Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 9, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
How do you get the audience to identify with an animated character, have it evoke feelings in people, and make them care about it? After Steve Lambert dealt with timing, staging, or secondary animation in the previous 11 workshops, the final part now follows with the supreme discipline on which every successful animated film is based: the emotinal impact of a character. If animated figures are too artificail and not very human, no viewer will continue watching a film, no matter how interesting the constructed story may be.
Audiences want to see protagonists with rough edges who touch them emotionally, both in live-action films and animated works. In this tutorial, Lambert thus shows how even in a banal situation – preparing breakfast – a character can nevertheless be given expression and personality.
The free workshop is available to download as a 12.5 MB zip file and lasts about one hour in total. Maya is required to view some scenes.
The download can be found here.
The other 11 workshops featuring Disney’s principles of animation can also be found on this page.
Steve Lambert has worked in the CG industry since 2001 and is currently employed by Weta in New Zealand. Most recently, he was involved in projects such as "The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian of Narnia" and "Avatar."
