View Category:Character Animation
Character animation is exciting. Bringing bits to life, and eliciting an emotional response is one of the most satisfying endeavors. So much goes into character animation, from the design of the character itself, its backstory, to the realization of the character in a final form. Character animation as a task builds upon history, art, and technology. In 3D animation, characters are literally “built” and assembled from polygons and surfaces, from joints and bones, to skinning rigs and control objects and expressions, all before the animator has a go.
The character animator has a special charge: to create life via performance. Assuming a reasonably capable rig, the animator must fulfill the needs of the story as a baseline; the true task is to make viewers believe that what they are watching is a living, breathing, thinking character. Suspension of disbelief is required when characters are not within our experience in reality; cartoons to alien creatures and the like. One must see truth in the performance, or the performance fails.
The best tools in the world will not make you a good character animator. Instead, a true understanding of the principles of animation, as originally developed by the Disney artists of the 1930’s, drama and comedy acting, staging and so on all go into conveying the life of the character. Without an understanding of the foundations, the task becomes that much harder. Assuming the animator has been studying, the other aspect is, of course, practice. Animate, animate, animate. Better yet, draw and animate. And most of all, enjoy the journey.