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!
I hope you all have gone and seen the movie! It was a lot of fun helping create such a fun film. I thought I 'd share some sketches I did while on the film. They are just little doodles and chicken scratches on post it notes and toss away pieces of paper.
ONE of my first sketches of ralph... when I actually had time to draw
'BUT DANNY TELL US SOMETHING INTERESTING?!'
Hmm, Well working on the film feels like you and your co-workers are on a giant boat. Everyone has their job to do and something to help out with. You learn and become close with your 'crew' bc you end up seeing them more than anyone else, even your family and loved ones. So they in some sense.. a sort of family to you as well.
And just like a real boat there are rough times and easy times. During the harsh times, there is no sleep, everyone is hard at work, we are all stressed, and it feels like there is no end in sight. Smooth times always come early on in the making of the film. It'll ramp up and get busy until a climatic few weeks of overtime and hell... and then.. its done. Then you have to remember how to live life again and find out what were your old hobbies, and remember that people exist outside of your work life. And you have to be social! (unless you can not remember how to be social by this point)
Watching the world react to the film through Facebook and reading the reviews in all the magazines is a pretty crazy feeling. It's kind of having a venerable sort of feeling in your gut as you read what people say about the movie. Last but not least, seeing your name in the credits.. makes a landmark checkpoint of emotion that causes me to reflect and see how far I've come and to be excited about the future. I have a lot of life to live and my road is just getting started.
There was always something to do! It left very little time for drawing, but the sticky notes above I did while animating those characters. Drawing on post it notes is a very good way to become detached to your drawing and let loose. You find yourself drawing very fast with out being precious about each little line you do. And even though that line isn't perfect, there is some energy captured in it that no amount of fiddling and perfection would repeat.
Animating Vanelope was very fun. I was intimidated by her a lot until I was given a few shots with her. Vanelope has a very cartoony 2D appeal to her that we always had to be aware of. Not as much as king candy but still a decent amount.
Sometimes when I'm stuck I figure out my problems with drawings
I spent most of my time animating in Sugar Rush as you might figure out if you look at the ratio of candy racer drawings to everything else. I also animated a lot of characters in the Game Central Station, the Felix party in the beginning of the movie and at the climax of the movie. I do have a lot more sketches but I'll save them for another post. I hope you all enjoyed the movie and make sure to watch it a second time to find all the hidden things in the back ground (hint: look at the graffiti on the walls in game central station)
So the Film is done, the press is out and about, Festive air in the studio, it's a wild time to be at Pixar right now! It probably being the last time John Lasseter ever directs a film, it was a real treat to see him in action this past year.
I thought I'd share some sketches that I've accumulated over the years and since all these characters have been either in trailers or posters, so I think I have the green light to reveal my drawings. I usually draw in dailies while JL is giving notes to animators or while in meetings. It's a good way for me to stay concentrated and not have to settle for going and getting coffee.
This is Francesco, Italian Race car. Cocky as hell. my kinda car.. Even though cars are limited in their movement you still have to try to give them angles and line of actions. Otherwise all you have is a box with eyes....
Like Fillmore, a simple characteristic such as the eyelids is enough to give this care it's distinct personality..
My favourite car would have to be Finn. Not just because it's Michael Caine as his voice actor... well yea maybe that's why. Finns dialogue was especially hard to animate because the mouth shapes had to be "English Accent" mouth shapes rather than American mouth shapes. (Yes there are differences)
Zunndap, or professor Z. close second for my favourite character... There character designer was clever enough to make the racks on the top of the vehicle also be some sort of 'comb over" for the car. All the character designs and the set designs are amazing in this Film, especially once they are rendered out.
Sometimes you say more with fewer lines. When you have 2 seconds and a marker, you have to be efficient!
One time I saw mater driving pass me towards the bathroom.. I had to sketch him quick.... nothing but quick lines and trying not to lift your pencil will increase your chances of getting interesting line work in your work!
Below, are pictures from my sketchbook. You never know what you're going to draw next so I always like how the compositions end up. Here you'll see some other cars that will be in the film. I was really horrible at drawing any sort of car when I first came onto the film, I hated drawing cars (mainly because I sucked), but that's no excuse to not to try to learn.
Last but not least: here are two Mater drawings I did.
