Animation
is not about pretty pictures. It's about action and reaction;
about characters and their relationship to each other. In animation
anything that you draw is a character. A tree can express emotion,
a line can have a nervous breakdown and a raindrop can drown in
a teacup.
Establish the basic idea: The Dog Wants To Sleep. Who is this
about? What characters are involved. What is the story you are
telling? Is it about a relationship between a dog and his master?
What universal emotions are involved? The need for sleep? Hunger?
Love? Sex? Freedom? Get to the message early. The audience must
be able to get into the story.
Simpify the characters' environment to not confuse the purpose
or direction of the story. Introduce the locale and the characters.
Basic gestures indicate something about the characters.Villains
should have dimension. Even "good" people commit socially
unacceptable acts. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.
Design the characters to suggest their personalities. Round, soft
shapes make them cuddly. A square is dependable; sharp angles
can indicate a threat or merely awkwardness. In Disney's Aladdin
the main character is delineated with straight lines while the
genie is drawn with curves. Why?
Most stories have a three act structure:
Act 1: Introduction...the character wants something.
Act 2: The character attempts to achieve his goal.
Act 3: Struggle, confrontation and the climax where the hero achieves
the goal. The end is the completion of the events of the story.
All else is extraneous except for an action or line that frames
the ending.
