Pierre Speaks: Animation 6 - Layout & Posing

To try to keep it simple, layout & posing is a step between the storyboarding and the animation process.

The layout and posing artist takes the storyboard, and uses it to make key drawings of everything that moves within a scene for the animators, and he also makes the final drawing of the BG (background) for the BG painters to color.

To do that, the layout & posing artist will take a storyboard panel and blow it up to the final size that the scene will be shot at.

Eons ago, a scene would be shot using a special camera that would shoot each animation frames one frame at a time.

Later on, it became more a matter of scanning all the drawings and putting them all together in the computer in a step called "compositing".

Usually, the same artist would do the layout and the posing of a given scene. But sometimes you would have one artist do the layout, and one artist do the posing.

It happens sometimes.

On Bob Morane, I did the posing for the layouts of a guy called Norman De Repentigny. Although I worked with him for about 10 months...... I never met the guy.

It happens too.

So on Bob, most of the time I would do Norman's posing. But once in a while, I would do the whole scene.

Early in my career, I would be labeled a "character artist". So I would end up doing character related work like posing or character design.

We will separate the layout & posing process in two steps;

1) Posing.

2) Layout.

The Posing

The posing is every elements that is animated in a scene (characters, props, fx).

So the artist will blow up the storyboard panel, then he will use it to draw everything that moves in the scene on a piece of paper called a "level". Sometimes, only one level will be needed for a given scene. Sometimes, a scene will require the artist to use multiple levels for various elements of a scene.

For example, the artist may have to draw a character on one level, a second character on a second level, a door that will be opened in the scene on a third level, and maybe a car on a 4th level.

That way, the animation department will be able to animate all the elements separately. Separating various elements on multiple levels is mostly useful/necessary when various elements overlap each other.

On some series, various fx will also be added by the layout & posing artist like various shading fx or light fx...etc

Like the storyboard.... the posing is NOT the final artwork. So it does not need to be a clean drawing. It can be rough. Heck it SHOULD be rough.

The Layout

The layout is essentially the final line art of the BG. At some point, it was not the final drawing. In ages past, the line drawing was re-traced for example on watercolor paper for the BG painter to color.

But as time passed, more and more productions started to simply scan the artwork and color it in the computer. So in those cases, the line art of the layout & posing artist actually became the final version of the BG.

But now, the trend is to draw the BG (heck.... not just the BG.... the whole show) straight in the computer (will have to do a Blog about that someday ;) ). So there is no need to even scan the artwork anymore. Not every production does this yet.... but it is just a matter of time until they all start to do this for various reasons.

So once the layout & posing artist is done with his scene, the posing goes to the animation team to use to do the animation. And the layout is given to the BG painter to color.

At least that is how it used to be.

The layout & posing step is pretty much a thing of the past by now. Especially here in Montreal. And whatever projects that may be left that still uses the layout & posing step send the work overseas to China or India. Much cheaper to have them done over there (will have to make a Blog about that too ;) ).

So it pretty much is a thing of the past for someone like me. It makes me sad because I really liked working as a layout & posing artist. Guess I will have to settle with drawing silly comic books from now on. ;)

Now that you guys are somewhat familiar with how an animated production works..... I will go back from time to time on some of the steps of an animation production and explore some of those steps in more details.

I will also from time to time talk about some of the productions I have worked on.

Also in my career, I have gathered tons of artwork produced for animation (character designs, location designs, storyboards, etc) which I will try to share with you guys from time to time.

Until next time.

Free Comics Monday: Airboy and The Heap

After last weeks post about Ibis, I got a couple of emails requesting other heroes I've overlooked in this feature. One of the most requested was Airboy.

Here's what wikipedia says about Airboy...

Airboy is a fictional aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II-era time period that fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. He was created by writer Charles Biro with scripter Dick Wood and artist Al Camy.

Airboy made Air Fighters Comics (renamed Airboy Comics with vol. 2, #11, Dec. 1945) a top seller through the 1940s. In the early issues, Biro wrote the scripts with Dave Wood and drew the covers, while Dan Barry and Fred Kida worked as main illustrators. The book contained backup stories about other aviators, including Skywolf, Iron Ace, the Black Angel, the Bald Eagle, the Flying Dutchman, the Flying Fool, and the prototypical comic book swamp monster, The Heap.




