Choo Choo

Just to remind folks --- I like showing people how to do animation. I've taught almost 2,000 people how to draw animation, and how to use 2D and 3D animation Software. My brother and I started drawing when we were in diapers. Eventually that got us to where we could make some $$$ at it. I'm not saying it's easy. But it's a way to make a living, if you hustle. •••••••••••••

I'm going to repeat the description under the title:  This demonstration is meant to show that you can create interesting movement in a "First Pass" treatment using Very Simple Shapes, which then serve as a Template on which to build a more subtle model, retaining the movement.

This is EXACTLY the same concept as starting your Animation of a figure with a sloppy, sketchy SCRIBBLE. So many times I've watched students struggling and sweating, trying to make EACH DRAWING a Perfectly Drafted, "Ready-to-send-to the-Printers" work of ART.

Yes, in some instances, the first stroke of a tool is a commitment to making That Piece of paper, or Canvas or clay or Marble, the Finished Work, with every stroke counting and contributing its precisely measured work to the final Piece. But in animation, I learned I can refine my sketchy scribble to a finished Clean pose, without erasing and brushing away piles of crumbs, without erasing right through the page, without making a mess on that page, by just tracing the lines I want to use on a new piece of paper. Once I began working that way, everything started moving much faster. Yes, I went through much more paper, but I got a hell of a lot more work done with fewer muscle cramps and got to see my stuff in pencil test much sooner.

I appreciate that someone wants to do good work. With animation, you do create good work by NOT trying to START with a finished drawing. Again, think of an architect or an aircraft designer or a civil engineer designing a bridge. NONE of those folks START with the precise, crisp, detailed drawings from which parts can be directly measured and cut!!! NO, that comes LAST, after all the conceptual and creative explorations have narrowed the gap between thought and reality.

Lecture, lecture, lecture. Sorry. I wouldn't dwell on this except I see so many young students piss away enormous energy trying to make each drawing "perfect" when they don't have a CLUE what "PERFECT" is...