Pixar Animator Kevin O’Hara visits SVA Computer Art
By: Arielle Trenk
Last week, SVA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects Department had the pleasure of welcoming Kevin O’Hara to the SVA Theatre as a preview to the upcoming Pixar feature The Good Dinosaur. More importantly, the audience had the opportunity to experience O’Hara’s process as an animator.
O’Hara is a distinguished animator trained in both 2D and 3D, and has been involved in the industry on movies such as Brave, Up, Enchanted, Ratatouille, Shrek 2, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, The Prince of Egypt, and The Pagemaster.
The Good Dinosaur follows the journey of two, young protagonists; Spot, a cave boy, and Arlo, a dinosaur. Both unlikely heroes are initially unfamiliar with each other, but learn to feel connected through loss. In a world that feels “visceral and emotional”, nature becomes an additional character. From high mountaintops, to expansive valleys and fields, nature follows the flow of the story. Just as nature changes from thunderous and rainy to bright and sunshiney, the characters transform as they follow the path of the river to discover home. The Good Dinosaur will premiere in the USA November 25, 2015.
A key element to O’Hara’s process was gathering real life reference. Since the subject of the film, dinosaurs, are no longer around, O’Hara used the next closest available animal, elephants, as a key reference. He focused on boiling down the character to its 4 key poses (see sketch below), which was an essential guide for animators joining the project.
Other dinosaurs character movements were inspired by comedic real-life references. The T-Rex characters’ animation in The Good Dinosaur functions as a human cowboy for the upper body and a galloping horse for the lower half; an inspiration from western voice actor Sam Elliott.
In general, preparing for the movie required extensive research on the movements of large quadrupeds. O’Hara enthusiastically told the audience, “Everyday we get to be a different character.” He educated the audience about the differences in the walks of herbivores and carnivores, he spoke about the characters’ spine movements and footsteps, presented the colorful walk cycles of various characters, and explained the trials it took to get the final look of the animation.
Ultimately, he told the audience, “Know what you’re animating, so you can make the creative call.” Those who take elements of inspiration from their personal life and the world around them are able to add that special touch of realism to any animated character.