Tips and Tricks 2

7/31/2019 Tips and Tricks 2

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Animation Tips & Tricks

VOLUME II - 2009 EDITION

BY: AnimationMentor.com Founders and Mentors

AnimationMentor.com Coounders

SHAWN KELLY

CARLOS BAENA

with eatures by AnimationMentor.com Mentors

KEITH SINTAY

AARON GILMAN

and special guest

WAYNE GILBERT


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FOREWORDWhats your avorite hobby? Your avorite past-time? Whats your avorite thing to sit around with your riends and talk about?

For me, its animation. I love doing it, I love seeing it, I love learning more about it, and I love talking about it. Seeing somethingbrought to lie is always a magical experience or me, regardless o whether or not I happened to be involved in the process. So

the idea that someone out there might be interested in my thoughts on this stu is absolutely surreal, because Im just doing whatI love, and talking about my avorite subject, and against all odds, you keep coming back or more! No matter how much time spend (waste?) talking about ried chicken, Bacardi Anejo, or whatever other random thing pops into my mind, you still havent

abandoned me, and or that I owe you a great big thank you!!

This year was such a un year or Animation Mentors newsletter and our Tips & Tricks blog and Carlos Baenas blog. All o the contentin this book originated in one o those spots, and the most exciting dierence in this book over last years book is that we have a

bunch o amazing guest writers! Our awesome contributors include Aaron Gilman, Keith Sintay, Wayne Gilbert, and Carlos Baena.Aaron and Keith are animators and Animation Mentor mentors extraordinaire. Wayne is my mentor and the reason why I am an

animator at ILM. And Carlos and is not only one o the most talented animators I know, but coounder o Animation Mentor and oneo my closest riends. So un to get to collaborate with these guys!

Its been such a cool experience or me (and you, Im sure!) to get to hear the thoughts and tips o such an impressive cast oanimators who have been contributing throughout the year. Its been really humbling and un to be a part o such a knowledgeable

group, and all o us at Animation Mentor are so thankul to these animators who have been so generous in sharing their goldennuggets o animation wisdom with us!

The other big change between this years book and last years book is that the blog really created more o a dialogue, and allowedus to more directly answer reader-submitted questions and thoughts. For me, this elevated the whole idea to a new level, and I just

wanted to give a quick thank you to all the people out there who have been writing comments on the blog and sending in theirquestions to the newsletter! You guys rock!! This ebook literally wouldnt exist without you guys.

And last but not least, I just want to give a big thank you to the greatest school sta the planet has ever seen, and especially Eunice

Park and Michael Dauz or keeping the blog and newsletter not only up and running, but better every day!

So, what ollows is our second ocial collection o animation articles written by a bunch o people who are probably a little too

passionate about this stu or our own good. Hope you have as much un reading it as we had writing it! Be sure to swing by theblog and say hello!

Shawn :)
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AUTHOR BIOS

SHAWN KELLYCofounder of AnimationMentor.comAnimator at Industrial Light & Magic

http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com

Shawn Kelly realized his dream to animate lms with the help o three mentors who took a personal interest in his career. Convincedthat animation lovers everywhere should have the same opportunity, he coounded AnimationMentor.com, an online animation

school with student/mentor relationships at its core.

Kelly works with Bobby Beck, AnimationMentor.coms CEO and President, and coounder Carlos Baena to help dene and shape theschools overall direction. Kelly balances his Animation Mentor role with his work as a senior animator at Industrial Light & Magic

(ILM) in San Raael, Cali.

Born in Santa Rosa, Cali., and raised in Petaluma, Kelly set his sights on working at ILM at age ve when the movie Star Wars hit thebig screen. Under the tutelage o animators Bill Hennes and John Root, he studied drawing and computer sotware throughout highschool, attended community college, and Academy o Art University in San Francisco.

A summer internship at ILM introduced Kelly to another infuential mentor, animation director Wayne Gilbert. It was through Gilbert

that Kelly realized that he wasnt learning what he needed at school. Kelly let the academy in 1996 or a job as a character animatoat ormer video game and educational company Presage Sotware, but continued his studies with Gilbert twice a week.

In 1998, Kelly ullled his lielong dream and landed a job at ILM. Since that time, he has worked on numerous lms including DayAter Tomorrow, where he was on the team that animated the wolves; War o the Worlds, or which he animated tripods and

probes; and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge o the Sith , where he helped develop and animate the vulture droids and animatedYoda in a pivotal sword ght. Kelly worked as a Lead Animator on Transormers, and his additional credits include The Incredible

Hulk, Star Wars: Episode 2 Attack o the Clones, andAI: Articial Intelligence.

He just completed work on Indiana Jones 4, and is currently a Lead Animator on Transormers 2: Revenge o the Fallen.

Kelly received the 2007 award or the Best Single Visual Eect o the Year by the Visual Eects Society (VES), an organization dedicated

to advancing the arts, sciences and the application o visual eects. Kellys winning eect was or the desert highway sequence oTransormers, in which Bonecrusher skates through trac, destroys a bus, and ghts Optimus Prime.

Kelly has developed curriculum and taught at the Academy o Art University and was on the team that earned the 2000 CLIO award

or Best Computer Animation or a Pepsi/Star Wars Alien campaign. Kelly currently lives in San Anselmo, Cali., where he reads a lot-- especially comics and writes short lms.
http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/http://www.animationmentor.com/http://www.animationmentor.com/http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/


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CARLOS BAENACofounder of AnimationMentor.com

Animator at Pixar Animation Studios

http://www.carlosbaena.com

Carlos Baena knew he wanted to be an animator ater watching two lms: Toy Storyand The Nightmare Beore Christmas. He wasmoved by the storytelling, the characters, and the animation. Ater Baena began studying animation, he experienced a deeper leveo storytelling that he wanted to share with others. As a coounder o the online school AnimationMentor.com, Baena is helping to

bring animation education to students around the world, inspiring them to make lms.

Baena works with ellow coounders, Bobby Beck, AnimationMentor.coms CEO and President, and Shawn Kelly to dene and shape

the schools overall direction. Baena balances his coounder responsibilities with his ull-time animator job at Pixar AnimationStudios in Emeryville, Cali.

Born on the Canary Islands and raised in Madrid, Baena came to the United States to attend the University o San Francisco and the

Academy o Art University. Upon graduation in June 1998, he landed a job animating commercials at Will Vinton Studios in PortlandOregon. Four months later, he returned to San Francisco to work on spots and short lms at Click 3X and WildBrain, Inc.

Baena continued to hone his crat, doing character animation tests and wearing out his VCRs slowmo toggle. The imagery he createdhelped him secure a position at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in March 2001. At ILM, Baena worked as an animator onJurassic Park

3, Men in Black 2, and Star Wars: Episode 2-Attack o the Clones. Captivated by antasy and comedy, Baena let ILM or Pixar in2002 where he has worked on the lms Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and Ratatouille, the short lm Boundin, and Andrew

Stantons WALL-E. In Cars, Baena animated several scenes with the two Italian cars Guido and Luigi (two o the characters that werethe most un or him to animate) and received a 2007 Annie Award nomination or Best Character Animation or his work. Baenascurrent projects at Pixar include Toy Story 3, which is scheduled or release in 2010.

Baena currently lives in San Francisco, Cali., where he spends his leisure time studying and making short lms, composing music

skateboarding, and perecting his animation crat.

WAYNE GILBERT

Animation DirectorWriter

http://www.anamie.com

Wayne Gilbert graduated rom Sheridan College in the mid-1970s. He started work at a small studio on a television special titledWitchs Night Out, then on to Nelvana where he animated and/or illustrated backgrounds on ve more TV specials, a pile ocommercials and was the background department head on the eature lm Rock and Rule.

