| Timing is Everything Part of your planning process is deciding on the timing for each of the key poses. The timing you choose will determine whether the action is fast or slow. Timing is shown through both distance and speed. Distance is the actual measurement between the individual lines and speed is the number of frames it takes or the number of drawings between the keys. It’s the ability to make these two things work together that makes a great animator. Every action is different. Two separate characters will do the same action in a completely different way. Part of this is determined by the character’s physical attributes, attitude, mental prowess, and their inner character. It also depends on the type of cartoon you’re producing. A Tex Avery cartoon is timed differently than something by Katsuhiro Otomo or Chuck Jones. The director is ultimately the one who decides on the timing of the action within a cartoon. As the sole animator on these assignments, you’re basically the director as well. I’ll give you some basic tips for each assignment but ultimately, all the timing will be up to you. How does someone learn timing? My feeling is that there is a combination of different things that you need to do. These are observation, study, and practical application Observation is looking around yourself and seeing things happen. This can be in the real world or through various mediums including television shows, movies, short cartoons & films, and music. You can ask someone else to act out the character’s action or do them yourself. You could also video tape the action and then watch it. Observation is one thing. You can sit back and just watch a cartoon and enjoy it for it’s aesthetic value. Study is the process of analyzing. Going back over an action and reviewing it several times. Stepping through the action frame-by-frame and making a conscious effort to understand how the action is achieved is a vital part of your learning process. Practical application is actually sitting down and doing the drawings. Trial and error. Every animator does this to a greater or lesser extent. I find that most of the time, I’m surprised by the action of the character. Not like, “Wow! How the heck did that happen?” but more a sense of awe that I can do it. This is not to say that right from the beginning I was able to animate characters properly, hah!, far from it. I’d say my 2 years of college were more a study in what not to do. I did a lot of really bad animation. It wasn’t until I started working in a studio and I had to do a good job or get fired that I really started getting a handle on animation. Again, I’m not trying to say that I’m God’s gift to animation - I don’t have the abilities of someone like Glen Keane, primarily because I haven’t been exposed to the same professional environment or opportunities but this also doesn’t mean that I don’t understand the principles of animation or can’t apply them to the animation that I do on my own or for teaching purposes. Your job (and mine) is to try your best each time you sit down to draw, not just animation but any type of work you’re going to do. As we progress through the assignments in this book you’ll get the opportunity to try all sorts of different timing and eventually learn how to manipulate your timing and drawings to get the results you’re looking for. |