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Workshop Overview

Objectives:
Understand basic principles of animation.
Learn how to use a simple animation app on a smartphone.
Create a short animated sequence using basic drawing materials.
Encourage creativity and storytelling through animation.

Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren painted colours, shapes, and transformations directly on to their filmstrip. Music played by the Oscar Peterson Trio.
1949 | 8 min

Animation History Timeline:

  • 1906: First recorded instance of stop-motion animation by J. Stuart Blackton in "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces."
  • 1926: Lotte Reiniger, a German filmmaker, creates "The Adventures of Prince Achmed," the oldest surviving feature-length animated film using silhouette animation.
  • 1928: Walt Disney introduces synchronized sound in "Steamboat Willie," featuring Mickey Mouse.
  • 1933: Noburō Ōfuji, a Japanese animator, releases "The Dance of the Chagamas," using traditional cut-out animation techniques.
  • 1937: Disney releases "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," the first full-length animated feature film.
  • 1940s: Experimental animations by Len Lye (New Zealand) and Norman McLaren (Canada) redefine the boundaries of animation.
  • 1956: Soviet Union's Soyuzmultfilm Studio releases "The Snow Queen," a classic animated film that influences global storytelling in animation.
  • 1960s: Experimental animation emerges, with artists like Len Lye and Norman McLaren pushing boundaries.
  • 1980s: Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's rise in Japan with groundbreaking films like "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" (1984).
  • 1995: "Toy Story" is released as the first feature-length film created entirely with CGI by Pixar.
  • 2000s: The rise of 3D animation and digital tools expands the medium, while traditional and stop-motion styles continue to thrive.
  • 2010s: Increased diversity in animation styles and global reach, including Japanese anime's influence and resurgence of 2D animation techniques.
  • 2013: "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya," directed by Isao Takahata, combines traditional hand-drawn techniques with modern digital tools, receiving global acclaim.
  • 2020s: Animation continues to evolve with new technologies like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and AI-based techniques.

J. Stuart Blackton - Humorous Phases of Funny Faces

Winsor McCay - The Sinking of the Lusitania

Lotte Reiniger - The Adventures of Prince Achmed

Walt Disney - Steamboat Willie

Noburō Ōfuji - The Dance of the Chagamas

Walt Disney - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Soyuzmultfilm - The Snow Queen

Len Lye - A Colour Box

Hayao Miyazaki - Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Pixar - Toy Story

Isao Takahata - The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Amy Kravitz River Lethe
1985, 7 minutes, color, sound, 16mm
direction, production, animation: Amy Kravitz
music: Caleb Sampson

Amy Kravitz (b. 1956 Wilmington, Delaware) "explores animation as a distinct language that uses unusual materials, unique spatial expressions, and visual metaphors as its grammar. She believes an intimate collaboration between viewer and maker takes place between each drawing… Her approach to animation and teaching techniques are the origin of Rhode Island School of Design’s Movement Lab."

William Kentridge Bio: William Kentridge (b. 1955) is a South African artist known for his powerful animated films, drawings, and performances that explore themes of memory, history, and identity. His work often combines drawing, animation, theater, and opera, utilizing stop-motion animation techniques to create poignant narratives that address social, political, and human rights issues. Kentridge's distinctive style incorporates charcoal drawings that are successively erased and redrawn, giving his animations a unique, evolving texture that reflects the complexity and transience of his themes.

Yoko Ono's Instructions: Yoko Ono's instructions, often found in her conceptual art pieces and books like Grapefruit (1964), are simple, poetic directives that encourage viewers to engage with their imaginations, environments, and emotions. These instructions blur the line between artist and audience, often involving actions, thoughts, or observations that challenge conventional art practices and invite participation, introspection, and mindfulness. Examples include tasks like "Imagine the clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put them in." or "Whisper your name to a butterfly."

Yoko Ono (b. 1933) is a Japanese-American multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist known for her avant-garde art, her experimental music, and her marriage to John Lennon of The Beatles, with whom she collaborated extensively.

