01-28-2013, 02:37 PM
Hey Jaik - sounds like this could be good.
Answering is a little tough - as it really depends on what the studio creates in animation (primarily 2D or 3D? Using Flash or toonboom for 2D - or is it classical animation? - is it television series work, or advertising work, or web based?) and what the studio plans on having you do task wise.
I trained in classical animation and worked using flash for video games for a while - so I'll give you a few basic (simplifying things here) guidelines that seem to stay true to most animation outfits.
1. Animation usualy seperates into two categories - layout and animation. Storyboard is often the conjunction of both, while character design mostly stays within the realm of animation.
2. Either way - drawing with a solid 3D foundation is key - understanding 3 dimensional shape and the ability to use economy of line to still describe that shape is important. This means showing character rotations and multi angle views of locations/buidlings/props is good.
3. Though stroytelling is always the emphasis in animation - this distills into drawings in one way - strong silhouette. Making character poses that read well is very important - while always trying to represent some emotion that shows us a little about the charater's personality. Strong use of S and C shapes within your action lines will help retain life in your posing.
4. Expressions - always nice to see someone who isn't afraid of showing their characters emoting - so model sheets of a character or two's faces, using a pinch of squash and stretch in your emotive exageration, would also go a long way.
5. Style - most animation artists are trained to mimic style - so showing artwork of at least a couple diffferent styles will show you are capable of adapting to the various productions they are likely to have - this is specialy true in the case of animation firms that work heavily in advertising.
I think this is enough for you to get started with - and of course if you haven't drawn in this way - I suggest you troll the web for some animation model sheets from some of the big guys - Disney, Don Bluth, Dreamworks, Pixar.
A note on colour - always nice to have colour - though it won't save a drawing - it can help make it stand out. Keep em simple, don't go too far with your rendering, and keep it to basic gradients.
Hope this helps
Cheers
izog
Answering is a little tough - as it really depends on what the studio creates in animation (primarily 2D or 3D? Using Flash or toonboom for 2D - or is it classical animation? - is it television series work, or advertising work, or web based?) and what the studio plans on having you do task wise.
I trained in classical animation and worked using flash for video games for a while - so I'll give you a few basic (simplifying things here) guidelines that seem to stay true to most animation outfits.
1. Animation usualy seperates into two categories - layout and animation. Storyboard is often the conjunction of both, while character design mostly stays within the realm of animation.
2. Either way - drawing with a solid 3D foundation is key - understanding 3 dimensional shape and the ability to use economy of line to still describe that shape is important. This means showing character rotations and multi angle views of locations/buidlings/props is good.
3. Though stroytelling is always the emphasis in animation - this distills into drawings in one way - strong silhouette. Making character poses that read well is very important - while always trying to represent some emotion that shows us a little about the charater's personality. Strong use of S and C shapes within your action lines will help retain life in your posing.
4. Expressions - always nice to see someone who isn't afraid of showing their characters emoting - so model sheets of a character or two's faces, using a pinch of squash and stretch in your emotive exageration, would also go a long way.
5. Style - most animation artists are trained to mimic style - so showing artwork of at least a couple diffferent styles will show you are capable of adapting to the various productions they are likely to have - this is specialy true in the case of animation firms that work heavily in advertising.
I think this is enough for you to get started with - and of course if you haven't drawn in this way - I suggest you troll the web for some animation model sheets from some of the big guys - Disney, Don Bluth, Dreamworks, Pixar.
A note on colour - always nice to have colour - though it won't save a drawing - it can help make it stand out. Keep em simple, don't go too far with your rendering, and keep it to basic gradients.
Hope this helps
Cheers
izog