Meet the Artist: Simon Otto

#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

#60

Hey,
You guys really did an amazing job on Flushed Away! It’s a shame Aardman and Dreamworks won’t be working together again…

Anyway, I was wondering a couple of things:

  1. I read in Animation Magazine that a year before the release the hamsters that were in the first trailer were removed to make Roddy a more likable guy. How did you guys manage to reanimate all the scenes that used to have the hamsters? Was it very time consuming, or were they not really around enough to cause a problem?
  2. I also read that there were no hair simulations, so how exactly was the hair animated?
  3. Any interesting things about animating the slugs?

Thank you!

#61

Hey,
You guys really did an amazing job on Flushed Away! It’s a shame Aardman and Dreamworks won’t be working together again…

Anyway, I was wondering a couple of things:

  1. I read in Animation Magazine that a year before the release the hamsters that were in the first trailer were removed to make Roddy a more likable guy. How did you guys manage to reanimate all the scenes that used to have the hamsters? Was it very time consuming, or were they not really around enough to cause a problem?
  2. I also read that there were no hair simulations, so how exactly was the hair animated?
  3. Any interesting things about animating the slugs?

Thank you!

#62

I just saw it, we were the only ones in the theater (I love that) and it was magnificent. Flawless animation, couldn’t think of any changes. Great sense of humor, unique style, creative dialogue and a wholesome well-thought story. 5 *'s for this one!

Question - In the trailer, there was a joke when Sid came to the Kensington residence, where he said My names Sid, and you are? and Roddy said I am appauled. and Sid said, Nice to meet you Paul. Was there a reason it was cut out? Also, how come they never kissed? Also cut out? Heh.

#63

Hi Simon, thanks for everything. This interview is very interesting and inspiring.
I have a “couple” of questions for you… :slight_smile:

1>I use to watch lot of cartoons and live action movies, because of fun end inspiration as well. But I’d love to know what do YOU mean with “study” a movie. Which approach do you suggest to make it really usefull?

2>Which kind of reference do you use for acting scenes. I mean, do you use to shoot yourself acting on the given line or just imagine the action by thumbnailing on paper?

3>Are you going to post somewhere on the web your graduation short or something you did back in Paris? I’d love to watch your first steps in the field.

4>Can you list a short breakdown of the best shots you animated on your movies? I know something that Alessandro did, or William, Jakob, Kristof and of course sometimes I can recognize some James’ stuff but I’d like to know something more about your contributions. Besides, which are the main characteristics of these great animators I mentioned above. What makes them peculiars and differents each other in your opinion?

5>Wich are your favourite animated shots ever?

Thanks again, cheers! :slight_smile:
Aldo

#64

Sneakybunny Thanks! I have it on me all the time, but still don’t feel like I’m drawing enough!

aes I’m glad you liked the film.

Well, a good animator is a good animator. I know a lot of guys who don’t come from 2D and they’re top notch. Generally the big differences I see though, are in the clarity and the design of the poses. A good, traditionally trained animator has learned to make a good drawing and will take that experience into CG. Plus, ex-2D animators usually question and criticize the results that the computer is giving them more, because they would draw it differently. This feedback has improved the look of our characters and their animateability a lot over the years.

In contrast, the CG trained animators have an edge on us, because they all modeled and rigged characters in school and through that have a much better understanding of the inner workings of the character rigs. So, ideally, knowing it all would be the perfect solution. But at the end of the day you just need to be a good performer and you will succeed.

jjjazzz Thanks for checking my blog, Thibaut! I block it all in in stepped mode as I would do in 2D. I just want to see the main keys first (except for special cases, like if the character has to be on a path f.ex.). Then I add the breakdowns. Once I am happy with the rough performance, I spline everything and let the computer give me the inbetweens. From that point on I finesse my work in layers (starting with the top node working towards the extremities).

I choose my moments to blink very carefully. There are a number of different kinds of blinks, so depending on what you want the speed might be different. The most classic blink occurs during a change of expression. There are no rules on when the blink exactly should happen, but generally the eyes close as you start to change the eyebrows. Try offsetting stuff differently and see which result you like. Sometimes, especially fast changes require the the eyes and the brows to move and open at the same time. But again there are no rules, just don’t make it floaty!!. (Try only closing the eyes half-way for example, it’ll show you that there are an incredible amount of ways to express emotion through a blink.)

The commonly known spacing principle of a blink is like this: open - 1/3 open – closed for at least 2 frames – 1/3 closed – any number of inbetweens depending on speed between that

I have to go. I’ll try and check-in later today!

Simon

#65

Hey Soto, I don’t think this has been asked yet-

I’m 16 and a junior in High school. I sketch as often as possible and am taking oil classes on the weekends. I’d like to learn either photoshop or 3ds max, but where do I go? My school has Photoshop, so finding a workplace isn’t difficult, but I feel like there’s nothing out there on the web for complete novices such as myself. When did you begin working with computer applications and where should I go to begin learning for myself?

#66

edit: bump

#67

Yep, its that time.

Thank you very much to everyone who has taken part here this week with questions for Simon, and a big thank you to Simon Otto himself for taking the time out to give his insights.

Thank you also to Olivier and the other people at Dreamworks who are making such a splash with this release [pardon the pun].

Thanks again Simon.

Those who missed asking their question, please stay tuned for the next exciting ‘Meet the Artist,’ around this time next month. Another surprise guest is in store.