Shuriken School

[Bones3D]

DarthFurby,

Here's some clips for the first 10 episodes of Kappa Mikey:

- Episode 1
- Episode 2
- Episode 3
- Episode 4
- Episode 5
- Episode 6
- Episode 7
- Episode 8
- Episode 9
- Episode 10

These are, on average, 7MB each.

[DarthFurby]

Kappa Mikey's animation and character design are below average for a typical show, but better to have an entertaining story and likeable characters than great art/animation. AC insists that all work be done on location, no e-mailing freelancers or exporting overseas. Luckily for me that represents a rare opportunity to learn the business of producing a show from scratch. I want to know how they pitch their shows. The networks are practically buying every idea that pops into their head!

I'm booking an animation test for Monday night, and maybe more later in the week for character design, etc. I'm not strong in any one area but I think my range gives me enough leverage, especially for a small studio. They're gonna e-mail the test so I won't have to take off from work, but they said a Wacom tablet is mandatory and I've never used one before.

Guess what I bought the other day?

Gonna be a late nite today and tomorrow.

I'll post impressions after each test.


And Gah! This went from Shuriken School to my personal blog. Oops!

[slice11217]

I work on Kappa Mikey. What position are you testing for?

[DarthFurby]

Hi Slice, I'm testing for Flash Animator, Character Design, and possibly more depending on how the first two go. Any words of wisdom for a potential co-worker?

[Bones3D]

I work on Kappa Mikey.

Hey Slice,

Give my regards to Larry and the rest of the crew at AC.

Just out of curiousity, do you specialize in any particular area or are you more or less multi-tasking?

[slice11217]

Hi Slice, I'm testing for Flash Animator, Character Design, and possibly more depending on how the first two go. Any words of wisdom for a potential co-worker?

I work on Kappa Mikey.

Hey Slice,

Give my regards to Larry and the rest of the crew at AC.

Just out of curiousity, do you specialize in any particular area or are you more or less multi-tasking?

Hi guys,

Sorry I didn't get back sooner. My real life got a little busier than my cyber-life.

I think I can answer both questions with this one answer: In the past year A.C. has grown to a point where the awn website has described it as "the largest animation studio in New York". As a result, Larry doesn't have as much of a personal relationship with a lot of the employees, and a lot of the employees seem to move around a bit.

A.C. is CONSTANTLY testing people, so DarthFurby, I'd say put on a good show but also keep in mind that if you don't get the job, show them your diversity. -Try out for BG painter or character designer or anything else that comes up. Matt F. is pretty good about helping people out as long as you stay on top of him. He's got a lot of people's names to remember and it's kinda tough to keep track of.

Also as a result of the company being so large, the employees specialize a lot more. There's not so much multitasking going on here, even though I do a lot of animation multitasking in my outside life and have done a lot of it professionally at other jobs. This comes to my advantage frequently because I don't always have to send something all the way back through the pipeline to get it fixed.

I've worked at a lot of different animation studios in the past so I believe that you're going to have the opportunity to learn a lot about how to produce an animated show and also how NOT to produce one.

A.C. is still a young company and so while a lot of bugs have been ironed out in the past year, there's still some growing pains going on. One of the biggest challenges for A.C. was having to re-adapt itself from web animation to animation for video.

While I don't know Larry very well personally, I can say that even though he's not an animator himself he's brilliant at marketing. If there's one thing that you could learn strongly at A.C., it's how to market and promote. Before Kappa was on air, he was hard at work trying to virally market and create buzz so that people would get curious about the show and tune in once it was broadcast. I'd never seen anyone work so hard to promote a show like that.

Part of the reason for this is because unlike other studios, Larry is the creator of his content and therefore owns and retains all the rights to it. He can do whatever he wants with his shows. It's kind of like Disney was with Mickey Mouse. There have been plans for toys based on the show and all sorts of other material.

As far as mentioning Moho/Anime Studio over here, I'd be very careful about it. Like most studios, there's something of a political structure here and people can get a little nervous about production innovation. Also, if they were to switch then they'd have to find a whole new crew of people who know the software, or re-train everyone they already have. If you're working on a personal project, this might be a better context for it so that you can retain something of a secret weapon for yourself. I know this goes against the forum's tenet of promotion of the software, but I'm just trying to save you a little frustration that I've personally experienced. If enough people start using Moho on their own, eventually it'll catch on and blossom. All good things come with patience.

So Bones, I'd say hello to Larry for you if a.) I ever actually had much interaction with him; and b.) I knew who you are (no offense).

Darthfurby, I hope you get the job and get that break you're looking for. Go with the flow and learn what the process is. You can always benefit. And don't get discouraged if A.C. doesn't hire you right away. There's plenty of other animation studios in New York, just go to AIDB.com and look them up. Don't wait for them to post an ad for a position, just get your stuff together and contact them. Also, don't assume that A.C.'s means of production is the only way to go. You can learn a lot from other studios as well.

