Author, producer/director Mark Simon standing in the audio booth while delivering the fox's dialogue. Facilities provided by Sound "O" Rama.

Just as big action never looks too big in animation, voices can also be much bigger and more animated in a cartoon than in live-action. Cartoons benefit greatly from truly distinctive character voices.

Many independent animators supply their own voices. When you record yourself, it is helpful to have someone you trust give you notes during a recording. Your voice never quite sounds the same in a recording as it does in your head.

In Timmy’s Lessons in Nature, I not only recorded the fox’s speaking voice, I also did his vicious attack. For the attack I made a badger sort of sound and shook my head violently so that my jowls shook around. We recorded multiple takes of this — until I got a headache — and mixed them all together to get the huge attack sound heard in the animation.

In animation, actors don’t have a lot to work with — there are no sets, no props, few, if any, other actors and blank walls in front of them. It is very important for them to see their character and the storyboards. Once actors see what is happening in their scene, they can offer you much more.

The rest of the chapter contains more information on how Timmy’s Lessons In Nature, Lesson 3 was produced. To learn about other topics, check out Producing Independent 2D Character Animation, published by Focal Press. It can be bought at any bookstore or online.

Producing Independent 2D Character Animation: Making and Selling a Short Film by Mark Simon. Burlington, Massachusetts: Focal Press, 2003. 432 pages. ISBN: 0-240-80513-5.

Mark Simon founded and owns A&S Animation, Inc., an award-winning cel animation house in Florida, which develops and produces character animation for commercials, TV, training videos and the Web. He also owns Animatics & Storyboards, Inc., the largest storyboard house in the southern United States, which has provided work to more than 1,200 productions. Mark's accomplishments include owning an award-winning advertising firm, being a syndicated cartoonist, a production designer for film and TV, writing entertainment industry books and lecturing on both animation and storyboards. Winning more than 30 animation award, Mark has directed Timmy's Lessons In Nature (which he sold as a TV series), My Wife Is Pregnant, numerous commercials, training videos and television series special effects. Read more about A&S Animation and the author.