Ater leaving the studio lie to reelance he taught and coordinated the Classical Animation Program at Sheridan College. While

teaching he made two short lms Bottoms Up and Trac Jam, which screened at Annecy Animation Festival in France. In1996he was recruited to help set up the Walt Disney Canada studio in Toronto then headed to Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) where he

worked or seven years and transitioned to CG animation and completed two more short lms CPUand the award winning LeGO.

Gilbert returned to Canada in 2005 to work as senior animation director at Electronic Arts Black Box on the award-winning newIP Skate. While at ILM, Disney and EA his responsibilities included designing and delivering proessional development classes o

animators. Wayne has worked on diverse productions rom illustration to commercials with two Clio awards or Care Bears to StarWars and video games, and has completed ve short lms o his own. His book, Simplied Drawing or Planning Animation

has helped to support the crat o animating since 1999. Wayne has a long list o international venues where he has lectured onanimation and lmmaking. He has written a childrens novel and screenplay and is now working to bring them into production.
http://www.carlosbaena.com/http://www.anamie.com/http://www.anamie.com/http://www.carlosbaena.com/


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KEITH SINTAYMentor at AnimationMentor.com

Senior Animator at Digital Domain

http://www.keithsintay.com

Keith Sintay is a senior animator at Digital Domain and a mentor at Animation Mentor. Keith dreamed o becoming an animator

since he could draw his rst stick gure. He was inspired to pursue his dream ater seeing The Rescuers in 1977; the sketchy pencilines let on the characters in that movie allowed a peek into the art behind the scenes. To him it was inspiring.

Keith grew up in Michigan, and ater being distracted by girls and parties, remembered that he had once wanted to make an

animated lm. He pursued the Disney Feature Animation internship by nishing art school and drawing and drawing and DRAWING(there was no CG back then kids). Well, to get to the point, he was accepted into the Disney internship program and was hired shortlyater to work on Pocahontas.

Keith has worked on Hunchback, Mulan, and Tarzan at Disney Feature, and Spirit, Sinbadand Shark Tale at DreamWorks. He has

recently nished work as a senior animator on Open Season, Surs Up, Monster House, BeowulandI Am Legendat Sony PicturesImageworks. Having just nished work on G.I. Joe: Rise o the Cobra, he is currently working on Transormers: Revenge o theFallen.

AARON GILMANMentor at AnimationMentor.com

Animator at Weta Digital

http://www.aarongilman.com

Aaron Gilman is currently an animator at Weta Digital and mentor at Animation Mentor. He spent most o his childhood travelingbut Montreal was always home base. Ater graduating rom the University o British Columbia with a degree in philosophy, he spentmany years trying to gure out how his passion or visual arts could turn into more than a hobby.

At age 26, Aaron didnt even know what 3D animation was. He loved making short lms, exhibiting his photography, and studyinglm theory. It was only while sitting on the bus one day in Vancouver, with about $15 in his account, that he saw an advertisemen

or a 3D animation program and enrolled. In the rst three months o the program Aaron knew animation was what he had beenseeking. By the end o the program he had multiple job oers, and moved back to Montreal where he took a position as a junio

animator with a new studio called Meteor. He stayed there or a number o years working on dinosaurs and prehistoric animal showsor Discovery Channel. Ater Meteor, Aaron was hired at Tippett Studio to work on Matrix: Revolutions, and also worked on Hellboy

and Constantine. Aaron began working as the Animation Director on Ubisot s Tom Clancys Rainbow Six: Vegas. Ater a couple oyears, he returned to Meteor and supervised animation on the eature Journey to the Center o the Earth 3D. Over the past eightyears, he has had some incredible opportunities working at all levels o eature lms, games, and television. Aaron recently relocated

to New Zealand where he is working as a character animator at Weta Digital on James CameronsAvatarand Foxs The Day the EarthStood Still.

Some o Aarons interests include public speaking on animation. Hes had a blast speaking at conerences, universities and trade

schools. He also loves computer gaming with World o Warcratas his biggest time sink. Aaron is having a lot o un with his wieand son in New Zealand where they spend the weekends walking on the beach and hanging out with other Weta riends and theikids.
http://www.keithsintay.com/http://www.aarongilman.com/http://www.aarongilman.com/http://www.keithsintay.com/


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WAYNE GILBERT

Wayne Gilbert, an animation director and writer, has animated or lms, television, andcommercials and is the winner o two Clio Awards. In addition to working as an animatorat major studios, he has also designed and taught classes or other animators at Disney,

Industrial Light & Magic, and Electronic Arts. And his book, Simplied Drawing or PlanningAnimation, has been a leading resource or animators since 1999.

KEITH SINTAYKeith Sintay is a senior animator at Digital Domain and a mentor at

Animation Mentor. He has worked on the lms Pocahontas, TheHunchback o Notre Dame, Mulan and Tarzan at Disney,

and Spirit, Sinbad, and Shark Tale at DreamWorks

Animation. Most recently he worked as a senioranimator on Open Season, Surs Up, Monster House, Beowuland IAm Legendat Sony Pictures Imageworks. Having just nished workon G.I. Joe: The Rise o the Cobra, he is currently working onTransormers: Revenge o the Fallen.
http://www.animationmentor.com/webinarhttp://www.animationmentor.com/tipsandtricks/webinar.htmlhttp://www.animationmentor.com/webinar/replay/20090422workflow/workflow1.htmlhttp://www.animationmentor.com/tipsandtricks/webinar.html


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Welcome Back!

I youre reading this ebook, that means youve probably read our rst Animation Tips &Tricks ebook and are serious about learning to become an animator, the coolest job inthe world!

Weve been animators or a while now, working at Pixar and Industrial Light & Magic.(ILM). Weve ullled our dreams o becoming animators and want you to ulll yourdreams too. This is why we created Animation Mentor. We wanted to share what we

know about character animation with you so you can reach your dreams. Our totalenrollment is 900 students and growing, and weve seen our graduates go on to excitingcareers.

We believe the keys to a successul animation career can be ound in The Three Ps:

Practice, Perseverance and Personality. We cannot give you any o the Three Ps youmust bring these to the table on your own in order to become the best animator you

can be. Whats unique about Animation Mentor is that we provide you with unparalleledanimation training and support so you learn animation and graduate with an awesomedemo reel. Our 18-month animation program teaches you everything that we know

about character animation.

We hope you enjoy Animation Tips & Tricks Volume II. This is just a glimpse o what wereteaching at AnimationMentor.com. We hope to see you in class soon!!

Wishing you the best o luck in your animation journey!

This book was created and distributed by AnimationMentor.com, the animation school created or animators by animators. Additional copies may be obtainedby registering on AnimationMentor.com,. Please do not distribute this e-book to others. It is or your use only. Unauthorized distribution constitutes thet o

intellectual property. Copyright 2008 AnimationMentor.com. All rights reserved.

LETTER fromAnimationMentor.com Founders

Bobby Beck Shawn Kelly Carlos Baena


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TESTIMONIALSCheck out what animation enthusiasts are saying aboutanimationtipsandtricks.com. Heres a glimpse o what readers have postedon the Animation Tips & Tricks blog.

Thanks a lot or this new blog Shawn! Im absolutely loving it, and have it bookmarked as RSS. Cheers, and keep up the awesome tips!

