Animation: Translating Reality

“We cannot do the fantastic based on the real, unless we first know the real”

 

 

As I am illustrating my graphic novel for my capstone class, I have been facing a challenge that I realize all animators have: the challenge of capturing a gesture or facial expression. There are certain movements and expressions that are so closely associated to a certain feeling, like an eye roll, lip bit, a eyebrow quirk. It is difficult to capture how this looks unless you do it yourself. With either a camera phone to take a picture to capture the image or a mirror (which is less constant and therefore more difficult), I would try and best relay the expression or gesture I made.

I was then thinking about the old Disney “making of” featurettes I so enjoyed when I was a child. I always found it so amusing, seeing those old reels of the Tinkerbell reference, in costume, pretending to walk on a giant mirror or Prince Philip fighting the “dragon” which was simply a stick.

I’ve really only recently sort of connected the dots between what they did then and what I’m doing now. To create the fantastic, you must know the real! You must study movement and expression so that it translates on screen and the audience believes it, doesn’t even question it.

Animator’s often study their own faces or the faces of the voice actors when they deliver their lines. Walt Disney allowed the animators to use him for reference once when he voiced Mickey Mouse. Though he was shy about it, Walt got into character by wearing baggy clothes and a felt hat. He made certain gestures, like referencing Mickey’s height or sort of springing up a little bit when he spoke.

The animators also admit to sometimes putting a subtle bit of the voice actor’s own facial features in a character. Jeremy Irons, who voiced the evil Scar in The Lion King, said he was delighted to find that he recognized a caricatured bit of his own face in the character’s final design. Irons was filmed while he recorded and said that certainly they must have “stolen” some of his face.

The animators want the audience to buy what’s happening on screen. The characters have to grab you and therefore have to be real flesh and blood. Their movements, their tiny little quirks and gestures are essential to making the audience identify with and understand the character. I look at these old live model reference reels in a different way, now, seeing that they are not only entertaining and old school, but really very helpful! Not only do I take photos of myself for reference, but sometimes I record myself performing something and slow it down when I draw. That way, I can try and capture any spontaneous moments. That, I think, is part of the magic.