Wednesday August 26th 2009

[Dave]

Hello everyone

Hope you're watching the calender... There's not very long left for the end of the Cyber Garage Project; about 5 weeks. Although we have handed out most of the scenes in the from the animatic, only 4-5 animators are currently staying active on the project.
Don't be shy about showing us your scenes. A little bit of constructive critisism will point you in the right direction.

With that in mind, we'll be starting the seminar at 4:00 PM sharp Arizona time. Please be sure to keep your questions in reference to Animation Technique only.

Once again, you may begin submitting your questions into this thread. In the meantime and Mr. Bluth will answer them in the order they come into the forum.

This is also a good time to ask any questions pertaining to the Cyber Garage Project.

Don't forget to keep refreshing your Browser to see the current questions and answers.

Thanks

Dave

[lavallelee]

Hey Don,

Curious if it is possible to see some of your first pencil tests. I am sure you keep a library of past works. It would be fantastic to see them & study them. Maybe part of the ragbag. :)

[joedorsey]

Don,

I've just downloaded Flipbook 6 and now I'm considering what input format to get. What is your opinion between scanning animation paper vs. using drawing tablets?

[arif]

Hello sir...

Wishing you Happy Ramadan....

i am still struggling with the legs of the fox...i was wondering how the all characters(like..Rabbit, mouse, fox..etc) leg looks so beautiful and keep the nice form when its stretch and squash....(i always miss the bone part of the legs,especially the hip flesh when it contact with the toe..).....may be , it is a foolish question........but, it would be great if you show us what is the tricks...
i have been watching the tips named In between(fox)and the the video from PAM when you Draw Sasha for own....and found that how beautifully done by you the legs part....when its up and contact or bending position...i am always struggling to create such a nice form....i think, there is a formula about the form...may be it is belongs to LINE AND CURBS video(which still does not released yet)....so, just want to know what is the tricks...(all Disney movie and your film`s....i found the same cuteness of the legs of the animal).....

Regards,

Arif:o

[dchilders89]

Hi Don,

Here is the newest test based on the notes above. I hope you like it.

1s- http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=115

8s- http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=116


In regards to PAM, I would love to take advantage of this oppurtunity, but for financial reasons I can't. Maybe in a little while I could save up some money and use PAM, but for now I will just have to use your notes. Believe me If I could use it, I would have used it on this test and the last.

David

[Gabriel-Carson]

hi mr.Bluth,

i hope your having a great week!

i just purchased Starting Point: 1979-1996
by Hayao Miyazaki, it is an amazing book i would recomend to your students here. in the book Hayao Miyazaki says (in several pages) that just because drawings move it's not animation untill one puts their soul into it. ;) would you agree? also he talks about in anime do to the lack of movement the studio artist overexpress every thing else. he says by this overexpression (every camer angle and such are over done) it streches time. I never thought of time in the real world sence vs film world. could you help me rap my head around this?

[madanimator]

Hi Don!
Thank you for critizising my scene! You're absolutely right. There are so many ways of doing this scene that finding the right way seems very hard... Although we do not have much time left for the project (and I've got not so much time, because holidays are over and High school started again) I try to finish this scene. So here are my questions:
About scene 16:
1. When Mama Rabbit pulls the fox away, do we see her hands, grabbing the tail of the fox, or can't we see the end of his tail, so we also don't see Mama Rabbits' hands?
2. When the fox is ripped off the scene, should he look very stretched (Roger Rabbit- like)?
General questions:
3. I read that one should avoid parallelism and symmetry in drawing and animation. But what's about the hands? In life they often do the same thing. How can I avoid a symmetric, unnatural look of hand action?
4. This is my second try to do lip sync. It would be awesome if you could take a quick look at it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoivN2xGU0k

Have a nice week and thank you for giving us such a great chance to learn more about animation!

[arif]

may be i will not be available during the seminar time....but, here are some question for you(i am still feel ashamed not to do my fox walk animation yet:mad:)

sir,

we are still waiting for the list of the film you are compiling(For Owen):D
and what about the tips for Drawing eyes?? i have been waiting to see the tips all along the week.....:D

Regards,

Arif

[jeremyhopkins]

Floyd Norman posted the quote below about Milt's animation pet peeves:

The drawing should convey the artist is totally informed about what he or she is drawing. No laziness, no shortcuts, no cheats. I remember Kahl hated it when we would try to find an easy out. Good drawing took hard work, and he expected us to work.

