For more such tips and tricks, visit www.animschool.edu
Making a 3D character look alive when the character is passive or is thinking about something without moving his or her body, is a tough thing to sell. Luckily, AnimSchool instructor Scott McWhinnie has some interesting tips to help us animate eye darts in a way that not only keep the character alive but also make the shot organic so to avoid the feeling of the character being a robot.
In this video from Maya Keys series, professional instructor Justin Barrett explains the second important Maya key in setting an animation setup called, Breakdowns. He explains the role of breakdowns keys in 2D animation setup in the past and what their function is now in a 3D dominating world.
Visit www.animschool.edu for information regarding our animation program so that you could learn more such tricks and tips from our professional animator instructors.
Autodesk Maya is a powerful tool to animate in 3D. However, in order to animate, one has to understand how to set up keys in order to make the shot work. Animschool offers one of the best online courses to teach Maya under the tutelage of professional animator Justin Barrett. This following clip is from one of his classes.
In this clip from his “Introduction to Maya” class, Animschool’s instructor Justin Barrett explains the history and usage of keyframes in Maya animation setup.
Eye animation is considered to be the hardest part of facial animation. Considering how people pay most attention to the eyes of the character, it is absolutely necessary to sell the eye movements to the audience so the character could feel like a living and breathing individual.
Visit www.animschool.edu for information regarding our animation program so that you could learn more such tricks and tips from our professional animator instructors.
It comes as no surprise that today, for many working animators looking to take their skills to the next level, AnimSchool is the school of choice. Former student, Adrien Liv is one such animator.
Hi Adrien! Could you tell us a little about yourself and why you love animation?
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“Hello, my name is Adrien Liv, and I am currently an Animation Director at Cinesite on the project Riverdance. I have been animating for 15 years and have done animation work for Despicable Me 1 and 2, Minions, Angrybirds, Storks, and The Emoji Movie, among others.
I come from a Chinese background and I grew up in Paris, France. As a kid, I loved to watch Japanese anime like Dragon Ball Z and Saint Seiya. These shows sparked my initial interest and love of animation.”
“I spent my early childhood drawing and copying Akira Toriyama, Masami Kurumada, and later other mangas like Akira and Slam Dunk. My dream as a child was to become a mangaka, but I also entertained the idea of becoming an animator because I came to appreciate animation more as I got older.
I decided to become a 2D animator, so I spent two years at EMCA, a traditional animation school based in Angoulême France, the city most famous for hosting The Festival de la Bande Dessinée, learning the ins and outs of 2D animation. These two beautiful years helped me deepen my understanding of animation and many other art forms.
After my graduation, I did an internship in Madrid, Spain, for a company named Fanciful Arts. We worked on a 2D animated feature film, called El Cid the legend. After that, I attended Gobelins where I transitioned into 3D animation and I fell in love with it. I had no idea 3D animation could be so addictive and creatively fulfilling.”
“After I graduated from Gobelins, I started working at a small video game company, but in my spare time I worked on personal animation shots.
I applied at Mac Guff and got a job offer to work on Pat and Stan, and later Despicable Me 1 and 2. After 7-8 years of work experience, I was feeling as if I was always repeating myself, and not growing creatively enough. I needed to reinvent myself and have fresh eyes on my work.
I started looking at online learning opportunities and was very impressed by the work AnimSchool students were producing, especially Diego Collell and Camilo Guamán (I would befriend both of them later). I also loved the rigs of Malcolm and Marnie which were super appealing. So, when I saw that Melvin Tan (Animation Supervisor at BlueSky) was teaching facial performance, I jumped at the chance to study at AnimSchool.”
“It was challenging because I had a job at a studio already and was adjusting to life with a newborn son, so I really had to manage my time and workload efficiently. If you are already working in the industry and considering enrolling in an online school, you have to focus on which area of animation you want to improve. For me, it was acting choices, and that’s where having direct access to professional animators at AnimSchool really paid off.
One of the great things about AnimSchool is that any technical issues you may be having, the school provides you with excellent support. This frees you up to really get down to the business of animating, and with the amazing rigs that AnimSchool provides, you improve fast.
The school environment at AnimSchool is very similar to a studio environment. You show your shot every 1 to 2 days, either during your class or in general review. In our class, Melvin was giving a thorough critique of our shots just like a critique session in a real studio. Besides the critique classes, there are weekly classes on different topics like blinks, lipsynch, etc. You also have access to an impressive catalog of art classes that you can watch any time you like.
AnimSchool also helped me improve my understanding of appeal and how to bring out my best work by brainstorming my ideas at the beginning.”
“I think that my proudest achievement is working on the character of Agnes in Despicable Me. It was early in my career and I became a regular animator on the sequences involving her character. She was a dream to work on, and I think we succeeded in making her very lovable.
Another character I very much enjoyed working on is Gene in the Emoji Movie. I really related to him, and when I was shooting reference for the shots, I would try to put my real-life emotions into the performance to make it feel more genuine and sincere.”
I also think that my work on Eduardo (the villain in Despicable Me 2) marked a big growth in my career. Eduardo is a bouncy, larger than life character, and I appreciated the fact that my lead trusted me to deliver some key shots.
“It depends on the shot. If it’s an acting shot I put myself in the state of mind of the character as much as I can, and record myself until it feels right. I’m not necessarily looking for the perfect take, because I can shoot reference later on.”
Here’s a side by side of a shot Adrien animated for the Emoji Movie:
Adrien recommends drawing thumbnails when planning a shot. Here are some of his thumbnails of Mighty Eagle and Bomb for the Angrybirds movie:
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| Thumbnails by Adrien Liv |
“I think that perseverance and a hard work ethic are essential to succeed, but curiosity in other fields like music, cooking, and photography, will enrich your work as an animator.
I also wish that I knew the basics of how to negotiate a contract because that impacted my work and motivation greatly. Your work is going to speak for itself, but sometimes you need to put the spotlight on your best abilities and ask for a fair wage.
Being an animator is a highly enjoyable endeavor. However, I believe that you need to find a good work-life balance. I learned that animation is not everything. Make sure to spend quality time with your spouse and kids. Enjoy your life.”
“Quality is indeed better than quantity, so make sure to include your best work in your demo reel. Start and finish with your strongest shots. The same rule applies to each individual shot. Start with a strong pose and finish on an entertaining pose.
Show your demo reel to 2-3 animators that you trust.
For the shot specifically, place your character in a specific context, like a nice environment because this will inform your acting choices and add specificity to your performance.
Ideas are more important than execution, but if you can have both, take the time to do so.”
Thank you Adrien for the great tips!
Check out Adrien’s animation reel here:
Begin your 3D Animation journey today! Check out our accredited 3D Animation courses at http://animschool.edu/
Andrea Ferrara is a very talented graduate from AnimSchool who with his hard work and dedication not only passed the Animation program with a great shot, but also went on to work in feature films. Here is an interview where we learn about him and his workflow.
Storyboard by Eric Favila
With the rise of high quality VFX films and cinematics, there’s been a higher demand for creature animation. But, animating creatures is no easy task – you have to portray their animalistic behaviors while keeping track of 4 (or more!) feet and most likely a tail. It can seem overwhelming when starting to animate a creature shot, but as long as you keep the fundamentals of animation in mind, you can create awesome looking animation, too.
In this clip from our VFX class, instructor Tony Mecca talks about his workflow for animating a creature shot and tips for getting the smooth arcs he talked about in our last post (link here). Learn about how he approaches creature shots and deals with untangling the rigs!
These are the kind of skills you can learn in our online animation classes and animation workshops. If you’re interested in 3D animation programs, check us out at our website link below!