[ Airboy 04 ]

Each of these issues also contains stories featuring The Heap. For those of you unfamiliar with The Heap, he was the *original* swamp monster from the 40's who inspired both Man-Thing and Swamp Thing.

Again, from wikipedia's entry on the Heap...

The Heap is the name of three fictional, comic book muck-monsters, the original of which first appeared in Hillman Periodicals' Air Fighters #3 (Dec. 1942), during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. It was created by writer Harry Stein and artist Mort Leav, and revived in the 1980s by Eclipse Comics.

Similar but unrelated characters appeared in comics stories published by Skywald in the 1970s and Image Comics in the 1990s.



[ Airboy 05 ]

Enjoy!

Paper Comic DeathWatch: TouchScreen Comics

Well, to some comic news sites, the big news this week was that a line of young adult graphic novels that never really sold very well were cancelled.

I, however, think the really big news that will have major implications on the comic industry was Google's presentation of the new T-1 Mobile G1 touch screen phone which uses Google's opensource Android operating system.

If you are not familiar with the Android phone, let me say it's sort of a iPhone for everyone who doesn't want to be locked into Apple software. It will have a nice big 320x480 touch screen interface like the iPhone.

Check out this video of the G1 touch...

WhyI think this is significant is because this is just the first salvo in what promises to be a very big war between cell phone companies as they try to outshine Apple's iPhone.

Now the G1 is not the only big name contender for the Apple touch screen crown, another, possibly MORE significant player is about to enter the arena next month, and that's BlackBerry...

currently they have scheduled their first (of many I'm sure) touch screen device in the BlackBerry Storm.

And while this picture might not impress you as much as the Apple iPhone's cool interface, the real advantages the Blackberry has are:

1. It's the mobile phone of choice at just about every major company.

2. It syncs seemlessly with Exchange.

So, the buy in on a corporate level for a product like this promises to be HUGE - if, and BIG if here, Blackberry doesn't screw up the touch screen interface. (A lot of Blackberry users actually prefer the teeny tiny keyboards on their phones.)

To placate those cool excecs with a heart of steel who want their keyboards to feel like keyboards, Blackberry is equipping the Storm with something called Haptic responses, so the touch screen will actually *feel* like you are typing on it. (This isone of those innovations that screams wait until version 2 btw...)

"Yes, yes..." I hear you say. "All very cool, but what does this have to do with Final Crisis and how it's ruining DC?"

Well, honestly, not much, because I sincerely doubt Final Crisis (in all it's confusing glory) will ever be read on such devices as the ones above, BUT I think the next wave of comics will be.

Check this out...

I've mentioned a few such Mobile Internet Devices here before, but today, on UMPC Portal, they mention that by 2013 there will be over 200 million such devices in use in the world.

So in 2010, what are the odds that people will still be reading comics on paper (not a Green medium btw) versus reading content on their slick new touch screen phones?

There are already quite a number of sites where you can get such content, ( Marvel is one of them ) and I actually plan to start creating content for this format soon as well.

I've already started investigating developing comics for Touchscreen devices, and I've registered TouchScreenComics.com to distribute them.

I may start with a few public domain comics to test with, but I definitely plan on creating original content for this format.

Does this mean I'll stop producing Flashback Universe comics? Most likely not - I'm still a huge believer in the cbr format (and the idea that internet tablets are just around the corner.) I may experiment with a way to create content that can be used in both formats. I have some very definite ideas about what will make a successful TouchScreen comic. I don't think you can just hack up an existing web comic into 320 x 480 slices and think that's gonna do that job.

Bottom line: The time is right to experiment with this new format and introduce what seems to be a quicky growing audience to new experiences. :)

I'll keep you posted as this develops.

PCDW Points for the G1: 20,000

Pierre Speaks: Animation 5 - Storyboards

A storyboard is a visual representation of the script. In animation, it allows us to visualize an animated project in order to plan certain steps (for example the timing, or the animation).

The storyboard artist is given a copy of the script and a copy of all the rough designs (characters/props/locations).

From there he will illustrate the script scene by scene not unlike how a comic book is done. Although, unlike a comic book, the storyboard is not a final piece of artwork.