What are your animation annoyances and what don't you want to see in your animators' work?

[OwenWelsh]

Rhythm of a scene:

When an artist asks him or herself "What is the rhythm of my scene?" is that the same thing as being aware of the beats in the scene? Or are they separate subjects?

Don you've also mentioned that rhythm, in regards to animation, encompasses anticipation and reversals. I'm wondering if there's anything else you could elaborate on in regards to rhythm and animation.

[OwenWelsh]

Shadows in animation drawings:

How does an artist dillineate or indicate where the shadows should be placed on a character?

Do they just draw a line to indicate shadow separation?

Is this the animators responsibility to animate the shadows on a character or is it part of the EFX discipline?

[OwenWelsh]

How can we avoid shadows from overpowering our characters?

Placing shadows on our character:

When do you choose dark in front of light or light in front of dark on your characters? Is it a matter of who we want the audience to look at or focus on?

[OwenWelsh]

Don,

I know that Scene 8 is already approved and I am moving on to creating the 1s for it as we speak. It takes me about 15 minutes to make a single inbetween. I think I need to speed up! In retrospect I have a question that I've been dying to ask!

When I have Sasha doing the scissor action on her ears three times in a row for "Dood-lee, Dood-lee, doo" would you consider this repetitive or uninteresting to have it repeat in this way? I know you often talk about establishing a rhythm and then breaking the rhythm of a scene but perhaps establishing this brief rhythm remains interesting and memorable because it only occurs 3 times in the last half of the dialogue?

Here's a link if you to scene 8 if you want to review the scissor action:
http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=103

[Don Bluth]

Hey Don,

Curious if it is possible to see some of your first pencil tests. I am sure you keep a library of past works. It would be fantastic to see them & study them. Maybe part of the ragbag. :)

I'll rustle around and see if I can find any and put them in Ragbag.

END

[Don Bluth]

Don,

I've just downloaded Flipbook 6 and now I'm considering what input format to get. What is your opinion between scanning animation paper vs. using drawing tablets?

In our endeavor to teach 2D animation, I am insisting that we arrive at our pencil test in the traditional classical way. Please draw on paper and not a tablet.

END

[OwenWelsh]

Don,

I was curious if you have any insight in to how this scene was constructed or if you can make a guess. It appears that Jeremy is on a held cel. Then Teresea looks like she's on her own cel and the rope appears to be animated on another separate cel, perhaps by an EFX animator?

http://donbluthanimation.com/Uploads/1024x768/nimh/NIMH_010A_020_001.jpg

[Don Bluth]

Hello sir...

Wishing you Happy Ramadan....

i am still struggling with the legs of the fox...i was wondering how the all characters(like..Rabbit, mouse, fox..etc) leg looks so beautiful and keep the nice form when its stretch and squash....(i always miss the bone part of the legs,especially the hip flesh when it contact with the toe..).....may be , it is a foolish question........but, it would be great if you show us what is the tricks...
i have been watching the tips named In between(fox)and the the video from PAM when you Draw Sasha for own....and found that how beautifully done by you the legs part....when its up and contact or bending position...i am always struggling to create such a nice form....i think, there is a formula about the form...may be it is belongs to LINE AND CURBS video(which still does not released yet)....so, just want to know what is the tricks...(all Disney movie and your film`s....i found the same cuteness of the legs of the animal).....

Regards,

Arif:o

I wish I could say to you that there is a formula or a trick to achieving appeal in your drawing or even accurate anatomy. Here's a cliche: Every artist has 50,000 bad drawings in him/her. You need to practice till they're all gone. Draw animals from nature (photos are fine). When you animate, you can caricature what you learned in live drawing.

End

[Don Bluth]

Hi Don,

Here is the newest test based on the notes above. I hope you like it.

1s- http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=115

8s- http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=116


In regards to PAM, I would love to take advantage of this oppurtunity, but for financial reasons I can't. Maybe in a little while I could save up some money and use PAM, but for now I will just have to use your notes. Believe me If I could use it, I would have used it on this test and the last.

David

I will critique this scene tomorrow and offer you a lot of details to make it better. I'm amazed at how fast you made the corrections and even more astounded with the progress you are making.

END

[arif]

Disney is going to be released the brand new 2d animation feature film`the princess and the frog~ after a long long time....is it not a sign that 2d is coming back with new generation??...what do you feel about that???Miazaki Released Ponyo..also....

