Most Visited Lectures on this Blog

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Some coffee, reading material and a bagel (New York)

      They say in a past life I took care of people and worked as a doctor... Which could explain my need to always make things easy for people. I took all the (Good) lectures on this blog and put them in one spot. Enjoy reading them (Or not.. I don't care, whatevs)

Here is a link to some free lectures I did for SkillShare! 
https://www.skillshare.com/profile/Daniel-Gonzales/5374059

PERSPECTIVE 101

COMPOSITION 101: Balance

ANIMATION 101: Hands

A Closer look at GOOD ACTING and BAD ACTING

LECTURE ON VALUE 101

LETTERS FROM REAL CREATIVE MINDS

GLEAN KEANE LECTURE: Tilt, Rhythm, Twist

USING REFERENCE 101

THE ART OF DISNEY'S FROZEN

IMPROVING YOUR ANIMATION 101

GRAPH EDITOR: Offsetting

ANIMATION 101: Momentum

GRAPH EDITOR: when you are panicking (tips)

HOW I STAY ORGANISED WHILE WORKING

HOW TO ANIMATE: a First Slam

HOW OT ANIMATE: Balance and Weight

TRAINING YOUR EYE

BACK TO SCHOOL TIPS

STREET ART

MAGIC OF TIMING AND TEXTURE

Do You Feel Like You're Working Hard For No Reason?

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“If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, it would not seem so wonderful at all.”  - Michelangelo

Adventure 217: My buddy and me far from home in Africa..

     "Danny you should write your stories out." "You need a blog." "DANNY, your life is so cool.." (on the inside I'm rolling my eyes so hard and saying fuck off.. They only hear the adventures and they don't listen to HOW I got to this point.) I'm not ungrateful but I've noticed that what they see is a guy in a different country every other minute. They see a guy who worked on Frozen and had been a part of Disney Animation for nearly a decade. They call me brave, talented and different... Buying one way tickets and living out of a backpack for 3 years, Crossing seas and passing by lakes that he can't even pronounce. They project onto me this Indiana Jones character, or hell, for all I know maybe they see me as Julia Roberts in some Eat, Love, Pray bullshit.  Have you ever watched the film, 'The Fall* with Brad Pitt? Remember when he's off in the back of a caravan crossing some foreign desert on another continent with weird animal furs and women napping on him? I'm sure that's what a lot of people imagine me as, which sure... it sometimes has been like that but let me give you a peek of the not so glamorous side.

(I'm currently writing to you from the Nordics. Where it is -15 degrees and the snow looks like a million diamonds sparkling in the sun. It's a rare sunny day here and it's motivating me to be creative and write this post. I just had some oatmeal for breakfast and I have my coffee sitting next to my keyboard. It WOULD be pretty peaceful but I'm listening to "Mo Bamba" head banging as I type. Thanks for joining me here and reading this post.)

"Remember that every successful person or any person that is remotely happy is coasting off the momentum they have made."

    Take moment to read that again and let it sink in. Think of how a NASA rocket takes off. It has to use so much of it's fuel to escape the gravitational pull of the earth. Once it's gone though, it can virtually coast through space for the rest of it's journey. It's the same with people. An extreme example is an amateur athlete who trains like a spartan from years. After they win a gold medal or a championship, offers for endorsements, spokesperson contracts, merchandise deals, and other opportunities often come pouring in allowing them to slow down a bit and take advantage of the momentum they created earlier in their career.
    Likewise for any business minded person or profession, once you paid the price to establish yourself as an expert or a person of integrity who delivers high quality results on time, YOU WILL reap the benefits for the rest of your life. What does paying the price look like? It looks like spending countless hours working towards something shows no sign in getting closer. It looks like not getting paid for what you're worth and taking shitty deals. Sometimes you work for months will no real income. It is being scared, unsure and having tons of doubt but it never never never looks like giving up and staying still. You take all this and you keep moving... sometimes for years.

