Wednesday April 13th, 2011 Animation Seminar

[OwenWelsh]

The seminar starts every Wednesday at 4pm Arizona time.

We start this thread early to give members a chance to upload any video or images they want critiqued on the weekly video seminar. Throughout the week, Dave will try to incorporate as many images and video clips as possible into the live seminar.

Image and Video Rules:
1. The best format for video clips is .MOV files, preferably MPEG-4. You can upload them here.

2. Please clearly label all of your drawings in your images, example "a, b, c, d... etc" so that Don can easily refer to them.

3. Please clearly label all animation pencil tests with large drawing numbers so that Don can easily refer to them.

4. Please do no post images or videos from the current workshop as it is not fair for the other members. However you may post images or videos from workshops that have already ended.

The deadline for clips and images to be critiqued in the live seminar is 24hrs prior to the seminar date and time.

Please keep your questions concise so we have time to answer everyone. Only questions pertaining to animation technique will be addressed.

Thanks

Here is the link to watch the live Seminar.
http://donbluthanimation.com/_Don_Bl...e_seminar.html

You must be logged into your Don's Club account to see the stream.

[OwenWelsh]

Hi Don,

We all know that animating on 1s is usually only needed for fast action? Can you think of any other times you have decided to animate on 1s? I know it can increase the budget.

[OwenWelsh]

Hi Don,

I know that John Pomeroy shot some live action ref for Nicodemus' cape blowing in the wind and for some of the closeup shots of his hands. Was any other live action reference shot or procured besides the footage you used for the fight sequence?

[OwenWelsh]

Don I noticed that in NIMH the eyebrows of many of the characters would not conform to the eye socket but they would float above the head. I assume this was done to improve the silhouette. In particular I'm thinking of Jenner and Sullivan. What's your opinion about expressing the brows in this way.

[Richard Willimot]

Hello Don and Dave! Here's a pose test for the bear character Larry I've been working on. His walk is on 2's already but I still have to work on the rest,it's still very rough. I was wondering if Don might help with the last pose 73 I think it's a terrible drawing and a weak pose. Since it's the last one I'd really like it to be stronger. Also, I'm finding it difficult to really draw in a loose style and wondered if Don had any tips on how I could stop being so anal about it.
http://www.donbluthanimation.com/vid...?showvideo=666

[arif]

Hi Don...

Recently, i have been studying `anatomy` of human and others to achieve the proper knowledge so that my drawings looks solid and believable...and after doing some detail works i can see more and more `hidden` things in the cartoon characters which i did not notice before....seems like study `Human anatomy`is opening my eyes to see things clearly......when you were at Disney...was it so important to learn it before we go creating cartoon characters?...how important is that..?

Regards,
Arif

[Rodney]

Recently I saw on Sandro Clueso's blog a link to your video at CTN where you and Gary were interviewed as part of the 'The Pioneer Series:Those that paved the way'. He obviously continues to be inspired by you and expressed the following:

Don and Gary were kind enough to give me a chance and my first job in feature animation and for that I will be always grateful.

(Link: http://inspectorcleuzo.blogspot.com/...spiration.html)

Obviously Sandro wanted to be an animator very much to travel all the way from Brazil to Ireland to make the connection with you. My questions relate to his experience.

Question 1:
With respect to highly motivated people such as Sandro, where does drive and motivation fit into the scheme of such a technical process as animation? Can one be too motivated?

Question 2:
If you were Sandro back at that time trying to get a job with Don Bluth in Ireland, are there any pitfalls you would avoid in the pursuit of becoming a feature film quality animator?

[OwenWelsh]

Hi Don,

Could you please critique my animation march of Berry Baby?

http://www.donbluthanimation.com/vid...?showvideo=667

[lavallelee]

Hey Don, another week of life drawing. I really hope I am improving! This time the model was in costume.

[lavallelee]

a few more