Why Animated Characters Need to Blink

This month our student animators are entering the 11 Second Club, the monthly character animation competition open to animators all over the world.  One of the challenges of character animation is to make the audience believe that the digital puppets that we bring to life are living, breathing characters that can think and feel.  This means that we need to put a great deal of effort into (amongst other things) animating our characters' eyes, for the eyes are the "window to the soul". Once simple way to keep a character alive is to have them blink - something we all do often, without even thinking about it. 

"Two shot" animated by Escapee Jamie Floodgate

Everybody blinks

One of the most common mistakes made by junior animators is to forget to add blinks on their characters, especially on a head turn. Everybody blinks, a lot and we almost always blink when we turn our heads from one viewpoint to another. But since we do it without noticing, we're not really aware of it. 

Blink early, blink often

In the video above, I explain why it is that characters need to blink much more often than you might think. Our eyelids act much like the shutter of a camera, cutting on motion and editing out everything but the important information that we actually need to see. 

Character Animation Resources at Escape Studios

To see more about character animation, check out the links below:

• How to enter the 11 Second Club
• How to animate a character blinking
• Body mechanics tutorial with Amedeo Beretta
• How to animate a "take" with Monty
• How to animate "eye darts"
• Why actors (and animators) must "hang on to each others' eyes"
• Animate a "take" with Simone Giampaolo

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.