![Bit of an old photo, but still a personal fave. Me and Luxo Jr. in front of Pixar Studios :]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m20rzjl6yN1qag1ubo1_1280.jpg)
Bit of an old photo, but still a personal fave. Me and Luxo Jr. in front of Pixar Studios :]
I often say that I love animation because it’s the most collaborative art form there is. At its best, animation brings together the work of many people to create a single, unified whole - one that seems to have sprung into existence as a complete creation.
(via pixarmovies)
Source: underthe-weather
Character animation isn’t the fact that an object looks like a character or has a face and hands. Character animation is when an object moves like it is alive, when it moves like it is thinking and all of its movements are generated by its own thought processes….It is the thinking that gives the illusion of life. It is the life that gives meaning to the expression. As [Antoine de] Saint-Exupery wrote, ‘It’s not the eyes, but the glance-not the lips, but the smile.
Source: pixarmovies
In May of this year, Pixar animator Austin Madison kindly hand-wrote the following open letter to aspiring artists, in a bid to inspire them through times of creative drought. It’s a lovely, eloquent letter, and in fact contains advice valuable to people in many a creative field. It was written as a contribution to the Animator Letters Project.
Transcript
PIXAR
May 17, 2011
To Whom it May Inspire,
I, like many of you artists out there, constantly shift between two states. The first (and far more preferable of the two) is white-hot, “in the zone” seat-of-the-pants, firing on all cylinders creative mode. This is when you lay your pen down and the ideas pour out like wine from a royal chalice! This happens about 3% of the time.
The other 97% of the time I am in the frustrated, struggling, office-corner-full-of-crumpled-up-paper mode. The important thing is to slog diligently through this quagmire of discouragement and despair. Put on some audio commentary and listen to the stories of professionals who have been making films for decades going through the same slings and arrows of outrageous production problems.
In a word: PERSIST.
PERSIST on telling your story. PERSIST on reaching your audience. PERSIST on staying true to your vision. Remember what Peter Jackson said, “Pain is temporary. Film is forever.” And he of all people should know.
So next time you hit writer’s block, or your computer crashes and you lose an entire night’s work because you didn’t hit save (always hit save), just remember: you’re never far from that next burst of divine creativity. Work through that 97% of murky abyssmal mediocrity to get to that 3% which everyone will remember you for!
I guarantee you, the art will be well worth the work!
Your friend and mine,
Austin Madison
“ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!”Because all of my friends in the arts need to read this.
Need all the inspiration I can get. And I don’t know why I haven’t posted this yet
Source: animatorlettersproject.com
![Little Known Fact of the Day: The two old men talking in The Incredibles after the family and Frozone finished destroying the final Omnidroid are Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two of the nine old men of Disney. These nine men are responsible for the development of all of the principles of animation used in all great animated films to date, both 2-D and 3-D alike. Ol’ school indeed :] (screencapped from The Pixar Story)](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lptopqmQq41qag1ubo1_r2_500.png)
Little Known Fact of the Day: The two old men talking in The Incredibles after the family and Frozone finished destroying the final Omnidroid are Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two of the nine old men of Disney. These nine men are responsible for the development of all of the principles of animation used in all great animated films to date, both 2-D and 3-D alike. Ol’ school indeed :] (screencapped from The Pixar Story)
Source: jaykunrawrs
![A Movie/Scene that made you really happy
There is no denying Wall-e is adorably cute, but it was also very beautiful. I had the biggest smile watching this whole movie, EVERY SINGLE TIME. It really is a masterpiece :]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7zv2zejEl1qag1ubo1_400.jpg)
A Movie/Scene that made you really happy
There is no denying Wall-e is adorably cute, but it was also very beautiful. I had the biggest smile watching this whole movie, EVERY SINGLE TIME. It really is a masterpiece :]
A Movie/Scene That Made You Cry
Forills. I was watching this part in disbelief that they’d mess with our emotions this much. I WAS TEARING UP SO BADLY! Though I didn’t legitimately cry :P
Superladies? They’re always trying to tell you their secret identity… think it’ll strengthen the relationship or something like that. I say, “Girl, I don’t wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that. I mean, you tell me you’re, uh… S-Super, Mega, Ultra Lightning Babe, that’s alright with me. I’m good… I’m good.
![Favorite Pixar Short
It was actually a tough call between For The Birds, Partly Cloudly, and this, Presto. But ultimately, I found this short to be their funniest, and that’s why it wins :]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l7r0fk1Tki1qag1ubo1_500.jpg)
Favorite Pixar Short
It was actually a tough call between For The Birds, Partly Cloudly, and this, Presto. But ultimately, I found this short to be their funniest, and that’s why it wins :]
