Meet the Artist: Emile Ghorayeb

#110

Hi Emile!

Cool to see a ā€˜incredibly famousā€™ animator on the ā€˜Meet the Artistsā€™ (as in fact everyone will know your work). Really nice that you can have some time to answer all the questions! :slight_smile: On the next feature film that will be released with you working on it, Iā€™ll be waiting for your name on the end-credits and shout around the theater: ā€˜hey, that Emile, thatā€™s a cool guy who takes the time to answer fanposts!ā€™ :wink:

I have just one question. You were trained to be a 3D-animator, so do you have any feeling of movement when doing ā€˜instant 2D animationā€™? To speak about myself: I can animate a bit in 3D and then give it a bit ā€˜cartoon-animation-lookā€™, but when trying the same on 2D-animation (just frame-per-frame) I never get a nice movement (with the right ease and so). Can you animate without keyframes, if you understand what I mean? And do you think 2D (frame-per-frame animation) can be compared to 3D (keyframe) animation, or if an animator should have skills for both?

Thanks for the time, and I wish you all the best luck on your projects! :bowdown: :wavey:
-Gijs

#111

hey Emilio! I am relativley new to animation (still in school, one more year left).
couple of questionsā€¦

  1. Is the framing of each shot finalized before you get assigned a scene? Or does it change much after you begin animating?

  2. If so, how much animation do you do beyond the frame? ex. If 2 characters are walking in a mid shot do you animate the feet or just the motion of the hips going up and down?

Thats itā€¦ thanks for your timeā€¦
Aaron

#112

Thanks for talking with us Emile! I realized something today when I was animating a little animation test of a character seeing something and laughing. And looking at the playback something seems missing. Like it really isnā€™t ALIVE. I guess my question is what are some things you do (tips/tricks) when your struggling to make a character feel alive and less blah?

Thanks again.

-Robert

#113

lay-z-arse:

Whatā€™s up man!

Itā€™s hard(er) coming from games. The reason is that you donā€™t animate much acting in games, therefor you donā€™t get much of a chance to develop those skills. What I suggest to any game animator is to work on some animation on the side if they plan to get into the film business. I always wanted to do film, but it wasnā€™t a possibility in Montreal when I started. So i looked at my own work and realized, at the time, that I just didnā€™t have the skills yet, so I got working on it. Being honest with yourself about such things isnā€™t easy, but if you want it, get on it.That was my way of thinking.

I did feel like I had platformed at one point, but I was also curious to see whatā€™s out there. Funny you should ask, because I might be taking a job in games again, but more along the lines of supervising. I donā€™t know if Iā€™ll be animating much (Dreamworks IS aware, donā€™t worry), as I am moving back to Montreal because my girlfriend and I are having a baby girl (woohoo!), so i plan to chill back for a year or two and get onto other responsibilities like my family and such, but my love for film definitely is here to stay. :buttrock:

jjcoolio:

Yes, PDI is very family oriented :rolleyes:

Dutchman:

I wish I could animate in 2D. Iā€™m planning to eventually take courses either in 2D or hopefully, if I can find a class, I want to leartn stop motion. I never really tried to ā€œanimte in 2dā€, as I donā€™t know that much about the medium. In my eyes, it is comparable, but to a certain extent. 3D vs. 2D is like comparing a painting to a picture created in painter. Both are beautiful, but 2D is definitely the holy grail of animation. Thereā€™s definitely a certain charm to 2d that we lack in 3D. But hey, thatā€™s just my opinion :smiley:

airg:

  1. It usually is. Cameras and general character direction is set mostly at the storyboard stage, followed by layout which then sets in general character direction, camera and staging in the 3d scenes and adds changes if needed. The camera sometimes gets changed after or during the animation process, but itā€™s not very frequent.

  2. Shot lengths are usually already set before we get in there, again at the storyboard stage when edited together. One of the many reasons being that you need to set shot length prior to animation so time isnā€™t wasted, but most importantly so that directors get a good feel for the story and how it flows. Animating a shot is a long process as Iā€™m sure you know now, so itā€™s a good idea to set all of this first, and then we can get in there :thumbsup:

#114

heh, I donā€™t even know how to start thisā€¦mabye with a regular ā€œHiā€ā€¦

Aniway, Iā€™m just a little brat whoā€™s a lot into arts, of all dimentions and methods (even music). Iā€™m at an art highschool (but itā€™s a great pile of bull fecal matter, learned more from extra ā€œtrainingā€ and personal experience, but thatā€™s how stuff works in my country), architecture class, but I love all thatā€™s drawing, painting or 3d (traditional & cg).