     I'm in the middle of this 'paying the price phase' right now for the second time in my life. "Wait.. What Danny? But you're set already aren't you?" (I literally "PFFFFF'ed" right now at my computer) Yes I'm in the middle of this again... and wait for it: BY CHOICE.) 
     Sure the first time I paid the price I was putting in the hours as a teenager. I was staying in my room, watching friends on TV and drawing day after day. Parties and hang out's? Once in a while yes I would be social but 80 percent of the time I was with my nose in my sketch book drawing my little heart out. During college, I was pulling all nighters when nobody told me I had to. Completing personal projects for no purpose other than to get it out of my system. I didn't know if it was good, but I did it. I read, I studied, I redid work, I was a machine. My thought to myself, If I am not practicing, someone somewhere is. The average Olympian trains four hours a day at least 310 days a year for six years before succeeding. Training works, but it isn't easy! You need to be willing to pay the price. 
       Even after arriving at Disney and Pixar, I would stay waaay beyond working hours diving into lectures and practicing my animation. Not because I felt my animation wasn't good enough, no. I was still 'training' because I knew my real goal still required me to learn. My real goal extended beyond Disney and Pixar.. I wanted to work for myself. I told myself, I'm not going to work on someone else's idea for the rest of my life. And that required not only learning about animation but diving in and learning inside out all the other parts of the Pixar7Disney studios. I remember I would email and ask Mark Andrews if I can sit in on the story internship critiques at Pixar and I would stay quiet and invisible in the back corner taking notes. I remember I would always go to the Art department in Disney and look at every concept design board and the notes written all over the work. I remember feeling so lucky when I fought tooth and nail to be given the chance to ask Miyazki HIMSELF a question on how he goes about organising his ideas and what was his process in picking ideas for films and scenes. Every thing I did was in the direction of a goal I had in my mind. If an action wasn't getting my a tiny step closer to my vision, I'd ask myself why I was doing it.
 

ME: Working hard or hardly working? 

      There was never a moment I felt I was ready to take my goal head on, but eventually I left the safety and comfort of Disney at the age of 27. I felt good with all the knowledge I had gained. Whatever came my way, I should be able to handle it right? I have seen the inner workings of one of the most successful company in history works. I've worked on billion dollar oscar winning films that have literally effected and changed a generation. But a reality check soon knocked me down with the force of a million hurricanes.

     "What is a business plan? How do I type an invoice? Did you word that contract correctly? Was I too modest and come off as an amateur when I should of been bold and sold myself better? Are you sure you're spending your money the right way? Did you just accidentally offend them as you were introducing yourself because you aren't aware of how the culture works in this country? Do you even know how the taxes work when you earn income from outside the USA?"

   OMG I have so many other examples of shit I went through these last three years.. The ones I typed above are just a few. So again I put in the work, I read, studied and typed and spend countless hours staying up all night learning. Most importantly I asked questions. I remember meeting a business investor in Nashville and after two drinks I kind of straight up asked, "What does an investor look for?" and for the next 3 months he helped me type  and revise 21 pages of business plans and other things.   
      The biggest thing to get what you want is to ask, ask ASK. You have to get use hearing the word 'no', you have to get use to getting ghosted and your emails receiving no responses. You have to get use to getting looked at funny, feeling like an idiot and just being in way over your head and out of your league. But it is paying off. Now I can say I'm set up with contracts with musicians and companies doing work on my own terms where I get creative freedom to do my ideas. I'll share all that if you'd like in another post. 

     Anything worth doing is worth doing badly in the beginning. Remember when you first learned to drive a car. to ride a bike, to play an instrument, or to play a sport. You understand in advance you were going to be very awkward at first. It's just part of the process. And this applies to everything! Children know the best that you have to give yourself permission to be silly. But sadly by the time we are adults, we're so afraid of making mistakes or if something doesn't workout, we don't allow ourselves to be awkward. So we don't learn, we don't succeed and we're so afraid of being wrong. 

We all had a first kiss... How awkward was that? if you could survive that, you can survive the hardships of chasing your dreams. 

post #2: Pulling The Trigger: Going to New York

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Post #2: Shit, I guess this story is told best from the start...