Don't know if this helps. If you get the job Darth, send me a line and we'll talk some Moho stuff. I'll show you what I've been working on (and eventually will post).

Slice

[Bones3D]

"So Bones, I'd say hello to Larry for you if a.) I ever actually had much interaction with him; and b.) I knew who you are (no offense)."

No offense taken, Slice.

You could say this is a "tip of the hat" out of respect for what Larry, Sergei and the rest of the AC crew have already managed to accomplish in such a short time. Kappa Mikey is merely the beginning, though.

Thanks to the existence of companies like AC and people like Larry Schwarz, the animation industry is no longer the exclusive club it once was. As long as people continue to have good ideas, and possess the desire needed to make those ideas a reality, the quality of the animation industry as a whole can only improve.

I can't help but be amazed that any one of us here today could potentially become a major player in the industry of tomorrow. There has never been a better time to be an animator than now, and I hope budding animators everywhere will embrace this opportunity while they still can.

[slice11217]

"So Bones, I'd say hello to Larry for you if a.) I ever actually had much interaction with him; and b.) I knew who you are (no offense)."

You could say this is a "tip of the hat" out of respect for what Larry, Sergei and the rest of the AC crew have already managed to accomplish in such a short time. Kappa Mikey is merely the beginning, though.

Thanks to the existence of companies like AC and people like Larry Schwarz, the animation industry is no longer the exclusive club it once was. As long as people continue to have good ideas, and possess the desire needed to make those ideas a reality, the quality of the animation industry as a whole can only improve.

I can't help but be amazed that any one of us here today could potentially become a major player in the industry of tomorrow. There has never been a better time to be an animator than now, and I hope budding animators everywhere will embrace this opportunity while they still can.

What Larry has accomplished in such a short period of time is quite remarkable. I think if anyone can learn anything at A.C., the marketing and promotion aspects would be the thing to look at closest. I'm glad that somebody has finally given Curious Pictures something to worry about. -Not only that, but Larry has a control over his product that no one else has and that's also admirable.

Anybody who's able to keep struggling animators off the street and starving does deserve a tip of the hat, for sure.

Slice

[Bones3D]

It's surprising you mention Curious Pictures. Aside from the obvious close-range competition issues, is there some kind of grudge going on there? I've seen much of their work (Kids Next Door, Little Einsteins and Sheep in the Big City) over the years, but there's not really much going on there that hasn't already been done elsewhere.

[slice11217]

It's surprising you mention Curious Pictures. Aside from the obvious close-range competition issues, is there some kind of grudge going on there? I've seen much of their work (Kids Next Door, Little Einsteins and Sheep in the Big City) over the years, but there's not really much going on there that hasn't already been done elsewhere.

-Only that for years Curious has been the big boy on the block, and has sometimes been a little brusque and impersonal to its talent. I worked there only briefly back in 2001. Otherwise, it's been impossible to get work from them. They apparantly have a clique of people that they hire exclusively from and merely go through the motions of hiring anyone outside of that, and if they do hire anyone from the outside they're really probationary about the new person.

I know someone who have overheard one of the partners at Curious referring to hired talent as being expendable due to an inexhaustable supply of people willing to fill the shoes. Another friend of mine recently had a seriously negative experience there, one that almost made her want to exit the industry.

They've kept a lot of people employed in the animation industry but they've also treated some of them not so nicely. I also worked for some people who were at one time partners with some of the current owners of Curious and they weren't too keen on Curious either.

After a while, it gets a little old that only one company has been the go-to company for getting hired and it's nice that there's more options available. -Kind of like when MTV Animation was alive and kicking. It just works out better all around to have more than one big animation company.

Do you work in the industry?

Slice

[Bones3D]

Not actively... But I would like to start my own animation studio in my local area, eventually. (Wisconsin isn't exactly an animation hotspot.)

At the moment though, I have a few health and financial issues to work out before I can get the ball rolling on it. I already have some people lined up for voice work and whatnot, and I'm also in the process of trying to construct a low-budget 3D motion capture system using a series of strategically-placed video cameras.

In the meanwhile, I've been busy researching the animation industry to monitor the trends and animation techniques being used. I then try to emulate the various techniques I've observed and figure out how to improve upon them.

AC, in this respect, has been incredibly interesting to watch over the last couple years. Even though their animation work isn't "smooth" like every other animated show out there, there is a special charm to their work that can't be ignored. In fact, they've managed to solve a major problem that's been running rampant in the industry lately... how to create fully computer-generated animation without losing the human factor.

In AC's case, I believe the "choppiness" that is often associated with their work may actually be a major contributor in how it preserves the human quality.