Iā€™ve been into 3D modelling forā€¦2 years now, and attempted some animation (wich totaly sucked), and now Iā€™m mostly animating warcraft 3 models, because Iā€™m too unskilled to animate models for other games. And the fact is that I like very much modelling, but especialy animation, butā€¦I totaly suck (at 2D too). I would show you some samples, but I donā€™t want to waste your time even more and to make a fool out of myself. So, I would like to ask: is it possible to get good at animating (3D) only through personal experience and from reviewing some free tutorials from time to time? Or is a school realy necessary? Also, is there a chance to work in the industry if you donā€™t have higher studies of animating, modelling, concept art, etc? Iā€™ve heard that no one even looks at one if he dosenā€™t have studies, although he might be realy tallented.

The fact is that in my country, the cg industry is almoust inexistendā€¦actualy it is inexistent, no one even knows whatā€™s cg allthough they watch it all the time. There are no schools dedicated to cg here, and I donā€™t have the money or motivation to go to a school from outside. Iā€™ll attempt the architecture faculty in autumn, 'cause I like architecture very much (I wonā€™t enter thoughā€¦). This brings in another issue: I like too many things. I love all art domains, as I said, but is it possible for someone to get good at all of them? Or sacrifices must be madeā€¦

And finaly, do you have any advice for people stupid like me who like this domain and want to be good at it, are dedicated, donā€™t have the opportunities for specialized studies and they suck? Or itā€™s hopelessā€¦

Hell, Iā€™m going too epic and dramatic hereā€¦aniway, Iā€™m terribly sorry for wasting so much of your time (I bet you wonā€™t even read this when you look at the size of the text :P). Cheers.

P.S.: I think I sounded like an obsessed freak in the above statementsā€¦I do have a life though, I donā€™t draw & stuff all day :stuck_out_tongue:

#115

Robert Diaz:

Making your character feel more alive comes with many things. When I animate, Iā€™d say my characters start feeling alive at about 70-75% of the time that Iā€™ve been working on a shot. Before then, they tend to feel a little stiff because Iā€™m still working out overlaps, antics and such. So:

  1. have a great idea. Take the time to really think about different ideas. You usually know when you have a good one because your eyes light up, your palms get all sweaty, and your head ACTUALLY shrinks a little. THATā€™s when you have a good idea.

  2. Pose your major beats. REALLY pose them, donā€™t do a half job. This could be a reason some animations donā€™t look alive. Pose them from head to toe, facials, everything, ON EVERY POSE.

  3. Passing poses. repeat #2 for passing poses. Pose EVERYTHING.

Once all this is done, and all your keys are on the same frames, you can easily move poses around and make sure your timingā€™s good. After that, if you feel a pose is inadequate, you can still delete it and not have to worry about keys being all over the place. Your animation should start looking better this way. I never break out of this. Never.

Try that and see where it takes you.:thumbsup:

Dimmur:

First off, there is a modeler that used to be here that is now in the Glendale campus from Romania. WhatI suggest for you is that first, choose something that you really like. From what youā€™re telling me, itā€™s a toss up between animation or modeling. I strongly suggest you study. For people outside USA, like me, you have to have a certain amount of studies or youā€™re not even aloud to get in. Dreamworks is very cool about taking care of such things, but they donā€™t make miracles. For me, I had to have (if I remember correctly) 3 years of schooling such as a bachelors or something equal to that and a certain amount of work experience. Only then are you even aloud to walk into the country on a working Visa.

It is possible to get good animating by yourself, but Iā€™m almost positive itā€™ll take you much more time than if you were to study it because you donā€™t have access to others, not to mention someone like a teacher which will be straight with you and tell you exactly what youā€™re doing right and what youā€™re doing wrong.

Many people leave their home to study animation. There are many schools available for this such as Academy Of Arts (San Francisco), CalArts (LA i think), Sheridan College (Toronto, Canada), Vancouver Film School (Vancouver, Canada). But I gotta say, not only because i have some very good friends working there, but www.animationmentor.com is the way to go. Some of the best animators in the world are teaching there, and from what Iā€™ve read and talking to them about it, itā€™s a fantastic program. And biggest bonus of all, you can do it from your home and you donā€™t have to leave. Thatā€™s right, all you need is a webcam! :applause:

Dude, if you want it enough, get on it and youā€™ll get it. Before I studied, I had no idea where to start or what to do. And today, I got my dream job. So can you. :smiley:

Good luck kiddo!