Even when you find yourself really busy still try to find time to draw and sketch. Believe me when I say for every semi interesting drawing I have here there are 10 bad drawings banished in a corner somewhere. Cars2 comes out June 24th I believe, and I hope all of you go to see it and enjoy the playful, fun, action paced film. Once more here is the trailer.
HANDS: Second only to the eye's, they mirror a person's emotion the clearest. A bad hand pose in Drawing or Animation can silently KILL your art. This is a huge overlooked concept. This info was passed on to me and now I shall do the same. Big thanks to Pixar for their education.
THE HAND:
The hand is very specific and has thousands of ways to be drawn and posed. It a very hard part of the body to master, that's why you see a lot of artist draw hands over and over again in their sketch book. (and if you don't draw hands like a manic.. well START DRAWING HANDS) When hands are overlooked they look like this...
Horrendous.. I know.. So before I get you to some juicy knowledge I'm going to try to give you a VERY BRIEF 101 on hands.
-These are the natural paths of fingers. They radiate and curve in relation to each other.
-CG hands look like bricks and rakes when you first load them.. you must pose them into organic believable shapes.
-Simple and Complex hand shapes-
A simple hand shape has an easy silhouette to trace with your eye and have a simple over all shape such as a square or a triangle. Complex shapes have busy outlines and take too much time for the eye to take in the information the hand is trying to convey. Always go for simpler hand shapes so that the viewer can spend more time on the focal point of your work (which should be the face)
-Hands ALWAYS DO SOMETHING..
They must ALWAYS reflect how the character feels or suggest the prop they are using. It can interact with itself, some one else, or with a prop. Live action never has bad hand poses.. So we have no excuses for choosing bad hand acting. That's why Animation is a bit harder than acting, you have to get GOOD ACTING and convince the viewer they are watching a real HUMAN with real habits and poses..
-Hands can interact with themselves and your body- hand to hair, relaxed, fingers crossed with each other, etc
-Hands can interact with props- and show their purpose. He's not holding a basball bat.. He's holding a gun.. The hands make nice silhouette with the gun that if darkened in, would seem as an extension of his body
-With in the hand pose individual fingers must have a purpose. thumb supporting lower bottle, index finger is gripping the lower bottle as well as supporting the top bottle and the remaining three are gripping the top bottle.
-With small props you grip them a certain way and
with in that grip you can still show personality.
-How you approach interacting with a prop can also reveal a lot about the thought process.
Bad Hands-
Bad hands come in drawings and Computer Animation. I tend to always talk crap about football games while I play them. If they would only focus on the little details they can become that much more believable. 10 years of edition after edition of Madden and they cannot seem to get the physics right. And if you look at the photo below you can see that the same hand pose generally used on every hand. The fingers look like rakes and in real life it would take WAAAy to much energy to constantly keep your hands in that pose than to be expressive with them. The hand does not naturally want to keep the fingers apart, the fingers always want to rest on each other, especially when griping something. I learned that when drawing a hand, to check if I can see the purpose of the hand, is it moulding to the form of the object, does it look like the thumb and the wrist are connecting and flowing into the hand at a believable angle..
ACTING-
The hands should support the emotion and the cues the face or character is giving. The hands should never steal the show unless it's on purpose. Do not always move them around with each pose. (Meet the Robinson's: when the black hair kid is first seen is a good example of over acting) watch that movie and you will see what I mean. Do not over use the hands. but use them responsibly and with specificity.
-PERSONALITY is all about the hands. Here are Cool hands
-Here are hands that intend force and dominance
-Sadness through hands
-multi tasking hands to show busyness...
-Here is some acting with the hands... over acted for my tastes but VERY VERY WELL ANIMATED..
There is hardly any OVER acting or bad posing with the hands in most Live Action film. So when looking for an answer on what to do with your hands, Watch people and watch films. Draw hands as much as you can, there are two perfect modelled hands in front of you! You never have an excuse of not having NE thing to draw... DRAW YOUR OWN HANDS,
Hope this helps a little. There is so much more on hands that one can speak about with hands. Whether you are drawing them or animating them, think about the hand pose you are choosing and what does it say.. you should be able to tell the mood of your character just by looking at their hand.
.tiff)