-Cuby

These posts just keep getting better and better. All Ive done this summer is an animation internship and read this blog and watch the

webinars, and its the best summer Ive ever had-Snow

This blog totally rocks. I check it every day beore I start animating at the games company I work or. Please keep it up! Wont be long

beore its a creative goldmine! -Aron Durkin

I really love people with such experience sharing all their knowledge. Thanks and looking orward or more!!!-Jorge Rausch

Thanks or this blog Shawn. Really is a great thing youre doing or the animation community :) Now among my list o daily-checked sites.

-Ben C

This is a great opportunity or all o us animators to learn and grow with the help o this blog. Looking orward to more such great posts.

:) -Ratul Sarna

Thanks or starting this blog, it helps to not lose any o the precious advice you are giving. About the topic animator vs. lead animator/

supervisor: I seem to be in the rare position o really wanting to become a supervisor one day. I love working in teams, seeing peoples talent

evolve (and help them nd it), and taking the responsibility or my team. I always liked that, and even though I have so, so much to learn

still - that has always been my dream. -Alex M. Lehmann
http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/


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(shameless school plug)

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From Animation Mentors Working

at Leading Studios!

I youre reading this book, you love animation andenjoy learning about the art o animation. I youd like to

learn more rom our mentors, we invite you to check out

AnimationMentor.com. Its the only online animationschool dedicated to the art o character animation. Our

mentors teach you everything you need to know to

create a great demo reel and land your dream job in

just 18 months. Were always looking or new talent, so

check us out and see how we can help you reach your

dreams!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ANIMATION CAREER ADVICE ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1How Important Is an Art Background or an Animator Who Is Starting Out?.......................................................................................................................... 1

Advice on Supplementing My Animation Education with Books or Forums............................................................................................................................. 3When Do You Know I You Are Ready to Apply to Movie Studios?..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Who Is Cut Out or Animation? Answer: You!................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

How Important Is Music on a Demo Reel?.......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Demo Reel Dos and Donts ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

Making It Dream Jobs ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Whats the Role o the Animator? Is It Benecial to Explore Dierent Disciplines?............................................................................................................... 9

Questions about the Animation Job Market................................................................................................................................................................................................ 10

What Are the Responsibilities or an Animation Supervisor or Lead Animator? Are There Any Special Skills Required to Become a Lead Animator? ...................... 12

Animator Vs. Animation Supervisor.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 12

THE WORKING LIFE OF AN ANIMATOR.................................................................................................................................................................................. 14How Do You Spend Your Week at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)?................................................................................................................................................ 14

What Is Your Lie like as a Proessional Animator? Do You Have a Lie Outside o the Studio?............................................................................... 14

How Does Creating Animation or Films Dier rom Games?.......................................................................................................................................................... 15

Have You ever Been in a Situation Where You Had to Forgo Animation Principles to Get the Animation Done According to the Directors Expectation?..............16

As an Aspiring 3D Animator Looking to Work or Film, TV, or Games, What Frame Rate Should I Use?........................................................... 17

How Many Frames Do You Do in One Week?............................................................................................................................................................................................... 17

MAKING A SCENE ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 18How Do You Know When to Stop Planning and Start Animating?.............................................................................................................................................. 18

How Do You Do Video Planning?.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18What Should Be the Main Goal in a Scene?................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19

What Determines the Duration o a Scene?.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 19

Whats the Best Way to Plan a Scene?................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 20

How Much Average Time Does It Take to Create a Shot?..................................................................................................................................................................... 20

When Have You Been Challenged with a Shot and How Did You Overcome It?................................................................................................................. 21

The Art o the Tracking Shot...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22

ACTING ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 23Making the Best Acting Decisions......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23

How Important Is an Acting Shot or Getting a Job in the Gaming Industry?...................................................................................................................... 23

What Does an Animator Have to Learn about Traditional Acting? How Should It Be Applied to Our Animation?..................................24

What is Interior Monologue?................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 24

What Factors Help You Decide on Poses or Acting Choices? ........................................................................................................................................................... 25


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BRINGING CHARACTERS TO LIFE...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26Where Do You Draw the Line on Exaggeration?........................................................................................................................................................................................ 26

Eye Animation and Blinks ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27

Are Facial Expressions as Important as the Body on Acting Shots?............................................................................................................................................. 28

Forget About Animating the Legs ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 29

How Do You Go about Timing Out Animation That Cant Be Perormed in Real Lie?................................................................................................... 30

Facial Follow-Up Question: Timing the Face to the Body.................................................................................................................................................................... 31

What to Do with a Characters Balance and Weight When Walking .......................................................................................................................................... 32

Weight in Animation ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 34

How Do You Make an Unappealing Character Design Look Appealing?................................................................................................................................ 37

Animation and the Uncanny Valley.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 38

Motion Capture ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 41

WORKFLOW................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 44What Kind o Workfow Do You Use or Recommend?............................................................................................................................................................................ 44

Workfow or Fully Rigged Character.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 44

How Much Time Do You Spend on Each o the Workfow Steps?................................................................................................................................................... 45

Workfow and Timing or Animating Wings ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 46

How the Heck Do You Change Your Animation ater Youve Already Started Polishing the Shot? ....................................................................... 47Tips on Speeding Up Animation Workfow and Animating Faster............................................................................................................................................... 53

LIGHTNING ROUND..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 55Do You Have a Process or Checklist o Animation Rules You Follow?......................................................................................................................................... 55

What Is a Key Pose?......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 55

Could You Provide an Animators Point o View and Ideas about Storytelling?.................................................................................................................. 56

Sotware Shmotware ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 56

What Are Figure 8 Curves and How Do They Fit in with the Movements o Characters?.............................................................................................. 57

Is It Necessary to Learn Rigging?............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 57

About AnimationMentor.com................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 58

Additional Free Learning Resources From AnimationMentor.com.............................................................................................................................................. 58


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Copyright 2009 by AnimationMentor.com. All rights reserved. This ebook may not be reprinted or distributed in electronic, print, web, or other ormat without

express written permission.

1

ANIMATION CAREER ADVICEHow Important Is an Art Background or an Animator Who Is Starting Out?By Shawn Kelly

There was a time when I thought that there was nothing more important or an animation student than a solid background intraditional art. Painting, drawing, color theory, art history, the works. At least thats what I was told, back in the day, and on the

surace, it makes sense, doesnt it?

O course an artistic background will help you as an animator. Its a no-brainer. Color design may inorm staging decisions, drawing

classes will certainly help with composition issues, gure drawing and an understanding o anatomy are helpul or any animator.

But i the question is whether or not an art background is absolutely NECESSARY to becoming a great animator, experience hastaught me that the answer is no.

It isnt.

Now, to be clear, it certainly doesnt hurt! Im thankul, in particular, or all those years o gure drawing. I may be a decade out opractice, and unable to accurately draw anything to save my lie right now, but the anatomical and biomechanical knowledge

soaked up in those classes helps inorm my animation decisions to this day.

I nothing else, as strange as it sounds, it was very helpul or me to just sit in a room with a naked person and study how their bodyworked without any o the important hip/spine interactions being hidden by clothing. I actually even learned more in between themodels poses than when he or she was actually holding a pose or us to draw! As an animation student, it was ascinating to watch

them move rom pose to pose, or climb up onto the stage, etc. In act, I think Id say that considering the sad state o the animationprogram I was attending at the time, I probably learned more about body mechanics during the spaces between gure drawings

than I did in any o my animation classes!

That said, it isnt absolutely necessary. In act, youknow what kind o background would be helpulor an animator who is just starting out?