I woke up in a California winter (which is about 75 F/ 23C if you're wondering) and within 40 minutes of opening my eyes I bought a one way ticket to New York.. with no insurance for my ticket. So this way I had to go. Didn't even check my bank, didn't even see if I knew anyone there. Sure, I made some people mad by leaving (sorry for making you set up a christmas tree and leaving you with it and all those memories! She know who she is) but I knew I needed to get away if I ever wanted to work on my own work. I don't have the discipline to say no to drinks and hanging out with friends. Hey at least i can admit it! Being honest is something I learned in AA.. I can also admit I went to a bar after every AA meeting. (Ok Danny stop sharing stuff) Any way I would write a lot as i traveled because pictures just didn't capture everything. So here is something I wrote when I first arrived to New York:

Yesterday I sat in a silly cafe in a nobody neighborhood. Ate nothing. It was so cold I didn't want to move. So cold, your body is automatically flexing when you walk. It hurts after a while. Maybe this is how it feels when your body turns into a popsicle. This city hates it's winter. Everyone dreams of California. And they don't understand why I'm over here. What am I doing? Is this a glorified vacation or did I just make myself homeless on purpose? Why are people amazed at this? Is it Bc I'm actually doing this? Traveling? People think I'm free. I'm just finding out in just carrying my own cage with me where ever I go. (LOL SO EMO HAHAHAHA i was going to edit and delete this part but .. meh, ill keep it in)

Today I'm sitting in a proper coffee house diner. The place only had 4 people in it. It was very old. 2 people spoke in a thick Bronx accent, "Add that. ...But think about it... So and so... How did you get that. ..12. By 12 months. 20,000? Wow. Yeah that's a lot a money. Yeaah.." The waitress/hostess was talking to a regular. The lady called me honey like how a mom does. She was sweet. She didn't get comfy with me until after I was there two hours writing at the same booth. I could only imagine she's never left that neighborhood in her life. Her teeth were messed up. She had a daughter in PA and son in Brooklyn. She was proud though. Very proud. Her name is Melissa. "My name is Melissa. Big me loss. Little me loss. That's a good name right?" I dont know what she ever meant by big me loss little me loss...

So about my short:

First off staying focused on making a short film isn't hard. I can stay focused while doing some dirty dishes, I can stay focus while being out on a Saturday night, I can stay focused on making my short while doing anything else BUT while doing my short. As soon as I sit down in my room I go blank and I rather just take a nap (naps are glorious)

 So recognizing this, I do most of my work in cafe's as I have traveled around the world. The result, 3 screenplays, storyboarding marathons, a few dozen Tinder dates and I've read 5 books in the last 12 months. And a lot of latte's ..or Flat- whites as they called them in Australia.

This is enough typing for now. Both Pictures are from my first time in New York

3 Years at Pixar, 5 Years animating at Disney, 2 Years traveling the world, What could i possibly have to talk about?

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-First post of many-

       If you're reading this that means I actually worked up the energy to type: "CUNT" Now that i set the bar as low as possible for politeness, I can be myself. Which was going to happen anyway but this way you have a fair warning before I start to document the daily struggles of making a short film from scratch.

       First of all, "Hi" to my 3 readers. I do hope one day you find relationships and get a life. I do not know how you manage to give me a few thousand views a month. I refuse to believe people actually read my blog.. my last post was in... 2015? wow. Well don't get too excited I'm not going to drop some invaluable animation knowledge. There are better blogs for that.

DANNY WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO? 

        Thanks for asking. Where do I start?.. hmm Well at some point i'll get to all the parts. It'll include me in handcuffs in the back of a police car, the occasional sex-capade, riding a Motorcycle at 2 am with bunny slippers in Lebanon because I locked myself out of my place, in South Africa on a horse back safari (which is insane now that im thinking about that.. but i guess the lion could eat the horse instead of me?) no less insane than me driving on the Syria border through kilometers of marijuana fields though. Spiders in Australia that look like that thing in 'ALIENS' that comes out of the stomach and sucks your face, Mushroom cloud explosions in the Ukraine that wont ever get reported (not even kidding..) Randomly sitting down for 4 hours at a birthday dinner in Nashville with three elderly white southern ladies, (yes we talked about TRUMP) And tons more i couldn't be bothered to recall

