We talk to 2D animator Marty Walker about how he animates his watercolour-style Ghost Kid webcomics and GIFs using Toon Boom Harmony animati
Had the honor of being Interviewed by Toon Boom about Ghost Kid!
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@chipsandsolstice
We talk to 2D animator Marty Walker about how he animates his watercolour-style Ghost Kid webcomics and GIFs using Toon Boom Harmony animati
Had the honor of being Interviewed by Toon Boom about Ghost Kid!
what is the program - app you are using?
I do most everything in Harmony Premium. Itās just the program Iām most comfortable in.
Finished up that test for a hand painted animation workflow!
Thereās definitely stuff I like and stuff I donāt like, but itās a start
Printed out the frames and hand inked them all on watercolor paper. Itās working better than Iād hoped. Feeling a lot less sterile than the digital version!
All thatās left is to paint it!
Thumbnails and clean lines for a project I'm doing to test out a new ink and paint technique
Happy Halloween!
Thought Iād post one of the shots I roughed out for the David S Pumpkins Halloween Special.
A lot of talented people put a lot of hard work into this thing. Itās cool to see it come together
awesome work! love "ghost kid"
Thanks! That means a lot
Animation Process Part 2: Rough Keys/Extremes and Shift and Trace
Check out the last post in the series here:
Part 1: Thumbnailing, Keys, and Extremes
Last week I wrote about the process of thumbnailing out this dance animation. This week itās time for the roughs!
The Drawing Stuff
The first phase of the roughs is to go over all of the poses I did last time, but this time think about the final forms of the character
The main things Iām focusing on are Solid Drawing and Staging.
With Solid Drawing Iām making sure that Iām constructing all of my forms with basic shapes and drawing through the forms when necessary. I donāt really have the space to get into all the minute details of construction in this post. If youāre interested in the subject Iād recommend checking out John Kās old blog. He has TONS of posts about cartoon drawing
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2009/09/preston-blair-lessons.html
With Staging Iām making sure that the silhouette of each pose is clear with the final forms. For instance: In the thumbnail version of this pose the body is thinner so thereās a ton of negative space around his hands making the pose read really clearly.
The character ended up having a much fatter torso so I had to adjust those arm poses and tilt the head up a bit so that there was still at least some negative space in the silhouette.
The Technical Stuff
At this point Iāve broken the animation up into 2 layers. One for the body and one for the head. Doing this is nice because in Harmony I can move the head layer around using a peg, but still be able to go into the drawing view and animate the head turning in place.
Basically, without the peg it looks like this:
Just a head turning in place.
With the peg turned on it looks like this
If itās not obvious, itās WAY easier to inbetween the head tilting in place than it is to keep all the forms consistent as it moves around. This is basically a modern version of the old Shift and Trace technique in the paper and pencil days (as explained by Matt Williames here).
If this were Flash Iād do basically the same thing. Iād animate the head in place inside of a symbol and then move that symbol around in the outer layer. Iām not familiar with photoshop or TV Paint, but Iām sure there are similar techniques and tools in those too.
Thatās it for my initial rough phase! Once again the main things Iām keeping in mind are
-Solidly constructing my forms while maintaining the energy of the thumbs
-Making sure that the silhouette of every pose is as strong as possible
Join me next time when we talk about breakdowns!
Animation Process Part 1: Thumbnailing, Keys, and Extremes
A week or so ago I finally finished this little dance animation that Iāve been chipping away at in my spare time! In the end it took me about 45 hours over the course of 8 months.
I documented each stage of the process in gifs and wanted to share in order to give anyone just starting out an insight into my workflow and how I break a complex motion into digestible, accomplish-able chunks so that I donāt get overwhelmed by the amount of work thatās ahead.
In this first part Iām going explain a little bit of my approach to thumbnailing. The great thing about this part of the hand drawn animation process is that I would approach it the same way in ANY piece of software. This stage is just about drawing and timing. Even the lowest tier programs can do that. Itās not until the cleanup stage that any of the bells and whistles matter.
The Research Stuff
Before starting any drawings I like to search around youtube for inspiration; especially if itās an action Iām not entirely familiar with. I had just watched the webseries The Earliest Show in which Lauren Lapkus and Ben Schwartz do a lot of really great dancing, so I studied a couple of those frame by frame. I also looked at some swing dancing competition videos to get a feel for the basic steps.
https://youtu.be/plOMomN9F5g?t=25m25s
For stuff like dancing or even playing an instrument Iām not familiar with I like to sometimes look up a couple beginnersā tutorials just to get some ideas for how to approach the movement.
