Tyla Bolte – Page 5 – MTM College

The Case for Storyboarding & Animatics Being Crucial in Creating a Successful Animation Project

Imagine trying to verbally explain to someone exactly how the story you want to animate will unfold from start to finish.

There, now you’re starting to get an idea of the importance of storyboarding for any animation project. Storyboards show “shot by shot” where the camera will be, and how the visuals will tell the story. The camera can change perspective, change angle, the camera can pull back for a long shot or truck-in for a close-up. All of this effects how the audience feels, and what is visually communicated. Storyboards are perhaps more important in classical and computer animation than in live-action projects: while capturing even a single angle can be costly in either medium. The implications of correcting even a small character action in animation can be far more complex than in live action. Once there is a storyboard, all the shots are linked together with a dummy soundtrack to create an “animatic.” The animatic gives a better idea of how the visual storytelling is working and hopefully identifies problem areas.

Why is Storyboarding, and Subsequently Creating The Animatic so Important in an Animation Project?

If you look at all the benefits of storyboarding for either a live action project or animation projects, the implications, as previously mentioned, are more profound and important for animation than for live action. An effective animatic is a proving ground.

Proof of Concept

Concept art helps to clarify a vision. The “fun pack” includes character designs, locations and props. These are needed in order to create the storyboard. The storyboard helps us envision the film shot by shot. Next comes the animatic which includes the soundtrack and timing, and confirms that the plan for the film will work.

Will the Action Work

Once we have the animatic, very often areas that need to be revised are identified.

Storyboard Revisions are then made, and a revised animatic created

Followed by another meeting for final approval from the producers, the director and the animation director.

Confirming the Budget

It’s one thing to prove the concept and determine the animation will work, but can it all be done within budget? Storyboards give a clearer idea of the complexity of the final product, sound and vision, and that makes for more accurate budgeting.

Streamlines the Entire Production

In summary, storyboards are useful in every stage of animation production.

This is why Storyboarding is an important component of the Classical & Computer Animation & Production Diploma here at Max the Mutt. Contact us to learn more.

5 Skills a Concept Artist Needs for Creature Design

From the earliest days of film and digital animation, including the Ray Harryhausen classic films, and digital games, like 1993’s Doom, creature design has been a central process on which the success of the entire project can hinge.

If there is anything in common with Harryhausen’s Cyclops, Doom’s monsters and even the Clickers who prowl in ‘The Last of Us’, it is that, despite being unlike anything we’ve ever seen, they are believable, relatable and potentially real.

That means a concept artist for creature designs needs a fairly wide-ranging skill set to create thoroughly realistic, yet previously unimagined creatures to capture the audience’s imagination.

Among many others, that skill set would include the following.

1.Ability to draw both humans and animals, and an understanding of basic anatomy and structure for both

Audiences will only fear or fall in love with a fantasy creature they can relate to. That means, to be both realistic and relatable, fantasy creatures should be inspired by real-world creatures.

2.A Practical Imagination

Designers are usually brought in early in the story and script development and their designs may influence the storyline. Concept artists need to be able to take verbal directions and come up with designs. Sometimes the artist is given a story or character brief that may only be a few sentences long. Where does he or she go from here?

3.Research & Reference Gathering

If the direction was to create a creature that lives inhabits a rocky terrain. An understanding of that terrain. And the physical attributes the creature would need to live there is needed before design can begin.

4.The Process

Now the artist starts doing rough thumbnails of as many creatures as come to mind. From here, the concept artist narrows down the possibilities to a few ideas that he/she develops further. At this point. The 2 or 3 choices may be shared with the Art Director for approval and/or suggestions before settling on a final design that will be fully developed.

5.Traditional Drawing Skills

Traditional drawing and painting skills help give understanding and direction to what you’re trying to accomplish on digital 3D platforms.

Creature design is just one element of the Concept Art Diploma program at Max the Mutt College of Animation, Art & Design.

May 26 & 27, Year End Open House at Max the Mutt! Graduate Work on View!

You are cordially invited to Max the Mutt’s annual year-end Open House & Exhibition of Graduate and Undergraduate work!

Saturday and Sunday, May 26th & 27th

On view: student films, slide shows of concept art environments, props and character designs, children’s books and comic book art!

