Animator is a resource for budding animators, be it with a pencil, plasticine/clay, puppets or computer. Animator has two main sections; a blog with information that we hope is useful to animation enthusiasts and an archive of articles originally published in a magazine called Animator’s newsletter.
Animation by a Young Film Maker was an article written for Animator’s newsletter issue 2 autumn 1982 by Michael Salkeld. At the time he had just become the winner of the BBC Young Filmmakers competition.
I thought it would be interesting to see if he had gone on to follow a career in animation. An Internet search turned up a profile of Michael Salkeld on the Axis online resource for contemporary art.
Michael says “I am an artist working in animation, capturing the subliminal rhythms of movement and refining them within the animation as a choreographed graphic representation. For me animation is choreography and visual orchestration. I have worked in a variety of techniques ranging from hand drawn and painted animation to 2d and 3d computer CGI and video. I also compose music.”
In October 2009 two films by Michael, “I am a horse” and “North Circular”, were projected on to the classical frontage and portico of Civic Hall Millennium Square Leeds, as part of Lumen’s programme in the Light Night festival.
His film “North Circular” was screened at the Fantasia International Film Festival 2009, Montréal. Canada and “I am a horse” was screened at the Melbourne International Animation Festival 2009, Australia.
Michael Salkeld’s recent awards include “A little More Fun Animation” at the Moves 2007 Festival, Manchester, UK.
The birth of British animation and an open letter to an animation enthusiast are two of the topics covered by Ken Clark in issue 4 of Animator’s newsletter, originally published in spring 1983. A beginner’s view of animation is given by Morris Lakin who was struggling with cartoon animation.
Cut-out animation featuring UFOs was the subject covered by Fred Wells. He tells us an easy way to create rotating flying saucers and a rotating planet. A master class in drawing cartoon faces is given by David Jefferson. Animation in New Zealand and their Animation Club were covered by Tony Cox.
I believe that many of these subjects are as relevant to animators today as they were in 1983. Please let me know your views on this and anything else to do with this issue.
The National Media Museum, Bradford, England are staging an exhibition entitled ‘Drawings that Move – The Art of Joanna Quinn‘. It started on 16 October 2009 and runs to February 28th 2010. It features art and graphic work from films produced by Joanna over the last 25 years.
The exhibition is an incredibly detailed and extensive view, not only of the artwork itself but of the processes involved in the production of an animated film from initial scripts, storyboards, character designs etc. through to completely finished films.
The show traces Joanna’s development from her early days as a Graphic Design student at Southgate College and Middlesex University through to the foundation of her company Beryl Productions. It also shows the events and artists that have had a major influence on the evolution of Joanna’s particularly distinctive drawing style and animation technique.
I first met Joanna Quinn at the Annecy Animation festival in 1987 where her first professional short film ‘Girls Night Out’ was awarded the 2nd Special Jury Prize for rhythm and editing.
She was nominated for an Academy Award for her film ‘Famous Fred’ in 1998.
Her distinctive drawing style came to the attention of advertising agencies and she has animated many commercials, including numerous adverts for Charmin toilet paper and also Whiskas cat food.
Joanna’s 2006 film ‘Dreams and Desires-Family Ties’ won 14 international prizes, including the 2006 Cartoon d’Or.
Colin Dunn tells us his method of making puppets which is based on techniques used by professional animators who have developed them over many years.
Plasticine puppet film maker Lewis Cooper tells how to overcome the perils of animating with this flexible material.
We visit the famous FilmFair animation studio in London to meet director of animation Barry Leith. He talks about his work on Paddington Bear and the Wombles.
Do the thoughts and aspirations of the animators who wrote in issue 3 connect with the way you feel about animation today? Let us know in a comment to this post.
Hiroshima City will host the 13th International Animation Festival HIROSHIMA 2010 from August 7th to 11th.
Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima, said; “This festival of ‘Love and Peace’ will bring together the spirit of Hiroshima – the desire for lasting world peace – with the central aim of the Association Internationale du Film dAnimation (ASIFA). ASIFA was established with the goal of contributing to the peaceful coexistence of humankind through the art of animation, a form of communication that transcends national and linguistic boundaries. It is among the most significant international cultural events held in Hiroshima.
On August 6, peace-loving people from all over the world join the citizens of Hiroshima to pray for consolation and peace. I sincerely hope that the artists participating in HIROSHIMA 2010 will come to a deeper understanding of the atomic bombing and allow ‘the spirit of Hiroshima’ to offer inspiration for future works.”
The basics of classic film animation remain the same whether you are creating a flick book or computer animation. Much can be learned by studying cartoon films frame by frame. Things to look out for are:
Anticipation – before a character moves forward they will make a small movement in the opposite direction.
Cycles – a series of movements such as walking that can be repeated several times.
Squash and stretch – this is best demonstrated by a rubber ball bouncing. When it hits the ground it will flatten slightly. When it bounces up it will return to the round shape and then go elongated. The same effect can be used on cartoon characters when they go through fast moves.
More techniques are discussed in the article ‘Open Letter to an Enthusiast’ that appears in Animator’s newsletter issue 4. In it animator Ken Clark introduces a beginner to cartoon animation.
Also Ken clark tells how an amateur group solved the mammoth task of animating ‘The Battle of Wangapore in The Grasshopper Animators.
If you have any animation tips to share with our readers please let us know in a comment to this post.
Lew Cooper’s film ‘The Legend of Bolster’ was a Movie Maker magazine Ten Best winner. He tells us about its production.
Les Ranyard tells us about his cost saving approach to cel animation.
Young film maker, Michael Salkeld, won the BBC Young Film Makers competition. He tells us how he got started and tells us about his latest film featuring a sheepdog.
Do the thoughts and aspirations of the animators who wrote in issue 2 connect with the way you feel about animation today? Let us know in a comment to this post.
Ken Clark tells us how the well known Grasshopper group got started. Tony Salmon tells how the idea for his award winning film “The Devil went down to Georgia” was inspired by a hit country and western record.
Brian Clare describes how he built a rostrum in his garage and Neil Carstairs talks about his approach to cartoon animation.
I would be interested to know if the thoughts and aspirations of the animators who wrote in issue 1 connect with the way you feel about animation today, particularly if you are a lone animator who is just starting out.
Animator’s newsletter, later to become just Animator, was published in the UK between 1982 and 1995. There were 35 issues in total.
I plan to archive each issue of Animator as searchable text. I hope this online archive will be of interest to those who are studying the history of animation and those who were animators between 1982 and 1995. Today’s animators should also find inspiration among the pages of this animation magazine archive, particularly if they are lone workers, be it with cartoon animation, puppet animation or computer animation.
If you were a reader Animator and/or a member of ANIMA (Animator’s Association) then please send me a message of encouragement.
Links to other sites from the pages of this website are for information only. Products are reviewed for the interest of the reader. No guarantees are expressed or implied.
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