Notes on character animation

Notes on character animation

These are notes I took during a workshop with Florent de La Taille at Gobelins Summer School. They're principles I come back to often when planning a shot, sharing them here in case they're useful to anyone learning.

(image above: Very True Story Yohana project)

Starting shots: from script to movement

Planning, blocking, finishing, roughly a third of the time on each. This is the ideal scenario, but in reality, TV shows have quotas, so a lot of the time it's balancing what you need to get done and what you can deliver in a scene.

Animation shouldn't need explaining. Be clear with your animation.

Text, subtext, context

Text - what is going on.
Subtext - what is the character thinking? The real emotion.
Context - what did they do, what happened before the scene, what will happen after?

At any moment you should be able to pause the scene and see what the character is thinking and what they are looking at. Get into the character's brain. Don't animate for the sake of animation.

Character

Know your character by heart. Get into their head. The audience needs to share the same reality as the animation, this can be achieved by studying life. If there is something fantastical, still base it off something from life and establish rules that are followed throughout.

Motivation: what is the character's motivation? In a lot of Disney films the character will have an "I want" song which establishes their motivation. You should be able to imagine the character's "I want" song even in a short, to make the motivation as strong as possible.

Weight

• Less weight - the character will be less concerned by gravity, springier, bouncier, more curves.

• More weight - the character will need to strain against gravity, slowly bringing up legs then having them fall quickly.

• Give the character weight. Are they heavy or skinny? Low-set, with weight all in the torso? Passing the leg below the hips uses less muscle than over, which can give the impression they're lazier.

Sound

Give sounds to your animation. Even with basic sounds you'll be able to tell if your animation is flat and too evenly paced, or if it has rhythm and texture. Like a piece of music, changes in rhythm and tempo are what make it interesting.

Personality types

• Sensitive/emotional vs intuitive / thinking / factual

• Introvert - smaller posture, weight backwards away from the direction they're facing, less big movement

• Extrovert - confident, bigger silhouette filling up more space, more dominant, bigger movement

• Culture - can affect a character through clothes and uniforms

• Maturity / intellect

Try to base your characters on a real person — someone you know or someone famous. Environments can affect a character, and you can use the environment to punctuate a character's personality. Have your characters interact with the environment.

Body language

Four origins of behaviour: instinct, mimic, teaching, discovery. Body language and habits are mostly the same across people.

FFF - freeze, flight, fight. Always the same.

Grow as an artist of life. Music will help improve your timing. Contrast creates believability. Watch YouTube videos for reference to understand human behaviour - pay attention to the details.

There's the intention, then the movement. Anger takes up space, makes sound. You can tell what someone is thinking by the brows. Raising the brows lowers the defence - you can be happily shocked with open brows or terrified with eyebrows lowered to defend yourself.

Composition

Look at the geometry behind paintings. Triangles represent stability. Diagonals mean drama. Use distance and depth - this is important in placing your character into a world. Avoid tangents in your composition.

Books worth studying: Dream Worlds by Hans Bacher, Framed Ink.

Industry note on output

Working in commercials is great for building lots of different styles. If you're looking to work on a production, a good quota of seconds per week for a film is 3–5 seconds a week. For TV, 30 seconds is good - higher than this will mean lower quality unless there's reuse animation or it's a simpler show with few characters. There are exceptions.

Blocking and poses

Extreme poses are your key poses. The breakdown is who is leading the movement - it could be the hips, an angry head, a pointing arm. Five frames is ideal: KEY - frame - BREAKDOWN - frame - KEY.

The inbetweens should never look too strange. There can be smears and tricks but try to make sure the character doesn't go completely off model. Keep volumes intact even when squashed and stretched.

You can hide expressions in the breakdown - this gives away the character's true emotions and hints to the audience that something is off.

Appeal

This doesn't mean a pose has to be beautiful - it just can't look wrong or awkward. Get rid of awkwardness - this could be body mechanics, weight, or design issues like too many straights. Always put an angle on the character: a head tilt, perspective on the face, to give depth and appeal.

Avoid twinning

Use asymmetry. Think about what is driving the limbs. More symmetrical is more stupid; asymmetrical looks more intelligent.

Brain and hands

Hands are important — use finger shapes to drive emotion. Facial expressions reflect the brain's thought process. Use tension and softness in both face and hands (curves and straights).

Silhouette

• Put the most texture where you want the viewer's attention

• Use lines of action to close off spaces and keep attention focused

• Keep balance - always look at the centre of gravity line down the body

• The skull and ribs cannot squash, but you can squash and stretch the silhouette

• Control the squash

Body mechanics

• Avoid moving chest without hips, especially in close-ups

• Even in a CU, keep an eye on the centre of gravity

• Never turn the head more than 90 degrees - the chest will move with the head turn as a secondary action

• An arm can't move up more than 50 degrees without the shoulder

• Elbow rotates 90 degrees, arm rotates from the shoulder

• Keep the character alive: use breathing, blinking, half blinks, eye shifts

The eyes

The eyes are very important. Think of ski goggles around your character's face - this is the area that holds all of your audience's attention. Either the character is looking at someone or inwards. Through the actor's eyes you create space for the audience - if the character is looking off-screen, make it CLEAR. Breaking the eye direction breaks the truth. If you look away, then look back to that place.

Thumbnailing

Ask yourself what if? thumbnails are to explore as many ideas as possible. Do bad drawings, really fast, small, rough, simple. The simplest action is usually the best. Always put frame timings on your thumbnails to get a sense of pacing and rhythm.

If you're enjoying your shot, it's good. Remember that what you're making is entertainment.

Acting out reference

Thumbnail your scene, then act it out a couple of times. Play it out bigger and wider than the shot. Try to frame in the same angle and exaggerate the lipsync.

Study video reference but do not copy it. Animate from analysis of the reference - reference is great for key poses and understanding body mechanics and weight shifts. The more complex the movements, the more video reference you'll need.

Books to read

• The Animator's Survival Kit - Richard Williams

• Cartoon Animation - Preston Blair

• Timing for Animation - Harold Whitaker and John Halas

• The Illusion of Life - Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston

• In the Blink of an Eye - Walter Murch

• What Every BODY is Saying - Joe Navarro

• Peoplewatching - Desmond Morris

• Dream Worlds - Hans Bacher

• Framed Ink