Sunday, May 17, 2015

Sincerity [feedly]



----
Sincerity
// Temple of the Seven Golden Camels

When I was at CalArts many years ago, my teachers would use the words "sincere" and "sincerity" often. I know Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston used these frequently words as well when speaking about animation. These words aren't used very often anymore (at least in my experience), and I've been thinking about them a lot lately. Maybe it's a good time to bring them up again.

The dictionary definition of "sincere" is free from pretense or deceit; proceeding from genuine feelings.

Some great advice on the importance of the subject from Ollie Johnston: "you have to make it sincere, so that the audience will believe everything they do, all their emotions. Ask yourself: 'what is the character thinking and why does he feel this way?'"

Sincerity is an elusive quality and hard to define, but very important to what we do. The films and characters that come from a real place and feel grounded and sincere will stand the test of time and be enjoyed by audiences for decades to come. Over the years there have always been snarky, insincere movies and they just don't touch audiences or live on in people's memories the way a really sincere story will. There's nothing wrong with those kind of movies, of course, but our goal in animation is usually to create stories that stand the test of time. And sincerity is key to accomplishing that goal.

I think the word sincerity has fallen out of fashion in the animation community, and I feel like when I use the word sometimes people roll their eyes. I think this is because, over the years, people have begun to associate the word sincere with things that aren't actually sincere at all, but are instead saccharine, cloying or overly earnest.

The definition of "saccharine" is excessively sweet or sentimental. The definition of "cloying" is to disgust or sicken someone with an excess of sweetness, richness, or sentiment.

I think that those of us in animation are wary of the word "sincere" because so many animated films over the years have tried to mimic the tone and feel of the best Disney movies and many of them have missed the mark. Many of these films have an overly sweet and sappy tone and feel completely insincere. Some people even have an impression that Disney films tend to be sappy or saccharine. I don't think they are (at least not the best ones). Over the years, Disney story people and animators have always tried to find the real, true feelings at the heart of every story and build our stories and characters on real emotions. 

Also, the best Disney films don't shy away from the darker, more frightening parts of life. I think that's one mistake people can fall into that can cause a story to feel saccharine: they gloss over any actual conflict or potentially dark part of their story. That can make a film feel too overly earnest and create a feeling of insincerity. The best Disney movies find a way to deal with darkness and tragedy in a tasteful way that isn't overly heavy-handed or manipulative. That's another way for a film to become insincere: if the audience feels like you're exploiting something dark or tragic to force them to feel an emotion. Great film makers have a deft touch and can lead you into feeling what they want you to feel without you realizing what they've done. It's not easy, but it's key to what we do, and sincerity is very important to pulling it off.

So keep "sincerity" in mind as you work. There's no easy way to grasp what it means or implement it, but here are a few thoughts that might help you in that area:

No matter how fantastic or imaginative a world you're creating, your story and characters should always have a least a glimmer of basis in your experiences to ground everything. It's always best to base your stories and characters off of real people you know and real emotions that you've felt. If you're trying to express an emotion in your work that you don't understand or haven't felt, it just isn't going to feel real. 

Don't ever base your work on what someone else has done. Copying someone else's work always falls flat and feels insincere. There have been a few distinctive animators over the years that have developed a unique style because it came out of their individual taste and personality. When someone else tries to imitate that style, it never feels sincere. Similarly, when a storyteller creates a story because they were inspired by another story, that always feels insincere and you can always tell. Dig deep into your own tastes and feelings to create something original. The world doesn't need clones of something that already worked once. The world always needs fresh ideas. 

When you're being sincere, you will sometimes feel vulnerable. You might worry that people will laugh at you or mock you because you are putting real emotions on the page. I think that's why so many snarky and sarcastic stories are created: nobody ever mocks anyone for being sarcastic. People who are snarky and sarcastic are often revered for being cool and hip. It always seems more cool to not care about anything. But it'll never lead to a story that goes to a deep level or touches people. 

As screenwriter John Milius once said, "It's easy to be cynical. It's hard to be corny."

----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

I Made An Art Masterpost [feedly]



----
I Made An Art Masterpost
// Art and Reference point

mslead:

apathetic-demon:

Bodies:


Faces:


Hair:


Clothes:


Other (Person Related):


Other (non-specific):


I made this most for my own benefit to organize this stuff, and have no idea how to make a masterpost!




Art ref


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

cousinmosquito:by mexican cartoonist Rogelio Naranjo [feedly]



Sent from my iPad

Monday, May 4, 2015

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Eye Candy for Today: Dürer’s St. Eustace [feedly]



----
Eye Candy for Today: Dürer's St. Eustace
// lines and colors

St Eustace, Albrecht Durer, engraving
St Eustace, Albrecht Dürer

Engraving, roughly 14 x 10 inches (35 x 26 cm).

Link is to zoomable version on Google Art project; downloadable file on Wikimedia Commons, original of this impression is in the National Gallery of Victoria, which also has a zoomable image.

In this tour-de-force engraving — created at the dawn of the 16th century — Dürer uses the story of St Eustace's conversion, on seeing a stag with a crucifix, to show us mountains, streams, bridges, swans, a wooded landscape, individual trees, rocks, weapons, saddlery, the stag, a magnificent horse and several amazing hounds.

He has devoted as much attention to the wealth of detail in the background (note the tiny rider on the path above the horse's head) as he has on the wonderfully textural forms of the man and foreground animals.

Dürer's engraved line has much of the loose freedom of etching or pen drawing — directional hatching giving life to foliage and fur, and depth and solidity to wood and stone.


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

This evocative, surreal universe of drawings is Daehyun Kim's life's work [feedly]



----
This evocative, surreal universe of drawings is Daehyun Kim's life's work
// It's Nice That

Daehyun-kim-itsnicethat-list

Artist Daehyun Kim started to create his evocative, mystical Moonassi world out of ink while studying oriental painting in Seoul, South Korea, and has continued to grow it ever since. "The series is my life-time project," the artist explains on his website. "There is no specific background story or a theory about the drawing. Each drawing is created based on my daily thoughts and feelings. I draw to meditate on myself and others, and to be able to see the whole story of the series in the end." Daehyun operates out of a world in which the oceans are both shallow and bottomless, light is dark and dark is light, the moon acts as a torch, an eye and a character's inner being are one and there's nothing to do but reflect on your own existence all day, and it's completely spell-binding.

Read more

Advertise here via BSA


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad