Questionnaire answers
School related questions
Additional questions
Tom Mourik – 4th Year animation student
1. One of the most important differences is that with animation everyone revolves around movement. “How can I animate this” is a question we animators ask ourselves quite often. We think about the three dimensional shapes of the characters and the expressions that they need to have to convey the story.
2. It definitely lies on emotion and the narrative you want to get across. Also the main character and his or hers characteristics are very important. This is most of the time the main focal point during the visual design process for an animation.
3a. We look for a lot of inspiration by looking at work of others. The way that someone uses forms and lines can be very interesting. I try to combine all these different elements into my own work. Also if an animation uses a certain technique that I find interesting, I will try to implement in some way or the other. To be honest, I don’t really think it about it that thoroughly.
3a. The process? I look at examples of other artwork of other animations. I will try to take these influences and come up with an unique style where my own hand is visible. For example for this project our main character is going to ride through a Mediterranean village, so I will look at a lot of real life reference of photos from Italy and France. It’s a top down approach; I will start doing realistic studies and then I will take these and stylize them. Rinse and repeat.
4.This may sound weird, but with us it is definitely a case of what you find aesthetically pleasing. But, one of the most important things is that the audience get what you are trying to tell them. That they can relate to what is happening on the screen. But no, we don’t really have a set target audience in mind while making an animation.
5. I think that games could benefit a lot of looking at smaller, more ‘animation’ flavoured projects like the latest Rayman Origins game and the old game Neverhood. I mean, Skyrim looks great, but the movement flow is so rigid and straightforward. Same with Mass Effect 3. Both titles are also very uncanny valley, which throws me off.
6. Mostly individual. But for this last animation project, I’m working in a team of 4 people.
7. We got different classes throughout the years. We got one about the animation principles like squash and stretch, which of course is vital for every aspiring animator. Also got some Photoshop introduction class, but that one was not very useful. Most of the time we implement the class material during making our own short films, like storyboarding and the aforementioned animation principles.
8.No, not really. Maybe if I desperately need some cash.
9. In most games the animation is quite rigid. You can literally see the transitions from one animation to the other, like a changing of ‘states’. This really bugs me and should be improved.
10.Mass Effect3 has recently caught my eye. But mainly because of its epic scale. That is quite impressive.
Additions:
I can’t stress it enough but when it comes to character design for animation it’s all about feasibility. This factor keeps things simple and forces you to go to the bare essentials of the design. And for readability’s sake, that is always a good thing.
Another thing that is quite important is what kind of movie you are making. This plays a decisive role for the development of the visual style. We learn a lot about semiotics, or film language. There are a lot of rules about staging and camera techniques which you can use to enforce your visual design.
Jessy Suharyanto – 4th Year animation student
1. I don’t really know. Most of the time we do free films, where everything is closely related to yourself. I think that is a big difference.
2. It all starts with a character. That is the pivot point of every animation. A character has a personality and character traits, and this should reflect in his or her visual design. Also the feasibility of the character is very important. That is why most animation is very stylized or ‘cartoony’.
3. As I said, it’s all about the story and the character you want to convey. And you don’t want something realistic, so you start to stylize the proportions to something characteristic, suited for the character you want to portray.
3a. Just like Tom Mourik said.
4.Well, I worked on a Klokhuis (a Dutch kids TV show) where our target audience was 4 up ‘till 12 years old. We had to do a little research. The project itself was mainly scripted with spoken dialogue, so that wasn’t too hard.
7. Well, as Tom said we get a lot about animation principles and semiotics. Also, in the 2nd year, we got a character design class. We had to make 3 character designs and 10 backgrounds. When we had these, we had to shuffle them around and design different stories around them.
8. No, that’s not something for me.
9. Well, to be honest, it’s horrible. Human characters are always… meh. I don’t think that Mocap really wins it from real animation. Animation isn’t about reality, but about credibility.
10. Grim Fandango. I saw a trailer and I wanted to play it. Such a great visual style, so different from the rest. I’ve got the same with the upcoming Journey title. Looks great and I definitely want to play it.
Additions:
I don’t play any games any more. But when I was growing up I played games like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and Rayman. They really spoke to me with their quirky characters and wacky storylines. They had character.
