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AnimSchool Interview: Animator Carlos Luzzi

Today we are interviewing Carlos Luzzi. Carlos is a professional hand drawn animator, with 10 years of experience. He has done work for TV and film and is also a concept character artist and visual development artist.

Hi Carlos! Could you start talking a bit about yourself, your education background and when did you begin to be interested in drawing and animation?

I have been interested in drawing since I was a kid. The cartoons that I watched on TV drew my attention a lot and I tried to reproduce the ones I liked on paper. I went through my childhood drawing, and had some professional experience with drawing in my teenage years. I studied Graphic Design but I was always so interested in animation, which I studied by myself in parallel to the university studies. There were no courses in my home town, so in the beginning I had to teach myself, through books that I bought by my own. In the last year of college, I got an internship in a big studio in São Paulo and soon after I moved to Los Angeles where I spent several months studying life drawing, guided by masters Glenn Vilppu and Karl Gnass at the American Animation Institute (today Animation Guild). I had a big desire to develop my skills as a traditional artist before fully focusing on animation. After that, I came back to Brazil to pursue my career as a traditional animator.

Tell us a bit more about your professional experience. What was your first job in the field? For how long have you been an animator now and what are the works you are the most proud of?

My first job in animation that I consider professional was at the Daniel Messias Studio, where I started as an animator back in 2003. This studio was one of the biggest studios for animation ads in Brazil for decades, a market that kept the animation industry moving in Brazil and formed several generations of traditional animators here because of that. I was part of the last generation; today that industry is taken by CG and certainly much less traditional animators are being formed here, which I think is a shame. In the last years I became a freelancer, and diversified my works doing storyboards and visual development. One of the works I enjoyed doing the most was animating Mickey and Minnie Mouse in a short for Disney that was exhibited at the NY Fashion Week. We had little time, but having the chance of working with those characters doesn’t happen every day, and that was very special to me.

You are also an excellent character artist – what came first, the love for creating characters or love for animating them?

I think drawing is a part of me, so the process of drawing storyboards and character designs always ended up mixing with the process of animation in the short productions. Having said that, my main focus was animation for many years. I have full knowledge of the complexity of the animation process, and I’m still studying to refine my work. Since I love drawing, my interest for character design always existed, but most of the time I worked with pre-established characters, so I didn’t have the chance of designing them often – one thing I’m trying to compensate now. Recently I had the opportunity to do a little visual development for a movie from Reel FX that is still going to be released and I really liked the experience. My interest for story is also growing by the day. I have been reading and studying about it since I started as an animator, but in the later years I’ve become more dedicated to the subject; recently I worked on the storyboards for a movie in Brazil and the process of story building is fascinating.

In your opinion, what does a character must have to grab the audience?

Tough question; I’m still looking for that answer, but at the moment I think it’s honesty. I watch live action movies and what attracts me the most in terms of acting are those moments when the characters have “honest moments”, where they are being themselves, doing day to day tasks, like there isn’t a camera pointing at them. That action makes it so that only the character being at the scene is enough, because the action is powerful and honest. Every subtlety becomes perfectly natural (even so they have been thought before by the actor), for they belong to that specific character and you believe in it. That is very hard to simulate, specially in animation, for we draw the character frame by frame, and the actor does in in real time. We always try to overdo the movement of the characters, where I think we should try to under-do it, finding the right moment and do what is right for the scene.

As a freelancer, you have the chance of working for several clients. How is the experience of being a freelancer in the animation industry?

Sometimes is intense. There are projects that happen all at the same time, and I’m always busy even on a regular day, either looking for possible projects or making quotes for future ones. The good think is that I have positive surprises, like having the chance of working on things outside animation, like concept art or storyboarding – that has sparked new interests for me and it has been fun.

What are your perspectives for the 2D animation industry, in Brazil and worldwide?

The industry right now is very small for hand drawn animation in features, that have been crushed by CG animation. That is nothing new, but there is always a movie coming up. I’ve heard about features in development, and there are always smaller projects coming up like ads and short films. I think the interest for good animation comes from the public for the most part, regardless of the final form, be it hand drawn, CG or stop motion. I’ve always been available to migrate to CG but the funny thing is that hand drawn, storyboards or visual development projects are always coming up and don’t let me leave the drawing board.

