The Four Animators

After being stripped of the rights to his character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and losing most of his animation staff, Walt Disney had to rebuild himself from the ground up. Disney picked four new animators for his new studio and these animators stayed with him for most of the Golden Age of Animation.

Norm “Fergy” Ferguson

            Norm Ferguson was an ex-camera man turned animator in 1929. An introverted man from Brooklyn (judging by characteristic Brooklyn accent), Ferguson tastes delved into vaudeville comedians that influenced his animation. Ferguson animation style is very broad and expressive, giving his characters the impression that they’re thinking. Ferguson’s most well known example of this is Pluto, Mickey Mouse’s dog:

The famous flypaper sequence from Playful Pluto, a milestone in personality animation. From the time he accidentally sits on a sheet of the sticky flypaper, Pluto’s problems seem to become ever worse as he tries to extricate himself. Thrown it all, his reaction to his predicament and his thoughts of what to try next are shared with the audience. It was the first time a character seemed to be thinking on the screen, and, though it lasted only 65 seconds, it opened the way for animation of real characters with real problems (Johnston & Thomas, 1981, p. 100).

Despite not having formal art training, his peers list this as a benefit because Ferguson would not inhibited by anatomy and drawing rules.

Ferguson would later go on and animate The Evil Queen’s hag/witch form during the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Veteran Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston emphasize the Witch becoming Ferguson’s most iconic characters: “Fergy’s handling of her face was less of a typical formula than most Disney designs, with shapes that did not relate as well as they should for animation because of the witch’s illustrative quality. The mouth to cheek to eye and brow relationship, which is so important in animating expression changes, suffered from his concept in design” (p. 105). By 1953, Ferguson found it increasingly difficult to keep up with Disney and left to work at other studios. He died in 1957 after being plagued with diabetes and other health problems.

Hamilton “Ham” Luske

            Out of the four original animators, Hamilton Luske was the only one with a college education. A graduate of University at Berkley majoring in business yet his only formal art training came from the classes that Disney initiated. It should be noted that Luske struggled with drawing, yet excelled in animation, story, and had a keen eye for entertainment, which helped make up for his lack of artistic talent.

In contrast to Fergy’s natural ability to improvise while animating, Ham always seemed to follow a procedure with a step-by-step approach. However, his animation was not mechanical in any way. On the contrary, it was full of life and the feeling of the character; his ability to move the audience with his pathos was second only to Bill Tytla’s. Ham could not start a until he had the whole thing visualized (Johnston & Thomas, 1981, p. 110)

Luske’s talent resided in fleshing out character action relationships or looking at designs and finding ways to improve them, “an example of inventing business for a character occurred is the scene where Snow White folds her arms as Grumpy would, while she is watching him. It was a very good choice of action for her, because it showed her gentle way of teasing Grumpy” (Johnston &Thomas, 1981, p. 114-115). Another instance, Luske believed the rabbits done by Disney looked too thin and bony and insisted soft and furry. After several redesigns, the artists at Disney managed created soft and furry rabbits in the form of Thumper. This design technique would later be used for Michael of Peter Pan.

            In 1938, Johnston and Thomas report what Luske once shared on his thoughts of animation:

Our actors are drawings. We cannot work on the inspiration of the moment as an actor does, but must present our characterizations through a combination of art, technique, and mechanics that takes months from the conception to the finished product. And we have to make the audience forget that these are drawings. We cannot risk ruining a sequence ruining a sequence or a good characterization with some mechanical imperfection or jitter that reminds the audience that are dealing with drawings instead of real human beings. (p. 113-114)

             Hamilton “Ham” Luske continued to direct more animated films and sequences, including the cartoon section of Mary Poppins. However, more of his time was increasingly spent on live-action TV shows, until his death in 1968.

Fred Moore

            Fred Moore was one of Disney’s favorite animators and artists. Hired at the age of eighteen with only limited education based on art classes he took as well as working as a janitor at the time, Moore eventually became one of the few first to break rubber hose style animation. Despite his limited training, Moore still turned out to be a talented artist, popular for his provocative drawings and sketches of girls, as well as never being noted for making a bad drawing. Thomas and Johnston note Moore specialties

The squash and stretch of the walks that Freddie animated had more life, felt better, looked better, and probably seemed more real just because of his ability to change shapes. He had such a simple, clear way of showing the straight leg, the bent leg, the shove off, the highs and lows of the walk. He did not experiment with a walk in the same way Ham did, varying the timing and the relationships to get something unique, because Freddie’s was all feeling (p. 126).

