Pixar's Scott Morse On How To Become A Storyboard Artist

Storyboard artist Scott Morse gives his top tips for getting into storyboarding.

Reflection

When a high school girl tries to give up what she loves in order to fit in, her reflection comes to life to remind her of her true self

One Small Step

TAIKO Studios presents the story of Luna, a Chinese American girl who dreams of becoming an astronaut.

taikostudios.com

Directed by Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas
Produced by Shaofu Zhang CG Supervisor Joy Johnson
Head of Pipeline Andrew Jennings
Music Steve Horner

The Bass guitar solo by Drunken Bear

Creative Spark: Brenda Chapman

Screenwriter and Oscar-winning Director Brenda Chapman ("Brave," "The Prince of Egypt") takes viewers inside her creative process in an exploration of where ideas come from.

"Holy Nuns" / Sacrées Nonnes

CGI 3D Animated Short Film: Holy Nuns / Sacrées Nonnes Animated Short Film by Anissa Beddiaf, Edwige Bellin du Coteau, Lucile Fillon, Perrine Lemonnier, Zacharia Mekideche, Léa Mouraud, Armelle Roy at ISART DIGITAL.

Two eccentric nuns arrive late at the Holy Mass and get expelled from the service. While doing a cleaning chore as punishment, they accidentally break a valuable liturgical object. Full of regrets, they try everything to repair their mistake, but nothing goes as expected. Sucked into a whirlwind of improbable events, the nuns end up sliding down the slippery slope to immoral act.

What is Previsualization?

By: Nicole Herr 

The art of making entertainment has been evolving from the very beginning. Now with animation, the process of visualizing a product has moved from storyboards to animatics to previsualization animation—commonly called Previs!

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What exactly is Previs?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Previs is: The visualization (now especially through the use of computers) of how something will look when created or finished.

Ultimately, previs is the process of imagining and planning a final product. The previs team works with a client or director to quickly create an idea of what cameras, performances, effects, stunts, etc. may be needed for them to film. It’s a faster, and hopefully less expensive, way to premake a film or sequence so they have a visual blueprint of the final product. It also gives the client the ability to make changes before they even start to film.

Why is it important to learn previs?

Previs has become more mainstream in the entertainment industry. Most of the major blockbuster films use previs on a regular basis—just look at the credits for the latest VFX film. Chances are, you will see at least one of the many facilities that do previs credited. Some films previs every frame you see, and some only do a sequence or two. And it’s not just the heavy fight sequences that are prevised, it’s also many of the acting shots too. The biggest reason to learn previs is to learn how to quickly lay in performances and cameras in a way that is actually filmable. This is why ALL animators should learn at least some previs.

As a previs artist, what has your experience been, and how has it changed? 

The first time I really worked with it was on . It was a great way to see how he was going to move up the walls, it was a very young process, so we didn’t do a bunch. On Stuart Little 2 we spent a lot of time working out how they were going to be putting him into the real world and where the cinematographer could put the cameras to help show him in his world. For the most part, we would work on sequences in the film that the director wanted to work out, but not the whole film. 

Jungle book was the first time I worked on a film that was prevised completely. Every frame in the film had to be animated in 360. We animated long sequences, some were thousands of frames long, so that the cinematographer and director could put the camera anywhere in the world without being constrained to frame limits and one camera angle. We gave ideas of what a camera could be, but ultimately, the final camera work was filmed in virtually in a mocap stage by the client.

"The biggest reason to learn previs is to learn how to quickly lay in performances and cameras in a way that is actually filmable. This is why ALL animators should learn at least some previs".

When I worked on the DC TV shows—Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, The Flash) we did a lot of previs on the VFX-heavy sequences. As the previs lead on those shows for Encore, I had the animators use the final assets so that we could use that as the basis for the final animations. Not only did we do our own previs, but in many cases that previs became the blocking for the final shots.

Other than film, have you prevised any other products?

Yes, I have worked on many films, but I have also worked on television shows, commercials, virtual reality, games, and even a theme park pitch as a previs artist. Ultimately, previs is not limited to only one part of one industry, it can be used in many different industries to help show what is possible.

How has previs changed over the years?

When I started in the industry, previs was primarily be done with storyboards, photography, and illustrations. They would then be cut together by an editor to create an animatic for the director to follow. Now, with the addition of 3d animation, we take the script and/or animatic and make it into a rough animation so the client can work out timing and cameras in a way that is filmable.

An example of previs vs. final animation

At this point there are many companies that solely do previs and postvis. Those companies send artists to the client’s office or set so that they have direct access to the artists. Every time I have worked at the client’s location, I find that it makes for a very creative collaborative experience.

What is the future of previs?

I wish I had a crystal ball, but previs is a constantly changing art that is definitely here to stay!

source:blog.animationmentor.com

Creative Spark: Simon Otto

Animator Simon Otto ("How to Train Your Dragon", "How to Train Your Dragon 2", "Kung Fu Panda") takes viewers inside his creative process in an exploration of where ideas come from.

Rango behind the scenes- Breaking the Rules: Making Animation History: Now We Ride

The production process of Rango. Feature with Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp, Bill Nighy and more.

