Monday Morning Inspiration

Every once in a while I'll get a short shot, and I'll be tempted to skip the "thumb nailing-acting out-planning ahead-thought process" part and just jump on the computer move stuff around and get the shot done. And I've also noticed that when I do this, these shots tend to be the hardest to final. Even when I know what needs to be done, just jotting down a few sketches can really save me some time in the long run. For me thumnailing my ideas doesn't just help me explore the idea, it gives me a bluepritnt as to how I plan on animating the shot. That way the third or fourth day working on the shot, after staying up late the night before, I won't screw up the shot in a sleepy like daze.

This morning I was reading a page or two of my Walt Staunchfield book and I came across a chapter where he quotes a bunch of the masters. It's all about planning ahead, so I thought I'd copy them down here for your monday morning inspiration:

Milt Kahl: "9 out of 10 times before I animate I know exactly what I'm going to do" "The worst thing you can do is to get into anything before you know what you're doing."

Art Babbitt: "Think about your work before you sit down to do it. You must think and plan - you can't wing it."

Grim Natwick: "Planning it so that you know exactly where you're going..."

Ollie Johnston: "I think its in the planning. If you can plan the stuff out so you really know exactly what you're going to do...if you know exactly what you're going to do - and have it visualized - why you can do it pretty fast."

Ken Harris: "The only advice I know is to think it all out in your mind and then draw it the best you can..."