What do you think animation students must focus to improve the quality of their works and get noticed and possibly be hired by a studio?

Animation have many ways and it’s possible to reach excellency in several ways. There are CG animators that don’t know how to draw and are excellent in what they do using video references. In my particular case, I have drawn for many years by observation, capturing how people naturally act. People from my family, pets, people in the street. I’ve carried sketchbooks with me my whole life, and tried to capture life, the real stuff. That’s still a long way to go, and I’m constantly learning. Today I use other references, like video, for analyzing actions and the actors, as well animations that I consider to be excellent. But I always advise beginning students to draw the world around them.

We thank Carlos for his time. Be sure to check out some of Carlo’s work on concept character below, his site and Vimeo profile.

AnimSchool Classtime: Painting textures & fur with Ty Carter

Check out the tips from Tyler Carter on the Digital Painting class about painting textures and fur!

AnimSchool provides extra classes for our students who wants to expand their skills besides animation and modeling. This term we’re teaching Digital Painting with Tyler Carter, Visual Development Artist working at Blue Sky Studios. Check out Ty’s blog to check out some of his inspiring work.

AnimSchool Interview: Kevin Lan

We are very excited to present you Kevin Lan, animator currently working at ILM, who animated Richard Parker (the amazing tiger from “Life of Pi”) and several other awesome creatures and characters like The Hulk and Yogi Bear!

Hey Kevin! First of all, could you talk a bit about yourself and what led you to be a character animator?

I am an animator currently working at ILM, before that I was a lead animator at Rhythm & Hues for the past 6 years.

I was not the typical kid that grew up with Disney animation or super hero comics. I was born and raised in Taiwan, where Japanese anime and manga are the dominant culture influence. However I wasn’t interested in them until college. During my college years I was totally hooked by all the 80’s and 90’s anime and manga, through these I also got in touch with experimental animation from Europe and Canada. Anime director Otomo Katsuhiro and film maker Norman McLaren were the major influences for me to want to create animation. Eventually I knew I was going to pursue animation as my career of choice. After I finished my college degree (with struggles of course), I came to the US to study animation in SCAD. It was a time people were talking about 2D being dead and 3D animation is the future. I was very stubborn and decided to focus on 2D animation because of my anime/indie animation root. During my time at SCAD, I was exposed to more Pixar/ Disney style of animation. I think that was the first time I became more aware of “character animation” and started thinking about being an animator in the future.

What was your first job in the animation industry? How did you land the position?

I consider my job at Rhythm & Hues was my first real job in the industry. It was back at early 2007, I had just finished my MFA degree and brought my wife and kid to SF to attend a Pixar class at AAU. So I was learning 3D animation at the same time I was trying to find a job. Time was not on my side because as international students we only had one year to work legally in US. Luckily Rhythm & Hues liked my reel, even though I didn’t have much 3D animation in there, they somehow saw my potential from my 2D thesis film and brought me in for Golden Compass.

Your animation on Richard Parker (the Tiger from “Life of Pi”) is pretty jaw dropping. Can you share how much time you spent researching reference and what was your overall process from start to finish of the animated shots?

We wanted to stay absolutely true to the tiger from Life of Pi, which means there should be no anthropomorphization or any guessing from animators. I spent the first 3-4 months studying reference and animating on test shots only. That was the time we figured out how the tiger would behave in different situations, the general physicality and posing, and how the muscle and skin works. Although I was matching reference in these tests, I didn’t do it blindly frame by frame. I still tried to find the key frames, analyzing where the force was generated, which control to use, how the force would impact other parts of the body and how the residual energy would be resolved. I also tried to emphasis the realistic motion quality on Richard Parker, tried to limit the usual CG smoothness and put in the imperfections we see in real life. Through these exercise I got a hold of the feeling for the tiger, and eventually I could deviate from reference in my shots and still make Richard Parker believable.

