Previously in this series I've covered that we as animators always need to remember that our job is not to create movement, but to create life, and that we only have three tools to get the job done.
In the animators toolbox the tool that is the easiest to grasp probably is the pose. The poses are the individualpictures in the animation. There are the "key-poses" (sometimes called "storytelling-poses") which are the poses that are the most important to communicate the message of the scene or WHY the scene is in the film, then there are the breakdown poses which are the most important poses needed to communicate HOW the character gets from key-pose to key-pose. Last but not least are the inbetweens, the poses in-between the others, the poses that creates fluidity in WHAT the character is doing. Although the inbetweens often are seen as the key-poses illegitimate younger brother, they are just as important as the key-poses and breakdowns.
When beginning to pose the animation of a scene you will start with the key-poses, but to know what the key-poses are you first need to know what they need to communicate, why the scene is in the film. WHAT a character is doing is less important than HOW she does it, because how she does something reveals her psychology, what she is feeling and thinking, or with other words: WHY she does what she does.
Why the character does something is how the message of the scene is communicated. This is what should drive the animation and the key-poses are the first step to communicate this.
When posing a character, you need to keep in mind that she never exists in a vacuüm, she is a part of the composition of the screen and of what the composition communicates. This doesn't only mean that the charactershouldn't be posed in a way that the background distract from the pose, it also means that the shape of the pose is a part of how the audience reads the composition.
Square shapes communicates differently that round shapes, twisted shapes different from straight lines, big shapes different from small. Think about where the poses are placed on the screen and if the pose is turnedtowards the screens edge or towards the screens middle. Also, how does the characters poses works with the rest of the composition, both with the background and other characters.? Do the poses work in contrast or in cooperation with the composition? Is the character posed in a way that makes him seem surrounded by the rest of the composition or if he is imposing on the composition?
All the choices we make in posing a character will influence what we communicate to the audience. There is a lot to think about on this subject, more than I have room to get in on in this article. I do recommend studying classical art and how composition works in images.
Through the character and his limbs (if he has any) you can draw imaginary lines, lines that will end up pointing somewhere on or of the screen, depending on the pose. The strongest line going through the body is called the "line-of-action". The line-of-action directs the audiences eyes where to look, often to where the character is looking or to what he is thinking about.
A line-of-action pointing up from the character generally shows a weakness or inferiority towards what the line is pointing at (it doesn't have to be inferior in the negative sence), where as a line-of-action pointing down towards something has the opposite message. If a line-of-action points through the depth of the image it generally communicates the character feeling himself at a distance from what the line points at, depending on previousshots the distance may be either growing or shrinking.
As I mentioned there is not just a main line-of-action going through the character but often also smaller ones going through, depending on the scene, the extremities, fingers, clothes, hair or something else. These smaller lines-of-action can distract from the main line and lead the audiences eye away from where you want them to look. Good artists are aware of this and know how to use the weaker lines-of-action to help direct the audiences eyes to the right place without the audience noticing it.
When getting down to how to pose the individual character, as an animator, you should ideally show the movement and its force in, not just the difference between the poses, but also in the poses themselves (as long as the pose is a part of a movement).
The easiest way to show movement in an individual pose is, of cause, by making the clothing or hair being pulled in the wind, but there is a better way (that also works in windy conditions).
Visualise a sprinter running 100m. At around 60m she reaches her top speed, she is almost vertical and her body is (or at least should be) relaxed. If you look at a still image from this part of the race, she looks like she isn't running particularly fast. Now picture the sprinter at about 5m, just after the start, close to the ground and pushing forward and she looks like a speed demon. Why is it like this? The answer lies in the sprinters central-bodymass.
The best way to show movement in a pose is to move the characters central-bodymass in the direction of the movement.
Take, for example, a bouncing ball. If its shape is that of a perfect circle it is impossible to see in which direction it is moving. If you stretch out the ball, you'll limits the amounts of directions, but the ball could still be moving in two directions. On the other hand, if you move the central-bodymass of the ball in the direction of the movement, making the ball egg-shaped, the ball displays clearly in which direction it is moving.