Van Lawrence Ching - year 4 Concept Art, Digital Matte Painting - Open House, Graduate Exhibition — Van Lawrence Ching – year 4 Concept Art, Digital Matte Painting

Nolan Brewer - year 4 Concept Art, Creature Design - Open House, Graduate Exhibition — Nolan Brewer – year 4 Concept Art, Creature Design

Year 4 Animation, 2018 Film Project - Open House, Graduate Exhibition — Year 4 Animation, 2018 Film Project

Elizabeth Carey - year 2 Illustration for Sequential Arts, "Super Squad issue 52." Cover Design - Open House, Graduate Exhibition — Elizabeth Carey – year 2 Illustration for Sequential Arts, “Super Squad issue 52.” Cover Design

Saturday, May 26th: doors open at 10:30 am

11:30 AM: Join us for coffee and doughnuts and an information session about this unique college, our philosophy, and the programs we offer, followed by a tour of the college.

1:30 PM: A special Open House presentation by Jim Woo, comic book artist and co-founder of The Comic Machine!

Jim Woo, Co-Founder of The Comic Machine

An Introduction to Rich Media comics

and The Comic Machine

Digital comics have evolved in the past few years. In this hour long presentation we explore the evolution of digital comics and the various platforms in use today.

There will also be an overview of a developing platform called The Comic Machine which is essentially the YouTube of comics.

This online platform allows anybody to create a rich media comic with online motion editing tools, generate the text with an advanced text engine, and also publish it to a gallery and social media, providing the opportunity to develop a following.

Jim Woo will demo the beta version of the online software.

Audience members with laptops are welcome to follow along.

You will need the Google Chrome browser installed.

For interested attendees, we will hand out user accounts and passwords.

For more information go to www.thecomicmachine.com

Sunday, May 27th: doors open at 11:00 am

1:00 PM: Attend the Open House Special Free workshop

Character Design for Comics & Graphic Novels with Greg Beettam, illustrator and comic book/graphic novel artist.

(If you plan to take the free workshop, please bring your sketchbook and drawing pencils!)

To pre-arrange diploma program private tours and info sessions, please contact admissions now to book your appointment!

Max the Mutt students are passionate people who want to develop first-class skills. Are you one of them?
Find out at our two-day Open House! We’ve been voted one of the 5 top illustration schools in the world by the international art & design website “The Rookies”

Our graduates have gone on to careers at top companies including Pixar, Corus/Nelvana, Guru Studio, Toon Box, National Film Board of Canada, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Yowza Animation, Portfolio Entertainment, UbiSoft, & Warner Bros. Games. Come see where they got their start!

Come for one or both days.
RSVP to: admissions@maxthemutt.com or call 416 703 6877

Just What Are Sequential Arts?

Sometimes, even the most complex names and terminology are actually quite easy to understand, and sequential arts falls into that category. You might be stumped on first hearing the term, but it’s really very simple. Drawings and/or images that are used in a sequence (suddenly it’s starting to make sense, eh?!) to tell or illustrate a story are known as the sequential arts.

Comic books and graphic novels are two of the most common uses of sequential art.

But, if it’s easy to get a good understanding of the term sequential arts. It’s not so easy to simply pick up a pencil and start drawing a series of images that produce meaning and a story when they are viewed one after the other.

That fact is one of the reasons that the term sequential arts was used by Will Eisner, one of the earliest cartoonists in the comic book industry. To describe the comic book medium and the elements that go into creating a comic book.

Comic Books as Sequential Art

Just like a story told in words can be conveyed in any of a virtually limitless variety of ways, so too can a story told using sequential arts.

To give you a sense of what can be involved in sequential arts, let’s stick with the comic books example and look at some of its components.

The Panel

If the basic building block of a written story is the sentence. The corresponding element in sequential arts is the panel, or frame of each individual image used in the sequence.
Just like sentences can be long, short, complex or simple, panels can take a variety of forms. They generally have a visible, rectangular border. But panels can take any shape and have no visible border. Whether they have a border or not, panels are usually separated by an area called the gutter.

The Page Layout

The basic page layout of a comic book is a series of rectangular panels in an obvious order. But just like panels can take different forms so too can page layouts. Many sequential artists don’t use rectangular panels, borders or the uniform page layout used in most comics. Instead, the borders of their panels may only be defined by the gutter, and the layout of the page can seem to have very little structure.

The Style of the Art

A story of revenge as told by Stephen King gives the reader an entirely different experience than a similar story told by J.K. Rowling. Of course, they would each use their own words to tell the story, but it is their style of writing that is as much to do with the different experience as anything else.