Yours! Thats right! ANY background is going to behelpul in SOME way. Ive met animators who wereghter pilots, detectives, maintenance workers,

engineers, architects, soldiers, bartenders, andathletes. All o these people bring their uniquebackgrounds and knowledge base to their work,

and these lie experiences inorm the actingdecisions o their characters, the stories they will

tell, and the style o their work.

As animators, observation is one o the mostimportant aspects o what we do. In order to bringa character to lie, there is almost nothing more

important than having a collection o interestingactions and acting choices weve observed and

either committed to memory or written downor sketched. These actions weve set aside to

remember are our secret weapons in the creationo memorable character perormances.

In light o that, just about any lie experience you have may come in handy during your animation career!

Image courtesy o Rachel Ito.


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2

I would say that any artistic experience you can have, whetheits studying photography, visiting museums, or even reading

comic books -- these are all more immediately helpul to youas an animator than your memory o the drunk who spilled

everyones drinks one night when you were tending bar. Thedrunk may come in handy at some point down the line as youcrat a perormance that takes place in a bar, but the artistic

growth youve experienced in the rst three examples issomething that youll be able to use rom Day 1 as you jump

into animation.

So sure, any art background is helpul to the animator, andobviously I think that gure drawing classes, in particular, canbe very benecial, but Ive met too many incredible animators

now who have next to no art background at all to be able tosay that its completely necessary.

While an art background, used properly, will be an advantage

or any animator, the computer has removed the absoluteneed or dratsmanship. Keeping a character on-model is no

longer an issue, at least as ar as maintaining the mass goes(Taking the acial animation and acting choices o-model is

still as big a problem and challenge as it ever was, though!)Being able to draw an accurate turntable o a character is aantastic and enviable skill, but as our computer tools get

more and more robust, there is increasingly room in the rankso the worlds animators or animation artists who have neve

picked up a pencil or serious drawing.

O course, i you want to pursue 2D animation, obviously that means you WILL need strong dratsmanship and a well-rounded

background in traditional art, but the question I get is usually reerring to a career in 3D animation, which is a dierent story altogether.

Animation students who dont have any artistic background at all may need to work a little harder to make up or it, but it s simply

no longer necessary to have the drawing skills that many o our animation heroes possess.

Whats necessary is that you have a passion to learn animation and a hunger to seek that knowledge out anywhere and everywhere

Whats necessary is a keen sense o observation throughout your daily lie, and the ability to learn rom what you are observingWhats necessary is the ability to apply those observations to your work, and to accurately recreate and exaggerate the lie you see

around you. Whats necessary is the patience to plan your work out, and the tenacity to be detail-oriented enough to completelynish it. Whats necessary is the desire to nd criticism o your work and to grow rom what you hear.

THATs the stu thats absolutely necessary. I youre missing any o the above, you might as well give up right now -- you arent goingto make it as an animator. Im sorry. Thats the stu you cant live without. Everything else is gravy. Sometimes the gravy really makes

the dish, though - something we shouldnt ignore. In other words, your ice-cream sundae might be delicious, but it might not beable to compete with your neighbor who actually put the cherry on top, you know?

I do think that you can make a pretty darn good sundae without any art background, but i our goal as animators it to never stop

learning (which it SHOULD be), Id encourage all o you to study any and all aspects o art in any way you can.

And i you become an animator having no art background at all, then guess what?

Youre an artist. ...

Which I guess means you have an art background now! Cool, huh?

Shawn :)

Image courtesy o Rachel Ito.


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3

Advice on Supplementing My Animation

Education with Books or ForumsBy Shawn Kelly

Id recommend Simplied Drawing or Planning Animation

by Wayne Gilbert which you can get at: http://www.anamie.com, which I think is not only terric, but isthe best bang or the buck out there when it comes to

animation books

Wayne was my mentor, and he taught me pretty much

everything I know about animation. I still fip through hisbook rom time to time. There are some really cool ideas

in there, and much deeper stu than the title leads you tobelieve, including some cool stu about orce and body

mechanics.

Id also recommend plugging yoursel into one o the online animation

communities, like CG-CHAR (http://www.cgchar-animation.com) where youcan show your work and get critiques. Feedback is the most important part o

learning animation, so push that aspect as much as you can, any way you can.

Shawn :)

When Do You Know I You Are Ready to Apply to Movie Studios?By Shawn Kelly

For me, I lucked out and had an amazing mentor in Wayne Gilbert. Hes an amazing teacher and he and his wie are incrediblygenerous people who took me under their wing and without his mentoring I have zero doubt that it would have taken an extra 10

years or me to get to ILM, ever I ever made it at all. I worked on the animation assignments he would give me (while working at mygames job during the day) or about two years until Wayne said he thought it might be ready to send a demo reel in. So, or me, I

knew it was ready when a proessional told me so.

Obviously, this is an ideal situation to seek out, though not everyone will be able to nd a proessional. The best bets are to go toconerences like SIGGRAPH or animation estivals and nd proessionals you can show your reel to. Many proessional animatorswould be eager to look at your stu and oer advice. This is something we have been doing at the Animation Mentor booth at

SIGGRAPH or the last couple years (having your demo reel critiqued by pros). The eedback has been great so I think a lot o peopleare nding this sort o thing very helpul.

I you cant travel to any major animation/CG conerences, then I would seek out online animation communities such as cg-char

which is what many o us did back in the day. Forums and communities like these can be invaluable or guring out where yourskills are.

Lastly, I would encourage you to just apply or the jobs you want! Theres really no downside to sending in a reel that might notbe 100% ready. Maybe its 95% ready, and theyll see the potential in you. Who knows? I you know or sure that its nowhere nea

ready, thats another story, as you dont want to get a reputation or wasting the recruiters time at a specic studio, or or badgeringthem with nonstop demo reels. Only send it in i you think it truly might t with what they may be looking or, AND only reapply i

you have made some signicant changes to the reel. I theyve already seen your older reel, be sure to put your newer stu at thebeginning or they may recognize the old work and say, Hey, weve seen this one already and turn it o.

Shawn :)
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Who Is Cut Out or Animation? Answer: You!By Shawn Kelly

Ive been getting a lot o questions emailed to me asking what it takes to be an animator. Ive talked a bit about that stu beore and

elsewhere, but I thought Id address those questions again here.

I believe with all my heart that ANYONE with the passion and drive and desire to learn animation, can learn animation. Yes, there wilalways be those VERY ew lucky people who just naturally have crazy amounts o animation talent, but they are ew and ar betweenIve been either learning or teaching (well, always learning!!) animation one way or another or 13 years now, and can only think o

three students in all that time who really t that description. Maybe our.

Those people are very rare. For most o us, we just have to study our brains out and practice like crazy and sacrice a lot o sleep inorder to try to get the hang o this animation stu.

Youre probably worrying about competition in the industry, and you know what? There WILL be competition, and a lot o it. In acthundreds o people will probably be competing with you or that job at your dream studio. But gosh, i thats your dream? I thats

your absolute dream job, how can you not give it a shot?

I really think that unless you have serious time-consuming amily obligations or other extenuating circumstances and responsibilities-- unless youre in some kind o situation like that, you owe it to yoursel to chase ater that dream. I you want it more than those

other hundreds o people, and work harder or it than those other hundreds o people, then its those hundreds o people whoshould be worried about YOU, and not the other way around!

When I was in high school, I wanted to work onStar Wars more than anything in the world, and they hadnt even ocially announced

that there would be more Star Wars movies. It was just rumors, but I made it my goal to get to ILM. ILM was where I wanted to workperiod. In light o that, every single decision I made was based on does this decision take me one step closer to ILM or take me astep away rom it? I it was the ormer, then thats what I did, no matter what kind o burden it created on my time, my social lie

schooling, etc.