Our general process started with animation director kicking off a sequence and shots. Then we would compile a playlist of references suitable for each shots and gave those to the animators. If you were lucky enough, you could find a perfect reference and just try to match it. But that was not generally the case. We always needed to piece together segments from different clips and finding creative solutions for the best possible performance for each shots.

I got some of the most challenging shots in the film. Without much similar references I could use, I tried to study all the tiger footages and real tigers in other movies for inspiration, then just imagining how Richard Parker would behave under these unlikely situations. I would block out my shots straight in spline mode, creating my key poses and also putting the correct physicality along the way. I think it’s the only way I could know for sure if my idea would work. After the blocking was approved (usually this took the longest time), I would start adding all the juicy nuances and details on the tiger. While we were working on the shots, the model and rig itself was improving too. So it was a very organic process, and we were constantly improving and changing our shots until the very end.

You also animated a lot of scenes in movies going from Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 to The Incredible Hulk. Do you enjoy taking on projects with different styles from one another?

I definitely enjoy doing different styles of animation. I suppose being an animator means I’m suppose to animate “everything”, not being limited to a certain style or characters. Although, I can see myself enjoying more on creature/VFX films recently. Partly because I got recognition from what I did in Life of Pi, also mainly I feel like there are a lot of unknown territory waiting for us to explore. If you think about how many scripts are still hidden inside James Cameron’s drawer, and those impossible-to-make-movies may one day become possible, it’s a very exciting time for animation and VFX.

Do you have any advice for students wanting to land a job in the animation industry? What would they want to really master before applying to any job in big studios?

I can only talk about VFX industry as I’ve never worked in feature animation. The situation in today’s industry is very complex and much more difficult than before. Being a team player and work hard are the must. I would also suggest animators should master their sense of physicality and try to be original. A good sense of weight and presence of character would benefit you whether you are working in feature animation or VFX. It’s the most fundamental thing you will need for the rest of your career. Being original is extremely important in today’s animation. I think it goes back to observing real life and experience it yourself. Learning from existing animation is great, but it should just be a stepping stone for you to create your own character, even your own style.

AnimSchool Student Spotlight: Laura Loossens

We’d like to present you Laura Loossens, student of the 3D Animation Program at AnimSchool. Hi Laura! Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself, like your background and experience before AnimSchool?

Before I even thought of being an animator, I studied economics and languages in high school. After that I started psychology at the University of Ghent but I didn’t felt passionate about it. I did however love to draw but I never thought to be doing something creative in the future. Until the moment one of my friends suggested a brand new educational program, Digital Arts and Entertainment (DAE), that only recently emerged in Belgium which was specialized in all the things I admired: 3D, 2D, animation and video games.
During my 3 years at Digital Arts and Entertainment I learned a bit of everything, even programming which I failed for in my first year. I had some trouble in the beginning with all the courses, simply because everything was new to me.
Nevertheless I never worked this hard for something, just because I loved to do it! All the hard work paid off and at the end of my studies I won the prize of best 3D artist and together with my awesome teammates, we won the prize of best game!
After my studies I started working in a small visual effects studio where I did various jobs but my main function was modeler and shader. I learned a lot and got better each day but there was no growing possibility as an animator in the studio, so I made a crucial decision to start the animation course at AnimSchool!

What made you want to be a character animator?

My first source of inspiration came from the many Disney movies I saw when I was a kid and later on movies like ‘Ratatouille’,’ Cloudy with a chance of meatballs’ and ‘Horton hears a who’ were a big inspirations for leading me in the direction of becoming a character animator.
My second source of inspiration came during my last year at DAE when we got the chance to create our own short and were completely free doing so. I came up with a little story named ‘Little Rico’ and made the clip in a short amount of time. During the development, I probably looked like a zombie but I also had the most fun bringing my story and characters to life. This was a decisive moment, I knew I was going to become an animator.

Laura’s student short animation “Little Rico”

Do you have any favorite artists that inspire you?