Also, there is a bit of a ‘war’ going on between the 2D and the 3D animators. The 2D artist like me are more about the story and the visual design, while the 3D animators lay bigger emphasis on technique. They will
Thijs Viegers – 4th Year animation student
1. I think that with both animation and games there is a high technical factor present. With games it’s mostly about engines and software requirements. With animation it’s more about feasibility. You can come up with something and create whatever you like, but in the end you will have to animate it. And that is always the great challenge. If you can’t animate it, there is something wrong.
7. What Tom Mourik said.
8. Well, games are getting more cinematic with the years, so that makes it more and more interesting to work for them. As soon they will give the narrative a bigger role in the whole, I will consider it.
10. Ehm, Max Payne looks very promising. I was always a big fan of this series. It has a great storyline and characters, I think that this sets it apart from a lot of games.
Additions:
I often play games. I think that in narrative sense there still is a lot to explore with games. You see that smaller games (indie games) do this quite well. There lies an opportunity.
Ben Vinkenburg - 4th Year animation student
1. The designs in animation all have a function in the story. The way your background looks, the way you use lightning. It all plays a bigger role in the whole. Also the metamorphosis principle, the ability of an image to change into another image, plays a big role in the story. That is I think the biggest difference between the two.
2. All the visual designs should strengthen the narrative. If you portray people, how do they look like? What do you want say? You can device your own rules within your own world. Just keep the design in mind during the making of an animation.
3. The visual design comes from the kind of story you want to tell. If it’s a sad story, it will look different from an upbeat, happy story.
3a. The accompanying process, like Tom Mourik says, comes from a lot of research on how things work in the real world. Then we take that, and stylize that. Put our spin upon it.
4. I don’t really work with a target audience in mind. What is important, does the viewer understand what I’m trying to tell him? There should be no doubt about that at all.
5. Games should use their graphic design more to portray their narrative instead of laying the emphasis on realism. Big entertainment games tend to lose that along the line. A character should have certain characteristics which should be used to solve the games’ puzzles.
6. It depends on how you like to work.
7. See Tom’s and Jesse’s answers.
8.Nope.
9. My biggest complaint in general is the realism games are striving for. Even Sci-Fi and Fantasy games are steeped in realism, even though are based on fictional stuff. They shouldn’t be bound the rules of realism.
10. Shadow of the Colossus. Great atmosphere and great visual choices. It stands on its own. I also like old adventure games, they had their own distinctive charm. Especially Sam & Max. When you play that game, you really have this feeling you are pushing the narrative forward. It avoids clichés with its weird setting and characters. Also, this world has its own wacky rules. It’s not about realism. You need to understand these rules so you can solve the puzzles. This is an awesome approach to things.
**Note to self: Here are the answers of the questionnaire which I did last friday. I think it was very interesting, I got some insight about how animators tend to work I guess. Most of the things I thought about how they would approach visual design tended to rang true. But still there were some surprises. What I found most interesting is how everything revolves around the character. Everything seems to flow from that. The character with its characteristics and traits. That seems to be vital to every design process for an animation.**
1. What is the major difference between designing for games and for animation according to you?
1. What is the major difference between designing for games and for animation according to you?
2. On what exactly lies the emphasis when designing for an animation?
3. How do you decide on a visual style for an animation?
And how exactly does the accompanying creative design process work?
4. To what degree you take the enduser into account while making an animation?
5. Which design techniques for animation do you think could be of great benefit to games?
School related questions
6. Do you work in groups or individually?
7. What kind of course material are you offered during your education?
Additional questions
8. Would you mind working for a games company? And if not, why exactly?
9. What do you think about the current state of animation in games?
10. Have you recently seen a game which caught your attention? And if so, why?
Tom Mourik – 4th Year animation student
1. One of the most important differences is that with animation everyone revolves around movement. “How can I animate this” is a question we animators ask ourselves quite often. We think about the three dimensional shapes of the characters and the expressions that they need to have to convey the story.
2. It definitely lies on emotion and the narrative you want to get across. Also the main character and his or hers characteristics are very important. This is most of the time the main focal point during the visual design process for an animation.
3a. We look for a lot of inspiration by looking at work of others. The way that someone uses forms and lines can be very interesting. I try to combine all these different elements into my own work. Also if an animation uses a certain technique that I find interesting, I will try to implement in some way or the other. To be honest, I don’t really think it about it that thoroughly.
