JACOB A. WELLS
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“In Hollywood, they think drawn animation doesn’t work anymore, computers are the way. They forget that the reason computers are the way is that Pixar makes good movies. So everybody tries to copy Pixar. They’re relying too much on the technology and not enough on the artists.”
Jacob Wells
— Tim Burton
welcome! This book is the culmination of all the thought and hard work that went into creating AniLution. From written notes, interviews, and sketches to a full-fledged animation, you’ll see how I came to develop my project. Thanks for reading!
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Jacob Wells
contents 01 Picking the Topic....................................................................................5 02 Research and Analysis...........................................................................22 03 Creating the Problem Brief.....................................................................20 04 Developing the Visuals...........................................................................24 05 Making the Animation.............................................................................28
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1
picking the topic
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exploration
By definition, a capstone is “the high point: crown achievement.� It is expected that your capstone project will serve as the most significant contribution to your academic design portfolio. The first step in the capstone process was to map, list, sprawl, or otherwise record ideas for topics to cover. One cannot solve an issue, or satisfy a human need through design, without first exploring what to address. To the right are some of the topics explored. At first, I really wanted to address a world problem like over-farming or hunger, but I realized it may prove to be too large for a one-man mission. Then, I drifted to two topics very personal for me: mental health awareness and problems with animation in the US. However, upon further reflection, and many sticky notes later, I realized that I was drawn to topics in animation. But what to choose? Education for traditional animation? The fall of traditional animation? Idea generation? An avenue for practice?
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selection
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and the winner is... Issues caused by the shift between 2D and 3D animation. After a lot of thought on what I could possibly address in the world of animation, I ended up thinking back to how much I struggled to find information on how to pursue it in general and the difficulty of trying to obtain credible advice on how to keep up the good fight in a 3D world. Fast-forward. Now that I’ve spent 3 years researching, I know enough to at least get me started and help me pursue traditional animation in my “free time”. However, it wasn’t easy starting out on my own. People without access to formal education in traditional animation would need to go through the same painful, disconcerting, and ambiguous process of learning it on their own. In addition to just getting better at the technical and conceptual aspects of animation, they would have to mentor themselves since none would be able to answer their questions. Why not help them avoid that pitfall and streamline them toward success and understanding? So, I hit the ground running.
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research and analysis
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audience and discovery
who is affected by the shift in mediums? After some thought and discussion with both peers and professors, I found that there are 4 stakeholders in my project; 4 groups of people that are most affected by the industrial change in medium. Animation experts, prospective animators, enthusiasts, and educators: Animation experts and educators are currently having to adapt to changing business models, softwares, and trends to stay relevant like anyone else in the field. Prospective animators are in the thick of the change and must dance around the problems on their journey from here onward. Lastly, you have enthusiasts / the fans. They will be directly affected by the change as productions on 2D animation in films have ceased in the US. However, my main focus for my project is on prospective animators.
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from around the web I spent countless hours going through dozens of forums, articles, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, and books to find the nuggets of information I needed: What are some of the issues prospective animators face? Is it due to the shift between 2D and 3D? (Some) Could I find real questions from the people I wanted to help? (Yes) But, as I searched for advice on some of the common core questions I found, it led me to the conclusion that because the same questions are being repeated across the internet, credible advice is difficult to find, and that so much of the content is in dense text and non-visual formats, that a new stance for the project was in order: I wanted to connect self-learners to the credible advice on all things animation in an engaging way that felt natural.
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surveys and responses
finding the questions to the answers To solidify the validity of my capstone and the direction I wanted to head in, I wanted to conduct a series of surveys, involving both the public and prospective animators. Across over 30 surveys, 5 personal interviews, and a few general discussions with students and peers, it appears that the public and prospective animators immediately focus on aesthetics and keeping up with the latest trending technology. Though there were a few wellinformed people that answered the questions more deeply, they were the minority. There were a few key moments that spoke to how much I felt my project was necessary:
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76% of respondents reported that they didn’t know of any animation community for support or critique.
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Only 33% of respondents said that they knew of animation learning resources, but 0% of them could name a source.
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50% of respondents that were 2D animation students stated that they were concerned about the shift between 2D and 3D animation.
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“Unsure” and “Not really” were the most frequent answers to some of the most serious questions, and the survey itself.
“Unsure.” “Not really.” “I know of one school that is a feeder school for Disney, but I heard its pretty hard to get in to. If you don’t get into that school, I don’t know how you would succeed.” “I often have a lot of difficulty finding good, credible, free resources I can use to learn about animation from. I have learned the most from watching tutorial videos, joining animation streams, and asking the pros some questions.”
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interviews
tracking down the pros After condensing all of the survey data and choosing a select handful of questions, I was off to find some pros to interview so that I could find a common thread between the answers and start ideating deliverables. It took an immensely LONG time, filled with spamming as many educators at relevant universities like CalArts, RIT, and SCAD, students, and forums at sites like CG Society and 3D Total to find willing participants. So, to pass the time, I searched for answers to the questions I had gathered and formatted in Survey Monkey and Qualtrics. I came to find some eerily well-fitting interviews and musings with animation professionals that blew my mind a little bit. They inevitably impacted this projected, and included people like Ron Doucet, Tomm Moore, Chris Oatley, Aaron Blaise, Richard Williams, and Walt Stanchfield. Eventually, I did reach 3 incredibly kind animation professionals that had the time to spare for an interview: Maureen Furniss, Brandon Larson, and Tom Gasek.
