Category: Animation

A few weeks ago I signed up for the Animation Personal Mentor course being run by Keith Lango. I’m in the middle of a break in my work right now and thought it would be a great opportunity to go back to my animation and really try to break through to a higher level with it. Game animation, being quite fast-paced, can be a little limited in that you only get to push it so far before you run out of time. This can mean you lose your eye (as Keith has so aptly put it) and get into the habit of settling for something far short of a finished, polished performance.

Keith’s course is an 8 week programme tailored to each individual animator which well help them work on the areas they feel they need the most help in. So far I’m loving it and I’ve already learned enough to make it money well spent. Things that I never would have picked up working away here on my own. Keith is a great teacher and just a nice guy to work with and if you are an animator considering taking his course in the future…do it.

I’m going to be putting up some animation exercises that I’m doing as part of the course to show people what I’m doing and also to keep a record of how I’m progressing. The film above (which I hope shows up because I’ve never posted a movie to my site before…please let me know if it doesn’t work) is a blocked-out version of one of my exercises. Nothing fancy or complicated but I’m treating it as an exercise in taking an animation beyond what I would normally do for a game…to a higher level of polish.

The reason it’s jerky is because it’s still in an early form…hopefully as I show my progress with it it will start to look a lot smoother and more natural.

Luckily I’ve never felt the need for an excuse to watch cartoons, but since Eve has started to pay a little more attention to the flickering screen in the corner I’ve been trying to introduce her to some of my favourites. There are some excellent ones to choose from and my hope is that if I can indoctrinate her with the quality shows then perhaps she’ll never ask me to sit through Barney or BooBah.

One of the best is Pocoyo. It’s a Spanish-made series about the adventures of a little boy and his friends: an elephant, a duck a sleepy bird and a puppy. The animation is 3d and it has a wonderful lighting and texturing technique that makes it look like soft plasticine. The design is slightly skewed, the animation is snappy and there’s a lot of funky dancing but no dialogue, instead it’s narrated by Stephen Fry. I haven’t quite persuaded Eve, but I watch it whether she’s around or not so I was really excited (yes I’m a nerd) to discover that one of the creators, David Cantolla, has a blog.

In it he talks about how hecame up with the idea of doing a show when he saw his daughter Vega watching the Tellytubbies:

I had not really paid much attention to them before that and I have to say that at the time I didn´t understand why they were so successful. However, Vega was transfixed. I felt a huge sense of envy… “those guys are so lucky, they are forming part of my daughter´s memories!!!” … and suddenly I saw it really clearly – I wanted it to be US who were building her memories, her´s and my nieces’ and nephews’ , José María´s kids and business partners´, friends´ and their friends´. To Make Memories!!! And for them to be different, to give something that had ever been given before, a different view point for the pre-school world, we wanted to see children laughing, and applauding and to see the adults understanding what their children were watching, so that they could enjoy it with them … this was the challenge, and this is where it all began….

He goes on to talk about how he and the other creators came up with the idea for Pocoyo eventhough none of them had any experience in making animation. The artistic influence that Calvin & Hobbes and Little Nemo had on the design and story. How they searched for funding and grew it from that seed of an idea to become a multi-award winning global hit. It’s a fascinating read and a blog I’ll be adding to my links.

I’m on a bit of an animation kick at the moment but if you want to see some amazing animation and storytelling then Film 4 is doing a Studio Ghibli series right now which is well worth a look. Studio Ghibli is the Japanese animation studio headed by director Hayao Miyazaki responsible for films such as Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle and Princess Mononoke. Now, I know a lot of people aren’t into Japanese animation, I have to admit a lot of it leaves me cold, but this is no Pokomon. Miyazaki films are full of high adventure, mythical creatures, strange lands and interesting characters all wrapped up in breath-taking animation. What I love about his films are that the characters aren’t black and white, the bad guys aren’t all bad and the good guys often have quite dark sides to them, plus anyone can change.

They’re airing at about 5pm every day on the now free Film4. Yay!

Well, ten of them anyway. There are so many to choose from but these came to mind straight away as my own personal favourites. They’re a varied bunch, some old some new, some computer some traditional. The one thing they all have in common is that I get goosebumps when I watch them. So, in no particular order…

1. The Big Snit

A Canadian short about a couple who start an argument just as WW3 begins. Similar in style to The Cat Came Back. Love the rattling eyes.

2. Gopher Broke

A recent Oscar nominated 3d short by Blur Studios. Wonderful slapstick never goes out of fashion.

3. Le Papillon

Beautiful japanese style short, like a watercolour come to life. I love the hair and the subtle facial expressions.

4. A Quoi Ca Sert L’Amour

A recent film by French film-maker Louis Clichy. Boy meets Girl, Girl beats Boy, Boy and Girl run through Paris.

5. Mange

A second film by Louis Clichy. Will resonate with anyone who has a picky eater in the house. Reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons.

6. Anna and Bella

You’ll need your hankies for this Canadian short. It won an Oscar all the way back in 1986.

7. Family Dog

This was a series of shorts by Brad Bird (who went on to direct The Iron Giant and The Incredibles). Hilarious character design and observations. The Simpsons owe a lot to this one.

8. The Monk and the Fish

A beautiful 2d animation by Michael Dudok De Wit. The way the animation and the music work together is genius not to mention how so much emotion is conveyed through a simple character we never get to see up close.

9. Father and Daughter

And if Anna & Bella didn’t get you then this Oscar winner from 2001 will have you sobbing into your keyboard. Another one by Michael Dudok De Wit. I love the different characters on all the different bicycles. Also the details like the flock of birds flying over the lake and when she is cycling against the wind and then with the wind…you really feel it.

10. Le Building

After you’ve dried your eyes this one will cheer you up. A very short short with a mix of 2d and 3d animation. The fact that it’s done by students (at Gobelins in Paris) does leave me feeling somewhat queasy though.

So there you have it, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

**As requested by Omani…thanks for the suggestion, I had a lot of fun putting this together.