Hello from a 2D animator.

V

Vesuvius

Hello all

I'm James (Vesuvius) and I have vision but not much experience. Gonna need a helping hand. I'll explain my project and situation here and would be grateful if someone could advise which forum area is the best to re-post this to. Or perhaps an administrator would move it to the appropriate area.

Thanks!



I'd like to introduce an animation project I'm planning and then ask for advice.

I'm currently in the possession of that most wonderful commodity - spare time. All the better then. I would like to make a 2D stop motion short film. I'm very much in the planning stage. I'm happy with the basics and have some interesting inspiration in the methods of Yuri Norstein. Check out his methods if you're unfamiliar, there is a short documentary on youtube. In fact, check out his films if you haven't. The Hedgehog in the Fog and The Tale of Tales are especially good.

So, looking at some of Norstein's methods, I have a rudimentary glass layers model and will use acetates - printable and directly drawn on. Everything then is physically moveable and replaceable. Characters will also be made of acetate or similar with moving parts. A fairly large undertaking but removes the need to redraw a lot. I'll need smaller models for distance, perspective etc...

Lighting and effects etc will be done with lamps and coloured acetates.

I'm aiming for charm and style over mathematical accuracy a la Norstein.

I'm happy with the software part of things at the moment as I'd like to use a computer, simply to render the stop motion and add sound. Sound and music especially is the easy part for me.

So here is the question:

What problems do you foresee and what advice can you offer for possible difficulties?

I'm open to advice, examples, and offers for collaboration.

Thanks!

James
 
There are always going to be little problems here and there with any production, most of all animating like this which can be very frustrating. Powering through and get the project finished will be the toughest thing.

But :welcome: anyhow and good luck!
 
Animation is an awesome medium. :cool:

We have a few excellent animation artists here on IndieTalk. I'm sure they'll pipe up. I used claymation in one of my (terrible) movies. Man, I love it.

Oh... hello! :)
 
Vesuvius said:
Hello all

I'm James (Vesuvius) and I have vision but not much experience. Gonna need a helping hand. I'll explain my project and situation here and would be grateful if someone could advise which forum area is the best to re-post this to. Or perhaps an administrator would move it to the appropriate area.

Thanks!



I'd like to introduce an animation project I'm planning and then ask for advice.

I'm currently in the possession of that most wonderful commodity - spare time. All the better then. I would like to make a 2D stop motion short film. I'm very much in the planning stage. I'm happy with the basics and have some interesting inspiration in the methods of Yuri Norstein. Check out his methods if you're unfamiliar, there is a short documentary on youtube. In fact, check out his films if you haven't. The Hedgehog in the Fog and The Tale of Tales are especially good.

So, looking at some of Norstein's methods, I have a rudimentary glass layers model and will use acetates - printable and directly drawn on. Everything then is physically moveable and replaceable. Characters will also be made of acetate or similar with moving parts. A fairly large undertaking but removes the need to redraw a lot. I'll need smaller models for distance, perspective etc...

Lighting and effects etc will be done with lamps and coloured acetates.

I'm aiming for charm and style over mathematical accuracy a la Norstein.

I'm happy with the software part of things at the moment as I'd like to use a computer, simply to render the stop motion and add sound. Sound and music especially is the easy part for me.

So here is the question:

What problems do you foresee and what advice can you offer for possible difficulties?

I'm open to advice, examples, and offers for collaboration.

Thanks!

James
Click to expand...

Hi James, and welcome to Indietalk!

You've picked a great animator to emulate, that's for sure. Sounds like you've got everything in place to start. I guess I would say my first piece of advice, 'what can go wrong, will go wrong' and my second, 'expect the unexpected'. But, out of those two, seemingly, bad things, you're going to have some great little discoveries which will probably become part of your style and aesthetic.

In regards to formal aspects or questions you have, please post. :)

I can offer one practical piece of advice in regards to your characters....try hinging their joints with the smallest brads you can find (camouflage with whatever color the figure is). I've done both 3-d stop motion and 2-d traditional hand drawn animation. I, myself, am self-taught and when starting out discovered that making little cardboard, hinged figures helped me execute actions ...I'd simply trace the figure on paper, readjust the figure to take next movement, trace, etc. Although you won't be tracing, at least you won't have to worry about limbs scattering here and there. :D

Can you post a picture of your setup?
 
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