The same is true for the style of art used to create a comic. Your story will create a different impression if the style of art is cartoonish, abstract or realistic. And, as a visual medium, sequential arts can borrow from other visual media in its style. For example, the long shots, close-ups and zooms of film can also be part of your sequential arts style.

Marrying Text & Image

Not all sequential arts use text, but, when they do, it adds yet another level of complexity to the story telling. In addition to simply expressing dialogue, as it does in a Garfield comic, text can be used as narration, sound effects, thoughts and commentary. Text can appear in speech balloons, text boxes and within the image itself. Including the right text, in the right context, in the right position in each panel is as important as any graphic element of the panel and the overall story.

If you would like to find out more about learning sequential arts, get in touch with us at Max the Mutt College of Animation Art & Design.

Why Concept Art is So Important

Even if you’ve heard about concept art, it can still be difficult to understand why it’s so important for animation and video game projects.

What is Concept Art?

It might help to start with what concept art is not. It’s not a simple illustration of a concept. It’s not a sketch or layout of an illustration. It’s not a promotional illustration used to sell a video game or animated film.

Concept art helps to convey the look, feel and mood of a design idea. It is used to capture and convey the overall design vision of a project before anything goes into production, versus trying to express everything in specific terms at the very beginning of design development.

Concept art can be used in animated or even live-action films, video games and comic books. It is particularly helpful in introducing new ideas into existing projects, or even to help quickly convey the direction of an entirely new project.

Why is Concept Art so Important?

This is a great time for artists, animators and video game designers to be alive. Why? For the first time in history, just about anything you can imagine or envision can be expressed visually. Any new world, any re-imagination of the laws of physics, any lifeform; if you think it, you can probably create a visual representation of it.

But if you’ve ever had a hard time telling someone about one of your wildest creations, you can begin to get an idea of how and when concept art can help. Think about the tough time you’d have explaining your idea of a new world, it’s mood, and even potential story arcs that can take place in it, to your grandmother.

Now what if you could show her a single image that would express the thousand words needed to get her to really understand what you have in mnd.

That image would be a piece of concept art.

And its ability to give your grandmother a clear idea of your vision is why it’s so important.

And if your grandmother was the head of Disney Animation Studios, or Konami, well, it could just make you a rock star.

Is that All There is to Concept Art?

No. Concept art isn’t just about pitching overall concepts to grandma. Let’s say she really was the head of an animation studio and you got the gig. Now lots of cash gets plowed into getting hundreds, maybe even thousands of people, in locations around the world, to make your idea come to life in a film or video game.

But your initial concept art only helps to convey the setting, mood and tone of the overall story. Typically, to help fill in the rest, you’d carefully create a game design document, including painstaking descriptions of characters, for the entire project. Cool. Now everyone has a single reference point for designing not just characters, but settings, features, gameplay elements and so on.

But any two people can read the same physical description of a character and develop two very different looking and functioning beings. If no one is able to capture what you mean from a written description, the development of your character goes back to square one and your project goes way over-budget. And then you’ve upset your grandma.

So concept art can be a mood shot, or the schematic of a vehicle, or any artwork created before the real work begins to make sure everyone works towards the same vision. It might be a single image, a series of images or a mosaic of images that will all together communicate ideas quickly and clearly.

An increasing level of concept art proficiency is required in the video game and animation industry to help streamline the production process. To learn more about how you can earn your Diploma in Concept Art, get in touch with us here at Max the Mutt College of Animation & Design.

8 Graphic Novel Stats You Need to Know

Before we reveal some of the impressive graphic novel stats that every aspiring illustrator and/or storyboard artist should know, it’ll help to clarify just what is a ‘graphic novel’.

Except that’s not so easy. Wikipedia even says “the term is not strictly defined” and “…the exact definition of a graphic novel is debated…”. Other definitions include: “a novel in the form of comic strips.” (Dictionary.com) and “a fictional story that is presented in comic-strip format and published as a book” (Merriam-Webster).

For our purposes, a graphic novel can be any story that has more than one chapter ( similar to the difference between a short story and a novella or novel) and is told through a combination of sequential drawings and words. However there are rare examples of terrific graphic novels that don’t fit this description: one is told completely through sequential drawings with no words at all, another is a sequence of one sequential drawing chapter followed by a written chapter. Sometimes a sequence of individual comic books is published over time as a continuous story and is later published as a graphic novel.

In general graphic novels are a story in book form that is largely told through the use of illustrations, like “This One Summer”, written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki.

