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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

"Faking it" by Amid

There's a great post at Cartoon Brew with a quote from Kevin Koch (Dreamworks Animator) which you should print out and always carry with you. :)

“If you’re not in a position to make story/character contributions, if that superficial character and shallow, unbelievable story aren’t going to improve no matter how many suggestions you make, then just do the best you can. There are times when I have to remind myself that I’m a pro, I’m being paid to do a job, and the least I can do is a solid professional job. Think of those shots as a technical problems. Look for ways to emphasize the basic principles of animation. Are the arcs as full as they could be, can you pack in a touch more overlap and follow-through, are your poses as clear and well staged as they can be? If you’re stuck having a minor character walk around for no particular reason, make it the sharpest walk in the movie, without upstaging the main action. Remember the oft quoted line, “There are no small scenes, only small animators.”

2 comments:

Kevin Koch said...

I hope you'll follow the Cartoon Brew link to the full post that Amid excerpted. It's misleading unless you read the whole thing.

Anyway, glad you found it useful.

Jean-Denis Haas said...

I did read the whole thing and I hope that people will follow the link in order to do the same.

But even out of context I found the quote to be very meaningful. You won't always get the "hero" shots and you're not always given a chance to contribute creatively, but you still have to do your best no matter what.

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