I worked my butt o to somehow unbelievably make it into ILM ater years and years o training, networking, and working at smallestudios. I learned that something my grandather once told me was very true: simply ollowing your dreams isnt enough -- you

have to aggressively and proactively HUNT your dream down.

People spend their entire lives ollowing their dreams and the vast majority o them never arrive. I you want to get into your dream

studio, you have to be better than that. You have to be a hunter.

I you can combine a true passion or learning animation with the tenacity necessary to hunt down your dream job, then I have zerodoubt that someday Ill see your name in the credits o my avorite TV show, a video game that Ive been lost in or weeks, or at the

end o a lm in a packed theater. It might not happen right away, and youll probably have to slowly build experience and your reeas you work your way up through smaller studios, but i you just never let go o that dream, and base your decisions on it, you CAN

make it come true.

I know, because Ive been there. And the hard truth is that I saw plenty o people who could have tried harder. Back when I was in

school, I saw plenty o students leave the animation lab at 10 p.m. to go play video games or hit a club or go to sleep. The people

who stayed in that lab until it closed at 2 a.m. EVERY NIGHT are largely the people who have their dream jobs right now.

We made animation our LIFE, and put everything else on hold. Could it be a coincidence that those are the people who ended up

with the jobs everyone else wanted? I dont think so. I think it ended up coming down to who wanted those jobs the most, and whowas willing (or able) to make the sacrices necessary to completely immerse themselves in their art.

For me, it was a great lie lesson, and one I eel happy and lucky to have learned, so I gured I should pass it along...


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I also want to add that Im not merely talking about joining Animation Mentor. I realize that many o you arent in a situation where

you can join the school right now -- thats ne! Seek out other ways to hunt your dream down. There are a lot o ree online resourcesthat can at least help get you started, such as orums, online animation and art communities, and blogs. There are great books ou

there such as The Illusion o Lie and The Animators Survival Kit. There are antastic making-o documentaries on any number oyour avorite DVDs.

Seek that stu out and soak it up! Do the best hunting you can with whatever is at your disposal right now, and take that rst stepthat brings you even the tiniest bit closer to your goal, whatever it may be.

Best o luck!

Shawn :)

How Important Is Music on a Demo Reel?By Keith Sintay

Demo reels can be tricky things. Everything about what we do as artists is subjective; not everything you do will please everyone.

And, putting together a demo reel not only involves your visual elements, but the auditory ones as well. I never used to be a an omusic on a demo reel. I was happy just letting my dialogue shots (and any incidental music that might be behind the dialogue) carry

the sound portion o my reel. I had seen too many demo reels with, what I elt, was cheesy music that didnt help the fow o the reeat all, but rather hindered it. So, I gured, its just saer to leave the music o.

Well or anyone that may have seen my reel lately, you will notice that I nally made the leap and put music on my reel. Whatchanged my mind? Well, I was looking at my reel, and because o the length and variety o shots contained on it, I didnt eel like

it fowed as nicely as it did when it was shorter and I had only animated a ew things. I looked at my colleagues reels and saw howproper music can tie together your shots. Now again, this is all subjective, but I tried to pick music that was upbeat and not overly

distracting to the animation, and above all that didnt drown out my dialogue shots

I think music on a demo (show) reel is a matter o taste. I am not an expert in this eld, but rom what I have seen in my proessionaexperience, bad music can take away rom great animation, and good music can help disjointed shots fow together seamlessly (likein movie trailers or example).

I would simply ask around and nd out i your riends or colleagues like the music you have selected. Get some eedback and thenuse that to help you make your decision.

Keith Sintay


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Demo Reel Dos and DontsBy Carlos Baena

Throughout my animation career at dierent studios and as a coounder/director o sorts at Animation Mentor, Ive watched many

student and industry demo reels. I have also gathered inormation and spoken with recruiters, animators and supervisors abouthow they select candidates based on the work they see in a demo reel and their interactions with the job applicants. For you, Ive

created a list o valuable tips or creating an animation demo reel that has a better chance o landing you a job at the studio youdlike to work at.

Also I recommend reviewing my webinar rom July 9, 2008,called Demo Reels Dos and Donts which you can watch at

Animation Mentor.com.

Go towww.animationmentor.com/webinarand click on thePast Webinars tab. Also, check my blog www.carlosbaena.

com or more inormation, tips, and ideas as I continue tolearn and share more about animation.

1. Do NOT try to make a one-size ts all demo reel. Thisworks in small companies, but or the main studios it may

hurt your chances more than anything else. Make your demoreel specic to the position and studio or which you areapplying. When applying, as an animator to a big animation

studio where departments are very specialized, everythingon the reel should be specically animation, not texturing,

lighting or modeling.

2. You should NOT include everything youve worked onthroughout the years. Keep it short. Remember that recruiters/supervisors only have a short time to look at reels and wantto get to the point right away. It should be no longer than a

minute or so. Chances are that people who are reviewing yourreel are looking at another 100. So, the easier you can make it

or them, the better. You dont want to bore them. Instead, theyshould see your strongest work (even i its only 30 seconds)

Leave them wanting more. Heres another tip: put your verystrongest work rst because i they arent hooked in the rst 10seconds, they may not watch the rest o your reel.

3. Make the reel original on the inside, NOT on the outsideHuman resources, along with actual animators, will be looking

at your reel, and they dont care about a ancy outside packageor what you include along with the reel and resume. From key

chains to toys, Ive seen people include all kinds o things withtheir reels that do not relate to their animation skills. Put all o your originality into the actual animation content. Make it un and

original or people to watch, but dont overdo it. Your best bet is to put your resume and shot breakdowns as the cover insert o theDVD case so it cant get lost or separated rom your reel. Also, put your name and contact ino inside the case and on the DVD jusin case it gets separated and passed around. Youd hate to think they ell in love with your reel and then couldnt gure out who it

belonged to!

4. Do NOT include stu that is too distracting, whether its music or ancy titles. I you have a reel with a dialogue animation testand the music is too loud or people to hear the dialogue, or you overdub mega-loud techno music throughout the whole thingit will confict with the purpose o the reel, which is to show your animation skills as clearly and simply as you can. Everything else

should be secondary.
http://www.animationmentor.com/webinar/replay/20080709carlos/carlos1.htmlhttp://www.animationmentor.com/webinarhttp://www.animationmentor.com/webinarhttp://www.carlosbaena.com/http://www.carlosbaena.com/http://www.carlosbaena.com/http://www.carlosbaena.com/http://www.animationmentor.com/webinarhttp://www.animationmentor.com/webinar/replay/20080709carlos/carlos1.html


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5. Do NOT include anything animated by others. Be very clear and honest about what you have done. The industry is very smal-- people go rom company to company and they are very amiliar with everyones work. Always include a credit list o the shots on

the reel and what you animated or them. In the event that a shot is actually shared by two or more animators, you should clariythe work that you did.

6. Bring your own personality to the reel. Ultimately, many people can learn the techniques. Whats interesting to see and whatrecruiters look or, is the personality, the actor behind the reel. Youll stand out i you can show your creativity in your acting choices

Show you can be subtle as well as do big perormances. Dont include content based on others animations. We dont want to see a

Pixar reel. Instead, we are looking or the talented actor that can help a studio make their work much more distinctive. It does helpto be aware o the style o animation that a particular studio has or what kind o work they create. You wouldnt want to apply toa VFX Studio with a reel that has only cartoon work, or apply to a place where they do cartoon-type o work with a reel containingonly creature work.

