Curiouser and Curiouser

Pay attention 2 negative space-the space AROUND your characters. Without it, U can’t build silhouettes & clarity.

Spend 75% planning and 25% animating.“ - advice passed to Mark Henn from Eric Larson from Ham Luske

Planning: ask yourself “What does this scene have to do? What is important? What is entertaining about this scene?”

Poses should reflect power and energy. There is LIFE and electricity inside these characters!

The negative shapes are like a contract between characters. Are you designing your negative shapes?

Two characters onscreen CAN’T think the same thing, so they CAN’T react the same way.

Frank Thomas would refine ONE pose that defined a scene until it was right. Then he would add more poses as needed.

The smaller the character (a little mouse, for example), the less detail you want to show. More detail implies more size.

Do your characters always stand straight up? Throw them off vertical-lean & flex the spine for attitude/interest.

To build the line of action through your characters use a bend or twist - ALWAYS better than a straight, stiff body.

“You never let ANYTHING interfere with the main thought.” - Milt Kahl

Three frames down, and four frames up, with brows leading the action by a frame = a nice, standard blink @ 24 fps. 

“You’re not supposed to animate drawings. You’re supposed to animate feelings.” – Ollie Johnston 

“have fun with the push/ revision calls and the evolution of your shot" 

“I know where the weight is coming from, and where the weight is just traveling, and where the weight is transferring to.”Milt Kahl 

The foundations of good weight? Balanced poses, solid arcs, controlled spacing and believable drag/overlap. Get ‘em right & win. 

Understand the dynamics of your character’s relationships. Any given still frame should clearly show who is driving the moment. 

Analyze a character in a specific pose for the best areas to show stretch and squash. Keep these areas simple. -Ollie Johnston 

People usually blink if they understand what is being said by another person. "know what I mean?” *blink* “yeah!" 

Try to communicate your scene in 5 drawings–if you can then you’ve efficiently communicated!

Don’t animate every word of dialog, or every phrase; animate the mental "gear shifts” of your character. They’re more meaningful. 

don’t be timid with your posing OR your acting! It’s often better to push too far and then pull back on the keys …

 Clean your anim by deleting unnecessary keyes. It will unclutter your timeline and your anim will look better.

Animation Process in <140: Start with storytelling poses; guess timing by spacing them out on XSheet; do breakdowns; adjust timing 

Keys=What yer doing; Breakdowns=How yer doing it (E. Goldberg) 

FLIP! Constantly flip your drawings whether you’re doing hand-drawn, 3D, Flash, whatever. Flip to check for spacing & volumes