Nearly there, but the end is still elusive.
The Animator Letters Project is an ongoing effort to gather handwritten letters from professional animators; each sharing their stories and words of wisdom, as a source of inspiration and encouragement for aspiring animators.
A really inspirational site. Take some time to read through these letters. There is a wealth of wisdom and inspiration within.
One of the things I’ve learned since I’ve been working in the animation industry is the importance of having a good workflow. Anything that you can do to minimize repetitive tasks or accessing of menu items will speed you up.
A nice little post with some good information. A couple of items are somewhat out of date now (ie Autotangent script). But the rest is timeless.
This is a bit of an asside, but I thought it was a neat trick that some might not know. A quick way to see which hotkeys are unmapped and open for use. Chuck some scripts on those keys! :)
Body language is the non-verbal movements we make as a part of how we communicate, from waving hands to involuntary twitching of facial muscles.
Body language is essential for getting across the feeling of a character. It’s subtle and the difference between a puppet and convicing performance. Here is some useful information to get into your polishing.
A big part of what makes us feel like we should laugh at a scene or take it seriously is the visual cues that are used within the sequence. So one of the easiest ways to ensure the audience reacts to your story in the intended way is to use the right kind of visual language.
A cool write up from a storyboarding perspective on the visual language of comedy and drama. Some good framing and story advice.
Contrast is obviously not one of the original principles of animation, but it can be found in many of them. Lets explore some of them.
A short write up on constrast in animation, and…
Contrast. Working as an animator you hear that word a lot. It is far-reaching umbrella term that influences every other animation mechanic, and thus to crop up in conversation frequently when animators converge to dork out on the fundamentals of making things move. Contrast is our friend. Let’s get better acquainted!
…a slightly longer one!
