Animation character design--realism vs stylization

[megoscott]

Best and worst animated characters, explained - Gnomeo and Juliet - Salon.com

This interview just got posted at Salon, relevant to some stuff that was said in the Superman thread.

[samurainoir]

A friend of mine worked on this, and I'm going to catch it with him when it opens this weekend. He is much more proud of his work on 9, but he's basically taking gigs that allow him to stay in the Great White North rather than having to live down south away from home and family.

[Hector]

Completely agree with the entire article...well said.

Too bad he didn't mention Avatar...that's a sample of great motion capture.

[megoscott]

He did mention it. He made the point that the stylization of the characters helped make them work, plus they were extensively massaged by good animators.

[UnderdogDJLSW]

I just look at the stuff in Fantasia (started in 1938) and I know animators are more important than motion capture. Like they said in the article the great ones just don't copy the rotoscope, they add to it.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

It’s an interesting read; but I KIND OF disagree with some of it. The problem with designs like “Gnomeo and Juliet” is that they look just like garden gnomes. Not gnomish characters; real garden gnomes. So’s there’s a tendency for folks to subconsciously expect them to act like real garden gnomes. Same goes with the Toy Story humans: they’re too close to humans for us to consider them toons, but not human enough for us to relate to them AS humans.

Cartoons are a balancing act in that regard. It’s not exactly appeal that you’re dealing with (as the article seemed to weigh towards) it’s more the uncanny valley sort of thing; but in two directions. Go too far one way and your audience won’t be able to relate to your characters, too far the other and you’ll lose the advantages of making them cartoons in the first place.

It’s the reason why the characters in my comic aren’t human. By making them somewhat cartoony, and anthro-comic styled I gain some distance from the audience. They’re human enough that folks can relate to them, expect similar emotions to what real people have, in similar circumstances.... but they’re INhuman enough that folks don’t expect them to act just like real people. Or to be more correct: how they THINK real people act. That’s important ‘cos it means I have to fight the audience a lot less than normal when I present something askance from the usual way things are done. (Which is how I tend to write.) Would folks have been as incensed by the end of “The Mist” if it were a cartoon? Or as entertained by ”King of the Hill” if it were live-action?

Don C.

[Hector]

He did mention it. He made the point that the stylization of the characters helped make them work, plus they were extensively massaged by good animators.

Damn...that's why I get by not putting on my reading glasses...

[TrueDave]

Reminds me of what Henson was trying to do with Dark Crystal.
He knew he needed the main actors ( Gelflings) to be the vehicle that the audience could identify with. He went against his original idea to make them blue so they would be more human and accessable.

Which in turn made them creepy. Cause we know what caucasian colored long hair people look like. So Hensons effort backfired.

I remeber Pixar saying they wanted to do Toy Story One becuse they KNEW thier animation would come out looking "plastic" and working with a Toy script allowed that. Plus we saw toys we knew and it didnt put us off.

Only CGI character I liked in Final Fantasy was Don Sutherland as the old man. Old men work. Young smooth skins is difficult.

I read a book by the actor who played LOTR Golem and it was amazing stuff !!!

[Earth 2 Chris]

I don't think Gnomeo and Juliet look scary, I'm not getting that.

But I do question the need for overly realistic CGI animation for an entire movie, like Beowulf. A Christmas Carol was a bit more stylized with most of the characters, but Bob Cracthit and Fred Scrooge looked somewhat like Gary Oldman and Colin Firth, and it was a bit off putting at first. They were almost there, but not quite.

I totally agree that with Up and The Incredibles, you completely forget you are watching animated characters, and not real people on the screen. I so wish Brad Bird would make another Incredibles film. I'd much rather see it than Cars 2.

Chris

[Brazoo]

Great article!

I always found the character designs in Shrek icky the same way though, and that thing is massive.