All images are from Animation Background Layout: From Student to Professional by Mike S. Fowler. Reprinted with permission. © Mike S. Fowler 2002.

This month AWN continues a series of excerpts from Animation Background Layout: From Student to Professional Author Mike S. Fowler has especially adapted his book for our readers. In this essential and educational easy-to-follow guide, Mike, an animation layout artist, supervisor and college instructor illustrates the purpose and function of animation layout. He creates an easy to follow format with so much information and diagrams, people of any animation skill level should be able to learn something new. Whether an inquisitive beginner, the college animation student who wants to better prepare for a job or an animation industry professionals, everyone can learn something new in this book.

Whenever I introduce the concept of creating thumbnail drawings to explore the direction of the background, I have at least one student ask why they must be the size of your thumbnails. They could be, but usually are not. They range in size from a two-inch to a six-inch box.

The size of the thumbnail is really secondary to the thought that must be put into the drawing and whether this thumbnail represents the best staging for this scene. For the most part, thumbnail drawings are created quickly with limited detail to show staging, composition, perspective and the required element placements. My daughter, Michelle, at age five, created this sketch example. A thumbnail should be as spontaneous as this artwork.

I cannot over stress the importance of creating thumbnail sketches in layout and all other conceptual stages of animation. Why rush into a finished version of the background that maybe, at best, mediocre, when a few minutes of extra planning can produce dynamic results?

Below, note the use of composition (why things are placed), staging (characters freedom to move) and perspective (initial planning that will later be refined).

Thumbnail drawings do not have to be created specifically for animation or layout. They are ideas of how environments look to you. Most concepts and ideas are created from daily drawing in a sketchbook, on a napkin or even production meeting handouts. Whenever an idea arrives, it is best to sketch it out then define it more at another time.