#animation talk

[crooked-wasteland]

It’s official the storyboard lead/director for spindle, Raph. The one responsible for poison and the motel scene with vox and angel (all from their fan comic/animatics) has resigned. However their work will still be in HB/HH for the next 2-3 years. They stated it was time for them to pursue their own artistic goals. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got overworked. In panel (same panel that announced homestuck pilot) they said they collapsed from exhaustion because they were only given 2 weeks for their boards and had to rush to finish poison because it was going into animation the next day

I'd like sources for that, but I'm so apathetic I also don't really care if they are true or not. But if they are:

I'm sure the parasocial attachment to Angel Dust didn't have anything to do with them panelling out the major scenes for the rest of the series before leaving.

Frankly, I don't think any of the sequences we got needed to be storyboarded in that much detail that someone would be collapsing from exhaustion. But that's based on their finished work they have shared. Raph is a talented artist and superb storyboarder, but most storyboards are not that detailed for a reason.

And I'm not saying that they would over detail all their work, I'm aware that there would be a perception bias because they only release the storyboards they think are impressive. But even in those scenes, the storyboards being so detailed did not add anything to the animation that more typical storyboarding couldn't have accomplished at a fraction of the time and work.

Over-boarding often happens when storyboards are being used as a substitute for time, staffing, or clarity elsewhere.

And this also doesn't touch on the fact that storyboards are often done and redone multiple times and if you only get paid on accepted panels, that's hours of unpaid work because you have a director who can't convey their vision adequately and hires on freelance rather than employment.

And to be clear, I'm not saying “they overdid it”, nor am I implying they are incompetent about their job. I'm saying this pipeline quietly preys on people personally invested in the projects who will give more than is safe, and then offers them no protection when that costs them their health.

Welcome to Spindlehorse.

[thereal-sillyguy]

should I make a how-to post on like. tips and tricks and stuff I know about animation

[zoomer-animatez]

Dragons rising spoilers!!!

Can we all just talk about that one shot in episode 10 that stays with the same camera for 50 SECONDS?! It goes from when -15:45 to -14:57 AND THAT IS A LONG TIME!

I was expecting the camera to switch sooner but it didn’t and it was just so impressive! The weight of the situation and characters was incredible. And how they showed Thunderfang’s sheer SIZE! It just looked amazing!

I’m seeing a lot of people talk about the hanging tree scene with Arin and Sora, or Jay and Nya, or Pixal and Zane. But can we talk about those fight scenes for a minute?! THEY LOOKED SO SICK! So flowy and action packed! Comparing it to the old Ninjago, we have gotten a serious upgrade! Even from the start of DR, we have so much fun moving around with the camera instead of it being static. And I’ve worked with 3D animation before, that stuff is tough to pull off! So many times will it get confused when turning around and end up doing a 360, and they managed to spin and rotate it and have it look that nice! Just incredible!

[pinkceku]

*watches some funny animations on youtube*

Me: I love these.

*watches the behind the scenes*

Me: I love these even more!

My brain: Y'know... You got the power. You've animated before. You know how timelines and cells and in-between work... You should animate again.

Me:

[c0dyc0la]

if anybody attempts to tell you that animators cant add fat people or diverse body types to their animations because its "too difficult" or provides some issues

A) punch them in the gut

B) show them animated projects like The Simpsons or any fucking Disney movie

C) show them independent animators like Jake Doubleyoo

D) tell them they need to stop consuming art produced by people who only know how to draw conventionally attractive people

if this doesnt work

E) cannibalise them

[tategaminu]

I honestly wish they gave the Puss in Boots treatment to Kung Fu Panda. After three movies with the same art style‚ I think the "Spider verse style" would have been a great fit. Idk maybe combine 3D and 2D with some traditional chinese art style. The designs are so stylized and the battle coreography has always been so good I think they missed the opportunity to make a really cool looking movie. Between the same generic art style as always and Zhen looking like a Disney character I feel like there's a lot of wasted potential here.

[pumpkinpuffgirls]

Let’s Talk About the Design of PPG's Humans

AKA the Citizens of Townsville.

Continuing the series of talking about PPG 1998 design elements from when I talked about the backgrounds and world design of PPG, Let’s take a greater focus on human characters.

  A reminder, The powerpuff girls and many cartoons from their era were inspired by the UPA style of animation from the 1950s. I recently discovered a good write up about how this style influenced shows like the Powerpuff Girls from an animation Blog that you can take a gander at here.

That being said, when it comes to the humans of the PPG world they continue to use a strong, sharp geometric style that stands out. It’s been stated before that the humans were intentionally designed this way along with the rest of the PPG world to make the Powerpuff Girls stick out even more with how round they are.

Fortunately I managed to gather a bunch of episode sheets for background characters from Season 1 of Powerpuff Girls. So let’s study them so we can better understand their design.

Now, when I say the characters are “Geometric,” I mean that they are largely defined by simple shapes. Circles, Squares, and Triangles.

If we look at these three incidentals. We can see that they defined by large shapes, accented with smaller shapes within to make their design. Their eyes are often circles. Their heads could be circles, squares or even sharp triangles. Each of these gives these incidental characters a sense of personality even if we only see them on screen for one scene.

Notice how even their poses can be defined by simple shapes. They re snappy with details that are easy to notice even from a distance away.

We can even see this with the secondary and main humans.

The Professor is made up of mostly squares and rectangles. As he is often the rock, the foundation and source of stability for the girls.

Ms. Keane is rounder, predominated by ovals. Her body is one solid oval, and her overall look makes her appear very friendly, the kind of person you’d want to see being a teacher to young children.

The Mayor is round as well, but  his ovals make him look more portly. Someone you could see being a jolly and equally bumbling fellow.

Ms. Bellum is both sharp and round. From her legs to her arms and her hips. The balance between the two shapes make her a more dynamic character. One who is friendly to the girls, dry to the mayor, and has even stood her own in a few fights.

These are all important ideas to keep in mind, as the Powerpuff Girls world isn’t normally full of PPGs like the girls. It’s full of these geometric, yet diverse humans!

I’ve kept this in mind when designing Tara, Chris, Kevin, and Nancy. Some of my Human PPG OCs. Trying to give them a distinct look, one that can tell you about their personalities at a glance.

Tara is tall and round, friendly but tends to worry and fret as most of the sharper parts of her design are around her head. Chris is short, round, but largely in a squarish shape to show they are the more grounded of the two. Kevin is largely rectangular with some odd round shapes to show he’s strong but kind.  Nancy is mostly round, with some rectangular and pointed shapes to show she’s equal parts friendly and dynamic. Perhaps Sassy?

In conclusion. Main, Secondary, Incidental, or otherwise, the way a character is built is an important aspect to their design.

We as humans tend to associate certain shapes with certain things, and the artists and designers took advantage of that when emulating the UPA style. Giving Townsville a very visually diverse, yet easy to visually read an identify population

A useful thing to keep in mind whether you’re a fan who creates content or a casual appreciator of cartoons, and I encourage those who have taken the time to read this to be observant in what goes into a character’s design. What shapes can you identify? What is it about a character's shape or look that makes them visually distinct? As while even an incidental character could only appear once and never again, it’s important to consider how they might look in a scene, in  crowd, and how that look serves the media they come from.