This isnāt days of research. Itās just half an hour to an hour to get a feel for what you want to accomplish. Anything more than that and it can easily turn into procrastination.
The Drawing Stuff
Once Iām satisfied with my research I begin the thumbnailing process. As you can see, my drawings at this point are only slightly more detailed than a stick figure. Iām not worried at all about mass, Iām just trying to nail down some simple, clear poses.
The Animation Stuff
In order to not be overwhelmed by everything I like to approach scenes in a very systematic way. Iād say 90% of the animation I do is Pose to Pose meaning that I break actions up into 4 different types of drawings
Keys: The main storytelling poses. If the story of the shot is āMan hears news and is disappointedā then you only have two keys to do - the man hearing the news, and the man being disappointed. Iām not thinking about how heās going to get from pose to pose at this point, Iām just thinking āWhatās the best drawing to show that this man is really disappointedā.
Extremes: These are all the poses that have to be there in order for the action to work. If someone is walking across the room itās every drawing where their feet make contact with the ground. If someoneās jumping in the air itās the anticipation down and the highest point of their arc. The way I think of them is that theyāre the furthest up, down, left, and right the character is going to go as well as any drawing where they make contact.
Breakdowns: These are the poses that establish or reinforce the physics behind the motion. If an arm is swinging forward and the hand drags behind this is the drawing that shows that. When a character does a high kick and puts the entire weight of their body into it this is the drawing that shows the hips shoving forward as the foot just starts to lift from the ground.
Inbetweens: The drawings that smooth out and polish the movement. Here Iām focused solely on the spacing of the drawings. Is it slowing out or slowing in? How far do I want to favor one way or the other? Whatās the shape of the path of action? Are the drawings following a nice arc?
This is one of many ways to categorize the drawings. Iāve seen a lot of people who combine extremes into their keys phase, and others who combine extremes into their breakdown phase, and others still who do breakdowns while theyāre inbetweening. This is just what works for me.
(For a more thorough explanation of Keys, Extremes, Breakdowns, and Inbetweens see pages 64-68 of Richard Williamsā The Animatorās Survival Kit)
For the thumbnails Iām only focusing on the Keys and the Extremes.
First I do the keys which for the first dance involve these four drawings:
As you can see thereās no thought about the weight of the movement. Thatās fine. Iām just establishing how heās going to hit each accent.
From there we go to the Extremes
Here I start to add a little bit of weight to it. The main things the extremes (in green) are establishing is the foot pattern. How is he passing his weight from one leg to the other?
With the torso I wanted to loosen it up a little bit. If you look at the keys they all have a really similar line of action. I reversed the line of action for the extremes which adds more change of shape and helps it feel more lively - even at this early stage
The arms are just establishing the passing positions of the arm swing. Theyāre fairly straightforward.
If you notice, these extremes have a lot of qualities of breakdowns in them. If I had to label them more precisely Iād say that what Iām calling the extremes are the contact drawings of the legs combined with the passing positions (breakdowns) of the upper body. I call them extremes instead of breakdowns because the legs are the most important part of these drawings and I wouldnāt consider those legs broken down at all; theyāre just contact drawings. These hybrid drawings are the reason that so many animators categorize drawings differently. At the end of the day it doesnāt matter what you call any of this stuff as long as it makes sense to you and the end result looks good.
The Technical Stuff
At this point the entire animation is just a rough drawing on one layer. I would do this exactly the same in Harmony, Flash, Photoshop, or TV Paint. As long as you have drawing tools and a timeline you can thumbnail out animation like this
Extra Pro tip: Itās really helpful at this stage to establish some kind of basic ground plane or perspective - even if itās just a character dancing in a void. This really helped keep the 3 Dimensional space in mind while planning his footwork. It also reminded me to have the character lean a little forward and backward in Z space as heās moving. Itās easy to forget that kind of stuff when a characterās facing camera. Without it the animation will always feel a little flat.
Thatās it for my thumbnailing process! If you found it helpful check out the next posts in the series! Part 2: Rough Keys/Extremes and the Shift and Trace Technique
Finally finished up this little dance!