3a. The process? I look at examples of other artwork of other animations. I will try to take these influences and come up with an unique style where my own hand is visible. For example for this project our main character is going to ride through a Mediterranean village, so I will look at a lot of real life reference of photos from Italy and France. It’s a top down approach; I will start doing realistic studies and then I will take these and stylize them. Rinse and repeat.
4.This may sound weird, but with us it is definitely a case of what you find aesthetically pleasing. But, one of the most important things is that the audience get what you are trying to tell them. That they can relate to what is happening on the screen. But no, we don’t really have a set target audience in mind while making an animation.
5. I think that games could benefit a lot of looking at smaller, more ‘animation’ flavoured projects like the latest Rayman Origins game and the old game Neverhood. I mean, Skyrim looks great, but the movement flow is so rigid and straightforward. Same with Mass Effect 3. Both titles are also very uncanny valley, which throws me off.
6. Mostly individual. But for this last animation project, I’m working in a team of 4 people.
7. We got different classes throughout the years. We got one about the animation principles like squash and stretch, which of course is vital for every aspiring animator. Also got some Photoshop introduction class, but that one was not very useful. Most of the time we implement the class material during making our own short films, like storyboarding and the aforementioned animation principles.
8.No, not really. Maybe if I desperately need some cash.
9. In most games the animation is quite rigid. You can literally see the transitions from one animation to the other, like a changing of ‘states’. This really bugs me and should be improved.
10.Mass Effect3 has recently caught my eye. But mainly because of its epic scale. That is quite impressive.
Additions:
I can’t stress it enough but when it comes to character design for animation it’s all about feasibility. This factor keeps things simple and forces you to go to the bare essentials of the design. And for readability’s sake, that is always a good thing.
Another thing that is quite important is what kind of movie you are making. This plays a decisive role for the development of the visual style. We learn a lot about semiotics, or film language. There are a lot of rules about staging and camera techniques which you can use to enforce your visual design.
Jessy Suharyanto – 4th Year animation student
1. I don’t really know. Most of the time we do free films, where everything is closely related to yourself. I think that is a big difference.
2. It all starts with a character. That is the pivot point of every animation. A character has a personality and character traits, and this should reflect in his or her visual design. Also the feasibility of the character is very important. That is why most animation is very stylized or ‘cartoony’.
3. As I said, it’s all about the story and the character you want to convey. And you don’t want something realistic, so you start to stylize the proportions to something characteristic, suited for the character you want to portray.
3a. Just like Tom Mourik said.
4.Well, I worked on a Klokhuis (a Dutch kids TV show) where our target audience was 4 up ‘till 12 years old. We had to do a little research. The project itself was mainly scripted with spoken dialogue, so that wasn’t too hard.
Another project I’ve done is the Klik Project. This was very open and we could focus on designing something with an own aesthetic. So it varies, but it always remains very open to us.
5. I’m not sure… I don’t know enough about games to give you a good answer.
6. That is a choice for you to make. I currently work in a group of 4 people, but there are a lot of people who work alone.
5. I’m not sure… I don’t know enough about games to give you a good answer.
6. That is a choice for you to make. I currently work in a group of 4 people, but there are a lot of people who work alone.
7. Well, as Tom said we get a lot about animation principles and semiotics. Also, in the 2nd year, we got a character design class. We had to make 3 character designs and 10 backgrounds. When we had these, we had to shuffle them around and design different stories around them.
8. No, that’s not something for me.
9. Well, to be honest, it’s horrible. Human characters are always… meh. I don’t think that Mocap really wins it from real animation. Animation isn’t about reality, but about credibility.
10. Grim Fandango. I saw a trailer and I wanted to play it. Such a great visual style, so different from the rest. I’ve got the same with the upcoming Journey title. Looks great and I definitely want to play it.
Additions:
I don’t play any games any more. But when I was growing up I played games like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and Rayman. They really spoke to me with their quirky characters and wacky storylines. They had character.
Also, there is a bit of a ‘war’ going on between the 2D and the 3D animators. The 2D artist like me are more about the story and the visual design, while the 3D animators lay bigger emphasis on technique. They will
Thijs Viegers – 4th Year animation student
1. I think that with both animation and games there is a high technical factor present. With games it’s mostly about engines and software requirements. With animation it’s more about feasibility. You can come up with something and create whatever you like, but in the end you will have to animate it. And that is always the great challenge. If you can’t animate it, there is something wrong.