Disney favored Moore to the point that he asked all of his other artists and animators to model after him and it can be argued that Snow White and the Seven Dwarf is based on his style because of it.

Snow White Rough Poster by Fred Moore

            While there are twelve principles of animation, Moore had his own personal fourteen points of animation:

1.     Appeal in drawing.

2.     Staging.

3.     Most interesting way? [Would anyone other than your mother like to see it?]

4.     Is it the most entertaining way?

5.     Are you in character?

6.     Are you advancing the character?

7.     Is this the most simplest statement of the main idea of the scene?

8.     Is the story point clear?

9.     Are the secondary actions working with the main action?

10.  Is the presentation best for the medium?

11.  Does it have 2 dimensional clarity?

12.  Does it have 3 dimensional solidarity?

13.  Does it have 4 dimensional drawing? [Drag and follow through].

14.  Are you trying to do something that shouldn’t be attempted? [Like trying to show the top of Mickey’s head]. (128)

Like Norm Ferguson, Fred Moore left the studio despite the innovations he contributed, because he couldn’t keep up with the changing standards and feeling like he accomplished too much in too short a time, “I have reached everything I want, and I’m only twenty-four. Now what do I do?” (Johnston & Thomas, 1981, p. 129) Tragically, Moore died in an auto accident in 1952 at the young age of forty-two.

Bill Tytla

           Bill Tytla was known to be a very intense person. Dark, brooding, physically fit, emotional yet socially awkward. Nonetheless, this animator will forever be known as the supervising animator for Chernabog in the “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence of Fantasia. Tytla’s talents lie in his character’s acting from the violent, mercurial moods of Stromboli from Pinocchio to capturing the dark, terrifying power of Chernabog. As Thomas and Johnson noted on Chernabog’s character, “Powerful action, solid drawing, and dramatic staging helped to create a character never even attempted previously in animation, but it was a feeling of an inner spirit, evil and primitive, that really made him live on the screen” (Johnston & Thomas, 1981, p. 131).

          
Animators usually hire actors to act out scenes in a feature to better understand how they want sequence to play out or as reference material. For the “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence, they hired Bela Lugosi of Dracula fame. Once filming was done, Tytla expressed displeasure at the scenes Lugosi filmed and eschewed them all in favor of doing the reference material himself.

            When working, Tytla would always try and produce his best material. His dedication is best exemplified when his ego was crushed when Disney told him the scene he did was “Ok”. A week or two later, Tytla would rethink that scene and return with something twice as good.  
 Chernabog would become his magnum opus to the point people who personally knew Tytla would be shocked with disbelief that he worked on the sequence as it contrasted greatly with his other work like the Dwarfs or tender scenes involving Dumbo.

            Bill Tytla retired from animation in 1943 and he and his family moved to Connecticut where he felt they’d be safe during wartime America. From then to his death in 1968, people felt he never had the same self-fulfillment and gratification he found while working for Disney.

Works Cited

Johnston, O., & Thomas F. (1981). The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. New York: Disney Editions.   

Technology and Technique

When animation was still in its infancy, these were the techniques utilized in producing it:

The Cycle: A series of drawings that animated back into itself by having the last drawing work into the first one, creating a continuous loop. This technique was ideal for walking, dancing, and scramble animation.

Repeat Action: An action that could be repeated just as it was in a second scene, with a new beginning or a different ending. Examples of this technique could be seen in classic Scooby-Doo shorts, which allowed the creators to save money by recycling the animation for chase scenes.

The Cross-over: Recycling the action to have two or more characters repeat in a cycle. How this was done is that inkers would trace over the same subject multiple times, and even in reverse, to create the illusion of a whole crowd or a line of dancers. Look closely at the background characters of Beauty and the Beast during the "Be Our Guest" sequence.