There are many different people that inspire me since the internet provides us a variety of animation clips, and I get inspired by many of them. I’ve seen some of them over and over, just to get a better understanding on their appeal.
Also, I will always have a passion for 2D animation. It is a medium that appealed to me ever since I was young. When I look at the work made by the artists at Bird Box Studio I get really inspired by the perfect timing and simplicity of their clips.

Your Facial Performance shot is a great piece. Can you tell a bit more about your process from start to finish?

Laura’s facial performance assignment

The sound I chose was one that had been stuck in my mind for quite some time. The audio had so much personality of a sassy woman demanding a new drink in her own way. With that image in mind I started shooting different kinds of reference videos and I seemed to like acting like a sassy lady.

Laura’s video reference for her facial
performance assignment

I imagined her sitting at her desk or at a bar, or not sitting down at all, just to get different angles that could look appealing. I learned this by watching a reference shot of Garrett Shikuma that showed us his variety of reference takes, just to come up with appealing poses and ideas.
After setting up my reference I start to block out my shot. I only look for the key poses that could really sell the shot. My reference served as a solid base and helped to find the key poses and timing for my animation.

After that very first pass of blocking I go over the same poses and look if the timing is working and if I can push some poses even further.
Spline is the next step where I spend time adjusting my curves. Normally I would take a long time for blocking however my mentor at the time, Melvin Tan, had a different approach. He would block out the scene fast and start with spline, but the method I used was the opposite.

I decided to follow Melvin’s suggestion, since it is always interesting to try out different ways of working and understand what the benefits are. In the beginning I struggled a bit but soon I discovered the benefits of working this way. I could spend more time on the details and characteristics traits of the character.

Laura’s Character Performance assignment

What was the most challenging assignment you had to deal with so far? How did you manage to overcome it’s obstacles?

I think each assignment has its challenges. Every time I overcome one challenge there is another waiting in line. But these challenges are what makes me move forward.

In my case there was the assignment for the Body Acting class. We had the possibility to create our own story without sound. I came up with a funny story of a scientist that was inventing an invisibility potion and was searching for the last clue. When he finally found it and tested it, he bumped over his potion on the chalkboard with his formula written on it.

While making this clip, I had difficulties getting the timing and poses correct. My instructor at the time, Tony Bonilla, was hard and honest. He kept pushing me in the good direction and I never gave up, even when I had to redo all my poses to really push them.

Even the latest version is not completely finished, but I had overcome so many challenges with that assignment that the following terms became a bit easier to complete, since I was better prepared for what was coming.

Laura’s Body Acting assingment

What do you think is the most important thing you learned at AnimSchool so far?

Laura’s Run and Jump assignment on Animating Characters class

Make the best of all the time you get with your instructors! Anthea Kerou taught me how to create a good base for animation, Tony Bonilla and Garrett Shikuma the importance of each stage of animation and Melvin Tan how to give your character more personality.

Listen to the feedback you get not only from your instructors but also from you fellow students. Always be critical of your work. Keep trying to get better and never think you are doing bad, since each step you take will bring you closer to your goal!

Thanks AnimSchool!

We thank Laura for her time and be sure to check out her Blog and her LinkedIn profile!

Episode 003: Rise of the Guardians – Round Table

In this episode I sit down with 7 extremely talented animators. They all worked on the Dreamworks animated adventure film, “Rise of the Guardians.” Their positions rank from Character Animator right on up to Head of Character Animation.

Podcast | Right Click to Download | Play in New Window | (80.3 MB)

Link to Podcast on iTunes


	Gabe Hordos Head of Character Animation 10 years at Dreamworks IMDB profile

Alexis Wanneroy Lead Animator – Toothfairy 7 years at Dreamworks IMDB profile	Pierre Perifel Supervising Animator – North 5 years at Dreamworks IMDB profile	Ben Willis Character Animator – Jack 7 years at Dreamworks IMDB profile

Jacob Gardner Character Animator – Jack 5 years at Dreamworks IMDB profile	Tyler Phillips Character Animator – Bunny 4 years at Dreamworks IMDB profile	JP Sans Character Animator – Pitch 2 years at Dreamworks IMDB profile

Episode 002: Mike Thurmeier – Co-Director of Ice Age: Continental Drift

In this episode we interview Mike Thurmeier, Director at Blue Sky Studios. Mike has been with the studio since the first installment of the Ice Age franchise. Mike recently co-directed Ice Age: Continental Drift. We ask Mike about his journey from being an animator to becoming a director.

