All images from Inspired 3D Character Animation by Kyle Clark, series edited by Kyle Clark and Michael Ford. Reprinted with permission.

This is the second in a number of adaptations from the new Inspired series published by Premier Press. Comprised of four titles and edited by Kyle Clark and Michael Ford, these books are designed to provide animators and curious moviegoers with tips and tricks from Hollywood veterans.

The following excerpt is an interview with Sean Mullen, conducted by Kyle Clark. Sean, a one-time student of the CalArts character animation program, began his career with two short, embarrassing films, Oh Crappy Day and Horndog, for the Spike & Mike Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation. After working as a clean-up artist on various commercials and feature films such as The Lion King, he progressed to animating under his mentor, Dale Baer, on commercials featuring Tony the Tiger and Toucan Sam, among others, as well as films such as Space Jam and Quest for Camelot. Sean joined Sony Pictures Imageworks in 1998 to work on the original Stuart Little, for which he earned an Annie Award nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Character Animation. Since that time he has been developing original feature film stories and artwork for Imageworks, as well as working as a supervising animator on Stuart Little 2.

Sean Mullen

Kyle Clark: I know you started your career as a traditional animator, when you made the jump to the computer, what did you find most difficult?

Sean Mullen: The most difficult thing was getting the technical and creative elements to work together. It got pretty bad in the first few weeks when I was learning the animation controls. I would start trying to do a simple piece of animation to get used to the controls and it would look horrible. I realized that I was focusing so much on the technical stuff that I was completely forgetting all the basic animation principles. I went back to a process I used to use when I first started doing traditional animation to get back on track. I made photocopies of all the lists of animation principles from The Illusion of Life and pasted them right by my computer screen. I’d have to constantly be looking at them to remind myself of the basics. It seems pretty elementary, but it really helped me when a scene wasn’t working.

KC: Was there a particular technical hurdle that you had to overcome?

SM: The biggest thing was my fear of the computer. I’d never really worked on computers. I didn’t own one yet and I hadn’t even played around on one, really. It was pretty intimidating. Once I got past the fear, and realized all I had to concentrate on were the tools that I’d always be using, it wasn’t too bad.

A drawing from Sean’s high school days.

KC: I know you have a CG working style that relies heavily upon the things you’ve learned in the traditional world. How about taking us through a shot you’ve completed and explaining your process.

SM: There is a shot in Stuart Little with the Stouts, Stuart’s fake parents. It had some fun acting and involved multiple characters. I approached it exactly like I do a traditional scene. When working in 2D, I’d do one drawing from the scene to establish the overall feeling of the character’s emotional state and use that as the starting point. I do the same thing when posing in the computer. I do everything from the facial expression to the fingers. I get the whole pose worked out so I can look at it and see that I’m on the right track. If it’s a subtle acting situation, you’re pretty much going to be working in and out of that pose. If you get that one nailed down, the rest of the scene is going to be a lot easier. Action scenes will require more poses since the character will be moving more broadly, but even they can still be kept to a minimum. A good example of what I’m talking about is any Norman Rockwell painting. One frame can illustrate an entire situation, from a character’s movement all the way to their emotional state.