#116

HI Emileā€™ Congrats on the fabulous CGā€™s that uā€™ve done in Dreamworks Animation specially that madagascar characters that really make me laugh "Id Like to move it move it! MOVE IT!! hehe funny ehā€™? :smiley: those weirdo cute litlle squirrels or lemur? are really enjoyable hek hek,
the banzo giants! alex martin etc.love it

heres just my Q.

  1. Are you enjoying your Job now as an Animator Character Modeller?
  2. Favourite Character in Madagascar or Shriek
  3. whats ur favourite 3-d program sofwares etc.whats the coolest and explain why?

i will remember u as one of the inspiring 3-d animators artist in the planet keep up the goodwork man! more power

#117

Thanks for answering my previous question, it had great information.

My second question is how do you keep yourself from creating poses that are generic and unsurprising? Many times when Iā€™m blocking out my animations I find myself creating poses that arenā€™t exciting. The key, as many people have said, is to push your animation, push your poses. I guess my question can be better said by asking you how you know your poses are good? When trying to push poses donā€™t you run the risk of confusing/turning off the viewer? Thanks again.

-Robert

#118

Hi emile.
just a couple of questions

  1. I was just wondering, was Shrek done in 3dsmax?
  2. Do you use Pose-to-Pose technique in your shots or still do it the old fashion way. or do you use both?
  3. whatā€™s the hardest shot youā€™ve ever had in those movies youā€™ve been involved lately?
#119

Have you seen animators that had no 3D job experience but animation experience get hired at places like dreamworks based off of 3D they produced in their spare time. I am currently in this situation but I am working on a short film with a group of dedicated artists hoping to use it to make that break into features and wondered how often the type of job experience is a factor over quality of work in getting into 3D features.

#120

Emilio congrats on the amazing worked youā€™ve provided so far,awsome reallyā€¦totally love shrek movies, also.

My question is,you made it clear that your a strong beleiver in posing ā€¦totally agree with that, same for me.But do you always reffer to the 12 principles of animation,when animating or are you more layed back and it kinda became a second nature, more of a feeling.
I say that becasue while working with Sylvain Chomet on ā€œthe tripplettesā€ he was really pesting sometime against those principle saying that you really have to go further than that.I guess it has proven right as the animation on the movie is too me some of the best to date.But what do you think of all those rule we have when animating?

anyway, keep it up, waiting impatiently for Shrek3 ā€¦

cheers

#121

wow thanks man!..its emillio secret exercise!!..:bounce: i will definitly try this and i hope i will be as good as you someday.you did one eps every 2 weeks on sitting ducks?..dishingout 55 sec animation in one week?..i thought im the only one, btw i like sitting ducks i even have the vcd.Can i ask you one last question?..(probably two) is it important to take acting class for animator?..btw have you ever been to jakarta? thanks again

#122

nards26:

  1. Iā€™m only doing animation at work. And yes, i LOVE my job.
  2. Madagascar: Julian Shrek: Fiona
  3. 3DsMax is my choice package. I find I work well with it, and itā€™s very intuitive comapred to other packages where it feels more like a bunch of calculationsā€¦ my opinion, thatā€™s all.

lol, you have alot of energy, thatā€™s a good thing in this industry :cool:

Robert Diaz:

I still create lame poses Rob. Itā€™s hard to keep inspiration at 100% all day, 5 days a week, so donā€™t feel like youā€™re not doing it right. Instead, take the time to really look at your animation. If your brainā€™s fried, ask your mates. I do it all the time. So:

First, try to stay away from movements you have already seen before in other cartoons, and definitely push your poses. After watching your poses, itā€™s easier to dial them back then to go back in there and push them more. Keep in mind that there are times you donā€™t want to push the poses like when things are calm for example. Find the peak of the shot, and thatā€™s where you want your animation to shine most. The rest is just practice. None of us sat down one day and automatically created amazing poses. it takes time and attention to detail. Clear your mind of everything else and analyze them. Look at your pose [in context] and see if thereā€™s something you could do to it to make it feel better. DOnā€™t be scared to sit there for 10 minutes on the same pose. Also, pay attention to your silhouette, is it reading right to the camera?