Bunny Slippers

South Africa

Anyway, I need to get back to story boarding. Usually I find my self at a random Cafe but today the dinning room table looks very nice. (Mainly because the light is too bright outside for my hangover) 

Unfaithfully yours,
Danny

Animation 101: REACTIONS

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Reactions should be communicated with CLARITY

      Anticipation is the one of the most important animation principles that plays a main

role in bringing life to a character. In general we use the term to express a waiting of the next move. I would like to bring to attention a less talked about term: the 'reaction'. This might not be a technical foundation of animation but it is essential to an entertaining performance. In the 'reaction' of a character is where the personality of a character can show. A well rounded animator must not only learn how to prepare the audience for an action, but also to relieve them with a reaction.  

      Your animated characters reaction to an action that follows an anticipation will let your audience know how to react. You can notice characters in cartoons using extreme anticipation to engage into a powerful action, such as a sudden run, or hitting with an axe, or playing golf. And then contrast the action with a subdued reaction usually drawing laughter from the crowd. Droopy was one such character whos personality was a superb contrast to over exaggerated actions. Exaggeration is a common factor incorporated in anticipation and reaction. The same can be said with underplaying an anticipation and reaction. Being aware of your characters reaction is essential to creating believable performances in animation which is appealing and enchanting to the viewers eye. 

"Danny we already know this!"

Great, then I go move on to my point. CLEAR REACTIONS! A piece of work lives and dies with the viewer. One will notice pieces of art live longer when they are clear. While the viewer quickly grows uninterested with the messier unclear ones. Clear reactions can resonate with your viewer and leave a lasting impression. A good example of clear poses that relate to the viewers are memes. They are universal and easily recognizable no matter how specific the emotion being depicted is. Take a look at a small collection I have gathered here from the internet. You might recognize some of them.

 

 

 

      These are some awesome expressions that have been shared around the internet hundreds of thousands of times. if you are ever in need of a specific expression look no further! Memes are here to save the day! I mean it, I often reference memes if I'm ever in a bind or need inspiration. 

(quick tip: never go look for help from something generally accepted from the art world, Look for things that resonate with thousands of people on the internet. There will be something about it that makes it connect better. Its up to you to figure out what that x-factor is and use it to your advantage!)

Below I found some memes that can maybe be considered anticipation to something the character might say. They are clear and sometimes exaggerated! (such as the table flip ...which I'm afraid I'm guilty of doing here and there) 

   

   

 

This post is a grossly simplified overview of reactions, but I hope it plants a seed so that you can start to see this concept in a new light. I hope you all enjoyed it and I look forward to doing more posts. Continue to draw, continue to learn!

Animator Doodles

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    Well Big Hero 6 came and went and it was definitely an adventure, That would make it.. my 3rd Disney film under my belt. Now I'm working on Disney's ZOOTOPIA which is looking very promising. And as if I already didn't have enough on my plate I'm also teaching at CalArts 2D animation which is a lot of fun.

         I though I'd make a post and show you a window into my day to day life. It's not a crazy insight unless you are really fascinated with an animator's day to day doodles and the humor I have developed on my Snapchat. Enjoy the pictures and always keep in mind, every situation have entertainment value!

 

 

 

 

 

A close look at BAD ACTING and GOOD ACTING

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"bad acting" is subjective - but there are certain repeating concepts that always seem to come up when ever we see bad performances on TV, animation, paintings. plays etc. Here's a short list of a few things I believe can be the difference between good acting and bad acting. I've been reading some great stuff about acting in articles around the web, I thought I could share! Enjoy!

Emotional armor. When I watch actors, I want to see vulnerability. I am not necessarily talking about wailing and crying. Take a look at Anthony Hopkins in "Remains of the Day" for an example.



      Some people have too much armor, the biggest hurdles some actors have is portraying the uglier sides of human nature. Others have certain feelings they'd rather not explore; some simply don't want to look unattractive, others can't imagine ever PRETENDING to hurt a child. Bryan Cranston is also great because he drops his armor, it is so good (see "Breaking Bad") because he'll do scenes in his underpants literally and figuratively.

