Aaron Hartline Explains The Line of Action

Aaron Hartline, front row, on right

Pixar animator Aaron Hartline visited us recently, mentoring our student animators, and generally helping to make sure we're hitting the highest possible standards in the teaching of character animation.

Aaron started his day with our students talking about some of the important principles of animation, including the Line of Action - a concept first developed by Disney animator Preston Blair, who published one of the first books on animation back in the 1950s.

Preston Blair's work is still relevant today, because - although the technology has changed - the principles of animation remain the same.

The line of action follows the spine through the root of the body, and extends into the legs and arms. A good animator uses the line of action to get dynamism and life into the key poses, so that the silhouettes read clearly and the motion feels dynamic.

Aaron explained how he applied these principles to his shots on Pixar films such as "Up", where he animated Carl trying to lift his house up off the ground.  Going through the shots frame by frame, he showed how all his poses had a clear, dynamic line of action.

Pixar uses Presto, a CG animation tool developed in-house which is similar to Maya (but much better! - says Aaron).

You can buy used copies of Preston Blair's book online - still a very useful animator's resource today.

 The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our BA/MArt in 3D Animation, follow this link.  To apply for our storyboarding evening class, visit this page here.  For the next 12 week animation course, click here. And to apply for the next evening class in Producing Animation, see this page.