Rubber Hose Animation: In response to the stiff quality of early animations, animators thought animating appendages and sections to that of a garden hose. Reasoning that no one would know or understand bones or muscle structure in an animated character, this technique extremely well in creating loose and fluid movement. The animation suggested no sense no realism which had a charm of its own and offered comedic possibilities.

             However, Walt Disney disliked this type of action and was quick to criticize rubber hose animation:

“Get some straight lines in there, like you’ve got in Oswald. Doesn’t that camel have a knee or an ankle? And you’ve got the body the same all the time––he can bend back or forward, y’know. And get rid of those limp noodles: get some drawing in it!” (Johnston & Thomas, 1981, p. 45).

Animation became more progressed and refined as animators sought after new and better methods and techniques in conveying the illusion of life and motion. These techniques were perfected and came to be known as the Principles of Animation:

Squash and Stretch: The most important technique. When a fixed shape is moved about from one frame to the next, there is rigidity in its motion. This does not comply with real life as even the most rigid shapes, whether it be furniture, dishes, or anything composed of living flesh (no matter how bony), there is considerable movement and alteration in shape as it progresses through the action. The most basic example of the squash and stretch technique is the ball diagram. If a ball were drawn consistently as it progresses through its fall, there’s bounce or weight to it; it just looks flat and rigid. Apply the squash and stretch technique, however, and the ball gives a sense a weight and bounce as it flattens on impact and rebounds after it hits the surface. Any shape can be animated with the squash and stretch technique, allowing the subject to move with fluid realism.

Anticipation: Animating a character or a subject in way that signifies to the audience that the character will behave this way or take a certain course of action. For example, to signify that a character will run, he will draw back a raised leg in anticipation of this action.

Link
Art by Sandford Shirk

Staging: Looking at the animation and subject from all angles. How is the scene edited? Is the action clear? Does the environment obstruct it? What is the effect the makers want to convey? These are the elements that considered in staging a scene, through planning and choreography.

Link

Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose: The straight ahead pose is when the animator works straight ahead from the first drawing in the scene. He simply works through one drawing after another, developing new ideas, and keeping the scene fresh. Pose to pose is similar to straight ahead, however, instead of the animator working off of spontaneity, there’s deliberateness in animating the scene as he knows how he wants the action to play out.

Link
Art By Larry Lauria

Follow Through and Overlapping Action:  Rendering movement more realistically and to give the impression that characters follow the laws of physics. Characters and body parts will continue to move even if the character has stopped. Overlapping actions includes body parts moving at different rates. “Dragging” in which it would take a few frames for parts of a character to catch up such as clothing, hair, body parts, etc. Exaggerated use of this technique can produce comical effects, whereas realistic animation must be timed to produce convincing results.

Slow In and Slow Out: Moving the human body and other objects at different rates to create a realistic effect. For example, the bouncing ball to emphasize the ball’s weight and speed.

Arcs: Natural actions follow an arched trajectory and thus animation should adhere to this principle for greater realism. Applies to rotating limbs or joints, thrown objects. Another example would be the bouncing ball, which falls and ascends in a V arc.

Secondary Action: A character or subject moving with subsidiary action. For example, a character walking and his arms moving independently to express and emphasize emotion.

Timing: The number of drawings or frames for a given action, translating the speed of the action on film. An animated film consists of 24 frames per second. If a character were consistently featured throughout a 90-minute film, the amount of frames would be at least 130,000 frames for one character. Correct timing will an object appear to obey the laws of physics, for instance, an object’s weight determines its reaction to an impetus. Timing is critical in conveying a character’s mood, emotion, and reaction.

Exaggeration: Sometimes, to create an imitation of reality, one must present a caricature of it. Otherwise, a perfect imitation would look static and dull.

Solid Drawing: Drawing a character or subject and taking into account of three-dimensional space, giving them volume and weight. This makes the character look natural, more real. If handled poorly, however, the character would look wooden.

Appeal: A character must look real and interesting. Be wary, however. A character that is drawn too complex or clumsily done will quickly lose appeal. It’s always best to use simplicity to create appeal in a character.

Left: Mr. Incredible / Right: Gribble
Left: Caricature, simple, unrealistic: appealing. / Right: Complex, detailed, reaslistic: ugly.