Key Concepts:

  • Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose: Two techniques for drawing animation sequences: one frame at a time (straight ahead) or planning key poses first (pose to pose).
  • Arcs: Natural movements tend to follow arched paths, not straight lines.
  • Exaggeration: Enhancing actions to make them more dynamic or convey emotion more clearly.
  • Squash and Stretch: Giving a sense of weight and flexibility to objects.
  • Timing: The number of frames for a given action, affecting the speed and mood of the animation.
  • Anticipation: Preparing the audience for an action, like winding up before a jump.
  • Slow In and Slow Out (Easing): Adjusting the spacing of frames to create acceleration and deceleration for smoother motion.
  • Follow Through and Overlapping Action: Realistic movement continuation after the main action, like a tail following a cat.
  • Solid Drawing: Anatomy, weight, and form.
  • Appeal: Characters should be interesting and engaging, whether through design, personality, or movement.
  • Atmosphere and Mood: Use color, light, and shadows to create a specific atmosphere that enhances storytelling.
  • Spatial Awareness: Consider the depth, scale, and positioning of elements within the scene to guide the viewer's attention.

Key Concepts for Experimental Animation:

  • Abstract Expression: Use of abstract forms, shapes, and colors to convey emotions, moods, or ideas.
  • Non-linear Narrative: Fragmented, circular, or non-sequential storytelling that challenges traditional narrative structures.
  • Sound and Image Synergy: Integration of sound and visuals to create unique, synchronized experiences.
  • Mixed Media: Combining various materials like paint, collage, and digital effects to create unique textures and patterns.
  • Chance and Improvisation: Embracing randomness and spontaneity to allow for unexpected creative outcomes.
  • Metamorphosis: Continuous transformation of objects, forms, or characters, often in fluid or unexpected ways.
  • Personal Vision: Focus on individual creativity and self-expression, reflecting the animator's unique perspective.
  • Interdisciplinary Approaches: Collaboration with other art forms, such as dance, poetry, music, and visual arts.
  • Temporal and Spatial Exploration: Experimentation with time and space, including slow motion, fast cuts, and unusual perspectives.
  • Minimalism and Reduction: Use of simplicity and reduction of elements to their most basic forms.
  • Cultural and Political Commentary: Using animation as a medium for social, cultural, or political critique.
  • Optical Effects and Visual Experiments: Focus on optical illusions, color theory, and visual perception to challenge viewers' experiences.
  • Non-conformity and Rebellion Against Tradition: Breaking away from established norms and using unconventional storytelling methods.
  • Materiality and Texture: Emphasis on the tactile and material qualities of the medium itself.
  • Interactivity: Incorporating elements that allow audience interaction with the animation.

Ideas to Unstick:

  • Animate a Simple Object: Choose an everyday object and imagine it coming to life. How does it move? Does it have a personality?
  • Looping Cycle: Create a short looping animation, like a ball bouncing or a bird flapping its wings.
  • Metamorphosis: Animate one object transforming into another, like a flower turning into a butterfly.
  • Follow the Line: Draw a line across the paper and animate a character or object following it.
  • Animate an Emotion: Choose an emotion and create an abstract animation expressing that feeling.
  • Animate a Simple Action: Capture simple actions like a jump or wave, focusing on exaggerating the movement.
  • Use Charcoal Textures: Experiment with different charcoal textures and animate transitions between them.
  • Frame-by-Frame Doodle: Start with a doodle and expand it across multiple frames into a larger scene.
  • Animate Sound: Create an animation that matches the rhythm or mood of a sound clip.
  • Personify an Inanimate Object: Animate an inanimate object like a piece of charcoal or a raindrop with a personality.
  • Play with Shadows: Animate the movement of shadows rather than objects themselves.
  • Draw from Memory: Animate a simple memory from childhood, like a balloon floating away.
  • Reverse Animation: Start with a completed drawing and animate it backward to its original state.
  • Exquisite Corpse Animation: Collaborate with another student to create an animation together.
  • Animate a Natural Element: Focus on natural elements like water flowing or leaves blowing in the wind.
  • One-Minute Story: Create a simple animation that tells a story in just one minute.
  • Interactive Animation: Create an animation that interacts with the edges of the paper.
  • Animate a Charcoal Erase: Use an eraser as a drawing tool to create an animation.
  • Texture Transfer: Rub charcoal over a textured object under the paper and animate over the texture.
  • Limit the Frames: Create an entire animation using just 5-10 frames.