Animators quite often work alone, so whatever you make you’ll have to keep this in mind. This will reflect on the design of things.The visual style and how you cope with those restrictions are very important. With games that is less of a problem because nowadays most of the time there are big teams behind it.
Also, animation hasn’t changed much in 100 years. We can rely on old and trusty methods, whereas games are still evolving and trying out new things.
I think in that respect old games do this quite well because they were so restricted. I remember Monkey Island games very fondly with their clever graphics, animations and characters.
2. One of the things that really important is how you character looks like and how it moves. His actions and his acting, through simplification, can really help to sell a story.
3. Designing for an animation mostly revolves around deadlines and pure planning. These two factors have great implications on the visual design. Simplicity is king. A lot of constraints make a project feasible and require creative solutions. That doesn’t mean we need to draw a lot to get there, just like Tom (Mourik) said.
3a. See 3.
4. School says that we have to think about our target audience. But most of the time it is really up to us, the creators. We decide how it looks like and what we want the viewer to see. Junaid, a classmate of ours, is a big fan of cartoons so his latest work ‘Sheeped Away’ has that classic cartoony feel. In the end the target audience is not of the biggest importance, but the acting and the quality of the animation is.
5. I think that they should focus on smaller games in the games industry. Then they will maybe come up with different styles because they have less to worry about.
6. What Tom Mourik said.
I think in that respect old games do this quite well because they were so restricted. I remember Monkey Island games very fondly with their clever graphics, animations and characters.
2. One of the things that really important is how you character looks like and how it moves. His actions and his acting, through simplification, can really help to sell a story.
3. Designing for an animation mostly revolves around deadlines and pure planning. These two factors have great implications on the visual design. Simplicity is king. A lot of constraints make a project feasible and require creative solutions. That doesn’t mean we need to draw a lot to get there, just like Tom (Mourik) said.
3a. See 3.
4. School says that we have to think about our target audience. But most of the time it is really up to us, the creators. We decide how it looks like and what we want the viewer to see. Junaid, a classmate of ours, is a big fan of cartoons so his latest work ‘Sheeped Away’ has that classic cartoony feel. In the end the target audience is not of the biggest importance, but the acting and the quality of the animation is.
5. I think that they should focus on smaller games in the games industry. Then they will maybe come up with different styles because they have less to worry about.
6. What Tom Mourik said.
7. What Tom Mourik said.
8. Well, games are getting more cinematic with the years, so that makes it more and more interesting to work for them. As soon they will give the narrative a bigger role in the whole, I will consider it.
Oh, do you remember the Earthworm Jim SNES game? They had a team of traditional animators working on the animations of the main character and enemies. That sounds really cool and a great way to crossover.
9. A lot of games use mocap nowadays. I’m not necessarily a big fan of this technique because realism isn’t that interesting. But, mocap is getting better so who knows? Another thing that really bugs me is the so called ‘’idle’’ animations in games. They are always so bad, forced and completely unnecessary. The only good example I can think of are the animations in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Link will look at nearby objects if you don’t have anything to do. This feels ‘natural’ and maybe give an hint. A great way to use this ‘technique’.
9. A lot of games use mocap nowadays. I’m not necessarily a big fan of this technique because realism isn’t that interesting. But, mocap is getting better so who knows? Another thing that really bugs me is the so called ‘’idle’’ animations in games. They are always so bad, forced and completely unnecessary. The only good example I can think of are the animations in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Link will look at nearby objects if you don’t have anything to do. This feels ‘natural’ and maybe give an hint. A great way to use this ‘technique’.
10. Ehm, Max Payne looks very promising. I was always a big fan of this series. It has a great storyline and characters, I think that this sets it apart from a lot of games.
Additions:
I often play games. I think that in narrative sense there still is a lot to explore with games. You see that smaller games (indie games) do this quite well. There lies an opportunity.
Ben Vinkenburg - 4th Year animation student
1. The designs in animation all have a function in the story. The way your background looks, the way you use lightning. It all plays a bigger role in the whole. Also the metamorphosis principle, the ability of an image to change into another image, plays a big role in the story. That is I think the biggest difference between the two.