7. Find out what to submit and how. Go through the studiosonline sites and nd out exactly what they need rom you

beore you apply to them. Chances are, they may need you tosubmit a orm beore you send anything, or they may ask you tosubmit your portolio in a particular way or ormat.

8. Be respectul and patient with the people reviewing your

work. It doesnt help your chances i as soon as the studiogets your reel, you call or email the recruiters and animatorsa dozen times a day. Be considerate with their time, and most

importantly treat them with respect. They are here to help youand their job is not easy with hundreds o reels to watch over

several hours. This is good to keep in mind ater you send a reel,and you dont hear rom them immediately.

9. Pay attention to the details. Check your DVD and make sure it works beore you submit it. Dont use menus or make a recruitework to gure out how to play your reel. Keep it simple. The best DVDs just start playing as soon as you load them.

10. And lastly, keep trying, and keep rening your animation. When youve progressed, resubmit your reel to show your growth andthe new work. It takes time, motivation, skill and creativity to succeed in this un and motivating career.

I hope this helps you!

Carlos


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Making It Dream JobsBy Carlos Baena

In response to an earlier question I received about making it, or how to get your dream job, Id like to share some o my thoughts

Please note, these are only MY opinions on what Ive noticed over the years.

I ound that making it oten changes over the years. People have dierent priorities. I eel like Ive always had my dream job(working on lms, period) and or a long while making it or me was to make it to ILM and Pixar and work in the movies. That I have

always elt and eel pretty lucky about it. So, Im not an expert and many other people probably will have additional suggestions o

their takes on what making it implies. In my opinion, I think it depends on many actors I think. Some o these Ive ound to be:

Experience:1. Working on other projects will always help you, especially rom the point o view o workingwith directors and dierent crews.

Patience:2. Be easy with yoursel...sometimes you cant get what you want overnight. And thats OK. Enjoy theride and dont pressure yoursel. Ive heard o people that want to be at a certain studio within a year. Thatkind o pressure will drive you nuts...and honestly, will kill any un you can get out o what we do. Take it little

by little.

People:3. Helps to know people. They will be the key people that will inorm your uture co-workers regardless

o where you go, how you are to work with. It helped me to know people that not only were very generousand helpul, but that also gave me tremendous advice as to how to go about things.

Motivation:4. Ive said this in the past. Just because you may get rejected once doesnt mean you have tothrow the towel. Give it time, and try again...try as many times. But remember to keep learning in between.Dont send the same reel you sent a year earlier just with one additional animation or two to places because

animators or recruiters wont see much progress i thats all you added.

Persistence:5. I you want something, keep that goal in your mind. You can also be persistent with the placesyou apply to without being too much, especially or recruiters or people watching your reels. Remember

how many they have to watch and how many people they have to talk to.

Timing:6. Thats a sel-explanatory one. I was called or an interview to work on Monsters Inc. They called mewhile I was in living in Spain back in 2000. The interview I was told later went well. A ew days later, I ound

they needed someone right THEN.

Unortunately, I didnt have a working US Visa...and at the time it would take me eight plus months to get one.

So they passed on me. Obviously the timing wasnt right or me. I was bummed at the time. Who wouldnt

be? However, I tried really hard in looking or other things that would make me excited. As I look back now,i that didnt happen, I wouldnt have worked on Star Wars with the crew at ILM in 2001 whom I had a really

un and special time working with. I have really good memories o both the crew and those days. The wholething is, just because sometimes the timing may not be right or something, dont let it get to you or your

dreams. Something unexpected and really cool may come along the way.

Personality:7. Some places will want to know who they hire more than what he/she has worked on or howwell theyve done it. No one wants to work with big egos, jackasses or people that simply are done learning.

Thatll get no one nowhere. Also its important to want to help your peers in whatever ways you can and not

take things as a big competition. Our industry is a competitive one, and we all know that. But there is healthycompetition in where you want to push yoursel as an artist/help others and destructive competition in

where you wanna walk all over people in order to get somewhere.

Talent/Originality:8. Do things that only YOU would do and dont copy others. Thats key not necessarily inmaking it but in being true to yoursel as an artist. As I go over my early student work, Im guilty as hell

in trying to animate or create some things in a Pixar way. The stu I was glad I did also work on wasntinfuenced by Star Wars or Toy Story...instead, they were the other things that in my head I was like lets

try that. Its those reels that I go ok, thats something I havent seen that probably other people will say thesame...and that will get you noticed.


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Practice:9. For animation thats pretty sel-explanatory. As I said earlier...dont set yoursel a timerame orrenewing your goals. Enjoy the process, because its a long one.

Age:10. Dont think you cant make it just because you are too old. Who cares about how old you are, when weonly get one chance in our lives to do whatever the hell we dream o doing. Ive met animators who changedcareers in their 50s...some students at AM, some people Ive gotten to work with. Amazed me how much they

wanted a lie change ater things such as security, amily, location do matter so much. Yet, they went or it.Dont let people tell you what you can do or not, just because you are this or that old.

I think, these are some o the things to think about. At one point I eel like Im rumbling or repeating certain things. Making itsounds certainly subjective and up to peoples takes on how they want to make it. Just be honest as to what it is you want to achieve

and why. I hope this helps.

Carlos

Whats the Role o the Animator? Is It Benecial to Explore Dierent Disciplines?By Shawn Kelly

At any medium-large studio (including games, TV, or eature lms), an animator is hired to animate. Not to create textures or mode

characters or light scenes. Most bigger studios recognize that these are all skills that take decades to truly master, and that the truepath to beautiul imagery onscreen is to ll the studio with expert specialists. In other words, most studios arent too hung up onnding people who know a little about a lot o dierent disciplines. Most eatures and games studios are looking or an artist who

knows a LOT about ONE discipline.

Its the pairing up o these experts that results in the truly memorable work youd see in any blockbuster lm or A-list game.

O course, there is nothing wrong with dabbling in all the dierent disciplines available to you as a CG artist, but we generallyrecommend that once youve ound which discipline you are the most interested in -- be it animation or modeling or lighting orrigging or textures or whatever -- once youve ound your true calling, your best bet is to put the rest o that stu aside and ocus

as much time as humanly possible on becoming a true expert in whatever that chosen eld is.

Many people will say that this will limit your job opportunities, and guess what?

Theyre right. It will.

But I guess it boils down to you deciding what kind o job you are looking or, and what kind o career you are going to attempt.

There is nothing wrong at all in deciding to be a generalist, and continue to learn about all aspects o this stu called ComputeGraphics. There are many jobs, especially junior-level jobs at smaller-to-medium-sized studios, where generalists are specically

sought out and encouraged.

However, I cant tell you how rare it is or a generalist to get a job as an animator at a major eature studio or large game studio.Almost every proessional animator at that level has decided to ocus at least MOST o their time on animation, even i they alsoenjoy other disciplines deep down...

Beore I end that thought, though, its really important to point out that i you are new to the industry, getting a junior job as a

generalist can be one o THE best ways to break into this business.

Getting your oot in the door o a studio and getting *any* kind o proessional experience is invaluable, and will help you makeconnections, learn the ropes, meet people to learn rom, and will look great on your resume.


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I you arent getting to spend most o your time at work actually animating and growing as an animator, then my advice is to workhard, do a great job, and then go home and animate your brains out and practice as much as you possibly can in your spare time.

Read animation books, get involved in online animation communities, meet up with some animation student riends and watchsome animated lms rame-by-rame and talk about what you see...