That said, take a look at some of the graphic novel stats listed below. They show, in a world of increasing digital animations and illustrations, that traditional forms of the art are not only still used, they are thriving. Even if you want to be a purely digital animator or illustrator, learning more about about ‘pen and paper’ techniques will add a new dimension to your work.

Graphic Novel Stats

$1.085 billion

Total graphic novel sales in the U.S. and Canada in 2016 (comichron.com)

16% – 23% – 16%

The growth in graphic novel sales in 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively, to a total of $405 million in 2016. The graphic novel category is considered one of the biggest growth categories in all book publishing. (comichron.com)

The First Graphic Novel to Receive the U.S. National Book Award

Released in March 2016, “March: Book 3” became the first ever graphic novel to receive the National Book Award. A story about the Civil Rights movement in the U.S., every installment of the March Trilogy, written by John Lewis and Andrew Aydi and illustrated by Nate Powell, held the top three spots in the New York Times Graphic Novel Bestseller list for six weeks. (Wikipedia)

Six of the Top 10 Grossing Films of 2014 Were Based on a Graphic Novel

Have you seen “Guardians of the Galaxy”; “Transformers: Age of Extinction”; “X-Men: Days of Future Passed”; “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”; “The Amazing Spiderman”; and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”? All of them are based on graphic novels. (CNBC.com)

Graphic Novels Boost Library Circulation

As traditional libraries continue to redefine themselves in an online, on-demand world, graphic novels are a welcome area of growth.

“In our library it’s (graphic novels) 3% of the collection and 30% of our circulation,” says Esther Keller, a New York school media specialist. (publishersweekly.com)

11.3 Million

The number of graphic novels sold in 2017 (comicsbeat.com)

992,000

Number of copies sold of the #1 selling graphic book of 2017, “Wimpy Kid #12: The Getaway” by Jeff Kinney. (comicsbeat.com)

Wide Employment Horizons

In addition to jobs as illustrators for graphic novels, those who learn traditional illustrating have success in finding job opportunities in gaming, animation, digital graphics, graphic facilitation, advertising and marketing.

To learn more about learning traditional illustration and animation skills and techniques, get in touch with us at Max the Mutt College of Animation Art & Design.

Classical Animation Isn’t Dead!

Any rumors, or even statements of fact from ‘experts’, that classical animation is dead proves the truth of they old saying “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.

In a curious repetition of history, every time a new medium comes along, claims that the old media are dead seem to come from anyone with a voice.

Here are some examples of what we mean.

After commercial radio took to the airwaves in the 1920s, doomsayers announced the death of newspapers. Today, 100 years later, not even 24-hour, on-demand online news has managed to entirely kill off traditional newspapers.
When televisions became common after World War II, it was considered the death knell of radio.
And then the internet was supposed to kill television

Yet, with all those lessons from the past, we see the same thing happening with classical animation. The ongoing development, availability and ease of use of computer animation, CGI and 3-D animation, has lead to news of the death of classical animation coming from almost every corner.

What is Classical Animation?

Classical animation includes two-dimensional cel animation and stop-motion animation. Traditional animation can include some digital processes for movement, scaling, morphing, soundtrack matching, special effects and editing. But the animation itself generally involves hand-drawing, hand-inking and/or hand-painting of individual frames on paper and/or cels. Classical stop-motion animation is done by manipulating physical models and objects and capturing each step in the animation on camera one frame at a time.

On the surface, the demise of traditional animation seems to make sense. Digital animation takes the art to new levels and forms, including games and ultra-realistic movie animations. At the other end of the process, with that much animating power at their fingertips, who would want to take the time and make the effort to layout backgrounds and painstakingly draw individual animation cells to appear over them?

But traditional animation is alive and kicking, and will be so well into the future for two basic reasons. First, it’s an integral part of most 3-D animations in movies and cartoons, especially in storyboarding and other pre-production processes.

Second, while computer animation speeds up the process, it does so at the expense of the idiosyncratic styles, charm and personality that can make every traditional animation unique. Many different computer-animated works can have a similar quality, depending on the characteristics of the system on which they were produced.

Why It’s Important to Learn Classical Animation

Many millennials and generation Z’s have grown up with little or no exposure to or understanding of traditional animation. For them, it’s crucial importance as an art form itself, and as an integral part of 2-D and 3-D computer animation, can be lost.

Classical animation is alive and well as a profession too. With an explosion in the animation industry based on dedicated television networks, like the Cartoon Network, and the popularity of animated movies, there are more animation jobs available than ever.