[SpiralEFX]

Hey Don didnt get to chance to ask you last weeks seminar.. you said "When the leaf comes close into the camera, it doesn't work for me because it seems to loose weight. How do i achieve weight in that scene??? i slowed it down but wasnt sure, if this what would do the trick.

[Don Bluth]

hi mr.Bluth,

i hope your having a great week!

i just purchased Starting Point: 1979-1996
by Hayao Miyazaki, it is an amazing book i would recomend to your students here. in the book Hayao Miyazaki says (in several pages) that just because drawings move it's not animation untill one puts their soul into it. ;) would you agree? also he talks about in anime do to the lack of movement the studio artist overexpress every thing else. he says by this overexpression (every camer angle and such are over done) it streches time. I never thought of time in the real world sence vs film world. could you help me rap my head around this?

"Just because it moves, it's not animation untill one put's his/her soul into it."
I thoroughly agree! With words, we tell each other very frequently that an animators job is to create the illusion of life. Try to understand that.
This is why you must always use nature as your model.
Movie time is easy to understand. It is shortened considerably or we would not be able to watch a characters life story in 2 hours. Minutes on the screen can represent months or years in real time. Good example of this is the montage. The montage technique is there to quickly cover time, skipping unimportant events that would slow the momentum of the movie down.

END

[Don Bluth]

Hi Don!
Thank you for critizising my scene! You're absolutely right. There are so many ways of doing this scene that finding the right way seems very hard... Although we do not have much time left for the project (and I've got not so much time, because holidays are over and High school started again) I try to finish this scene. So here are my questions:
About scene 16:
1. When Mama Rabbit pulls the fox away, do we see her hands, grabbing the tail of the fox, or can't we see the end of his tail, so we also don't see Mama Rabbits' hands?
2. When the fox is ripped off the scene, should he look very stretched (Roger Rabbit- like)?
General questions:
3. I read that one should avoid parallelism and symmetry in drawing and animation. But what's about the hands? In life they often do the same thing. How can I avoid a symmetric, unnatural look of hand action?
4. This is my second try to do lip sync. It would be awesome if you could take a quick look at it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoivN2xGU0k

Have a nice week and thank you for giving us such a great chance to learn more about animation!

1) We do not see the hands grab the tail of the fox.
2) Not as far as Roger Rabbit Style but some stretch would make it entertaining.
3) In animation, the hands and the arms should not twin in movement. It's always better to have them doing a different action or a different timing.
4) I like your test a lot. Tomorrow, I'll take some time and detail a critique for you.

END

[AJartist]

Hey, Don

I have a question about Hero With a tousand faces. When did you become aware of the book?? The reason I ask is because sence its well known that it helped Uncle George write his Space fantasys, the book became required reading not only for fantasy genre writers, but for everywriter!

I don't see why. Can one apply to movies like Pulp fiction or Titanic?

Some studio people have this mentality that this book is a blueprint for writing a blockbuster. I'm wondering if anybody in the biz referred to this Campbells writing before Uncle George's movies. This is my first time asking anybody in the biz, but how and when did you become aware of the Campbells work?

[Don Bluth]

may be i will not be available during the seminar time....but, here are some question for you(i am still feel ashamed not to do my fox walk animation yet:mad:)

sir,

we are still waiting for the list of the film you are compiling(For Owen):D
and what about the tips for Drawing eyes?? i have been waiting to see the tips all along the week.....:D

Regards,

Arif

Still working on the list of movies. We're currently working on a tutorial "The Walk." The "eyes" video will have to wait till we're finished editing the tutorial.

END

[westmunz]

Hi Don,
I was wondering how to properly do a run cycle in place. My question is do you just keep the head from moving back and forth? How about the body? I am also making sure that a run on 6's means the contact frame is on 1 and 7? I'll get this figured out with a little more practice.
Thanks,
West

[Don Bluth]

Floyd Norman posted the quote below about Milt's animation pet peeves:


What are your animation annoyances and what don't you want to see in your animators' work?

The main thing that annoys me about drawings is when the drawing shows no emotional content. I feel the same annoyance about actors that indicate feelings instead of actually feeling them.
Second on my list is the artist that is not inspired by the life of the world we live in.

END

[dchilders89]

I will critique this scene tomorrow and offer you a lot of details to make it better. I'm amazed at how fast you made the corrections and even more astounded with the progress you are making.

