Timing is everything

One of the key principles of animation as posited by the animators of Walt Disney in the timeless book written by disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in 1981, The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation is timing. They define timing as the number of drawings or frames for a given action, which translates to the speed of the action on film. On a purely physical level, correct timing makes objects appear to abide to the laws of physics; for instance, an object's weight decides how it reacts to an impetus, like a push. Timing is critical for establishing a character's mood, emotion, and reaction. It can also be a device to communicate aspects of a character's personality.



Simply put its the way we space key activities apart that gives a sense of motion. In consequences it is how fast or slow a movement is that determines how realistic the animation looks.Ive found that getting timing right usually makes all the difference between believable motion and something that looks odd. By the very same token this makes getting timing right, an often very difficult stage in the animation process. At the blocking stage, I usually start out with 4 to 5 frames apart in a pose by pose action and when i get a feel of the movement that works then I move on to some quick timing.  Of course, with breakdowns and in-betweens the timing has to change to accommodate the extra motion.

I've learned that making something faster or slower than usual adds a little more believability to an animation and takes away the linearity that comes with frame by frame tweening. Human motion which is usually what we are trying to depict in animation is ruled by arcs rather than straight lines and inherent in the arc is a sort of delay in the trajectory of motion. In a way, it is an attempt to simulate the effect of the forces of gravity, push or pull on an object that determine how long it will take for an object to move from one position to another.  Achieving the right spacing of this motions are what make up good timing. One good method i've found to approach timing, is to animate to sound. Because music is so strongly linked to timing, syncing to music helps you to keep to a consistent  rhythm across the whole sequence. An important and recent example is found in the work of one of the key animators on the Ice Age (Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha, 2002)movies. In an attached video he shows how keeping the sequence in time with a soundtrack helps to achieve a more cinematic flow of animation.

Below i've also attached another walk cycle video from vimeo. I will be using this as reference for work cycle sequences in the future.

References

Ice Age, 2002. [Film]. Directed by Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha. USA: Blue Sky Studios

Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas (1995) The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation [Hardcover], Disney Editions; Rev Sub edition, ISBN-10: 0786860707

Exploring Chiaroscuro in my work

 Samson and Delilah (1609-1610)

In my latest work, i decided to explore a bit with the art of  chiaroscuro, it is found in the works of Early Renaissance painters such as Masaccio (1401-28) in works like The Holy Trinity (1428) and The Tribute Money (1426) as well as High Renaissance artists Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) and Raphael (1483-1520). Its definition as an art form comes from "the Italian word for "light-dark"; or the French "clair-obscur" which describes the prominent contrast of light and shade in a painting, drawing or print, and the skill demonstrated by the artist in the management of shadows to create the illusion of three-dimensional forms".[1]

 

To further explain this, the core principle is rooted in the concept that solidity of form is only detectable in the presence of light and if light emanates from a single source, it illuminates objects according to a specifically defined set of rules. In essence it describes how the artist depicts the 3-D illumination of objects thus creating the illusion of solid forms.

I find that as a principle in my work i tend to prefer the effective placement of light not just to highlight the hero and his surrounding but to also render certain areas dark and shadowed. It gives a sense of the natural environment we live in where light is more than likely usually emanating from one source which could either be the sun, a street light at night or a bulb in a room. These light sources are static and thus areas which are obscured do not see light and tend to be dark. This is the way light works around us and this is how i tend to want to create lighting in my work. 

This of course doesn't mean that I do not respect the 3,4,5-points light set-up theory and its practicality in design but except for the hero character and other key points in a scene that require illumination for their importance in telling a story, I tend to prefer a scene or lighting setup where areas of shadow are as strong as the areas of illumination. This may be partly a result of my background and where i come from. With limited electricity, nothing is ever completely illuminated and so there is always a strong interplay of light with darkness and in a way may also be influencing the kind of lighting i use in setting the mood for my scenes.

 Test Render from some of my Latest Work in Progress

Overall, I am most drawn to this form of depicting environments for its sense of depth and space. 

References

[1] Chiaroscuro, year unknown. Chiaroscuro in Painting: Definition, History, Tenebrism: Light-Dark Shading For Three-Dimensional Effect: Sfumato:. [online] Available at: <http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/painting/chiaroscuro.htm> [Accessed 25 November 2011 ].