Meet the Artist: Simon Otto

#40

Hi Simon. Very important question for you:

If you were a fish, what kind of fish would you be and why?
Cheers!

#41

Hi Simon, heres one from me.

So, I understand the sense you guys had during production, with all that creative tension and long hours. All that good stuff.

What is the feeling right now, as the film is finally being seen by the paying public. Please describe the vibe in the studio corridors.

#42

lol paying my respects, thankyou for give up your time to hear what we have to say. Your sketch/blog was cool. So do you carry a sketch/idea book everywhere you go ?

#43

Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.

Learning your craft in traditional hand drawn animation and then transitioning to CG, have you noticed any consistent gaps of knowledge in animators who began directly in CG, instead of having a 2D grounding?

What are good exercises for learning 2D? (I already having training in draftsmanship and CG animation, I’m just not sure where and how to start bringing those together in handdrawn)

Thanks. (Loved the film, just saw it today :slight_smile: Really fun and snappy )

-Alonso

#44

Hi Simon,

I found your brown & white sketches (on your blog) full of life and near “triplette’s” stuff…
Your answer are… Cool and very helpful !
Just a question :
When you block do you do it with curves in constant extrapolations or rough splines ?
And (I know it’s the second question…) : how do you make blinks (interaction between brows and lids…) ?

Thanx

Thibaut

#45

Hey Guys,

Thanks so much for your interest and for having gone out to see our movie. Unfortunately, I was sick all weekend and therefore had a really hard time sitting in front of the computer for more than 5 minutes. I’ll try and check in as many times as I can today to answer all the latest questions.

<theflash> I’m glad you like them. We worked really hard on those in animation and I think you can find some of the most amazing 2D animation in them. Unfortunately, too few people actually went out to see it.

I find inspiration in a lot of artists, but for animation it must have been Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston at first and then later the guys around me (James Baxter, Kristof Serrand, Rodolphe Guenoden, William Salazar, Fabio Lignini, Jakob Jensen, Dan Wagner etc…) I don’t know if you’re familiar with any of these guys’ work, but they’re incredible. Tell me what you think of their stuff, if you happen to know them…!

I animated day and night (2D), acting scene after acting scene. I sketched a lot in the city of Paris as well and watched a lot of animation frame by frame.

<danylyon> Hey Dani, freut mi, dass verbii glueget hesch. Mir gsehnd ois sicher bald mal wider. (Sorry guys, what you see here is the language known to only a few people and a couple of cows called Swiss-German. Imagine the sounds somebody makes while throwing up…yep, that’s what it sounds like)

<Wilson-3d> Hey Chris, that’s very promising. It’s tough to give you a lot of good advice here with a couple of phrases. You should definitely send in your reel as soon as you feel ready. A couple of quick tips: Put in a couple of really convincing and entertaining lip-sync acting tests (think about it for a couple of days and plan it really well before you start), a walk-cycle and then of course your short film. You seem to have a very artistic sense (liked the sculpture a lot, but I think that should show in the choices you make in your animation. Unless you want to become a modeler, I personally wouldn’t put that in your reel.) But overall I think it already shows your sense of entertainment, which is very good. That’s what we want to see in our review boards. A good sense of entertainment and a good skill level.

<mroberts> Since I am not a modeler I would probably confuse you more with my attempts of answering technical questions like that than anything. Animators don’t tend to model, even though Supervising Animators are often closely involved in the process.

<Chris Bacon> Good questions Chris. 1. There were a lot of challenges to overcome in that process. First of all, just trying to move out of your comfort zone and accept that you’re going to animate differently than the way you had animated before, was a big challenge. It’s very hard to move away from the way you do things you think work. Learning to animate as simplistic as possible was a huge personal battle. Editing, stripping down your ideas to the bare essentials was a difficult process for everybody, but ultimately extremely beneficial to all of us. Anything floaty or meaningless in animation today annoys me even more than it did before. And it is always good to be reminded that the character stands above all other technical rules.

2.Well, the workload is only too much, when you don’t work efficiently and concentrate on the right things. Less experienced animators tend to focus on the less important stuff (secondary action/arcs etc…), before they have the structure, composition and general idea of the shot right. That’s where an experienced supervisor can help getting it right faster and therefore getting the shot approved sooner.

  1. I worried of course. A lot. I really wanted to be able to do good animation like some of the scenes I studied intensively and that I loved so much. Something that struck me in this business, though, was that I met a lot of people along the way, that wanted to be, rather than wanting to do. If you ever find yourself more wanting to be in a position because it’s cool, well paid or admired then you should think about it really hard. It’s only a nice job if you really want to create the work and sit down for endless hours trying to create 5 frames of animation.