END

Sounds Great!

Questions-

1. Is there such a thing as squashing and stretching something too much?

2. How do you get instant overlap in a primary action?

3. Regarding smears is there a set number to how many you should have in an action. Ex- a fast head turn: 1 Extreme, slow out, smear 3 drawings, slow in, last extreme.

I hope these make sense. I tried to explian myself as best as I could.

[Don Bluth]

Rhythm of a scene:

When an artist asks him or herself "What is the rhythm of my scene?" is that the same thing as being aware of the beats in the scene? Or are they separate subjects?

Don you've also mentioned that rhythm, in regards to animation, encompasses anticipation and reversals. I'm wondering if there's anything else you could elaborate on in regards to rhythm and animation.

The rhythm of the scene is the same question as: What is the rhythm of the music? Animation is visual music and should therefore possess slow, thoughtful moments and quick staccato (look it up) movements in contrast to each other. The rhythm should tell us the emotion of the scene.

END

[Don Bluth]

Shadows in animation drawings:

How does an artist dillineate or indicate where the shadows should be placed on a character?

Do they just draw a line to indicate shadow separation?

Is this the animators responsibility to animate the shadows on a character or is it part of the EFX discipline?

Animating shadows on a character is usually the responsibility of the EFX department. These people usually spend a lot of time thinking about the light source and the fall of the shadows. The character animator's job is to bring the character to life. The EFX animators will do the decorating

END

[Don Bluth]

How can we avoid shadows from overpowering our characters?

Placing shadows on our character:

When do you choose dark in front of light or light in front of dark on your characters? Is it a matter of who we want the audience to look at or focus on?

The decisions you are asking has to do with the dramatic impact of a scene. Light and shadow are used to create the emotional feel of the environment and the scene.

END

[AJartist]

Hey Don

Thanks for taking time to answer our questions.

I have a question about a questionable exersize in "The natural way to draw" The book gives us an assingment that reads...

"Draw (an apple) for three hours as directed in Schedule 1A" two half hours and a quarter hour.

Draw the countour of an apple for three hours?? YEAOWW!!! I understand what the exersize is trying to teach us, but an Apple countour!! I figured that would drive one crazy because theres not much to the contour of an apple! dosn't sound like a fun exercize. I feel impatient just thinking about it.

Just one question about this exercize. Have you ever done it? and would you reccomend it.

I'm sure there are other countour exercize, but sheesh! an apple countour?? hmm
-A.J.

[Don Bluth]

Don,

I know that Scene 8 is already approved and I am moving on to creating the 1s for it as we speak. It takes me about 15 minutes to make a single inbetween. I think I need to speed up! In retrospect I have a question that I've been dying to ask!

When I have Sasha doing the scissor action on her ears three times in a row for "Dood-lee, Dood-lee, doo" would you consider this repetitive or uninteresting to have it repeat in this way? I know you often talk about establishing a rhythm and then breaking the rhythm of a scene but perhaps establishing this brief rhythm remains interesting and memorable because it only occurs 3 times in the last half of the dialogue?

Here's a link if you to scene 8 if you want to review the scissor action:
http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=103
Three is a magic number. In this case, it occurs in such a brief period of time that the risk of boredom is minimal. Ducky ( Land Before Time) Yep, Yep, Yep...

END

[SpiralEFX]

Don.. i know were down to 5 weeks left... wondering if i could get a character scene.. to start while i finish up my EFX scene. that way i could utalize the PMS before end of Project. I got ore time that sumer season at Disney World is finishing....I can do it.. before October

[Don Bluth]

Don,

I was curious if you have any insight in to how this scene was constructed or if you can make a guess. It appears that Jeremy is on a held cel. Then Teresea looks like she's on her own cel and the rope appears to be animated on another separate cel, perhaps by an EFX animator?

http://donbluthanimation.com/Uploads/1024x768/nimh/NIMH_010A_020_001.jpg

The scene was constructed in the following way.
The painted Background was the first level.
Teresa (the mouse) and the blue string she is holding is level 2.
Jeremy's body wrapped in string is level 3.

By the way, if you want to unravel a real nightmare, try figuring out the level construction of any scene of Brisby in the birdcage.

END

[Don Bluth]

Disney is going to be released the brand new 2d animation feature film`the princess and the frog~ after a long long time....is it not a sign that 2d is coming back with new generation??...what do you feel about that???Miazaki Released Ponyo..also....