Pushing. Stanislavsky, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislavski's_system the great Russian acting theorist, helped us understand that acting works better when actors pursue goals rather than try to emote. Bad actors think their job is to emote. See Mel ("Give me back my son!") Gibson and Nicholas Cage. They EMOTE and force their acting.



LOL^

Lack of confidence in your delivery. If you are an animator this relates to the confidence of your acting choices and execution. If you are a painter or drawer: it's the confidence of your lines or brush strokes.  The key to not fall apart when something goes wrong is confidence! If one night your file crashes and you lose 4 hours of work, confidence can be the difference of falling apart or saying to yourself, "Nah I can do it again... AND BETTER." Confidence is when one feels like "I actually know what I'm doing, I enjoy doing it, and I can do it any time, anywhere, under any conditions, and I can recover from mistakes."

Understanding the power of words. They are your main tools when acting. Animators and actors can emphasis words as weapons or even aphrodisiacs. 

Own the way you/or your character looks. be comfortable with your body. and if you are animating, use the characters body in their personality! Skinny, fat, tall, short, ugly, or even beautiful - these body types can influence a performance/personality. 

Planning! The purpose of prep is so your mind is ready to let go and explore in the moment of execution. Unplanned situations will have you running back to comfort zones and boring choices.

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A short collection of some Great Scenes

1.  Taxi Driver -- Travis talks to Wizard, a fellow taxi driver, trying to convey the growing rage and dangerous thoughts building in his head.  ...feels so very real...



2.  American History X -- Derek sits at the dinner table with his girlfriend, his mother, his little brother and sister, and his mother's Jewish boyfriend, as they all discuss the then-recent L.A. riots in the aftermath of the Rodney King case. Edward Norton delivers an incredible performance... Also take notice how the camera shows the growing influence he is having over his little brother and the lose of control the parents have. 



The Dark Knight -- The Joker, captured by Gordon and the police, has arranged the kidnapping of DA Harvey Dent and Dent's girlfriend, Assistant DA Rachel. But the Joker doesn't know Rachel is the love interest of Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, as well. But he's about to find out. Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance is among the best villains in cinema history. Take a notice of Christian Bale's under appreciated performance and see if you could spot the moment he snaps. 



On The Water Front -- Marlon Brando influenced acting for everyone who came after him. Schooled in Method acting he was able to fuse vulnerability and ferocious rage (like how Ryan Gosling does in DRIVE, James Dean also had a similar style.) Check out how he listens and pursues her in this scene from "On The Waterfront."



A Single Man -- NO EMOTING EXAMPLE FOR THE WIN :) "starting the scene in one emotion state and finishing in another" is how Colin Firth said he tackled this scene. George Falconer (Colin Firth) is a closeted gay college professor in Los Angeles in about 1961. In this scene, he takes a phone call. His partner Jim has died in a car crash in Colorado while visiting his family, and a sympathetic cousin calls George to let him know. Jim's parents had not wanted to contact George, and he is not welcome at Jim's funeral. In this scene George experiences enormous emotion, and Firth conveys it while not really visibly emoting at all; he holds it together completely until he loses it completely. It's incredibly powerful. Also listen to what he has to say about his thought process through that scene. Check it out below.



Dark Victory -- Betty Davis plays a socialite, who has a brain tumor. She tries to live as much life as she can. This scene begins when she goes blind. She knows the absolute last stage of the tumor is when she loses her sight, and at that point has only minutes to live. I like how she shows hint of her subtext while her supporting actors are not. Wonderful contrast. 



Michael Redgrave's final speech in The Browning Version. His performance is simply devastating, and it comes together in this scene. The whole film is a work of genius by Redgrave. :)



The interview about the performance and acting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poEci3xFXfE

Lord of The Rings -- GOLLUM :)



Colonel Drummond (Spencer Tracy)'s closing speech in the courtroom scene from Inherit the Wind (1960) THIS IS A PERSONAL FAVORITE that set the bar so high, all court room dramas still strive to get an ounce of what was captured here. 