2. All the visual designs should strengthen the narrative. If you portray people, how do they look like? What do you want say? You can device your own rules within your own world. Just keep the design in mind during the making of an animation.
3. The visual design comes from the kind of story you want to tell. If it’s a sad story, it will look different from an upbeat, happy story.
3a. The accompanying process, like Tom Mourik says, comes from a lot of research on how things work in the real world. Then we take that, and stylize that. Put our spin upon it.
4. I don’t really work with a target audience in mind. What is important, does the viewer understand what I’m trying to tell him? There should be no doubt about that at all.
5. Games should use their graphic design more to portray their narrative instead of laying the emphasis on realism. Big entertainment games tend to lose that along the line. A character should have certain characteristics which should be used to solve the games’ puzzles.
6. It depends on how you like to work.
7. See Tom’s and Jesse’s answers.
8.Nope.
9. My biggest complaint in general is the realism games are striving for. Even Sci-Fi and Fantasy games are steeped in realism, even though are based on fictional stuff. They shouldn’t be bound the rules of realism.
10. Shadow of the Colossus. Great atmosphere and great visual choices. It stands on its own. I also like old adventure games, they had their own distinctive charm. Especially Sam & Max. When you play that game, you really have this feeling you are pushing the narrative forward. It avoids clichés with its weird setting and characters. Also, this world has its own wacky rules. It’s not about realism. You need to understand these rules so you can solve the puzzles. This is an awesome approach to things.
Katamari (that weird Japanese game where you roll balls around) is also a great example. It doesn’t look mind blowing or anything, but it works in its own created context. It creates its own world with wacky characters, rules and atmosphere, devoid of anything realistic.
Additions:
One of the reasons I crossed over from games to animation was the bigger creative freedom.
Additions:
One of the reasons I crossed over from games to animation was the bigger creative freedom.
Also, I can recommend looking at old animations, before the digital age. Especially when it comes to visual design combined with the narrative. Interesting stuff.
Florian Walraven – 2nd year animation Student
1. I think that the major difference between designing for a game and animation is that designing for animation is really personal. What do you like to make? What do your prefer to make and is there an underlying connection?
2. You have a short time to tell your story, so it is all about readability. People have to know your premise right away so you better use some clichés. If someone is not fit, make him or her really fat. That kind of stuff, really.
3. My sketchbook is my main starting point. For every assignment we do a lot of sketching, and that is where we head off.
3a. I’m currently working on my second year animation project. We do some repertoire research and choose 10 animations of other animators that we like. We try to look if there is an overlapping them between them. Than we return to our sketchbook and try if we can find a way to combine all these influences. Then we show it to our teachers and they will probably have something to say about it. Is it readable/understandable? After that, we make an animatic with sound. If that is reading OK, we can actually start on the animation itself.
4. It has to be readable! Everyone should be able to understand. That is more important to us than a specific target audience.
5. I think that using design principles of animation for games can really enforce the atmosphere and ‘feel’ of the game. If an action in the game has an appropriate and maybe even exxagurated animation, it definitely feels better.
6. Individual.
7. The classes about the animation principles are the best. You get a lot of solid feedback during these hours when you are working away on an animation.
Also, we have some great teachers. Egbert de Ruiter always gives a lot of general feedback about how your animation looks and what it conveys. He makes you think about what you are making.
Also, we have some great teachers. Egbert de Ruiter always gives a lot of general feedback about how your animation looks and what it conveys. He makes you think about what you are making.
Another one, Roelof, is more of a traditional animator and emphasizes readability.
Last, but not least, Peter Wassink is our TV Paint teacher. He also talks a lot about the basic animation principles. Very helpful.
8. I would like to, as a 2D animator. I like working with sprites and pixels, you get pleasing results quite quickly.
9. I think it is crap. Mocap is making things more realistic, but not better. Punches for example most of the time lack impact. This could be improved by adding more animation principles like anticipation.
But, there are some good examples out there. For example the horse in Shadow of the Colossus looks fantastic.
But, there are some good examples out there. For example the horse in Shadow of the Colossus looks fantastic.
10. I like to play StarCraft 2, for its quick gameplay. And I’m looking forward to Journey. That game looks amazing!
Additions:
I play games. I also create games. I created Stanley in Slumberland. Funny thing, I didn’t animate or draw anything for that.
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