Creative Spark: Jennifer Yuh Nelson

Jennifer Yuh Nelson ("Kung Fu Panda 2 & 3") takes viewers inside her creative process in an exploration of where ideas come from.

The Story of Indian Animation

Towards the end of the 19th century India’s first animation film was produced. But the idea of animation in India has been cherished over a thousand years. The resource 'The Story of Indian Animation' is an attempt to look at the evolution of Indian animation since its inception in the pre-independence era till the present age of smart phones and tablets. It explores the development of the industry and its potential given the rich cultural history of India. 

This video includes interviews of some of the eminent Indian animators who have played a vital role in shaping our animation industry. They have shared their experiences, inspirations, struggle, work, achievements and views on the current animation scenario in India.

The Purpose Of Storyboarding

The idea of storyboarding was developed at the Walt Disney Studio during the early 1930s. Disney credited animator Webb Smith with creating the idea of drawing scenes on separate sheets of paper and pinning them up on a bulletin board to tell a story in sequence, thus creating the first storyboard (Christopher Finch, The Art of Walt Disney, Abrams, 1973). The first complete storyboards were created for the 1933 Disney short Three Little Pigs (The Story of Walt Disney, Henry Holt, 1956). According to John Canemaker, in Paper Dreams: The Art and Artists of Disney Storyboards (1999, Hyperion Press), the first storyboards at Disney evolved from comic-book like "story sketches" created in the 1920s to illustrate concepts for animated cartoon short subjects such as Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie.

CGI 3D Animated Short Film "CURSED" Funny Animation

Cursed is a film that plays around within the 3D program Maya. It shows an animator and his cursor opening an existing scene with a character named Johnny, an overly confident rig that only wants to relax. But, the cursor wants things his own way, and soon a conflict arises between them.

CURSED (2014) 3D Animation, Family, Comedy 

Produced at Vancouver Film School (http://vfs.edu ) 

Watch Making Of film at http://bit.ly/1RJpz5b

Time Management for Animators & Artists

DreamWorks Animator Guillermo Careaga shares some great tips for managing your time on a project for studio professionals, students, and freelance artists!

Lou - Short Film

Lou is a 2017 American computer-animated short film written and directed by Dave Mullins and produced by Pixar. It was theatrically released alongside Pixar's Cars 3 on June 16, 2017.

The short is about a lost and found box and the unseen monster within. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 90th Academy Awards.

Apply for a Job

In this Tips discuss on how to apply for an animation job, the recruiting process and how to boost the chances to getting hired!

You don't need more than two years

Two years is nothing, but at the same time a lot can be accomplished in two years. You can try a sport you've always wanted to start, and become great at it. You can start a morning routine and affect your mood and stress at a deep level. You can meditate for a few minutes per day, become more self-aware and change the way you react to problems. You can start a business and make it a big success.

CGI Animated Short Film: "First Comes Love"

CGI 3D Animated Short Film: First Comes Love Animated Short Film by Daniel Ceballos at Ringling College of Art and Design. 

"First Comes Love" is the story of a shy boy, Eric, who is dragged through stages of "marriage" by an obsessive girl, Zoey, all throughout the course of recess. 

You know how little kids have fake relationships, and fake weddings, that are so important to them, but they don't really understand the full reality of what it actually means? Well what if one of those went WAY too far???

4 Quick Tips for a Better Idle Animation Cycle

When creating idle animation cycles for games, there is more to keep in mind than just keeping the character moving. It is important to make sure that the animation is not only mechanically sound, but immersive enough to keep the player focused on the game. The key is to make the animation feel as natural and balanced as possible, while allowing for personality to show within the subtleties of the animation. Here are some good points to keep in mind:

Body Mechanics: The foundation of all animation. Make sure to have solid posing that accounts for any extra weight from armor or weapons.

Appeal: What is your character’s backstory, and how can you show your character’s personality through the animation? Even within an idle cycle, you can add appeal and contrast through posing, quirks, fidgets, etc.

Balance: That being said, it’s also important to keep your animation balanced and feeling natural. Too many fidgets or head turns can feel unnatural, so it could help to space them out so that they occur once every few breath cycles. With eye darts to the side, make sure to bring the gaze back to the other side and looking forward, so that it doesn’t feel like your character is focusing on one side.

Smooth Cycling: Even idle cycles contribute to a player’s immersion in a character and a game, so make sure that there aren’t any hitches in your cycles! You want to make it so that no one can tell when the animation loops back again. Make sure to check the tangents at the beginning and end of your animation to prevent any jitters.

In this clip, Jarrod Showers outlines the basic rubric of a good idle animation cycle, and shows his creative process from video reference to character animation.

source:www.animschoolblog.com

Power through these ANIMATION EXERCISES!

Sanjay's Super Team

Disney Short Film Sanjay's super team

Sanjay's Super Team Featurette - The Making Of (2015)

   Click here to see short Film Sanjay's super team

How to Succeed in the VFX industry with Andrew Kramer

Featuring industry artists from LA. This video features Andrew Kramer from Video Copilot.
How he got started in VFX and his tips for aspiring artists today.

AE WORLD: Andrew Kramer Keynote Speech (FULL)

Join Andrew Kramer as he discusses his motivation for becoming a better artist with humorous stories, personal challenges and advice for all Digital Artists!