GIANT -- James Dean



^Coolest Exit ever..


        I have many more clips, I guess I'll have to do a Part 2 of this post pretty soon. I hope you guys liked all these great insights and clips I've gathered from around the internet. Remember I didn't do the raw studying of these clips and I didn't come up with these acting theories myself. I'm just passing along information and I hope it reaches who ever is looking for it. Enjoy the rest of the week!

PERSPECTIVE 101

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  I came across an article that talked about perspective that I'd like to share with all of you. I believe the person who wrote the piece was someone named Martina Cecilia and she has a blog named Electicalice.tumblr.com Its a great site I highly recommend it :) 

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     Perspective was one of the first things Davinci would make his students learn. I believe he made them learn it before he introduced them to proportions!
      A lot of people think perspective is very difficult but little do they know perspective can be easy if you know a few rules. If this is your first time hearing the word perspective. It means 'point of view.' It's when an artist can draw objects and you can tell exactly how far, tall, and big they are.
      When I first was learning how to draw in perspective in elementary school it made me feel as if I was creating a window into another world. That feeling is a great one and I hope that this post can help you feel the same if you just starting to learn how to draw. 

Have your lines reach a vanishing point

     This is the most important rule to know.. Notice in the image that all the yellow lines all go to one point (the vanishing point). Always make your lines go to the same point. Notice how the red line does not go to the same point as the yellow lines. Its an awkward line and it's wrong.

"But DANNY, its such a minor mistake, the image looks fine to me!"
- True, the red line's mistake is a very subtle one, but drawing is all about the details. The more effort you put in double checking your work, the greater the quality will be. People will notice the time you put into your work, they might not be able to tell you why your work looks better but they will FEEL it. So grab a ruler and always check your perspective.

LOOK! Even the little details such as doors still follow the Yellow lines...

      When more than one line isn't following the rule and doesn't line up with the vanishing point, things can start to look confusing. There are times when you have to draw something that makes you break this rule, it's rare but it does happen. But 9 out of 10 times, You need to follow the vanishing point rule. 

The red lines do not go to the vanishing point

Objects look smaller the farther away they are
     Look at these two images of 'buildings'. The second image feels correct bc the closer to the vanishing point the building is, the thinner it gets. 

-"Danny, how do I know how thin to make the building, should I guess?"
      No, there is also a rule on how thin/smaller to make an object the closer it gets to the vanishing point. This one seems complicated but if you do it once, you can do it all the time. Make sure you use a ruler! 

Lets say you are drawing columns - set up your vanishing points and draw your first two columns how ever you want. 

Look at the 3 Horizontal pink lines. The most important one is the Pink Line that goes through the middle and cuts the columns in half. 

Draw a diagonal through one of the squares (RED LINE)

At the end of the red line, you will draw a new column!!

Keep drawing diagonals (RED LINES) to draw as many columns as you like!

Now you can use this rule as a guide to correctly draw columns perspective.

TIP: The closer the object is to the viewer, the thicker the line should be

      This is not a rule, this is just a tip that can help add depth to your drawing! If you have ever seen some mountains that were far away, do you ever notice the ones further away are harder to see? You should do the same to your lines in your drawings! If nature does it, you can do it too. You can even start to leave lines out when they start getting too close to each other. Simplify when you can without breaking the rules :) 

lines are all dark...

Far away lines are lighter :) 

Don't be lazy! Find reference and use it to make your drawings better!
       Take this window for example! The quality is in the details :) It'll bring realism to your drawings.

     Last but not least, remember perspective applies to people as well. A lot of people will draw figures and not CHECK to see if they are the right size when compared to the other objects in the drawing. Grab your ruler and never forget to check your drawings :)

     I hope this helps you out. I know the internet is a big place and it's hard to find good advice. That's why I sometimes post things I find from other sites here for you to read. Remember, I didn't invent perspective, so my way isn't the right way or the only way. All I do is share what I know. Drawing is fun and it shouldn't be hard, if perspective is really difficult for you, keep practicing and don't be afraid to ask people for help.

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