ones that can only relate to people who work the same way they do or at least communicate the same way. You see that a lot, unfortunately with bad directing. Supervisors or animation directors have a tendency to gravitate to the people who they trust. That trust comes from animator’s abilities… but also is formed because they can relate to that person and communicate with them easily.

I remember once during a production, a supervisor pulled me aside to vent about a particular animator. He was frustrated because for the life of him, he couldn’t get that person to do what he wanted; something was botching in the communciation. I asked him, “Do you know his background? Where he came from and what his style of animation is?”

He looked at me as if i was nuts.
See, that’s the problem. If you can’t communicate with someone; ask them what kind of background they have and try to understand their level of understanding.. how do you expect to teach or direct them? If you don’t understand them, or even just try to… how can you expect them to understand you?

The good ones understand this. John Lasseter was awsome and evaluating an animator’s abilities and working with that animator based on their background and knowledge, and drawing out the best of that person. He could look at a shot and instantly communciate about it: where it is and where it needs to go and how you can get there. And of course, unlike me… he can express himself perfectly. Add this with a little bit of patience and i think you have the best teacher in the world.

Less than one week to go! I’m gearing up for my talk and last night while going over some old notes, I came across some great quotes. I thought I’d post them here:

ON EYES:

“If you are short for time, spend your time on the eyes and mouths. Because that’s what people are mostly looking at.” ~ Frank Thomas

“I believe that the life of a person in animation is expressed what the eyes do.
The thing we found over the years that audience liked most, was to see a character Thinking. Characters going thru a thinking process.” ~ Ollie Johnston

ON PERFORMANCE:

“There are only 3 things in Animation:
1)Anticipation
2)Action
3)Reaction
And these imply the rest. Learn how to do these things Well, and you can animate well.”
~ Bill Tytla

“Be Simple. Be Direct. Be Clear. Be very Simple. Make a Statement and Finish it. Simply.”
~ Bill Tytla

1)Tell’em what you are going to do.
2)Do it.
3)Tell’em (or show’em) that you’ve done it.
~ Charlie Chaplin

ON ANIMTION:

It’s a very difficult medium. Animation necessarily requires a pretty good draftsman, because you’ve got to turn things, to be able to draw well enough to turn things at every angle. You have to understand movement, which in itself is quite a study. You have to be an actor. You have to put on a peformance, to be a showman, to be able to evaluate how good the entertainment is. You have to know what’s the best way of doing it, and have an appreciation of where it belongs in the picture. You have to be a pretty good story person. To be a really good animator, then, you have to be a jack of all trades. I don’t mean to say that I am all these things, but I try hard. Actually, i don’t really draw that well. It’s just that i don’t stop trying as quickly. I keep at it. I happen to have high standards and I try to meet them. I have to struggle like hell to make a drawing look good. ~Milt Kahl 1976