Many current animated cartoon series are still produced largely based on the techniques of traditional animation.

Disney studios have probably produced more animated films and television series than any other company. They still stipulate that their animators, even those who work entirely with computer animations, must take life drawing classes and traditional animation techniques. The idea is that a better understanding of how to capture and express anatomy, motion, emotion, gestures, clothing, etc., improves even computer-generated animations.

In fact, considering the Disney program has been in place since the 1930s, it’s interesting to note that it has recently been expanded and is more popular than ever, even as computer animation has come to the fore. If you would like to learn more about learning classical animation, contact us here at Max the Mutt.

April 28 & 29 Open House, Featuring An Exhibition of Year One Student Art Work !

You are cordially invited to Max the Mutt’s April 28 & 29 Open House exhibition of year one student art work! Visit us and celebrate with us their impressive achievements!

Our Open House, featuring an exhibition of year one student art work, is a special annual event.

One of the major differences between Max the Mutt and programs at other colleges and universities is our deep commitment to teaching traditional, representational fine art skills. First year students in all programs are amazed at their artistic growth during this year.

Enjoy three studios devoted to exhibitions of year one art work from each of our three diploma programs!

This year, first year students will be available in each of the exhibition rooms to answer your questions and explain the curriculum.

Open Saturday, April 28th: 10 am to 4 pm

Special presentation at 11:30 am about our three diploma programs, summer workshops, and the summer certificate program.

Open Sunday, April 29th: 11 am to 3 pm

(featured art work by year one students 2018, and also from previous years)

Year 4 Animation Student Josh Hill’s Dreams Are Coming True: He’s Animating Classically On A Production!

“This is where I have to be!” Josh Hill announced after he toured our Queen St. W. premises back in 2014.

He found out about Max the Mutt through a local art supply store in his home town, Orangeville Ontario. After finishing a one-year college program, he was working retail and still drawing in his spare time. One of the employees at the store handed him a pamphlet and the rest, as they say– is history!

Josh began his first term at Max the Mutt in the fall of 2014. He acknowledges the importance of the foundation year, and said that although life drawing wasn’t new to him, he really learned how important it was to animation at MTM.

“Life drawing is crucial, when I pose a character, I’m thinking about line of action, silhouette, and most importantly, the story. All of the things we learned in life drawing.”

And what does Josh think about the animation program at MTM emphasis on traditional techniques?

“It’s great,” he said. “Pencil and paper, it’s just the best! Simple and direct. Max the Mutt’s curriculum includes more classical animation than any other program in Canada that we’re aware of!”

It was clear that Josh was in his element here, but Josh understood that to make it as an animator in today’s industry, he had to learn 2D software and take on the challenges of 3D animation. Josh values the fact that his 3D animation instructor, Adrian Hansen, presented the 3D process using 2D tricks and techniques. This has been a tremendous help: “He taught me how to approach 3D as if each frame was a drawing, which was so useful….”

The class was also taught to create thumbnail drawings quickly, “sometimes we would just do ‘thumbnails’ for the entire class time- or however long it took to get the ideas out.”

The computer lab where Josh and his classmates are currently working on their final year’s film project is a testament to the importance of the classical animation approach, no matter the medium of the final product. The bulletin boards are covered in concept art, location designs and character turnarounds, many of which Josh has drawn himself. The film’s hand-drawn storyboard is on another wall in the lab, allowing the group to revisit the progression of the film, and make sure everything flows smoothly story-wise.

The fourth year film features a young ghost character, named Sam. For this project, Josh will be integrating his 2D skills into the film, by animating Sam traditionally. To do so, Josh and his classmates will first be animating the 3D elements of the scenes, and then Josh, using Harmony, will draw Sam on top of the existing 3D animation. While integrating 2D elements into a 3D film will be challenging, Josh and his classmates feel the addition of 2D elements will give this project a unique flair.

Josh feels, “it’s more satisfying to put your all into a single shot and to make it awesome even if it’s only for 5 seconds rather than animating a minute of “okay” footage.”

In December, Josh responded to an ad looking for classical animators. The position turned out be a project for a major USA company, being produced here in Toronto. Now Josh is working both as a busy 4th year animation student and in his first professional job!

Josh hopes to one day work as a 2D feature animator. He certainly has what it takes to make it in the industry. Having watched Josh struggle, grow, and succeed, his instructors at Max the Mutt would no doubt agree that Josh’s dreams will one day come true.