Why Animators Need a Clear Silhouette

Animator need to create great poses.  Part of a great pose is a great silhouette, one that "reads" clearly. 

The image on the left is taken from Eric Goldberg's book "Character Animation Crash Course", (we have a copy in the library), one of the best books on character animation.

Eric shows how a single pose can get an instant "read" from the audience. Even though the images are shown blacked out in silhouette, we still know exactly what the character is thinking and doing.

Always make sure your poses, whether drawn or digital, communicate exactly what the character is thinking, feeling and doing. 

Nine Ways to Create a Great Pose

How do you create a great pose in animation? Creating great poses is a necessary skill for all animators to learn. In the video above, we suggest nine ways that an animator can create a great pose - the key starting point for a great acting scene. 

Planning Animation on Stepped Curves

One of the most common problems encountered by student animators is how to block out an animated shot from scratch, starting with nothing but a blank screen and a character rig.

After all, in animation you get nothing for free.  You start off with a digital puppet, usually in a stiff "T-pose", and have to figure out the rest yourself. In this tutorial at our Vimeo Channel, I explain how to block out a shot from scratch.

How to Block Out Pantomime Animation

Pantomime Animation by Jamie Floodgate

How do you block out and plan a pantomime animation - an animated scene without dialogue? The trick with animation is to plan it out thoroughly in advance.

In the case of pantomime animation, we teach a workflow that is reliable and dependable, one which will get your shots approved on time, with minimal aggravation.

The secret of success lies, as ever, in the planning. Plan your work properly and you won't go wrong.

Animate a Ball Throw with Alex Williams

We've added a new series of videos to our Vimeo Tutorial Channel, on how to animate a character throwing a ball.

The tutorial is important for any animator learning how to animate a physical action, and shows how to use live action reference in order to create a believable and technically accurate result.

Parkour Tutorial with Paloma Zhu

We've uploaded a new parkour animation tutorial to our expanding Vimeo channel; this time a parkour animation shot by Paloma Zhu; you can find it here.

The shot was originally animated by Paloma on the short film "Street Ratz", which was nominated for Best Trailer at the Assurdo Film Festival.  In this tutorial, Paloma shows how she created live action reference clips and edited them together to block out her animation, ensuring realism, accuracy and believability.

Royce Wesley - Pixar Animation Workflow

Incredibles 2

Pixar animator Royce Wesley was at Escape Studios recently, talking about his experience working on Incredibles 2, and also explaining his own personal animation workflow.

Royce is an experienced character animator whose animation credits include Brave, Coco, Robots and Inside Out. He visited us in London to mentor our animation students and help make sure we are hitting the highest levels of quality in character animation.

Understanding how to plan your work is one of the key parts of the animator's skill set. Every animator has their own unique approach, and it's important to develop a workflow that you can rely on to get your shots approved without too much stress.