Flexibility The Breakdown

When an animator is talking about Flexibility they are not necessarily talking about ballerinas and martial artists capable of doing the full splits. Flexibility can mean a couple of things to an animator from how living beings move and stretch, to flexibility in a sense of having more options to choose from to help you breathe life into a character.   I can’t help but provide you with some basic flexibility ideas as they pertain to you as a creative and artistic individual.   In this example I will refer to choices, an animator with many choices is far more capable than an animator who chooses the same thing every time. Let me explain using some simple illustrations.   The Breakdown, the Passing Position, or the Middle Pose, it really does not matter what you call it; it is the drawing in the middle of an action that sets the flexibility for the entire thing. The choice is this, where do we want our action to go in the middle? It is the most crucial of the positions because whatever you do here, will define the entire action. It is the transition, the traveler, and it is the secret to great animation.

For instance, let’s take a look backwards in time here a bit to our example of a character going from happy to sad. These are our two extremes, it is a simple enough idea right? So what does the breakdown drawing in between these two extremes look like?

If you said make the mouth straight in between smile and frown, you are not incorrect. It is logical, the most commonly thought of answer, and it is also completely BORING!!!! Besides that, since when is animation about logic anyhow?

This breakdown drawing holds the key to an infinite number of possibilities. Why not give them a completely different thing happening between happy and sad? A simple change here can make or break a common action.

What about a delay in changing action? If we just keep the same mouth longer, delaying the change then it might feel more dynamic as though something has just shocked him into sadness. The same thing works if we move the middle position to a sad face, will make him look to be unhappy even quicker. The quicker the change happens, the more vitality an action seems to have.

We can also affect the rest of the face. Push it all up, and give even more change between the extremes by affecting the eyes and cheeks.

We can bring in our squash and stretch principle here even for a simple action. Keep the original mouth but drop it down and stretch things out.

Or we can take the unhappy mouth and push it up into the face, squashing it all together.

Straighten it out and push it all up. Suddenly he gulps down a swallow in the middle.

Straighten it and drop it for the opposite, “uh oh!” effect.

Raise it on one side and the character looks more thoughtful as he changes moods.

How about a super smile? This fellow has an heir of self confidence.

Exaggeration in the opposite manner? Reduce it you say? … hmm…

Flip the same idea, now we have a concerned hmm…

Even a simple eye blink adds interest to an action like this and makes it far superior to just the straight lined mouth.

The face is such a malleable canvas for the artist who is willing to exaggerate and experiment.

Been drinking a little have we? You can really go wild and get carried away here, this breakdown can be as imaginative as you like.

His lips are sealed, but he is not happy about it.

Perhaps this would work in reverse, going from sad to happy.

Sigh. I can’t believe Clint just keeps going… *Sigh* I can’t believe Clint just keeps going…. Will ever find an end to this? This guy exhales in between moods.

OMG! I can’t believe how much we can do with such a simple dumb idea, imagine what we can do with more complex actions.

Wait … no one ever said we had to keep him facing forward or keep his head straight! Maybe just tilting the head to one side will do the trick?

Or perhaps shifting the entire mass to a new location, this can truly go on forever… But for now, I think 22 examples is enough to get you thinking….

END!