It is only information that is used by the later steps of an animation production. So it can be rough.... heck it SHOULD be rough. I have seen many artists waste too much time making a clean version of the board that they barely could devote any time to plan and properly stage their scenes.

The storyboard artist will have to pay close attention to things like the staging/composition of a scene. Better a rough board with good staging then a clean board with poor staging.

Once the storyboard artist is done drawing the board.... like the design steps, it has to go through the approval process. So everyone (directors/producers/broadcasters/etc) will want to give their comments on the board.

Once that is done, there is a department that finalizes the storyboard based on the comments of the various directors/producers/broadcasters/etc. That is where essentially all the final decisions concerning the storyboards, and the episode itself, will be taken.

It is the deciders ;) (what I am currently doing on Arthur).

Essentially we take the teams comments and decide which comments we follow to change and improve the storyboard... and which to ignore.

We move the dialogues around from scene to scene as needed.

We fix some of the poses for various reasons (one day, I must have fixed Arthur's head about 200 times..... I was getting sick of redrawing Arthur's head by the end of the day).

Sometimes, there are so many revisions that it feels like we are redrawing the whole board.

It happens.

Also we look closely at the continuity. Sometimes a change that is made to one scene will affect a truckload of scenes following it. So we must change those as well.

It will also allow us to see if some designs are missing. When we do, we let the designers know what is missing to make sure that they will add the missing designs to the model pack. Or if they need to adapt some of the designs because they might have been changed in the board.

Normally, the designers should know when some designs are missing or were changed from when they analyse the storyboard, but we tell them anyway in case they may have missed something.

It happens.

Better safe then sorry.

Once the corrections are done, we have the FINAL version of the storyboard.

Essentially, it is the road map that everyone in the production will follow to reach their objectives.

The designers will use it to finalize their designs.

The director/sheet directors will use it to work out the timing.

The layout & posing team will use it to do draw the backgrounds and do some key poses of any element that will move in a scene.

And the animators and their assistants will use it to plan the animation step and keep track of the continuity of an episode.

So... many people will need the storyboard to do their job.

It is essentially an illustrated version of the script. It becomes the director's "directions" to the whole crew working on the project.

Everyone will try to follow the directives of the board in order to do their job.

Next time.... at last...... we will cover the "layout & posing" step. ;)

More soon.

Free Comics Monday: Ibis The Invincible

Can't believe I've not mentioned Ibis the Invincible yet here on Free Comics Monday. See that panel on the left? That comes from Justice League of America: Crisis on Earth S, where I first discovered the character. It was the annual teamup of the JLA and JSA, only this time their adventures took them to Earth S, home of all the Fawcett characters (Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, Bulletman, etc...)

The panel was part of three where Green Lantern's Alan Scott, Hal Jordan join up with Ibis to take down Mr. Atom. As a kid, I had read a lot about the Green Lantern's, so I knew their powers pretty well, but this was my first introduction to Ibis, and the caption in that box pretty much rocked my world - I was like, what is this IbisStick and how does it rank so high as a weapon?

After the Crisis on Earth S, I patiently waited to see an Ibis spinoff comic, cuz y'know - Dude's got one of the most power weapons in the universe - no way we won't be seeing him show back up soon!

Oh well.

At least you can enjoy his origin issue here today for free!

[ Ibis The Invincible 01 ]

Strangely, there aren't a lot of scanned issues of Ibis.

Most of them are from microfiche.

In keeping with the Fawcett theme, here is another issue of Bulletman (check out that one pre-Seduction of the Innocent panel with Bulletgirl getting choked - sort of incogruious when compared to the rest of the art - Seeing that, I almost expect to see the words Final Crisis Tie-In written somewhere on this cover...)

[ Bulletman 14 ]

Enjoy!

Pierre Speaks: Animation 4 - Design

Last time, we saw how the writer of an animated show has to go through several drafts of his script until we get the FINAL DRAFT.

Ideally, once the FINAL DRAFT is ready, the various design teams will get started.

Let's use the character designer to explain the design process, but the process is essentially the same for the location designer as well.

On some production, the character designer will also be doing the props. On other productions, you will have someone assigned/specialized only in doing prop designs.

Not sure why.

Either way, the designer will analyzes the script and make a list of everything that he will need to design.