Whereād the time go
Now streaming on twitch sometimes!
https://www.twitch.tv/chipsandsolstice
ARTIST PROFILEāMARTY WALKER
Meet Marty WalkerāAnimator at Bento Box Animation Studios Atlanta
Are you a Georgia native? If not, where are you from, and what brought you to Atlanta?
Iām originally from Maryland, actually. I grew up there and went to school in Northern Virginia for animation. I spent a couple years there freelancing and doing a lot of commercial work for PBS Kids, pilots, and informational film work for places like the World Wildlife Fund and the U.S. Department of State. I heard from a friend that Bento was opening a satellite studio in Atlanta and he recommended me to the guys here; thatās when I moved down. Iāve bounced around a bit since then, but Iām happy to be back working with the guys down here at Bento.
Growing up, did you know you wanted to be an artist? Who or what inspired you to become an artist/animator?
Yeah, for sure. Iāve wanted to be an animator since I was 8 and found out it was a job, haha. There was a VHS I had when I was younger with a preview of Hercules on it that was mostly pencil tests, storyboards and footage of the animators animating. I couldnāt tell you what the movie was, but I used to watch it over and over just to see that preview. It was so inspiring to see the raw unfinished footage and realize that these were actually drawings that people brought to life. Iāve known since then that this was what I wanted to do, and Iām really lucky to be able to do it for a living.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Animationās an incredible blend of art, science, and storytelling that I just find endlessly fascinating. You have to understand not only how to draw, but how to give a physical, visual performance with a character, understand how the body moves, and know how to use whatever tools youāre working with to create the coolest final end product. It doesnāt matter whether Iām feeling artistic, analytical or technical, each day there will always be something interesting to delve into.
Based on your own experiences, what kind of wisdom would you share with young people pursuing careers in animation?
Take a break. Get some sleep. Let yourself not be constantly working. Thereās a myth going around that if you donāt stay up all nightāevery nightādrawing, youāll never be good enough to make it. Not only is that not true, itās really unhealthy. Itāll just make you miserable and burnt out. Obviously you have to work hard, but thereās more to life than drawing. Youāll be fine.
What was your favorite childhood cartoon, and why?
When I was 12, my friends and I were obsessed with Dragonball Z. Any game we played or comics we drew were all just DBZ ripoffs. Who knows why I loved it so much, it was just really cool and different from the other shows on TV at the time.
What do you like to do for fun?
I try to get out of the house a lot and go hiking or just hang out in the park. Itās been way too hot down here for me lately, but Iām hoping to start getting out more once the sun calms down, haha. I also really like having board game nights with friends. Itās always a good time.
People call you āParty Marty,ā how did you earn that nick name?
I canāt really remember to be honest, haha. Iād like to say it was too many keg stands and blackouts in my early days at the studio. The truth is that one day I wore a shirt with balloons on it and the directors just started calling me that and it stuck. At one point there was actually a person who thought that was my full name. First name Party, last name Marty. I actually ended up changing my artist folder from āMWalkerā to āPMartyā just so my director could find it.
Lately, itās just been shortened to āPM.ā
What do you love most about living and working in Atlanta?
The food hereās pretty stellar. Thereās a ton of small local restaurants with amazing food. Growing up in the suburbs the only options we ever had were giant chains, so itās cool to be in a place with more authentic, homegrown food.
Where would you take someone who is visiting Atlanta for the first time to eat; and what dish would you insist they try?
Thatās a tough one, haha. Thereās a place called Hankook/Takorea that feels like an obvious choice. Itās a Korean taco place that everyone here universally loves. Canāt go wrong with any of the tacos, but if they have the Tempura Avocado tacos on special that day you should grab one. Get an order of Sesame fries for the table. Itāll blow your mind. If youāre vegetarian Iād recommend getting the bibimbap with tofu.
Thanks for sharing with us, Marty!
Check out Martyās webcomic, āGhost Kid,ā and see his other work here!
Photos by: Joel Kuwahara and Michael Trobiani
Something a little different
Made another game with @thestorkburntdownā and @soulunicornā! Decided to do a loop of the main character playinā his lute
Iāll probably post more art from it once the gameās out
New Ghost Kid!
Made a new tumblr just for Ghost Kid!
Tell your friends
Style test for a thing