<peglegpeet13> Hey David, You know, I don’t think it’s that much to learn, really! Compared to other professions it’s not that much information. The hard part is to do all the things at the same time and do it well. Imagine a juggler that needs to juggle 15 balls for a circus show. He’s going to juggle 3 balls first and then little by little add one more ball until he’s got it up to 15. That’s how you need to do it. Do little short simple exercises and then add more difficult ones as you go. That’s how I did it. And a personal advice is not to look left and right too much, but concentrate on your own stuff. Some people learn it really fast and then stall and others take more time, but eventually become excellent at it. Steady wins the race! And in your biggest moments of animation despair, watch your favorite animated film and you’ll get your motivation back instantly or go out and sketch people in a cafe or at the train station! Good luck, buddy! (I still know the feeling by the way!)

<Winner> Hey Cameron, Yes, we usually don’t force people to work in a specific method. As long as the ideas are communicated there is no problem. Personally, I like to block my animation out in stepped mode with the fewest amount of keys necessary. This first pass displays my idea of the structure, composition and general acting idea of the shot. As soon as I have the directors approval, I go ahead and add breakdowns to my shot. Once I am happy with that, I “spline” everything and work in layers from then on and polish the shot until it’s done.

Generally, the earlier your method can display most of your ideas, the better. It will give you more time in the end to polish your scene and make it perfect!

<lvlr_kian> I draw as often as I can. I also thumbnail a lot to find the best ideas for my scene.

I’ll check in a little later today!

Simon

#46

Hi Simon! Im 16 year old student from Finland, and i’ve been thinking about getting into the animation bussiness. So I wanted to ask you: Do you got any tips or hints to a beginner animator?

-Tuomo Rinne

#47

[i]<Winner> Hey Cameron, Yes, we usually don’t force people to work in a specific method. As long as the ideas are communicated there is no problem. Personally, I like to block my animation out in stepped mode with the fewest amount of keys necessary. This first pass displays my idea of the structure, composition and general acting idea of the shot. As soon as I have the directors approval, I go ahead and add breakdowns to my shot. Once I am happy with that, I “spline” everything and work in layers from then on and polish the shot until it’s done.

Generally, the earlier your method can display most of your ideas, the better. It will give you more time in the end to polish your scene and make it perfect!

[/i]Thanks for the info Simon…

#48

jasonsco>dito! …and money’s coming your way!

andy_maxman Hey Anand, Short films are generally the best way to display your skills, not only as an animator/lighter/modeler etc. but also as a filmmaker and storyteller. It is hugely advantageous to understand the entire process of animation filmmaking. Plus, if you happen to turn out an outstanding piece of shortfilm you can really make yourself heard and get job offers from places you didn’t even imagine. The guy who did “9 “ for example actually managed to pull out a movie deal, an academy award nomination and virtually every Hollywood studio chasing him after his film made his way through town. Of course that’s not the norm, but a lot of good things can happen also on a much smaller scale. Most animators though, get hired purely based on their demo reel…

It doesn’t really matter which part is your work as long as you can display what YOU did on it. If you’re the director and you feel somebody can do a certain job better than you and is willing to work on it, then you should definitely go for it. That’s also an important talent, recognizing your strength and weaknesses… I don’t know, did I answer your question?

Seemoo Hallo Simon. I saw your demo reel and loved it. Especially your Nemo tests. Really impressive!

Du, falls mal in LA bisch, chum doch mal verbii. Kennsch du dae Jean-Denis Haas? Schriib mer doch uf mini privat e-mail adresse. du findsch si uf oisaerem blog unter infos und fotos!!

bblackbourn I really liked working with you too, man! I hope it’ll happen again soon…

Jassar 1. Not on the animation side, but on the backend of the pipeline. The last few 2D movies were almost entirely comparable to CG films in terms of CG complexity. Although, compared to the capabilities of todays machines, they would probably already be quite archaic! Again, I am not a Tech guy as such. Somebody else should probably answer that question for me …

 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	  2. Being well known is a side-effect to being talented and determined. So, you really have to want to do good work and work at it hard. Of course there is always luck involved, but only in terms of how fast you get there. If you're really good and have a lot of commitment, you'll get there for sure somehow. Somebody will see your potential and will want to use it to their advantage (and that's a good thing!!!)

Bunnyjen I am not quite sure I understand that question. But 2D artwork is still the way we design everything that is being created in CG here at Dreamworks…

Well, in games I really don’t know, but I assume it’s the same as in films. CG movies made way more money and 2D films were less and less successful. It became a business decision and it will become a business decision again when it’s time to move back into 2D (or something like it) I believe.

It probably has to do with the fascination of something new. The realistic, believeable worlds that are being created in CG are more fascinating to todays audiences. But it will swing back again in some way.

I would search online. Endless magazine and newspaper stories about this “phenomenon” have been published over the past decade or so…

hus2005 We worked on HP workstations/Linux and the animation was done in MAYA. It was Dreamworks last MAYA production for the animation department. All future shows will be animated in EMO (Dreamworks/PDI proprietary software).

