Key Text: Animation: The Mechanics of Motion by Chris Webster

I'm beginning to see a pattern across all of the books I am reading. Although this book differs from the others I have read, in that it explains things like Dope Sheets and Holds in great detail (something that is relatively new to me, which I shall bear in mind and refer back to when it comes to animating), I found that a lot of the content is the same, just from a different artist's/animator's perspective. It seems to me at the moment that the key to a good performance lies in being able to empathize with the characters we create, and this is done through a number of ways, the main focus being on principles such as timings, appeal, weight and balance, and body language to name a few.


Quotes I considered to be potentially useful/interesting:

Peter Lord: "As with acting, which is its first-cousin, animation is crucially a matter of feeling and emotional understanding."
"The notion of'good timing' is entirely wrapped up in and linked to what the animator is trying to achieve. A good dramatic performance demands different acting skills to that of a comic actor, not greater or lesser - just different. Most abstract or cartoon animation has very different qualities to naturalistic animation; therefore, good timing could be said to be somewhat subjective, yet it is animation timing that makes an animation believable, funny, frightening, moving, poetically beautiful or just downright silly."
"Weight and balance are two key factors in making believable animation."
"Your ultimate intention should be to make your characters look like they intended to make the movement and that the motivation for the action comes from within them."
"It's not simply the visual design of great animation characters that makes them believable. How well they are drawn or how well crafted the modelling is does not make them real to us. However, there is no doubt that the physical appearance is important and there can be no denying that it adds appeal..." "It's the fact that the characters demonstrate the kind of traits we recognise in ourselves and in others that brings them to life."
"In order to get the most out of your characters you must; know your characters, empathize with your characters, and become your characters."
"The motivation of a character is the vital aspect of a script that drives the acting and enables a performance."
"Acting in character animation does not necessarily mean having your characters behave naturally. The main aim in acting is not even to be believable, it's to express emotion, to elicit pre-considered results, to take your audience on an emotional journey. In order to do this, you must understand what you are trying to achieve before you begin."