Someone recently remarked to me that comic book artists make the best animators. I don't believe that, because they are different (though related) disciplines with different skillsets. I'm thoroughly convinced, however, that they are complementary disciplines, and this is the reason why I chose to study animation.While in comics we are concerned mostly with capturing the moment in still shots, in animation we need to deal with movement and timing. Adding these to comics brings life to the drawings in a whole new way.For starters, there are 12 basic principles of animation, namely:1. Squash and stretch2. Anticipation3. Staging4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action6. Slow In and Slow Out7. Arcs8. Secondary Action9. Timing10. Exaggeration11. Solid Drawing (same or different as Weight)12. AppealThese principles were developed by Disney's "Nine Old Men", the last of whom just passed away recently. Further elaboration on these principles are explained on the website of 2 of these men at http://www.frankanollie.com/PhysicalAnimation.html The application of these principles makes a series of still drawings come to life (ever seen 'dead' looking animation?). The mastery of these principles when applied to a piece of animation is what makes it great (think Pixar and the early Disney cartoons).How does this apply to comic art? Well, since we are concerned with capturing the moment, we have to decide which moment to capture. If we are able to visualize the whole sequence of movement of a character for example, we can choose the best moment to capture. And the application of these 12 principles into a sequence is what makes it great. And I'd think capturing a great moment from a great sequence would really help in illustrating a comic panel.That's my 2 cents worth :)
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