Not only do I love to render light & shadow, it has been showing in my work! It was a pleasant surprise. I've had a long history with rendering the crap out of vases and fake fruit. This process also makes the eye identify the form as shapes, which is kind of helpfull to my proportion issue.
An organic approach to visual effects animation OR A classical approach to hand-drawn visual effects animation (this was the initial title which had to be revised because the producers were afraid it won't sell)
Great energy in this presentation. This presentation was concerning the visual effects industry today and it's one BIG flaw. It strolled away from "the classical cartoony way of animating" to "photo realistic and live actiony". It may work well in live action, but the same stuff in cartoons? Surprisingly enough VFX animators (mostly) are only taught the software today and no drawing theory. The physics make sense, but there is still something missing: energy, character, design. Strangely enough, even fire or water splashes need it. After watching various examples on screen, I was convinced. In order to create beautiful FX you need to learn to push them. You need to use the effects to help compose your shots. You need to do research. Hand draw FX differ from CG because they tend to be more organic and spontaneous. In CG the programs are mostly based on programing particles and tend to be very hard to learn for an animator. They are also very hard to tweak and control in order to get the right effect. That is why often a combination of drawn and CG is used (like Lilo & Stitch). A revelation movie for CG animation was Ice Age 3. After many talks with the author of this book, they have developed a way to make effects more cartoony and playful. Check it out and compare it to FX in Incredibles. Big difference. "You need to animate the energy"
I am not sure if this theory would apply in life action films as well. Perhaps to some extent - Yes. Inspired to investigate into this book and field.
An Eveneing with Don Hertzfeldt
I really want to see who this guys is. Strange, but I imagined this bald guy in his forties (maybe his name just sounds professor like)He is a young guy in his 30s. Good looking and can be mistaken for Johnny Depp if had longer hair. Has a monotone-ish, quiet way of speaking and uses gestures quite often. Humor inspiration - Monty Python Just like the old black and white films, he prefers "long takes". Big interest in psychology. Very intelligent. Studied film, yet chose to do animation for his projects in school and was well supported by his teachers and peers. Done Rejected right after finishing college. Has not worked out in the work field since then. Only works on his movies. Thanks Mom & Dad a lot in his credits. Works by himself 7 days a week. Animation. Shooting. Compositing. Sound design. On the topic of media and cg vs. classical : " There is a hundred years worth of equipment we have developed. Why throw out old stuff and only embrace the new. Let's use all the toys!" He is currently working on more films and they are getting deeper and stranger.
Making of Pixar's Up
Told by one of the storyboard artists at Pixar. The stroy crew actually went to the location and climbed the mountain. How the little boy's voice was cast
It felt to me that the development of this story had a very organic nature. It did have deadlines and cut off dates, but nevertheless the story artists were looking for pieces of theirs story out of their lives. There was personal contribution from all
In order to portray this Lost World, they had to personalize and experience the feeling for themselves, the story crew set off on their own adventure to Venezuela . They got to this "natural table top ground" that was a mile high! I still can't wrap my brain around it.
The presenter spoke of storytelling.
Quotes:
TRUST THE PROCESS. = i took it as, "don't give up and keep going no matter how many revisions you may get"
Put your heart and soul into it. Present it to others. Let it go. = no matter how perfect YOUR story is, it is never good enough because only YOU put your ideas in. You must learn to give it up and allow others to put themselves into it, too.
"If you are not prepared to be wrong, you won't do anything right."
"You could be wrong" - and most of the time, you are. but you can still get some things right!
Get an idea and then sketch it down, not sketch and then get an idea. This puts the carriage in front of the horse. If you are constantly sketching your ideas, the drawings may look sketchy but they will have a lively quality to them AND you will fall in love with you sketchbooks.
it has been showing in my work! It was a pleasant surprise.