Podcast | Right Click to Download | Play in New Window | (63.3 MB)

Link to Podcast on iTunes

Show Notes:

Mike Thurmeier – Director at Blue Sky Studios
Ice Age: Continental Drift – trailer
Little Bear – television series
Chris Wedge – co-founder of Blue Sky Studios
Carlos Saldanha – Director at Blue Sky Studios
Galen Chu – Supervising Animator at Blue Sky Studios
Peter Dinklage – Voice actor for Captain Gutt
Patrick Stewart – Voice actor for Ariscratle

AnimSchool’s New Character, Scout!

For Immediate Release

Orem, UT United States – February 4, 2013 — Animschool
announces today their new dog character, Scout. Scout is a fully
articulated character rig, designed for demanding action or acting
needs.
Scout’s face is exquisitely developed to reach extreme poses and maintain maximum appeal.

“Appeal
and hyper-expression are our driving passions and why people are drawn
to AnimSchool,” founder Dave Gallagher said. The Scout character has
been painstakingly developed to reach artfully designed poses, and allow
for a myriad of variations in expression.
“That kind of quality and
attention to detail are a part of everything we do at AnimSchool. It’s
what sets us apart and gives our students the edge when it comes to
appeal and entertainment.”

AnimSchool characters are used by more
than 10,000 users worldwide, and have been used to win numerous
animation contests and for commercial needs. AnimSchool is known as the
most trusted name for appealing 3D characters. AnimSchool animation
students use these film quality characters to learn 3D animation, making
their animation work stand out among competitors. AnimSchool Character
program students learn the secrets of appealing character creation.

Scout is the result of months of research and development. Said
Dave Gallagher, lead rigger “So much passion and loving care
went into making this character. It seems like each part was made,
changed, then remade again to be more appealing. Realizing 3D
characters that live up to beauty of 2D designs is a real challenge. It
is truly a labor of love.”

AnimSchool students are able to use
Scout for their animation assignments. AnimSchool Character students can
use Scout to learn the arts of high-end modeling and rigging.

Now with 180 students, AnimSchool
was founded in 2010 to bring character-focused 3D animation instruction
to students all around the world through live online sessions with the
very best film professionals.

Contact:
Isaac Nordlund
AnimSchool
admissions@animschool.com
560 South State Street, Suite F3
Orem, UT 84058
801 765-7677

###

Episode 001: Nathan Engelhardt – Disney Supervising Animator

In this episode we interview Nathan Engelhardt, Supervising Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Nathan was one of our pioneering instructors who helped shape the direction and vision of the school. He previously worked on serveral projects at Blue Sky Studios including; Horton Hears a Who, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Rio, and Epic. His most recent project was Wreck-It-Ralph. We ask Nathan about his journey to becoming a feature film animator and about his experience working at Disney.

Podcast | Right Click to Download | Play in New Window | (65.0 MB)

Link to Podcast on iTunes

Show Notes:

Nathan Engelhardt’s 2011 demo reel
The Neverhood – A Doug Tennapel game
Mike Thurmeier – Director at Blue Sky
Pete Nash – Animation Supervisor at Sony
Zach Parrish – Supervising Animator at Walt Disney
John C. Reilly – voice of Wreck-It-Ralph
Jack McBrayer – voice of Fix-It Felix, Jr.
“I love my mama!”
Wreck-It-Raplh trailer

AnimSchool Spotlight Student: Angel Antelo

AnimSchool would like to introduce Angel Antelo. Before AnimSchool, did you have any other experience with animation?

I actually had no experience in animation.I just had a slight prior idea of how Maya software worked due to some online tutorials I could find at that time. Also some books like the well known “Survival Kit” began to guide me through this world and not much more. So everything has been new for me.

Why do you want to become an animator?

