The exception is the effects driven scene (or the money shot) where the effects are the primary focus and the most important driving element of the scene. These scenes include exploding planets, avalanches, forest fires, and collapsing buildings. The volcanoes and earthquakes of Fantasia’s “Rite of Spring” sequence are excellent examples of effects driving the story. In all of these different animation scenarios, every special effect drawing must embody the art direction of the film, so that ultimately they appear to have been created by the same artist who drew the characters, constructed the layouts, or painted the backgrounds. This attention to the artistic direction of the film can make the difference between merely adequate animation and truly great animation.

The effects in some of Disney’s feature films like Mulan are painstakingly integrated into the overall artistic style of the film. © The Walt Disney Co.

It was a fascinating process to work on some of Disney’s feature films, in which the effects were painstakingly integrated into the overall artistic style of the film. Mulan, Hercules and Lilo & Stitch are examples of films containing effects animation that fit flawlessly into the overall picture, a result of working closely with the directors and art director to make sure every element directly reflected the artistic style of the film.

Which brings us to the great importance of stylizing our special effects drawings, not only to better integrate our effects artwork with the style of the film we are working on, but simply bring our drawing to a level of detail which is possible to draw. Upon analyzing a single large wave or splash, you would quickly realize that the amount of detail it contains is staggering. If we attempt to draw every detail, we would be bogged down in no time. But this can work to our advantage! There is a wonderful design challenge to represent a highly complex element with a relatively simple drawing — and there is a beauty in simplicity, as every great artist has discovered through the ages. Hokusai’s Great Wave painting is a gracefully simple representation of an enormous cresting ocean wave, yet it is powerfully effective. In representing our effects through simplified versions of reality, we are free to focus our attention on the forces underlying the effects, the patterns in motion, the timing and the physics. Details can always be added once our effects animation is working well in all these respects, but if we get lost in the details, we will have lost the natural physics of our effects animation. Stylize, simplify, and find the energy focus!

Lilo & Stitch contains effects animation that fits flawlessly into the overall picture, a result of working closely with the directors and art director. © The Walt Disney Co.

As far as creating scale and perspective in our effects, we need to exaggerate as much as possible. This can be achieved in a number of ways. If we want insinuate a massive size, it is necessary to create highly detailed drawings, which will be animated with a ponderous, heavy motion. This increases the amount of work involved exponentially: more details + slower speed = tons of complex drawings. In many cases, when I’ve heard a director asking for some wild and crazy effect that is ridiculously grandiose in scale, I will do everything in my power to talk him/her out of it. Until you have hand-animated something like an enormous avalanche, with so much detail that you can only complete one drawing a day, it is hard to imagine how work-intensive these effects can be.

Having said that, always attempt to push your drawing designs a little further, to err on the side of the more dynamic. The importance of exaggeration cannot be emphasized enough! You can always scale back an overly-exaggerated drawing, but it’s far more difficult to breathe life into a stiff one. The most common mistake I see artists making when they try animating special effects for the first time is they don’t push their animation far enough. There seems to be a fear of over-doing it, or an attempt to keep it all under control, but the best advice I often give beginners is to push their effects animation as far as humanly possible, exaggerating the physics, motion, design and perspective. It is easier to pull everything back if you have to, than it is to slowly and gingerly push everything farther and farther. The real payoff to drawing with this approach is the energy that you can get into your drawings by pushing and exaggerating. Remember, when you animate special effects you are animating energy! Therefore, animate with energy and exuberance!

If you commit to being a serious student of effects animation, be forewarned: it is an extremely difficult and time-consuming craft and it requires patience and a driving passion for understanding nature! On your journey, you will undoubtedly have moments of unmitigated frustration, but don’t let it keep you from soldiering on. It’s worth it, I tell you, to wake up one day and realize you’ve become one of those crazy people who are happy to animate crashing waves, incendiary firestorms, celestial cataclysms, and other acts of God! So perk up your imaginations, pick up your pencils and your surfboards, your paper and your pyromania, and welcome to the amazing world of traditional visual effects animation!!!!!!!!

In his 30-year animation career, Joseph Gilland has worked with studios as diverse as Walt Disney Feature Animation and the National Film Board of Canada. He has worked on all styles of animation, experimental films, television series, commercials, theatrical feature films, stop motion, title sequences, live-action films and documentaries. He is writing a passionate book about the art of animation.