The designer will make what we call "model sheets". He will start with making rough designs of every characters needed for the episode.

If it is an important character, the designer will do what we call a "5 view rotation" model sheet. It is essentially the character seen for almost every angle (front, 3/4 front, side, 3/4 back, and back).

Also for the main characters, it can happen that the character designer will make a model sheet of the rotation of the head only. It gives us a better feel of what the character's head/face looks like for when we need to draw a close-up or extreme close-up scene with the character.

And for not so important characters or some incidental characters, the designer may simply draw a 3/4 front and 3/4 back view model sheet.

In some cases when possible they may also make various poses showing the characters in action.... but too often the deadlines on a production are wayyyyy too tight to even allow that.

Once the rough designs are done, they will be sent for approval to the various people who want a say in the creative process (directors/producers/broadcasters/etc).

Usually you can expect the designs to come back with at least some revisions. Sometimes.... there are a lot of revisions for some reasons.

So once the revisions are done and approved, the rough designs and the script will be given to the storyboard artist to do his job.

Once the storyboard is finished, the designer will analyzes the storyboard (not unlike what he did with the script) and look out for possible changes in the designs or heck, he might have forgotten to design some characters. Or there always are elements that gets added (a door that is opened, or a character/prop that gets added at the last minute).

Or the storyboard artist may have made some changes to some of the designs so that the designer will have to adapt his design to match with what was done in the board.

Or heck, there may be some designs that were done that were not used in the board and are no longer necessary.

It happens.

Every artists pretty much collects stacks of such designs/drawings through their career. Although I for one am usually not shy about reusing such designs on future projects. Whenever a design gets rejected, I put it in my pile of "to use some day" drawings.

I don't waste anything. ;)

So once the designer is done analyzing the board, he makes a final list of all the designs that he needs for that show. Then he does the clean final version of those designs. Once again, the designs have to go through the approval process.

Also the character designer will do what is called a "lip sych" model sheet. It is essentially a model sheet indicating how to draw the character's mouth when he speaks.

Once all that is done, the final designs are given to the layout & posing team along with a copy of the final script and the final storyboard.

And next time..... no we will not discuss the "layout & posing" process yet. We will look at the storyboard step in an animated production. And after that we will look at the "layout & posing". ;)

More soon.

Free Comics Wednesday: Phantom Lady

NOTE: Because we missed this with Monday, I'm posting the Free Comics today instead. - Jim

I've talked about how some of the Quality Heroes have fallen into Public Domain, but one of the best examples of a character falling into public domain and then getting published by many different companies is The Phantom Lady.


Since her intial appearance, she has appeared in titles by: Quality Comics, Fox Feature Syndicate & Star Publications, Ajax-Farrel Publications, Charlton Comics & I.W. Publications and DC Comics. Other than Tarzan, I'm not sure who else has appeared in comics from so many different companies. (Zorro maybe?)


From Wikipedia...


Phantom Lady is one of the first female superhero characters to debut in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books. Originally published by Quality Comics, the character was subsequently published by a series of now-defunct comic book companies, and is currently owned by DC Comics.


As published by Fox Feature Syndicate in the late 1940s, the busty and scantily-clad Phantom Lady is a notable and controversial example of "good girl art," a style of comic art depicting voluptuous female characters in provocative situations and pin-up poses that contributed to widespread criticism of the medium's effect on children. Phantom Lady was created by the Eisner & Iger studio, one of the first to produce comics on demand for publishers. The character's early adventures were drawn by Arthur Peddy.


The Fox version which premiered in Phantom Lady #13 (taking over the numbering of Wotalife Comics) is better known to contemporary comic fans than the Quality version because of the "good girl art" of Matt Baker. Baker altered her costume by changing the colors to red and blue, substantially revealing her cleavage, and adding a very short skirt.



[ Phantom Lady 13 ]


Fox published Phantom Lady only through issue 26 (Apr, 1949), though the character guest starred in All-Top Comics #8-17, also with art by Baker. Her rogue's gallery in these two Fox titles included the Avenging Skulls; the Fire Fiend; the Killer Clown; Kurtz, the Robbing Robot; the Subway Slayer; and Vulture.




[ Phantom Lady 16 ]

Enjoy!