Express

The Studio Habit of Mind that will be explored in this unit is Express.

To express ourselves as artists we must learn to create works that convey an idea (an aim or purpose), message (an important point or theme), feeling (an emotion or belief), or personal meaning (an intended communication of personal importance). Expression is created by artists through the use of symbolism, metaphor, and personal beliefs and experiences. Artists use various artistic conventions to show their ideas, messages, feelings, and personal meanings.

Why is Express such an important concept to animation?

Animation History

Chuck Jones

A unique storyteller and comedian, Chuck Jones is best known for his extensive work at Warner Brothers creating Looney Tunes Cartoons. He was innovative, edgy, and an excellent storyteller.

Learn more about his life, his artistic process, and unique vision through this documentary video.

What could you steal from Chuck Jones' work to add to your own animations?

Ken Harris - Bugs Bunny pencil test

Virgil Ross - Looney Tunes pencil tests

Looney Tunes Back in Action

Artistic Concept

A concept is an abstract idea. Artists use different concepts to take those ideas from abstraction to reality. The concept being explored through the lens of the Studio Habit - Express is Reflection.

Reflection lies in an artist's ability to seriously think and talk about the in-process and finished artworks that are created. Reflection also applies to the ability to analyze the process of creation. Artists constantly, and willingly reflect on their work and the work of their peers, fully knowing that honesty, through reflection, is the only way in which growth can occur. Artistic reflection occurs through formal and informal critiques, analysis, and looking inward at one's own strengths and weaknesses.

Professional Examples

Visual Storytelling

Great visual storytelling is done in subtle ways and can be told without dialogue. Watch the following professional examples and pay particular attention to the characters' body language and how their emotions are perfectly illustrated and read visually through their posing and major actions.

Up - Pixar

Lilo and Stitch - Walt Disney Animation

12 Principles of Animation

Solid Drawing

This principle refers to the idea that all of the objects, characters, and scenes that you draw are 3D and should move and behave as such - even through they are drawn in just 2D. This means that as the animator your are drawing through your shapes, understanding how they move in a 3D environment, and animating as such.

Appeal

This principle refers to the character's personality and likeability that you create as the animator. This can be accomplished through a strong story, visual techniques, and personality in the character's actions, timing, posing, and movement.

Character_Emotion Unit Handout

Considerations:

Don't forget about all of the 12 principles of animation that you've learned so far too! You'll need those to be successful in this piece.

Make your viewers FEEL what your character is feeling through your engaging story.

Body language and posing is so important. Your character will not have a face and must "show" how it is feeling through how it is posed and the timing you give actions/movements.

Project Specifics

For this final piece you will create an animation of a sack of flour as your main character who acts out its emotions and feelings through a story that you create. The story can be as simple or complicated as you'd like but must include the following as it is a compliation of everything you've learned so far:

Timing - your entire animation should have appropriate timing as well as appropriately timed movements and actions
- give enough time for pauses in the animation so that your viewer has time to process how your flour sack character is feeling
- give time to build anticipation and aid in how your story is being told to your viewers
Weight - not only should your flour sack character feel like it has weight and volume through the use of solid drawing, but your viewer should feel your character's weight as it has to fall from a height at least 1 time
Visual Effect - your animation must use a visual effect of some sort at least once - this could be anything from a cloud of dust, to magic, to rain
Walk Cycle - your character must walk some distance with a sense of personality in your animation - that could be sad, proud, sneaky - it's up to your story but should be shown through posing and especially timing
Visual Storytelling - your story must have appeal to it and have a clear beginning, middle, and end resolution - it should feel complete

student examples

story

posing

simple shapes

making the movie

objectives and national standards

want to know more? - exploratory animation

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