Don't confuse this with the line-of-action. Although the result of moving the central-bodymass in the direction ofthe movement often creates a line-of-action pointing towards the where the character is going, this isn't always true. Imagine a character falling backwards. Her central-bodymass is behind her, illustrating the movement, but she is leaning forwards creating a line-of-action pointing forwards, to where she wants to go.
One way, to make the effect of increasing the central-bodymass towards the direction movement stronger, and making the force of the movement stronger, is by making the movement take place in diagonal direction towards the camera, creating the effect of both moving over the image and increasing in size.
Another way of moving the central-bodymass in the direction of the movement is by making the trailing body parts blurry or, in 2D animation, either braking up or thinning out their lines.
When thinking about the force of a pose it is also important to remember what moves first. Almost all movements start from the hip and then move out towards the ends of the extremities. This isn't as visual in movements that doesn't demand as much force, but still takes place. So, the more you let the hips of the character move before the rest of the body, the heavier the movement looks (like the saying "put your hips in to it").
If you can communicate force in a drawing you can also communicate several messages in one pose, both what the character is thinking and feeling and done in her personal way. For example: Your character may frown but her body is light. This will tell your audience that your character may try to display sadness, but inside is happy.
When the animation doesn't communicate properly the animator is often recommended to "push the pose". What "pushing the pose" means is to make the poses clearer, often by exaggerating them. But just exaggerating a pose isn't always possible without creating slap-stick, and sometimes the exaggeration doesn't even make the pose clearer.
Clarity comes from contrast.
Just as a black line will be hard to read on a black paper, an exaggerated pose will be harder to read around other exaggerated poses. Sometimes the best way to push a pose is to make it less exaggerated, other times you will use the timing or spacing to make the pose read better (but more on timing and spacing later).
The fact that the pose is the easiest to understand for animators, often is the poison for the poses own demise. At times the individual poses are just ways for the animator to get the character from point-A to point-B, and the poses themselves have no value on their own. This is a recipe for failure.
Know what a pose needs to communicate before you draw it, WHY it is in the film, then think about HOW you can communicate this message in the most efficient way, and now your ready for WHAT the pose should be.
In my next article I will get in to the next tool in the animators toolbox. The timing.
Thank you for reading!
Peter Hertzberg
In the animators toolbox the tool that is the easiest to grasp probably is the pose. The poses are the individualpictures in the animation. There are the "key-poses" (sometimes called "storytelling-poses") which are the poses that are the most important to communicate the message of the scene or WHY the scene is in the film, then there are the breakdown poses which are the most important poses needed to communicate HOW the character gets from key-pose to key-pose. Last but not least are the inbetweens, the poses in-between the others, the poses that creates fluidity in WHAT the character is doing. Although the inbetweens often are seen as the key-poses illegitimate younger brother, they are just as important as the key-poses and breakdowns.
When beginning to pose the animation of a scene you will start with the key-poses, but to know what the key-poses are you first need to know what they need to communicate, why the scene is in the film. WHAT a character is doing is less important than HOW she does it, because how she does something reveals her psychology, what she is feeling and thinking, or with other words: WHY she does what she does.
Why the character does something is how the message of the scene is communicated. This is what should drive the animation and the key-poses are the first step to communicate this.
When posing a character, you need to keep in mind that she never exists in a vacuüm, she is a part of the composition of the screen and of what the composition communicates. This doesn't only mean that the charactershouldn't be posed in a way that the background distract from the pose, it also means that the shape of the pose is a part of how the audience reads the composition.
Square shapes communicates differently that round shapes, twisted shapes different from straight lines, big shapes different from small. Think about where the poses are placed on the screen and if the pose is turnedtowards the screens edge or towards the screens middle. Also, how does the characters poses works with the rest of the composition, both with the background and other characters.? Do the poses work in contrast or in cooperation with the composition? Is the character posed in a way that makes him seem surrounded by the rest of the composition or if he is imposing on the composition?
All the choices we make in posing a character will influence what we communicate to the audience. There is a lot to think about on this subject, more than I have room to get in on in this article. I do recommend studying classical art and how composition works in images.
Through the character and his limbs (if he has any) you can draw imaginary lines, lines that will end up pointing somewhere on or of the screen, depending on the pose. The strongest line going through the body is called the "line-of-action". The line-of-action directs the audiences eyes where to look, often to where the character is looking or to what he is thinking about.
