Recently in a communication with Ken Duncan (Owner/Executive Producer of Duncan Studio), Ken said "John, when I was in Paris in the 80's I thought I saw some 'how to' notes that you'd done during Rock 'n Rule.....
1- Am I delusional?
2- If not, are they available to see?"
Well, Ken is not delusional...and after searching through my files I found the original typed notes that were xeroxed and handed out at Nelvana during the production of Rock & Rule. Basically, it was an explanation of my approach and work-flow method, going from initial thumbnails through to tie-down drawings.
Originally, there were 20+ pages in my handout for the three session seminar, which took place over three afternoons, using poses of my character Quadhole the Policeman to illustrate my approach. Because of the amount of material covered, I've decided to post them all here as a series. I have also supplemented the examples with Cindy Schlepper development material I created months after this seminar was given.
(Note: At that time, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston's bible "The Illusion of Life" had not yet been published. Young animators such as ourselves were basically learning from our own experiments...studying the silent results on the studio's Lyon Lamb Video Animation System...not seeing if it worked with the dialog until it was shot on 35mm film and synced up on the flatbed.)
The following are my original typed notes from the first session. I'm including the exposure sheets and samples of my thumbnail analysis of a couple of Cindy Schlepper scenes.
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| These above poses were my very first exploratory sketches of Cindy Schlepper. |
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| Above are my thumbnail analysis of the first time we see Cindy. |
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| Cindy has arrived at Club 666 and is excited. "Oh, Boy! Mutants in the foyer!" |
The following exposure sheets are for a Quadhole scene---the poses of which were originally handed out as a packet including the typed notes. I'll be posting those drawings in the next installment...and you can then cross-reference them with these sheets.
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For those who are not familiar with the process, there's a lot to digest on these pages.
Hope you find it informative and useful.
Sweet! I love Rock & Rule, even with its flaws, and I'm curious about Nelvana was like back in the 70s and 80s, so this is cool to see. You think these notes could still be useful? I myself am an aspiring animator, and I'm trying to learn any way I can.
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't hurt to try! I always sorta saw this as Nelvana's rise before the fall.
DeleteLandon & Christopher: You'll see that these notes are about how to approach animation...whether you use a pencil & paper or a computer.
DeleteLove this! The looseness of the drawings really shows where the energy is moving to. I also love that you're sharing your workflow and x-sheets to show your thought process of the scene. Something I would love to see animators posting more often! :) Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Jesse. The purpose of this blog is to share what I know with those who are interested in developing their own talents. ;-)
DeleteThese notes will come in handy when I start dialogue at school soon. Found this through Rock and Rule because one of my instructors worked on the film, and I'm so glad, because it became an instant favourite animated film! Don't know if you'll check comments from this anymore, but thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome, Kayla. Who is your instructor? I've just returned from visiting Toronto (I live in Kentucky) and had lunch with my friends Mark Mayersen and Nancy Beiman. Both teach animation at Sheridan, but neither of them worked on Rock & Rule...though Mark did animate at Nelvana doing TV commercial spots.
DeleteI'm a student at VanArts in Vancouver, Canada. My teacher is Wayne Gilbert, he was a BG artist for RnR :)
DeleteYes! I remember Wayne very well! ;-) Say hello to him for me!
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