Life-drawing has been an integral part of Sean’s learning process.

KC: So what advice can you offer to people looking to become stronger at posing their characters?

SM: I would put a really strong emphasis on getting classical training. Learn life-drawing, learn what a strong silhouette is, learn design, and all the basics that are constantly being harped on. (See Figure 10.10.) To me, the most important aspect of a good pose is that it should look natural. Don’t do anything with the character that looks like it would really hurt or maybe even break a bone if you tried to do it in real life. The Illusion of Life is another great reference for posing tips, too. Also, keep in mind that 3D animation presents some new challenges, at least for 2D animators. One of the biggest for me to get used to was the idea that your character is actually three-dimensional, so even though it will only be seen from a specific angle in a scene, you should do your best to make it work from all angles. For example, if the character is leaning over toward the camera, the pose will tend to look more natural if the character is balanced when you look at it from the side as well. If it looks off-balance from the side, chances are it will look a little odd in the camera view. And remember, just because the computer appears that it can do a lot of stuff for you doesn’t mean that it’s doing the right stuff. You really have to control it.

KC: If a person is not good at performance, do you think he can learn it?

SM: To a certain degree I think you can. In the larger sense, I believe it’s a gift. For some people it definitely comes much more natural. Some people just have a knack for that. But there are a few specific things you can keep in mind to create an interesting performance. I feel it’s really important to know the character’s backstory. Not just knowing that a character acts a certain way in a particular situation, but knowing why they would act that way in a situation. It’s like knowing your wife and why she reacts to things the way she does. If you know the character that strongly, it’s like animating a friend. I also think it’s important to put yourself in the character’s situation. You can definitely tell the people who are doing a scene thinking, “What would a cartoon character do here?” versus the people who are thinking about what they might actually feel if they were in that situation. The people who apply the character’s emotional state to themselves deliver much more natural performances.

KC: The result is a less clichéd approach to the shot.

SM: Absolutely. That’s a huge thing. Once you have an idea how you would act if you were in the character’s shoes, you can go on to exaggerate it however you want. This ties in to my belief about getting classical training to help learn animation. Obviously, movement in animation is a caricature of movement in real life, and you need to know the fundamentals of real life before you can caricature it. It’s the same with the emotional performance. Figure out an emotionally realistic approach to the scene and what would happen if you were in that situation, and then you can caricature it as much as you need to. Also, keep in mind where the character is going in the context of the overall film. The character should be growing over time, so they’ll most likely act differently at different points in the story.

KC: Any last words for our readers?

SM: To sum it all up, the most important single word I can stress is “natural.” I personally believe that the most important elements of a successful animated scene are a natural emotional performance and natural movement from an entertaining character. These few, simple elements rely heavily on each other to truly work. Nice movement alone is only a visual novelty and gets boring pretty quickly without a feeling, interesting character behind it. A strong emotional statement can get lost behind unnatural or elaborate but unnecessary movements. And even the most interesting character can be uninteresting if it’s not clearly emoting or moving well. But if you can get all these elements working together naturally, the result will be a performance that audiences will believe and enjoy.

To learn more about character animation and other topics of interest to animators, check out Inspired 3D Character Animation by Kyle Clark; series edited by Kyle Clark and Michael Ford: Premier Press, 2002. 268 pages with illustrations. ISBN 1-931841-48-9 (US $59.99) Read more about all four titles in the Inspired series and check back to VFXWorld frequently to read new excerpts.

Author and series editor Kyle Clark (left). Series editor Mike Ford.

Series editor Kyle Clark is a lead animator at Microsoft's Digital Anvil Studios and co-founder of Animation Foundation. He majored in Film, Video and Computer Animation at USC and has since worked on a number of feature, commercial and game projects. He has also taught at various schools including San Francisco Academy of Art College, San Francisco State University, UCLA School of Design and Texas A&M University.

Series editor and author Michael Ford is a senior technical animator at Sony Pictures Imageworks and co-founder of Animation Foundation. A graduate of UCLA’s School of Design, he has since worked on numerous feature and commercial projects at ILM, Centropolis FX and Digital Magic. He has lectured at the UCLA School of Design, USC, DeAnza College and San Francisco Academy of Art College.