Conversely, if you look at some of the work coming out of these big name companies, the motion is so smooth it ends up dropping off into "uncanny valley". For example, check out any of the shows coming from Marathon out in France (Totally Spies, Martin Mystery, Team Galaxy). Almost all of it feels almost lifeless and flat, despite the fact there's a lot of highly detailed action on the screen.

Considering that I come from a background in 3D animation, it's not surprising that I place so much value on preserving the "human factor". Without it, you risk distracting the viewers, rendering your hard work almost completely irrelevant.

[slice11217]

Not actively... But I would like to start my own animation studio in my local area, eventually. (Wisconsin isn't exactly an animation hotspot.)

At the moment though, I have a few health and financial issues to work out before I can get the ball rolling on it. I already have some people lined up for voice work and whatnot, and I'm also in the process of trying to construct a low-budget 3D motion capture system using a series of strategically-placed video cameras.

In the meanwhile, I've been busy researching the animation industry to monitor the trends and animation techniques being used. I then try to emulate the various techniques I've observed and figure out how to improve upon them.

AC, in this respect, has been incredibly interesting to watch over the last couple years. Even though their animation work isn't "smooth" like every other animated show out there, there is a special charm to their work that can't be ignored. In fact, they've managed to solve a major problem that's been running rampant in the industry lately... how to create fully computer-generated animation without losing the human factor.

In AC's case, I believe the "choppiness" that is often associated with their work may actually be a major contributor in how it preserves the human quality.

Conversely, if you look at some of the work coming out of these big name companies, the motion is so smooth it ends up dropping off into "uncanny valley". For example, check out any of the shows coming from Marathon out in France (Totally Spies, Martin Mystery, Team Galaxy). Almost all of it feels almost lifeless and flat, despite the fact there's a lot of highly detailed action on the screen.

Considering that I come from a background in 3D animation, it's not surprising that I place so much value on preserving the "human factor". Without it, you risk distracting the viewers, rendering your hard work almost completely irrelevant.

I can echo your sentiment about Wisconsin not being an animation hot spot. My wife talked me into moving to the midwest for a brief period. I had anticipated that due to the lack of animation studios -or even graphic designers there, it would be easier to carve a name out for myself instead of in New York. Boy, was I wrong! Really, not many people had much interest in anything artistic whatsoever.

-That would be one of your biggest challenges in your area. One of the bread-and-butter venues for animation is in the advertising industry and unfortunately, you'd be spending a lot of your time convincing people that they genuinely need something better than "my cousin who drawrs pitchers" to design their corporate image. I don't know how you'd do it but I think that it would be nice to see it happen in someplace other than New York and L.A.

Have you ever read "Illusions of Life" by Frank Thomas and Ollie (Johnson?)? They talk about animation transcending the intellectual concept of just being a drawing and actually becoming something real in the minds of the audience. An example would be when a whole audience cries over the death of Bambi's mother, even though they know that they're watching a series of drawings.

I believe that choppy animation in and of itself is not what places a human element in a piece. What works is creating animation that has a level of believability to it that sells to the audience. I think that many times choppy animation can take the audience out of the action, especially when there's otherwise nothing interesting. Conversely, I can agree that sometimes animation can be just a little too smooth, too slick, which is something that you see a lot in digital 3D.

I think that engaging animation design is a frequently overlooked element of animation. The design has to be such that the audience wants to believe in the created world, maybe wants to even be living inside it and can forget about the real world for a while. An example might be the United Airlines comercial that someone mentioned on this forum a few months ago or even "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Everything in the movie was so harmoniously designed that the audience was completely engaged from beginning to end.

There's a lot of fantastic animation coming out of France at the moment, which is a little known secret. Check out the stuff from the Les Gobelins school. The two I like best are "Pyrats" and "Le Building". Also, a French illustrator, Arthur Depins has some wonderful animation at his site: www.arthurdepins.com. It's all very smooth and slick but also very believable.

If you get your shop up and running let me know if you need any help. I'm currently working at night on a animated project for someone in Cleveland while I work on Kappa so I can try to find time to work extra as long as I don't have too much on my plate already.

Slice

[Bones3D]

Absolutely, slice.

I agree with you about the french animation community in general. Even though Marathon puts out a lot of crap work, there are several other groups over there creating very impressive content, such as FuturIkon. In some sense, france could eventually overtake Japan's dominance over the animation market here in the US, given the right opportunity.

I have heard about the "Illusion of Life" in my research, but have never actually read it for myself. In fact, I believe Richard Williams references it in his own book, The Animator's Survival Kit. (Which I strongly recommend reading to anyone with a serious interest in the field.)

The midwest in general is a strong animation hotspot, but not in my particular area. If you go further west, Minneapolis, Minnesota does have a very notable presence in the industry. (I was trained in the area back in 1995.) If it wasn't so damned expensive, I'd probably move there rather than trying my luck here in Wisconsin.