Getting a job where you arent doing *exactly* what you hope to be doing doesnt mean that you have to stop striving towards youdreams o working as an animator! It s more than common or animators to have to work their way up, and slowly climb that ladde

until they nally get their dream job.

Its very rare or that to happen overnight, so dont automatically turn your nose up at jobs that arent exactly what you hoped orJust dont let that job stop you rom continuing to move orward.

Shawn :)

Questions about the Animation Job MarketBy Shawn Kelly

Hello rom the other side o the planet!

As I write this, Im in Singapore or six weeks to help train some animation apprentices and am having the time o my lie. Whats

more un than visiting an exotic location, meeting new riends, reuniting with old riends, and getting to talk about animation alday?! It isnt all Happy-Go-Lucky-Land - I *am* really missing my amily, my US riends, my ILM work, and especially my incrediblyunderstanding wie, but home is just two weeks away at this point, so Im on the home stretch!

Singapore is amazing, by the way. Really riendly people, its super sae, the streets are shockingly spotless, and Ive met some really

talented people here...

I know what youre wondering, and I was wondering the same thing: I know Singapore is amous or its great ood, but how is theried chicken? Well, Im still working on getting a ull overview o Singapores ried chicken situation, but so ar its pretty decent

They have the requisite American ast ood stu (a KFC at the zoo!), and a US-style diner that I went to, which actually had some

pretty terric ried chicken, and then there is obviously lots o Chinese ried chicken, but thats been a little hit-or-miss so ar -- but

Im still open to trying some more places! You can never taste-test too much ried chicken!

This is actually my second trip to Singapore, and during the two trips Ive eaten some truly bizarre things -- or at least bizarre to

my American eyes: chicken-oot soup (which is exactly what it sounds like), century eggs (pickled robins eggs, or something?),durian (AAAAAAAAAA! Just run away! Sorry, Singapore -- I know you love it, but holy moly, my white-trash taste buds just cannothandle the horror o the Durian ruit), and a grape-sized sh eyeball that my riend Snowy convinced me to eat. Meanwhile, shes

completely disgusted by the concept o eating a banana!

Gotta love Singapore...

Anyway, I got a great question about the animation job market in the comments on Animation Mentors new Tips & Tricks blog(www.animationtipsandtricks.com) that I thought Id go ahead and answer here.

Im not the expert in the job market, by any means, but Ill share at least what Ive personally observed... Id denitely still recommendthat you guys ask around to other sources, because my experiences certainly arent all-encompassing, and are largely limited to the

eature animation and vx animation niches...
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QUESTION:What types o jobs are available to animators? (Im assuming character animation in lm/TV isnt the only possibilityWhich jobs are in the most demand and which are in the least demand? What are the best job market cities in the U.S./Canada

(abroad as well)? Do you have to move to a big city to get a job?

What jobs are available to animators its right to assume that the industry is much larger than simply lm/TV jobs. Characte

animators have ound work in many companies and studios, doing among other things: character animation or eature animatedlms, character animation or visual eects lms, a huge variety o TV shows, TV commercials, in-game video game work, cinematic

video game work, bringing to lie architectural CAD fythroughs, Internet fash animation, online greeting cards, web-based videogames, crime-scene recreation, automobile saety simulations, 3D motion rides at amusement parks, teaching, and have also put

their artistic talents to use in a variety o graphic design, illustration, and marketing jobs.

So yes, theres denitely a variety o jobs out there, and everyone has their own preerences o what they enjoy the most.

As or demand, thats very dicult to answer, as all o the above industries fuctuate considerably, oten in a very cyclical pattern

For example, sometimes (such as or the last ew months), the visual eects industry hits a slow patch, and it can be very dicultto get (or keep) a job. And then, oten just a ew months later, the demand or animators is suddenly huge as a bunch o lms get

green-lit and studios scramble to ll animation positions. Demand is very dicult to predict, but especially when you dont have alot o experience, it can be dicult to nd a job at times. Thats or sure.

I would generally advise greener animators to not expect their rst ew jobs to be the most glamorous, but those jobs will oten be

terric learning experiences as you climb the ladder to your dream job!

The best job-market cities would be dicult to nail down as well, because the animation industry is growing a lot in Europe, India

and Southeast Asia right now, as well as in Mexico and a number o other countries. Traditionally, the big animation cities havebeen LA, Northern Caliornia (San Jose and San Francisco Bay Area), London, Paris, New York, Vancouver, etc. However, Oregon

Florida, and Texas all have strong animation markets these days, as do cities in India, New Zealand, Australia, and o course all oveAsia. Singapores industry is growing quickly as well, and many governments (such as Singapores) are making a concerted eort tosupport and und a home-grown animation industry.

So basically, animation is growing pretty much all over the place right now!

As or having to live in a big city, I would say that or most o the larger animation studios, you would have to live at least near a

large city, yes. However, I see the day rapidly approaching where animators can work rom home much i not most o the time. Once

security and condentiality concerns can be properly addressed, I wouldnt be at all surprised to see many studios adopt at leastsome amount o a work rom home system. Once thats here, which realistically is stil l years away and would only work or certain

mediums, I suppose well be able to work rom wherever we want!

Thats the dream, anyway, because I BADLY want to animate a transormer while sitting on some sand with my eet in a warm ocean:)

Ahhhhh... someday.... OK, maybe thatll never happen, but I can dream, cant I?!

Hope that answers all your questions!

Shawn :)


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What Are the Responsibilities or an Animation Supervisor or Lead Animator? Are

There Any Special Skills Required to Become a Lead Animator?By Shawn Kelly

Again, this can vary rom studio to studio, but or us at ILM, the animation supervisor oversees all aspects o the animation on amovie. Theyre in charge o the movement, staging, composition o the characters and scenes. Their job is largely to be the one who

spends the most one-on-one time with the director o the lm, shows him/her our work, and gets the eedback to give back to theanimators. Their job is also to cast the shots (decide who should animate what), and to determine when our work is ready to beshown to the director.

The lead animators are sort o like mini-animation supervisors. Some studios want leads to be in charge o specic characters

At ILM, i you are animating a shot, youre going to animate every character in that shot. Instead o being in charge o a speciccharacter, our lead animators are usually in charge o specic sequences (A sequence would be a series o shots. A whole scene

in a lm, in other words, made up o lots o little cuts). The lead animator will give ideas and eedback to the animators working onhis sequence, will help determine when its ready to be shown to the animation supervisor, and will also usually be doing a lot oanimation himsel or hersel. The lead is also there to troubleshoot problems and answer questions rom the animators in order to

help the animation supervisor not be distracted rom the bigger issues hes dealing with. In other words, the leads try to put outres beore they get to the anim sups.

As or how these people are chosen, it s based on skill and experience, but as you mentioned, it is also based largely on leadership

ability. Solid communication skills are a must, not to mention being organized and having a highly developed sense o timemanagement. And o course, most essential o all, is to have a great eye or animation -- knowing when something is wrong, andmore importantly, now to x it. OK, well I hope that answered your questions!

Shawn :)

Animator Vs. Animation SupervisorBy Shawn Kelly

QUESTION: How do you eel about remaining an animator where youre still involved with hands-on animation versus beingpromoted to an animation supervisor or director where you are managing a team and providing critiques?

This is a really good question, and its something that many animators eventually ace as they become more and more experiencedIt can be dicult -- weighing the pros and cons o actively pursuing a promotion like that. On the one hand, youd have a lot more

prestige, more say in the nal product, and probably a nice pay-raise. On the other hand, youd be spending a huge amount o youtime in meetings, youd probably animate a raction as much as you would as an animator, and youd have to deal with all the politics

and demanding responsibilities o that role, not to mention the enormous pressure o perorming at a high level and constantlytrying to impress the studio heads and their all-important client.