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Maureen Furniss Maureen is an animation theorist and historian that heads the CalArts character animation program as its ambassador.
Brian Larson Brian is an award-winning traditional animator that teaches at RIT and runs his own studio called Kerplunk Studios.
Tom Gasek Tom is an award winning stop motion director and character animator with over 27 years of professional experience at top-tier studios.
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creating the problem brief
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solution and overview
A project brief is a document that elaborates on a problem that a designer needs to solve in great detail. It should focus on the current situation and any ideal results of the design intervention. A shift has occurred in modern media from the drawn line to the pixel and the polygon; the animation industry is rapidly evolving and changing its principles and process. Through this, many people have debated what we’ve lost and gained. Some of this includes: The loss of deep, meaningful storytelling, technical education, jobs, and novelty. But, some argue that we have gained: Faster and more profitable workflows, more easily learned animation skills, more cinematic worlds, and more polished effects. However, some of this seems to be circulating around opinion pieces rather than insights from credible sources in the industry, which can be very difficult to find and digest. My objective is to document the responses from animation professionals as they answer questions about issues caused by the shift between 2D and 3D animation; we will explore the possible implications involved that prospective animators must be aware of so that they may pursue traditional animation and thrive.
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ideal outcomes Ideally, the project will help prospective animators have a deeper grasp of what is happening in the animation industry because of the 2D to 3D shift, how they are affected by it, and how to survive it from credible sources. The project should be delivered in a way that makes it easily accessible, in a format that’s engaging and visual, and of low-cost to prevent selflearners from being blocked out of the conversation like they are now. Lastly, it should encourage them to continue seeking out information, be proactive about their situation, and guide them through more than just technical tutorials.
animated intervention In order to address the issue of a lack of credible advice on all things traditional animation, particularly the 2D to 3D shift, the cost of a lot of mentored content and formal education, and the general roadblocks prospective 2D animators will face, I would take the condensed interviews from the pros to glean a topic. On this topic, I would develop what would theoretically be an animated documentary series using crowd-sourced questions and interviews with professionals to make sure real questions are getting answered, credibility is taking a front seat, and it’s in a format that makes sense. (animation) Through social media distribution it can remain self-funded and perpetuating, remain free for the audience, and allow anyone to find it with ease and without concern of viruses.
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developing the visuals
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inspiration
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inspiration and identity
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type, color, and line amatic bold abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890
amatic sc abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 1234567890
final logo
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making the animation
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scripts
finding the right words The next step in the process was to take the interviews, glean a topic that all of the animation pros touched on, and write out a script. At least, that was the idea at first. After several revisions, for time’s sake, it made more sense to make an animated video explaining exactly what AniLution did and some of the issues in animation that influenced its creation.
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final script In 2013, Disney shut down their hand-drawn animation division. Some of the world’s most prolific animators were suddenly cut and out of work after years of successful contributions to blockbuster films. American studios had already been jumping on the 3D bandwagon at the time, but after news of this spread, the world declared that 2D animation was dead. The shift between 2D and 3D animation is discouraging enough for future traditional animators when the world of animation is already a competitive market to break into. However, it gets worse when you’re just starting out, without direction, you’ll find so many opinions, so many voices speaking about traditional animation, that it’s difficult to know where to turn for credible advice on it all. A lot of wonderful content is hidden in podcasts, textbooks, & other less visual venues. Kind of weird for a medium like animation…right? This is what inspired AniLution, an animated series dedicated to documenting unbiased interviews from students, prospective animators, and industry pros, as they answer questions about issues stemming from the shift between 2D and 3D animation. Consolidated access to credible advice from industry pros is incredibly important for prospective animators to remain aware, honed, and current, rather than confused or misled by a forum full of loose opinions and ranting strangers. AniLution isn’t just a visual source for professional advice, but it’s also the beginnings of an important conversation about the need for being aware of issues that affect learning traditional animation. This is the evolution, the revolution, of how animators can and must seek out knowledge of their field, even if they don’t know what they’re looking for. You’d be surprised by what you can find, in an age where a galaxy of information is held within a tiny, simple, search bar.
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initial storyboards
putting pen to paper After the voice over was recorded to the final script, it was time for one of my favorite parts: planning the animation. Initially, I had made storyboards, style frames, and a script in the first semester of the capstone process. However, as the positioning of the animation changed and the assets continued to be refined, so did my storyboards and style frames.
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final storyboards
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style frames
finalizing the style After some generous critique, I realized that the style I was refining was conflicting with my message. Though I still wanted this fun, easilyanimated, iconic, rounded feel and tame colors, a line-based style that emphasized a traditional animation fit better with my project than a modern, vectored look. After adding texture, some selective fills, and a color field, I was ready to begin animating.
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animation stills
putting it all together Working seamlessly with vectors and my developing traditional animation skills was a great challenge, making the animation an extensive, but very fun, process. Upon compeletion, the video would be posted on social media sites like YouTube so that ad monetization could fund the project and keep it going and growing.
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