Animation brings everything to life – be it a product that you want to introduce in the market, or an image, or a character for a movie. It connects everything to the real world. In the past, animation was limited to cartoons alone, but the 21st century witnessed animation flexing its muscles and exerting a tremendous influence on all media.
So what does it take for you to become a good animator and make your animations stand apart? There is a popular misconception that animation is all about developing a bunch of technical skills. In fact, a good animator needs skills way beyond mere technical prowess.
One among them is observation skills. To become a good animator, one must possess a keen eye for motion and movements of living beings as well as of inorganic beings like machines, motor vehicles, etc.
For example, the movement patterns of male and female characters are entirely different. Hence the animator can do justice to his character only if he has keenly observed the differences in the anatomy, movement patterns, running, walking, sitting, standing and the like.
This is exactly the reason why all animators are required to learn the Principles of Animation in their initial stage. A good grasp of the fundamental principles will help them animate each character with a difference based on their movement patterns and postures.
Animators sketching Lion references for the movie The Lion King
Today, with the advancement in technology, animations have become a lot easier. Latest softwares offer a powerful arsenal of tools and intuitive interfaces that make it easier for the animator to give life to his imagination. When good observation skills are combined with cutting-edge technology, the animator can create wonders and achieve extraordinary results.
For instance, consider the movies The Jungle Book (Directed by Jon Favreau – 2016) and Mougly – Legend Of Jungle (Directed by Andy Serkis – 2018). Characters of both movies are the same. But in The Jungle Book, behaviours of animals are more or less the same as in their real life.) However, in Mougly, emotions of animals have a close resemblance to that of human facial expressions). This was made possible only because they were able to rightly blend animators’ observations with the prowess of latest softwares.
So hone your observing skills and use them to give your animations a unique touch!