As far as the "human element" stuff goes, I wasn't necessary implying that choppy animation is instantly human. I was implying that the choppy nature of the work AC creates does add to the charm of it. A show like Kappa Mikey just would not be the same if it had the same glossy finish like that found in Marathon's content. It'd just be "another show", like everything else on tv.

Look at much of the early work Warner Brother's produced back in the 40s-50s. It's not even close to the smoothness or clarity of most modern animated shows, yet much of it is superior, simply due to the fact it retains the personality and humanity of the animators that created it.

Conversely, there are some really bad Tom & Jerry cartoons out there that were equally choppy in terms of animation, but ended up as utter crap due to being outsourced. (You can identify these episodes by their lack of the "made in hollywood u.s.a." tagline in their closing sequence.) The animators that worked on these episodes clearly did not care about the content they were creating and it ended up showing itself within the end product.

As I had mentioned to DarthFurby in my description of Kappa Mikey, Mikey's overall design is based almost entirely on many common qualities found in some of the best animated shows produced here in the U.S. during the golden years of animation. (I personally see it as a tribute to all of the great animators throughout our country's history.)

If you really think about it, the other characters in the series could be seen as a representation of the modern animation industry. They're more streamlined and flexible than Mikey by design, yet they constantly find themselves trailing behind Mikey at every turn. Mikey isn't necessarily "better" than any of them, yet his "human" qualities continually allow him to thrive, despite the fact he is clearly at a disadvantage when compared to his castmates.

Of course, being that you actively work on the show, you may not quite see it that way. But it is an interesting observation, none-the-less.

[DarthFurby]

WHEW! What a week. Took the Flash Animation Test last night after signing a confidentiality agreement, so I can't reveal any details, but I do have some interesting tidbits to share.

First: Ouch. That test was a bitchslap to the face. Manipulating the puppet = nightmare.

Second: I might be taking another test soon.

Third: Maybe not.


Gut feeling, I think I did well enough to interview but we'll find out soon.

And Slice thanks for the advice! I had a funny mental image of me jumping on a desk, pointing a finger at the director and saying "Anime Studio has ARRIVED...Bitch!"

Maybe I could work a sensitive approach.

For instance, a potential victim(who I have lured to my cubicle) might say "The fuck?" (Sorry, this is New York, people use the f-word a lot around here. It's practically our state motto.

New York: Home of The Statue of Liberty, The Yankees, and "Fuck")

"Did you make that in Flash???" at which point I'll rub my hands and say "Top secret....BITCH!!!" Bam! Reverse psychology. This will win Anime Studio a devoted following at AC with which we can crush the competition.

Of course that's assuming I get the job, which is a story in itself. I work as a bookkeeper for a mid-sized company. Was NOT thinking about a professional job in animation. But some odd things have happened these past two months which I will attempt to explain:

1) AC! posts this ad on July 25th. This is the same day as my birthday. Never heard of the company or any of their shows. Ignored it, but it stayed in the back of my mind.

2) Around the same time I discovered Moho/Anime Studio, a revolutionary way to produce traditional animation with amazing ease and speed. I bought it on July 29th.

3) Shortly after that, BA posts this thread. The animated series "Odd Job Jack" releases all of it's flash files to the public, along with a Flash Animation test and two video tutorials that basically explain how to pass it. To my knowledge this is the first time a studio has ever done this WHILE STILL IN PRODUCTION. This may never happen again. I used these files to prepare for AC's test. Far more valuable to me than a generic animation book.

4) 3dBones posts this Shuriken School thread and convinces me to send an application to AC.

5) And finally, Slice, an AC employee, responds to said thread with valuable commentary and advice about the studio.

There are other weird coincidences, but I can't explain them without sounding like I've lost my marbles(if I haven't already.) it's like that movie "Signs" by M. Night Shyamalan, when seemingly random events all served a purpose in the end. And in this case, it feels like something is trying to get me a job at Animation Collective.

There. I said it.

Anyone experience anything weird like this? It's weird because it's so SPECIFIC. Or am I just looking too hard at serendipity?

I have not applied to any other animation studios. I don't know if I will be getting this job at AC, but even so Wow. Just wow.

[Bones3D]

Furby,

I wouldn't sweat the details of how all this came about, instead, just run with it and see where it takes you. So long as you're enjoying it, the purpose behind it all isn't really that important.

Even if you don't get in with AC, you're still going to walk away from the experience with an invaluable amount of knowledge from within the professional animation industry. I think several of us here (myself included) would be thrilled to have such an amazing opportunity offered to them.

Oddly enough, this whole thread has actually increased my respect for the animation industry, as well as my own desire to eventually become a part of it. I may not get anywhere with it, but I sure will give it one hell of a try.