The book goes through how to go about planning your animation which we know is the most important part. It gives you a method to illustrate and communicate your ideas in a clear manner.
Not only to someone else but also to yourself. You want to be able to understand the reason for the animation and the story you want to tell. So without further ado lets jump right in this bad boy and see what we can learn.
The first and second sections are about creating strong poses to animate a stronger scene. What makes a great pose? A great pose is simply a pose that describes the action and acting that you wish to convey. Action and Acting are the two forms of force that are present within an animation. Action, being the easiest to show, is the external force. Basically any type of physical movement; Pushing pulling, running, jumping, hitting, lifting, climbing, throwing etc ... There are also passive actions like standing, sitting, kneeling and lying down that are the start and end poses of an action and should show personality and emotion.
Acting is the second form of force. It is the internal force within an animation. What is the character thinking? How does he / she feel. Deciding on who your character is will determine what your character does and how do they do it. This is Animating ladies and gentlemen. Not just moving something but bringing it to life. It is essential that you do this in the planning stage and not a moment after.
"The more planning you do the faster you will finish and the results will be far more impressive" - Wayne Gilbert, Simplified Drawing for Animation Planning
I did a couple of poses as an exercise to practice really pushing my posing. I thought about each pose showing a different part in my character's life and how he is reacting. I would recommend this to anyone using a new rig as well. It will help you to familiarize yourself with the rig. Remember the rig is just a tool and we are the animators. We tell you what to do, so do not let it limit what you do in your animation.
The next subject the book talks about is opposing forces. A good example would be when the body is picking up a heavy object the object will drive the legs down and the legs act the springs pushing the body up.
I did a couple of poses as an exercise to practice really pushing my posing. I thought about each pose showing a different part in my character's life and how he is reacting. I would recommend this to anyone using a new rig as well. It will help you to familiarize yourself with the rig. Remember the rig is just a tool and we are the animators. We tell you what to do, so do not let it limit what you do in your animation.
He gets a puppy for his birthday !!
I recommend doing this exercise in a 2d format either photoshop or on a piece of paper. I did not have a scanner with me at the time of writing this so I was not able to upload my sketches, but drawing it out first is the way to go in my opinion because you want to simplify your pose so your not bogged down with All the details. The book specifically is for teaching you to draw the human form in a simplified manner so that you can illustrate the two forces we talked about (Action and Acting). This way you get more of the emotion.
In 1935 Don Graham (Donald W. Graham), the head of internal training and orientation at Walt Disney Studio, was leading a series of professional development sessions and lectured about Animating Force Vs. Animating Form. I have talked about the two forces within a scene and how you imply these forces within your animation to dictate the path of action, squash and stretch, drag and follow through. These forces are what create the principles of animation. A side note; Don Graham was an early graduate and later professor at the Chouinard Art Institute. Which would later be merged with the Los Angeles Conservatory for Music to create the California Institute of the Arts CalArts!
Donald Graham teaching at Walt Disney Studio
In your animations you want to show the essence of the pose. When you are planning to do this, you can do this with as few lines as possible. Whether your doing 3D, 2D, or Stop motion doing this during your stage planning is essential to bringing your character to life.
A simple clean line is really all you need to describe the forces in your animation. This is called the line of force or the line of action. In our animations we strive to have a strong line of action especially in or story telling poses. This is so we communicate better to the audience what is going on in the story and how the character is feeling at that particular time.
A more direct line of force creates a stronger pose. More force is shown when the hips are aligned with the driving leg or legs.
This is a weak line of action. The line force is broken at the hips as well as in the shoulders. The directional arc that happens weakens the force. The body is parallel with the wall making the force weaken even more.
We should strive to have a strong line of force within our animations. It may be the most important thing to show in our animations. I should also mention that during the planning stage you want to do some sketches with a line of action first then posing in the character once you have the line that shows the force you were trying to achieve. An exercise that is mentioned in the book is to draw only lines and arrows that describe the force that you want in the pose and then pose the character into the lines. Another thing that is paramount is RESEARCH. Remember that in order to give life to your animations you have to observe and live it. It's important that you gather most of your research in the planning phase to really figure out the forces that you will need to show in your animations. You may be researching throughout animating your scene, but the more prepared you are the better your animation will turn out. "Before you start to cheer up, be sure that you ' ' '' Have found The most entertaining way to tell the story" - Wayne Gilbert Simplified Planning Drawing for Animation.
Planning Animation
As I said in the above sections, the more you plan the better you animations will turn out but just how do you go about planning and how do you know your ready to animate? Well this next section gives some advice on how just do that. You want to include as much information as you can but keep in mind that you want to be loose with you thoughts and imagination. Do not try to get all scientific we just need the direction we are going in the "map" to get us there. It's good to include the story poses and what's going on in each action like the right foot moves versus the left. Maybe you want your character to lead with their head. Any notes that you will be good to put on. Also you want to take into account the aesthetic component of the composition in the shot (Staging). If you are animating in 3D you want to write down if your going to use FK or IK and if your going to switch to some point, also if rotation orders for certain body parts. Think about constraints and if you need multiple pivot points. All that information is pertinent before you start animation this will streamline your workflow and get rid of some of the guesswork.Planning should be when you explore the possibilities for your animation. Get creative, think "How can I make this a unique animation?". All principles of animation should be taken into account when planning. What force initiates the movement, weight shift (center of gravity), lead and follow, path of action (arcs), squash and stretch, timing, silhouette etc .... You should plan major body movements first. Like arm movements for example. Explore the different possibilities for each part of the action. Show when the arms are needed to support the weight or balance the pose.
A good way to make the process of animating easier is to plan out the path of action of the head, hands, and hips. The more notes for your animation the better the later phases will be. The next couple of pages in the book go through a couple of planning examples and some notes you want to take before beginning to animate. It's good to add notes for head tilts, eye direction and head shoulder relationship.
So let's recap so far. We learned how to make a good pose by understanding the two forces at work in a scene, Acting and Action. We also know that we need to incorporate the principles of animation: staging, silhouette, appeal, and solid drawing. Then we learned how to go about planning our animation and that the more planning we do the better. To plan an animation thoroughly we must plan the path of actions, know what parts of the body are leading the action, spine reversal, arm movements and weight shifts. We also want to understand why the character is performing the action. What is his / her emotional state? What is your reason for doing the action? You want to make sure you draw the character proportionally. Be precise with the information about balance, weight, and force. Lastly remember that planning is where you get to be creative. Remember to have fun and stay loose and informative and explore many options before choosing the one you think is best.
