How to Make Animated Films. Tony White's Masterclass on the Traditional Principles of Animation

482 Pages·2009·56.61 MB·English

by  Tony White (Auth.)

Masterclass 1
A nimation Basics
Class objective: To learn the underlying principles and disciplines of
animation technique.
Equipment required: Lightbox, pencil, and paper.
Key, Breakdown, and In-Between
Positions
All animation can be broken down into defi nable stages. In general terms,
these stages are key positions , breakdown or passing positions , and in-between
positions . Key positions are eff ectively the major positions in an action where
that action ceases or changes direction in some way. The two key positions for
walking, for example, will be the full-stride positions — one with the right leg
forward and the other with the left leg forward.
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How to Make Animated Films
The two key positions for walking—left leg/right arm forward and right leg/left arm forward.
A better example might be a swinging pendulum, where one key position is
the highest point of one side of the swing and the other key position is the
opposite high position.
The two key positions for a pendulum— drawings “1” and “17”—extreme swing to the left and an extreme
swing to the right.

Animation Basics
The breakdown position is the position precisely midway between the two
key positions. In the case of the pendulum, it is the perfectly vertical position
in the middle of the swing.
Drawing 9 shows the breakdown position.
Finally, the in-betweens are those secondary positions that fall between the
key positions and the breakdown position.
The two sets of in-betweens—three from drawing 1 to drawing 9 and three from drawing 9 to 17.

How to Make Animated Films
In the case of the pendulum, we will have two key positions, one in-between
position, and three in-between positions on either side, giving us nine
drawings (or positions) in total for one swing.
The full set of drawings for the pendulum swing, including the key and breakdown positions, which are shaded.
Creating Key Positions
With the understanding that we need key, breakdown, and in-between
positions to create a sequence of animation, we should now look at the
process of in-betweening, which applies as much to the breakdown drawing
as it does to the in-betweens. Let us return to our swinging pendulum and
consider the way to approach it. First, using a fresh sheet of animation paper,
select a fulcrum (or point) from which the pendulum will swing. The best
location to place this will be along the central/vertical line of the field guide,
which can be placed beneath the paper with the lightbox on. Put a single
dot somewhere along this line, which will represent the point from which the
pendulum will swing.

Animation Basics
The pendulum’s pivot point located on a gridded graticule.
Remember, this point needs to be in a position that allows the pendulum to
swing fully left and right and still fit into the field area when it is in the vertical
“passing” position.
The entire swing, showing that the pendulum safely fits into the entire required screen area.

How to Make Animated Films
Now take a piece of paper, lay it over the top, and using the pivotal point on
the lower sheet, draw in the pendulum with its maximum swing to the left
(west).
Note
When dealing with directions on the screen or on a field guide, left is
described as west, up as north, right as east, and down as south. The
middle of the field guide is known as center. If you are using a 10 field
guide, it is termed a 10 field center, a 12 field guide is a 12 field center,
and a 16 field guide is a 16 field center.
Drawing 1 is the left key drawing.
A standard 12 field guide for top pegs
animation.
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Animation Basics
With the key drawing of the westward swing of the
pendulum complete, it is necessary to complete the
right swing. A good tip here is to place a clean sheet
of paper over the previous two, trace the pivotal point
as before, and then roughly trace the eastward swing
angle of the pendulum to get its maximum swing in
the other direction.
Now take all the sheets of animation paper off the pegs
and just work with the first key sheet and the new one
you are attempting to create. With the lightbox on,
put the first key sheet down and then lay the second
(newer) key sheet over it, lining up the pivotal points
of both and the line of the pendulum previously lightly
sketched in. Now you can trace the new pendulum Drawing 17 shows the right pendulum key drawing.
from the old one, guaranteeing that the length of the
pendulum is the same length and size on both keys.
Tracing the second key drawing.
Note
The entire sequence that follows the key creation is demonstrated on the
accompanying DVD in the Introduction to In-Betweening section.
Now put both keys together on the pegs and you will see that you have
successfully completed the two keys of the action—the furthermost key
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How to Make Animated Films
position swings to the left (west) and the furthermost key position swings to
the right (east).
Drawings 1 and 17 show the two
extremes of the pendulum swing
movement.
Creating the Breakdown Position
The breakdown position is the first in-between position between two key
positions. Consequently, in our swinging pendulum it will be the pendulum
seen in a perfectly vertical position.
The breakdown position is the position
that is midway (and vertical) between
the two key positions.
To achieve the breakdown position, we almost copy the same process as for
the key positions. With the two key positions on the pegs, place a new sheet
of animation paper over them and trace the pivotal point. With a ruler, you
can lightly draw in a vertical line traveling down (south) from the point.
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Animation Basics
Drawing the vertical shaft of the pendulum. Normally I would use a ruler to do this, but as the circle guide is
perfect for drawing the circular pendulum’s head, it can be used for a dual purpose in this particular instance!
Now take all the sheets of paper off the pegs and line up the two key drawings
over the lightbox with it switched on. Now lay the third (breakdown) drawing
sheet over them, lining it up with the pivotal points and line of the arm
emanating from them. Now you can trace the breakdown drawing, making
sure that you accurately position the line of the arm and the volume of the ball
at the end. This process is called superimposition, which we’ll discuss later.
Superimposing is the most valuable skill you can learn for creating accurate in-betweens!
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How to Make Animated Films
Put the drawings back on the pegs in the order of the first key position, the
breakdown position, then the second key position, and roll them backward
and forward.
By flipping (or rolling) the drawings, one after the other, you will get a very clear idea of how well your animation
is working.
Rolling is a process of placing your fingers between the drawings and rolling
them in order forward and backward so that you see each drawing one
after the other in sequence. This should give you a very rough sense of the
pendulum swinging from one side to the other, although this will be very crude
and broad at this stage. However, to make it smoother we will need to add in
more in-between drawings. To prepare for this, let us number the drawings 1
(first key drawing), 9 (breakdown drawing), and 17 (second key drawing.)
The technique for hand placement and flipping for bottom pegs animation.
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