I guess it’s the simple dream of a child. It’s something that captured my attention since I was just a little boy. I remember watching some Disney movies back in the day: Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, The Lion King… I remember how much I enjoyed them and how they sparked my interest in drawing. They created a hobby and a passion that I still carry with me today.

One of the things I remember was when they showed the “making of” from one of these movies on TV; I loved to watch how they made those drawings, animations, visual effects… I recorded it on a video tape and watched it over and over again. I liked to watch how they carried out all that work, which tools were used. I would just watch all that super-complex stuff on the screen of their computers which I couldn’t understand. I was fascinated. It was something that I was delighted to see, and loved. To get a glimpse of that creative environment, the people whose jobs were to create different worlds that we could enjoy later. I just remember watching all that and thinking to myself: One day I want to be part of that.

Angel Antelo’s test from AnimSchool’s Class 4, Body Acting

What inspires you to work hard towards your career goals?

It’s related with the previous answer. It is doing everything in your power to reach that goal. That dream.

It’s not easy. The knowledge you need isn’t going to reach your brain by a magical lightning that hits your head. You have to spend a lot of time, long hours in front of the computer and sometimes manage to find the time to do that thing they call sleeping at night (it’s ok until you start seeing pink punk cows in your room. Then you know you need to stop). You really have to like it to avoid getting tired of it and to stay motivated. My start was a little “late” in this field if I compare myself to others that started much younger, but it came to a point in my life that it was like “now or never”. I had the chance and I made the decision, I brushed my hair, I joined AnimSchool and I decided to spend my time and energy on it. I think it’s one of the best decisions in my life ever. It almost seemed unreachable and impossible for me to start studying and getting prepared for what I always liked. So if I could, anyone can…

The goals are still far away. Someday being able to do something that could captivate, excite, thrill or just make someone laugh. Create something that people can enjoy. I still have a lot to learn to get even close to that point.

What is your favorite animated film from your childhood, and what is your favorite film now that you’re an adult? What do you think makes these films special?

The Lion King, Aladdin.. all these great classics that will last forever, are kept in a special corner in my heart for being those which lit up that little spark in my head. Then came films like Toy Story that left us all with our mouths wide open and a new world of possibilities opened up right in front of our eyes. Ratatouille seems perfect to me. script, animation, characters… Rio was a nice surprise, I also have to say that thanks to AnimSchool I’ve had the pleasure to meeting some of the people who had actually worked on it. It makes me appreciate it more, if that was even possible….

What do you enjoy about animation the most?

Maybe it’s a bit hard to answer or explain. It’s like “creating life” from scratch. At first you find that character, on your screen,and it seems like a toy with nothing inside, staring lifelessly into the distance, as if he had just seen Death wearing high heels and eating tacos. It’s like when you’re drawing, it’s a blank canvas. You have countless possibilities where the limit is a road sign with “no limit” graven with fire on it; it’s where the imagination (and your current knowledge, of course) takes you.

It surprises me every day with new things I find out and

learn. Even right now, answering these questions amazes me; about 18 months ago I learned that the little red stick is a “keyframe” for example… I’ve barely begun this journey. If I’m sure of one thing, then it’s that I cannot express how happy I am with this experience.

How has your experience been at AnimSchool? What is your favorite thing you’ve learned?

AnimSchool is great!!! I cannot say otherwise. I have nothing but good things to say. Almost always at the beginning of each new assignment I get that little fear and I start doubting myself and whether I can do it or not. But since teachers get involved in your work, your progress, motivate you and really care about your shots, I find all the fear and doubt disappearing. These professionals show you their workflows, critique your assignments to make sure you get a better result, they share with us the little tricks they’ve learned over the years. I’m really grateful for everything they taught us…

But probably one of the best things, beside the great teachers, beside the assignments, beside the awesome rigs provided, is all the amazing people you meet from all over the world. People who like and love the same as you do. It has created a little atmosphere that makes you feel at home and supported in this great adventure. They become your friends… and that’s priceless.

AnimSchool Classtime: Rhythm in the Figure

AnimSchool Instructor, Mike Mattesi, talks about the benefits of drawing and finding rhythm in the figure.