To demonstrate a character encapsulating all twelve principles, I choose Disney’s Tarzan. Tarzan was animated by supervising animator Glen Keane and was the most complex character done during the Disney Renaissance. For instance, he’s the most anatomically accurate-–detailed animated character to date, as Keane had worked with other artists and biologists determining Tarzan’s bone and muscle structure to create a convincing jungle übermensch. This video goes into detail the methods and steps Keane and his animation team took to make Tarzan plausible and believable.

If one were to freeze-frame his action scenes, they would find various parts of his body undergoing the squash and stretch technique as well as slow in and slow out to illustrate his strength, speed, and agility. At various points of the film, Tarzan would surf on vines and tree trunks. This is demonstration of the arc technique as Keane had to animate Tarzan sliding down naturally to the set pathway using the Deep Canvas technology. As for appeal, the film takes full advantage of the animated medium by having Tarzan walk on his knuckles and travel like an ape whereas a normal human can’t, nonetheless, it further establishes his gorilla upbringing. In addition, Keane and his team had a little fun showing Tarzan’s innocence as he reacts to civilization. For example, not understanding personal boundaries as he listens to Jane’s heartbeat and tries to peak her skirt to see what’s under it, not understanding the full implications of his actions. Tarzan’s behavior and background enables him to have appeal as it translate an old, popular character into something new and fresh. 

Works Cited

Johnston, O., & Thomas F. (1981). The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. New York: Disney Editions.   

Introduction

For the past eighty years animation has held the image of a genre that caters to children and the young at heart. I disagree with this sentiment, animation is a medium. It’s a common misconception to assume animation and cartoons are strictly for kids, thanks to big animation studios like Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks saturating the market. However, like the medium of film, which can tell a wide variety of genres and stories that can be told and appeal to a wide audience, both young and old; so can animation. For example, even though their work is geared towards children, Pixar still conveys enough material for adults and artists to enjoy. The films they’ve created feature timeless stories, they’ve delved into mature thematic material regardless of their audience, and scenes and characters that we find ourselves emotionally invested.    
As famed animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (1981) once said:

What you as an animator are interested in is conveying a certain feeling you happen to have at that particular time…. Conveying a certain feeling is the essence of communication in any art form. The response of the viewer is an emotional one, because art speaks to the heart. This gives animation an almost magical ability to reach inside any audience and communicate with all peoples everywhere, regardless of language barriers (p. 15).

            However, getting a viewer to respond and emotionally invest in a character is tricky. Animators look at expressions, symbols, and signifiers that an audience member can identify with:

We start with something they know and like. This can be either an idea or a character, as long as it is familiar and appealing. It can be a situation everyone has experienced, an emotional reaction universally shared, a facet of someone’s personality easily recognized, or any combination of these…. The audiences will make our little cartoon character sad––actually, far sadder than we could ever dram him––because in their minds that character is real. He lives in their imaginations (Johnston & Thomas, 1981, p.19).

They then go into detail that for an animated cartoon character to be real, he must have personality, and preferably an interesting one. For example, the earliest cartoon character with a distinct personality would be Gertie the Dinosaur by Winsor McCay.  
 It was believed McCay used a cat for reference when animating Gertie, given that the dinosaur displayed cat-like tendencies like pawing or kneading the ground. Nonetheless, Gertie conveyed shyness, stubbornness, and a fragile self-esteem: traits that mark a distinct personality. Later, Thomas and Johnson use Donald Duck, who is known for his explosive temper, best represented when he’d break a golf club in half in frustration.

            Animation is a medium, not a genre. It is the art and science of bringing imagination to life:

The illusion of life is a rare accomplishment in animation, and it was never really mastered anywhere except at the Disney Studio. Of all the characters and stories and exciting dimensions of entertainment to come from that incubator of ideas, this is the truly unique achievement. This is what must be examined and explained, understood and appreciated, taught to others and passed on to the animators of the future (Johnston &Thomas, 1981, p. 25).

That is what the purpose this blog shall be. I will “examine and explain, understand and appreciate, and to teach others” the art of animation.

Works Cited

Johnston, O., & Thomas F. (1981). The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. New York: Disney Editions.