A line-of-action pointing up from the character generally shows a weakness or inferiority towards what the line is pointing at (it doesn't have to be inferior in the negative sence), where as a line-of-action pointing down towards something has the opposite message. If a line-of-action points through the depth of the image it generally communicates the character feeling himself at a distance from what the line points at, depending on previousshots the distance may be either growing or shrinking.
As I mentioned there is not just a main line-of-action going through the character but often also smaller ones going through, depending on the scene, the extremities, fingers, clothes, hair or something else. These smaller lines-of-action can distract from the main line and lead the audiences eye away from where you want them to look. Good artists are aware of this and know how to use the weaker lines-of-action to help direct the audiences eyes to the right place without the audience noticing it.
When getting down to how to pose the individual character, as an animator, you should ideally show the movement and its force in, not just the difference between the poses, but also in the poses themselves (as long as the pose is a part of a movement).
The easiest way to show movement in an individual pose is, of cause, by making the clothing or hair being pulled in the wind, but there is a better way (that also works in windy conditions).
Visualise a sprinter running 100m. At around 60m she reaches her top speed, she is almost vertical and her body is (or at least should be) relaxed. If you look at a still image from this part of the race, she looks like she isn't running particularly fast. Now picture the sprinter at about 5m, just after the start, close to the ground and pushing forward and she looks like a speed demon. Why is it like this? The answer lies in the sprinters central-bodymass.
The best way to show movement in a pose is to move the characters central-bodymass in the direction of the movement.
Take, for example, a bouncing ball. If its shape is that of a perfect circle it is impossible to see in which direction it is moving. If you stretch out the ball, you'll limits the amounts of directions, but the ball could still be moving in two directions. On the other hand, if you move the central-bodymass of the ball in the direction of the movement, making the ball egg-shaped, the ball displays clearly in which direction it is moving.
Don't confuse this with the line-of-action. Although the result of moving the central-bodymass in the direction ofthe movement often creates a line-of-action pointing towards the where the character is going, this isn't always true. Imagine a character falling backwards. Her central-bodymass is behind her, illustrating the movement, but she is leaning forwards creating a line-of-action pointing forwards, to where she wants to go.
One way, to make the effect of increasing the central-bodymass towards the direction movement stronger, and making the force of the movement stronger, is by making the movement take place in diagonal direction towards the camera, creating the effect of both moving over the image and increasing in size.
Another way of moving the central-bodymass in the direction of the movement is by making the trailing body parts blurry or, in 2D animation, either braking up or thinning out their lines.
When thinking about the force of a pose it is also important to remember what moves first. Almost all movements start from the hip and then move out towards the ends of the extremities. This isn't as visual in movements that doesn't demand as much force, but still takes place. So, the more you let the hips of the character move before the rest of the body, the heavier the movement looks (like the saying "put your hips in to it").
If you can communicate force in a drawing you can also communicate several messages in one pose, both what the character is thinking and feeling and done in her personal way. For example: Your character may frown but her body is light. This will tell your audience that your character may try to display sadness, but inside is happy.
When the animation doesn't communicate properly the animator is often recommended to "push the pose". What "pushing the pose" means is to make the poses clearer, often by exaggerating them. But just exaggerating a pose isn't always possible without creating slap-stick, and sometimes the exaggeration doesn't even make the pose clearer.
Clarity comes from contrast.
Just as a black line will be hard to read on a black paper, an exaggerated pose will be harder to read around other exaggerated poses. Sometimes the best way to push a pose is to make it less exaggerated, other times you will use the timing or spacing to make the pose read better (but more on timing and spacing later).
The fact that the pose is the easiest to understand for animators, often is the poison for the poses own demise. At times the individual poses are just ways for the animator to get the character from point-A to point-B, and the poses themselves have no value on their own. This is a recipe for failure.
Know what a pose needs to communicate before you draw it, WHY it is in the film, then think about HOW you can communicate this message in the most efficient way, and now your ready for WHAT the pose should be.
In my next article I will get in to the next tool in the animators toolbox. The timing.
Thank you for reading!
Peter Hertzberg
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