Hope it helps!:stuck_out_tongue:

mayj_kickass:

  1. Shrek is done with maya and PDI proprietary software

  2. I mainly use pose to pose, I figure the other way youā€™re talking about is ā€œstraight forwardā€? If so, that would be really complaicated to do in 3D, and Iā€™m positive my results wouldnā€™t be as good as the ones I get now. Animating straight forward is mainly used by syop motion animators if Iā€™m not mistaken.

  3. I think I answered this already, so I hope I answer the same thingā€¦ lol. Iā€™d have to say the second to last shot dancing on Shrek2 because of not only were there alot of characters, but getting the choreography right between Shrek and Donkey (when Donkey flips and disconnects from Puss), then connecting him with Fiona (after she looks ta him) so they can dance back to back together, all while being on a beat and making sure they dance properly. I was told that I made Fiona actually look sexy back then. lol. Iā€™m proud of that one.

All that partying, dancing and Djing during the past 15 years turned out to finally be very useful there. :smiley:

thimsj:

Dude, itā€™s hard for me to answer that kind of question. I donā€™t want to throw you in the wrong direction. There are a few things I can tell you. It definitely helps for you to have past experience. Iā€™m sure there are 2D animators that have gotten hired in the past based on their 2D experience. One of my best friends Jason was hired here after being a stop motion animator at Aardman with no computer animation skills. Now heā€™s unbelievably amazing. Another friend, Trey Thomas (Corpse Bride) is another guy who has done stop motion and 3D.

But Iā€™ll be honest, your stuff would have to be pretty darn good to pass off like that.
Thatā€™s just my opinion though.

thematt:

Dude, Iā€™ve forgotten what the 12 principles areā€¦ lol. At this point, I rely on my feeling too. The problem I believe Sylvain was trying to stay away from is poses that are too harsh maybe? I dunno. It couldā€™ve and probably was a multitude of things. I guess it depends of the film. In Shrek, you donā€™t feel us hit the poses as much as in Madagascar. Each has itā€™s own feel. I donā€™t see why Triplettes would be any different, know what I mean? :rolleyes::shrug:

#123

Hi
Whats your Favorite rendering and modeling Software

Rendering? [MentalRay,Renderman or other software] ?

Modeling? [Only Max, (other from PDI Dreamworks )or maya and XSI too] ?
[sry for my bad English]

#124

terminus_ad_quem:

Just a not that I worked on season 2 of Sitting Ducks. Acting calsses definitely help. I havenā€™t taken many, but from the little that I did, I could see how much it would help.

And no, Iā€™ve never been to Jakarta, but it is in my top 10 places to see :slight_smile:

IceFlame:

modeling: 3dsMax. But this is only because i just donā€™t know how to model in any other software.
Rendering: PDIā€™s rendering is the BOMB!:buttrock: As for personal use, I will be looking into Vray or Brazil once my short is ready to render.

#125

hey emile,

me againā€¦just got two more questions

  1. do you have any advice about how to animate a slow action in cg? I remember the kung-fu granny in Madagascar being awesomeā€¦

  2. If you have any time, would you please critique this animation Iā€™ve made on maya?
    hereā€™s the link: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyholden/

thanks a lot. again, very much appreciated.

#126

Wow, thanks so much for answering me, it means so much (Iā€™m usualy ignored). I am seriously taking into consideration to apply for the animation mentor school, but Iā€™ll have to convince my parents to pay for itā€¦hmmā€¦I shall see, if I enter faculty with flying colors, I may have a chance.

#127

norman365:

  1. Well, if youā€™re talking about how to animate an old granny or something like that, whether she is cartoony or not, there a re always aspects that are the same. For example, because sheā€™s old, she usually canā€™t move very easily because of her bones, muscles, etc. So, knowing this, steps should be small, she should definitely shake, etc. The trick is this: know the aspects that make her look old, and push them further than what they would be in real life, like shaking more, stuff like that.

  2. Email me this link and Iā€™ll get to it for you sometime next week or so, no time right now :wink:

Dimmur:

I suggest you do it. :thumbsup:

#128

Thatā€™s it everyone!

I had a wonderful time with all of you.

Thank you CGtalk and everyone involved, thank you Dreamworks, thank you Leigh, and thank you everyone for the great questions.

C ya on the flipside.

EmilioG, out.:buttrock:

#129

Thanks a million, Emile! :thumbsup: