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Module 10 – Animation

Animation is the art of creating the illusion of movement through a series of still images, traditionally involving hand-drawn techniques but now heavily reliant on computer graphics. It requires creativity, personal skills, practical knowledge, and constant practice for perfection. Various forms of animation include classical 2D, computer-generated 3D, and stop-motion, each with unique processes and technological advancements.

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7 views

Module 10 – Animation

Animation is the art of creating the illusion of movement through a series of still images, traditionally involving hand-drawn techniques but now heavily reliant on computer graphics. It requires creativity, personal skills, practical knowledge, and constant practice for perfection. Various forms of animation include classical 2D, computer-generated 3D, and stop-motion, each with unique processes and technological advancements.

Uploaded by

manuelzenarosa5
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CONTEMPORARY ARTS IN VARIOUS CONTEXTS

Module 10 – Animation

Lesson 1. Definitions and descriptions

a. Animation (from the Latin word, animare, “to breathe life into”) is the visual art of making a
motion picture from a series of still drawings; although twenty first century animation is
dominated by computerized film and video technology, the creative figure drawing skills and
draftsmanship of cartoonists and graphic artists remain an integral part of the process b.
Animation is the rapid display of sequences of static imagery in such a way as to create the
illusion of movement; it is the art of making inanimate objects appear to move; an artistic
impulse that long predates the movies
c. This art form is not the art of making drawings move, but the art of drawing movement;
based on the persistence of vision, animation, like all film, is an illusion of fluid movement,
when in fact it is a series of static drawings moving so quickly, twenty-four frames a second,
that they give the appearance of movement

Lesson 2. Characteristics of animation

a. Involves creativity and imagination: animation is essentially a creative activity; it involves


imagining new characters, objects environments, stories etc. and giving them different
colors, shades, textures, expressions and a hundred such elements b. Personal skills: to
become an animator some certain personal abilities and skills are required; an actor is not
necessarily a good singer or a musician; what art a person is good at depends on his traits
and interests
c. Practical knowledge: all art forms revolve around the application of skills in practical life
situations; for example, to be a singer, it is not enough to memorize all ragas, one has to apply
the knowledge of ragas to sing different songs; similarly, more than theoretical jargon, the
animation is much more about the practical application of skills and techniques; animators must
learn to apply various animation software and techniques that are taught in different animation
courses from reputed institutes
d. Requires perfection through practice: perfection is something an artist can never truly
achieve, but it’s something he or she constantly needs to strive for, through practice; to use a
music analogy, a singer needs to do what is called riyaz, which is a regular exercise; animation
too requires constant practice by creating new projects, sharpening existing skills etc.

Lesson 3. Forms of animation

a. Classical: 2D; hand-drawn animation: this is the oldest and simplest (but not easiest or
cheapest) method, having been around since the beginning of the 20th century; with the
advent of technology, pencils were traded in for stylus’ and paper exchanged for Cintiq’s and
Wacom tablets; the principles of drawing remain the same, but the technology has changed;
while technical tools are making it easier and more accessible, some of the greatest
animators alive still employ pencil and paper to draw their animation b. Computer graphics:
3D; this form of animation only became possible with innovations in computer graphics in the
1990s, and has become massively popular since then; the
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computer graphics allow the animator to create photo realistic images that classical
animation can’t; also, powerful animation software allows for in-betweens, lighting,
building crowds, environments and more; because of this, it has become the most
common form of animation used in the film industry today
c. Stop-motion animation: this is the oldest form of animation and one of the most interesting;
this form involves taking individual photographs of physical models, objects, puppets or people
as they are moved around, one frame at a time; it’s the most uncommon because of how
laborious and time consuming it is to create the objects and sets, and to take individual
pictures for every frame
d. 3DCG: Pixar was the first company to popularize the 3DCG method, starting with the release
of Toy Story, the first fully computer-animated theatrical feature film in 1995; every animated
film starts with an idea, a story, and a character; however, many people don’t realize that at
Pixar there are as many artists working in traditional media – hand drawing, painting, pastels,
sculpture – as are in digital media; most of this work takes place during the development of a
project, or pre-production, when they’re working out the story and the look of the film; this
development stage, the time before the digital assets are built, is the time to explore as much
as possible, to give their imaginations free rein; in turn, their art inspires the storytellers and
filmmakers to new heights; storyboarding is a part of this process; similar to laying a comic strip
on the wall, storyboarding allows the animators to “read” the whole film visually in
pre-production, from beginning to end; it also allows animators to see where the film is strong
and where it is weak and then re-work those areas.; animators then create the digital character
models in a computer program and move them into different positions that are known as
“keyframes”, and the computers can be programmed to simulate them moving between those
points; but in order to get the final product that you see in the movie, there’s an entire “pipeline”
– a line of different groups that each scene passes through.; each group handles a single
different aspect of the scene; for example, one of them adds the sets and environments that
the models move around in, another adds details like hair and clothing that move
independently, another adds virtual light sources into the scene to make it look like it should
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