AnimAmaker See the answer to <SuperHero> on post #25

dbsmith chips and fish

hmedia Paul! As a matter of fact, I am having a beer as we speak and people are lounging outside of my office. Everybody is really relaxed and very happy with how everything turned out. Especially in terms of animation, but also about the way the movie has been critically received and the higher than expected numbers. For us animators this has been an extremely educating experience and we all came out as much more accomplished artists. That’s what really counts the most for us.

This is always the time to take it a little easier and talk about the different reactions and experiences people had. Of course, you always wish that you work on a movie that will become that cultural phenomenon that everybody on this earth will see, but considering the moderate US boxoffice numbers of Wallace and Gromit, we knew that that wasn’t necessarily going to happen in this country…

Simon

#49

More than anything I was just wondering if it were polygons or nurbs. I ask because so many big studios have switched to polygons/subdees in the last few years for there character pipelines(ILM,WETA,BlueSky,etc…). I was just wondering because PDI/Dreamworks is one of the few big studios still using nurbs.

Mike

#50

Hey Simon,

Thank you for the reply. It was very much appreciated, I wish you all the best in any future projects as well as life.
David

#51

Hello Simon,

I have seen the trailor, dam good, very very nice. ultimate expressions… over all lookin nice.
great job…
_jawa

#52

Hi Simon, I hope you are feeling well and are up again. Thanks for taking time to answer our questions.

It’s really unfortunate that not many ppl went to watch those 2d animation movies. But to me they are master work, esp prince of egypt (though I have not seen the movie, I have seen a book of artwork on it, amazing). I remember now some of the names from that book as you have mentioned, I looked for your name too, but unfortunately I could not find.

I will surely find out more about ppl you have mentioned and surely let you know. Thanks again for taking time. And yes surely you are in my list of most fav artists :slight_smile:

Wow! I feel great, I talked to the artist who has worked on 3 most amazing and my most fav movies :slight_smile:

#53

Hi Simon!
I have a some questions for you.

  1. i have been doing 3d animation for a while now, do you think i should learn 2d animation aswell,
    and do you think this will contribute to more jobs from clients and if i learn it do you think
    i will get a better understanding of animation, rather than just doing 3D.

  2. should i learn all aspect of 3d and 2d before i find my spessiality, and do you
    have any thoughts on if i will succede in the bizznizz better if i find my spessiality,
    rather than just doing everything

  3. i’m 18 years old and i’m thinking about going to an animation school for 1-3 years
    do you think this is a good idea. you get friends, contacts and a experience for life, but this
    proabbly is going to cost some money. should i go to school or apply for a job in the field of
    animation right now. i have been working with 3d for allmost 3 years now on my sparetime, but have
    only had a spessial interesst for character animation for about 1 year.
    you can see my showreel at this page: www.home.no/ani3d

  4. can you give me some advice about breaking into the industry?

#54

Hello, thanks for taking time out to answer any of are questions. I am a highschool senior in AP Art and I just wanted to ask what art college do you think would be a good experience without sacrificing a lot of money , and what should I be doing right now to one day, be in your position. Thank you very much

#55

totally Simon, thanks for your time.

All of them are such great informations. If you get the time, i wanted to ask one more -

  • what according to you is the current threat to the animation industry? both technically and creatively speaking…

thanks,
Anand

#56

Hi Simon.
I just wanted to say thanks a lot for the comments on my reel! I appreciate it.

Chris Myers

#57

Hello Simon, First off I would like to thank you in advance for taking the time to responed to all of our questions. Plus I would like to join everyone else and simply state that I am a big fan of your work.

My question is pretty simple. I am an animation student and want to focus on 3D animation but the school that I am attending says that it is best for me to learn the animation princables, such as, squash and stretch, etc., etc. in 2D first. I’m not complaining, in fact I enjoy learning the princables this way. I’m pretty new to the animation world. I love doing it but my teacher, or professor, whatever you want to call him says that my drawing style is to “tight” and that I need to loosen up.

I agree with him so I was wondering if you could help me by explaining your approach to 2D animation. Also if there are any warm-ups that you might have done and could share would be more than helpful.

Thanks again for your help

#58

Simon, Thanks for doing this!

My question is: What is the command structure on this film? Different studios seem to do this in different ways. And I was wondering how it was done on FA.

For instance, in some studios, the Animation Supervisors are what at other studios are labelled as Supervising Animators. Or at some studios the Animation Supe is has more of a technical slant and oversees the char animation and character setup departments while the Supervising Animator just supervises the animators and maybe helps setup characters via suggestions.

What was the structure on FA and at DreamWorks? Is there an Animation Supervisor position and Supervising Animator’s position? Or were the labelled some other way?

I realize this may not make complete sense. However, I hope you can see enough of what I’m trying to say to supply an answer. :smiley:

Thanks!

#59

Thanks so much for explaining all that! I’ve been wondering for a long time how that work is distributed, and those problems met.

Nathan