Feedback from Expert - James Suhr

For the Class:

On the whole, this class has improved so much since the the beginning and I’m really, really inspired by the work Susan has done to make this class so successful. I do want to remind students that just because you took a class once doesn’t mean that you’ve mastered the material though, you’ve just become very familiar with what is expected of you. Take what you’ve learned from your teacher and keep practicing.

With that said, here’s four things I noticed across the board that everyone should practice:

• • 1. When animating, feet don’t magically slide unless there is a reason. If you are pulling a rope or dancing in a circle, when a person plants a foot, it stays there unless you’ve established, or are establishing the opposing force on the rope is stronger and pulling back, or they on some slippery surface like mud. Also, if a character takes a step, you need to show a contact drawing to indicate to the audience that the person took a step. As individual slowwwwwwlly paced illustrations I can figure it out (like say in a comic book), but when things are moving with just frames in between them, it’s very hard to follow and makes the action look ‘muddy’ (difficult to see, and very undefined). I’d show you a drawing here to illustrate, but pretty much everyone got one in their critique.

    2. Apes more than any other creature have muscles very similar to humans (though proportions are different). Please remember this when drawing them. Also, apes are said to walk on their knuckles, but they really walk on their forefingers. They will stop and rest on their knuckles, but please don’t draw them walking like they are punching the ground. Lastly pay particular not to how small ape thumbs are in relation to the rest of their hands. They have little baby thumbs.