It is not a sign that 2D animation is coming back, however, if the movie makes a lot of money at the box office, that would be a sign.

END

[Don Bluth]

Hey Don didnt get to chance to ask you last weeks seminar.. you said "When the leaf comes close into the camera, it doesn't work for me because it seems to loose weight. How do i achieve weight in that scene??? i slowed it down but wasnt sure, if this what would do the trick.

"How do you achieve weight," you're asking... The greater the mass of an object, the slower it will move in the Earth's environment. Your leaf moves so quickly when it comes close to the camera that I make the assumption that it weighs very little. I'll write you a more detailed critique tomorrow.

END

[SpiralEFX]

OK Thanks...Thats what i did was slow it down... i will post the new animation...when i get a chance... see if it works better to your liking with slowed down timing.

[Don Bluth]

Hey, Don

I have a question about Hero With a tousand faces. When did you become aware of the book?? The reason I ask is because sence its well known that it helped Uncle George write his Space fantasys, the book became required reading not only for fantasy genre writers, but for everywriter!

I don't see why. Can one apply to movies like Pulp fiction or Titanic?

Some studio people have this mentality that this book is a blueprint for writing a blockbuster. I'm wondering if anybody in the biz referred to this Campbells writing before Uncle George's movies. This is my first time asking anybody in the biz, but how and when did you become aware of the Campbells work?
The Hero With a Thousand Faces represents part of the lifes work of Joseph Campbell. His study of the parallels of world cultures and mythology are masterful and filled with insights into human nature. "Hero" is a jumping off place, nothing more. A formula to create movies, like a recipe to make a cake, is unsatisfying. It doesn't work!
Certainly, one needs to have a basic understanding of human nature before he/she attempts to write a movie script. That's what "Hero" offers.

END

[Don Bluth]

Hi Don,
I was wondering how to properly do a run cycle in place. My question is do you just keep the head from moving back and forth? How about the body? I am also making sure that a run on 6's means the contact frame is on 1 and 7? I'll get this figured out with a little more practice.
Thanks,
West

Get someone to walk on a treadmill in front of you and it will answer those questions. Observe what you see the model doing and draw that. We will soon be releasing a tutorial on the human walk. It will give you great insight into the human walk.

END

[Don Bluth]

Sounds Great!

Questions-

1. Is there such a thing as squashing and stretching something too much?

2. How do you get instant overlap in a primary action?

3. Regarding smears is there a set number to how many you should have in an action. Ex- a fast head turn: 1 Extreme, slow out, smear 3 drawings, slow in, last extreme.

I hope these make sense. I tried to explian myself as best as I could.
All the things you are asking are judgements made by the individual artist. Squash and stretch should be to the extent that it pleases you.
Remember, all art is subjective. I can tell you what I like to see but you're preference may be different from mine. Please yourself first and you will probably please the audience.

END

[Don Bluth]

Hey Don

Thanks for taking time to answer our questions.

I have a question about a questionable exersize in "The natural way to draw" The book gives us an assingment that reads...

"Draw (an apple) for three hours as directed in Schedule 1A" two half hours and a quarter hour.

Draw the countour of an apple for three hours?? YEAOWW!!! I understand what the exersize is trying to teach us, but an Apple countour!! I figured that would drive one crazy because theres not much to the contour of an apple! dosn't sound like a fun exercize. I feel impatient just thinking about it.

Just one question about this exercize. Have you ever done it? and would you reccomend it.

I'm sure there are other countour exercize, but sheesh! an apple countour?? hmm
-A.J.

I feel the same impatience! Drawing is not a mechanical process. Draw the apple untill you please yourself. If you are trying to draw a photo-accurate apple, break your pencil and buy a camera.
If you're trying to draw what you feel about the apple, that drawing will be interesting and I would love to see it.

END

[Don Bluth]

Don.. i know were down to 5 weeks left... wondering if i could get a character scene.. to start while i finish up my EFX scene. that way i could utalize the PMS before end of Project. I got ore time that sumer season at Disney World is finishing....I can do it.. before October

Tomorrow we will assign you a character scene. Please note: Personal Animation Mentoring does not end with the CGP.

END

[Don Bluth]

We'll talk again tomorrow and get on the list we have to cover for our members.

Goodnight..