I guess this is something that everyone eventually has to decide or him or hersel.

Since you ask about me personally, I used to say that I never wanted to be a lead animator or a supervisor, because I always wanted

to be doing the actual animation. I eared that in a leadership role, I would no longer have that chance. For a long time, because othat, I never pursued any kind o lead role.


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Since you ask about me personally, I used to say that I never wanted to be a lead animator or a supervisor, because I always wantedto be doing the actual animation. I eared that in a leadership role, I would no longer have that chance. For a long time, because o

that, I never pursued any kind o lead role.

However, a great opportunity came up and I had my rst chance at being a lead animator recently (or Transormers), and I have to

say, I really had a blast. It was such a un experience, I learned a ton rom my ellow leads and my animation director (Scott Benza)and it was really an amazing eeling to have a little bit bigger impact on the lm than I would have otherwise.

For me, the lesson was that while I eared that I wouldnt like being a lead, it actually turned out to be my all-time avorite project

and while the work was incredibly challenging, Ive never had more un. The trade-o o having more pressure and responsibilitywas totally worth it, and Im really excited to be doing it again.

As or moving up to a supervisor, thats still another story. I really tip my hat to those guys -- the longer Im in this industry, the moreI see how dicult that job is on so many dierent levels. For mysel, Im just not ready or a job like that in every possible sense. I

have a lot to learn beore I could even start to think about that, and on top o that, there are incredibly talented people at work whoI would denitely put in that role long beore me.

I guess Ive learned just enough about this stu to know that I have a lot more to learn beore Im ready to be the captain o the ship

For now, Im just having a blast enjoying the ride, and learning as much as I can rom my captains along the way...

Shawn :)


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THE WORKING LIFE OF AN ANIMATOR

How Do You Spend Your Week at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)?By Shawn Kelly

Honestly, it totally depends on what we are working on, and where we are in the production schedule. But I would say that my

general statistics would be working around 45-50 hours per week. I get to work around 8:45 a.m., and on a typical day go straightto dailies where our work is shown up on the big screen and we all talk about how to make it better. Then itd be back to my desk

to catch up on my email, phone messages, and a couple hours o animating beore lunch. Most o the animators eat together everyday in our dining area, and were a very close-knit amily. Ater lunch, its hard-core animation or me, and I animate until I go home,generally around 8 p.m. or so.

The truth is that I am crazy blessed with this job, and literally get to just sit in a room with most o my closest riends and laugh all

day long. We work hard, but we keep the mood light and un as much as possible.

Shawn :)

What Is Your Lie like as a Proessional Animator?

Do You Have a Lie Outside o the Studio?By Carlos Baena

My lie as a proessional animator has been exciting, dicult, inspiring, challenging, gratiying, special, rewarding...altogether. Its

been unique and special because o the people you meet and the movies you get to work on. That in itsel, has no price. At thesame time, because its not always easy to stay creative constantly, you have to nd ways to keep the momentum going. You get a

shot every week, and with every shot, a lot o creative energy needs to be put into it. Its so true the quote, you are as good as yourlast shot. Its not a job where you can relax in what you did 5-10 years ago. And to keep yoursel motivated and excited year ater

year is not always easy.

In a place like Pixar, where people are really talented and passionate or this, you have to continue nding something exciting in

every single shot you get...regardless o whether its a great juicy shot or not. Sometimes youll get great shots, and other times youmay not. Sometimes a production needs certain shots to be done sooner than later...they may not be the most exciting shots, but

the bottom line is, they need to get done and when you work in a team, you have to help your neighbor in whichever ways you cansometimes. There have been productions where I worked ater hours (even i I was in a dierent lm), just to help the remaining

crew nish a lm, as did many other people. As years go by, its dicult to continue doing this as it can be physically exhausting tobe in ront o the computer or that many hours, especially or those who have amilies to get back to.

That said, Ive been trying to balance what I do. Since its my job, Ive been paying more attention over the last ew years at how Imtaking care o mysel, physically and mentally. I hope this doesnt sound too new age. But back 10 years ago, I was easily spending

15-18 hours a day on some projects. Barely getting any sleep...and going out with riends on the weekends. Pretty soon my bodystarted telling me that I had to chill the hell out and gure out a balance between work, personal lie and health. I still struggle with

that balance to tell you the truth.

I had to nd a lie outside the studio otherwise I would have burned out ast. Ive seen it happen with other riends, and didntwant it to happen to me. For me, doing things outside o work kept bringing me back to work with energy and motivation to dothings. This inspiration outside came in a variety o ways: Live-action, shorts/videos, photography, music, artwork, and teaching.

The Animation Mentor school I coounded was great or me because I ound mysel going back to really guring out what I wasdoing everyday in order to pass my ndings to other people as clear as I could. Additionally, doing other projects and learning

things outside animation but within the world o lmmaking, has become an amazing hobby and personal sel learning processthat has helped my animation as well. So my lie outside the studio these days, I keep mysel busy learning things I always wanted

to learn, but never had the chance/luck to learn. I never went to lm school...so when I started working at Pixar, I told mysel I wasgoing to study it on my own and learn what I could rom dierent areas, projects, lms, directors, coworkers. Im still there...andhope to be there or a long time. I love what we do. I try to pass on whatever I can, but I also try to keep mysel learning. What I sure

dont want to do is to be at a place where Im done learning.


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As or Pixar, its not a brutal place. People there have a lie, and they do maintain a balance. Are there standards? O course there

are. Are there high standards? Yes, I think they are. And Im glad that there are because that shows in the work the animators putin these lms. A shot will not go by i its lacking. Too many people will catch it. As an animator/artist at Pixar Im always challenged

proessionally and its the best creative environment Ive been lucky enough to be in.

I hope this helps.

Carlos

How Does Creating Animation or Films Dier rom Games?By Aaron Gilman

As someone who has been back and orth between games and lm or many years, I thought it might be interesting to oer myperspective on what I think are vastly dierent animation pipelines.

In my opinion, when it comes to animation, games and lm begin their production process needing (not wanting) vastly dierenthings, and this ultimately sets the tone or how animation is critiqued, processed and approved over the course o almost the entire

project.

In general, prior to crewing up or a major animation eature, there needs to be in place some orm o animatic that airly accuratelyrepresents the needs o the client. From this animatic we can begin laying the groundwork or shot management, resource needs

asset needs, etc. The process is airly linear in the sense that each respective department ollows on the heels o the previousdepartment, until eventually the shot is nalled and goes to lm.

For games this process is undamentally dierent. By virtue o the act that playability is required rst and oremost, the only way totest the viability o the game play systems is by already having a large amount o assets on hand. This means that a lot o animations

need to be blocked, put into the game engine, linked together by programmers and tested by game designers. This circular processo creating, testing, scrapping, and then creating some more, can go on or years. I during this process animation becomes overly

concerned with aesthetic quality, they risk losing valuable time assessing the primary objective o any game, namely, is it un?

In lm, ensuring a strong narrative is to a large extent already done. Practically speaking, this is not always the case as many o us in

the eld are well aware o how oten a project gets edited on the fy, shots get cut, sequences change, etc. But oten those issues are

merely a consequence o polishing the narrative and addressing budget constraints. Unlike games where animators serve a pivotarole in developing the game play systems, animators in lm are not tasked with creating the overall narrative rom scratch. Most

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