Don

[OwenWelsh]

Goodnight Don, good night everyone.

[lavallelee]

Thanks Don! Next week I will have my latest pencil tests.

[jeremyhopkins]

Thanks guys! See everyone next week!

[dchilders89]

Thanks Don, I can't wait to hear on my scene.

[arif]

Thank you Don again...(in the middle of the seminar i had to go,sorry)....see you in the next week..

Regards,

Arif

[Don Bluth]

Hi Don,

Here is the newest test based on the notes above. I hope you like it.

1s- http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=115

8s- http://www.donbluthanimation.com/videos.php?showvideo=116


In regards to PAM, I would love to take advantage of this oppurtunity, but for financial reasons I can't. Maybe in a little while I could save up some money and use PAM, but for now I will just have to use your notes. Believe me If I could use it, I would have used it on this test and the last.

David

As I analyze your test, the first thing I notice is that you have two drawings labeled 89. You can't do that. Every drawing needs its own number. The owl going to sleep on the limb looks good however during the time he is dozing to go off to sleep, the owl should be starting to slip off the limb. He should be leaning to his left. The reason the owl ends up upside down is because he went to sleep and slipped off the limb. That fact is not clear in your pencil test.
At drawing 89 (the second one) you are still cheating the owls grip on the limb. In one drawing, he grips with the right foot, in the next, he grips with his left. If you were consistent with the grip on the left foot (see story sketch 40.2) the owl would fall behind the limb and still be facing the camera.
One last thing: The drawings of the owls wings in the pendulum lose the feeling of being wings and look more like planks from a picket fence.
Draw one good drawing of the owls wings in the upside position and show it to me before you correct all your drawings.

END

[Don Bluth]

Hi Don!
Thank you for critizising my scene! You're absolutely right. There are so many ways of doing this scene that finding the right way seems very hard... Although we do not have much time left for the project (and I've got not so much time, because holidays are over and High school started again) I try to finish this scene. So here are my questions:
About scene 16:
1. When Mama Rabbit pulls the fox away, do we see her hands, grabbing the tail of the fox, or can't we see the end of his tail, so we also don't see Mama Rabbits' hands?
2. When the fox is ripped off the scene, should he look very stretched (Roger Rabbit- like)?
General questions:
3. I read that one should avoid parallelism and symmetry in drawing and animation. But what's about the hands? In life they often do the same thing. How can I avoid a symmetric, unnatural look of hand action?
4. This is my second try to do lip sync. It would be awesome if you could take a quick look at it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoivN2xGU0k

Have a nice week and thank you for giving us such a great chance to learn more about animation!

I like your personal pencil test very much. Whenever you animate dialog, it would be a good idea to listen to the voice track and to diagram the highs and the lows in the pronounciation of the words. For example, "We've got something." "Got" is a high sound and emphazied. You raised the the mouses head and body to pronounce that word. For me, in animating dialog, more important than the movement of the mouth is the movement of the body catching the high accents of the actors reading of the line. With that in mind, the first part of your test could have been stronger with the body language. Make the body talk first and the body second.

END

[dchilders89]

As I analyze your test, the first thing I notice is that you have two drawings labeled 89. You can't do that. Every drawing needs its own number. The owl going to sleep on the limb looks good however during the time he is dozing to go off to sleep, the owl should be starting to slip off the limb. He should be leaning to his left. The reason the owl ends up upside down is because he went to sleep and slipped off the limb. That fact is not clear in your pencil test.
At drawing 89 (the second one) you are still cheating the owls grip on the limb. In one drawing, he grips with the right foot, in the next, he grips with his left. If you were consistent with the grip on the left foot (see story sketch 40.2) the owl would fall behind the limb and still be facing the camera.
One last thing: The drawings of the owls wings in the pendulum lose the feeling of being wings and look more like planks from a picket fence.
Draw one good drawing of the owls wings in the upside position and show it to me before you correct all your drawings.

END


Hi Don Is this what you want?

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww339/dchilders89/DChilders040.jpg

[Don Bluth]

Hi Don Is this what you want?

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww339/dchilders89/DChilders040.jpg

This drawing is much better. Be sure to include the thumb of the owls left foot gripping the bottom of the limb. Additionally, the spaces in between the individual feathers of the owls wings are too deep and are the same size as the feathers themselves. A better design would be to make the wing more solid with shorter feathers. You're going in the right direction. Send one more drawing.

END