More Bits From The Thing

more bits from the thing

Hey Felix, I love your work and I want to ask your advice on something. So I really like the idea of animating... I've done some extremely basic stuff before and I enjoy it. But what I've read on the internet is that you can't be a successful animator unless you're obsessed with it and draw/animate all the time. I feel like I would draw a lot more if my skills were better but I don't draw enough to refine them. Do you think that means I should give up on the idea of animation as a career?

Not at all! Animation can be anything you want it to be, and there are plenty of significant and successful animators who have made great work that isn’t on the merit of their technical illustration abilities.I have no idea if Don Hertzfeldt can secretly draw more than a stick figure, but if he can it's of no consequence to his great work. Norman McLaren is often cited as one of the most important animators in history, and his most famous films generally contain completely abstract drawings, or no drawings at all.Peter Millard is one of the funniest animators working today, and I heard from a friend of a friend that he draws with his pencil in a clenched fist.And everyone I’ve said there still puts pencil to paper; in this digital age there are plenty of people making really stunning work in the worlds of animation and motion graphics and not drawing a thing.If you can make something appealing on the merit of movement, design, storytelling, whatever, then you’ve still made something appealing. Get noticed for it and you’re an established filmmaker, find a commercial outlet for it and you’re working professionally.Nobody’s standing around saying “YES BUT CAN YOU DRAW” except for the occasional crazy person, but they can go back to commenting on cartoonbrew articles about how animation is dead.

Hey look it’s a thing that I’m making!

Sketchbook jerk. Drawn on a plane

Here’s a little video I did for the Canadian WWII drama “X Company”. They sent me the audio along with the script for the scene, and without seeing the episode I was left to interpret it. Making this was fun and cool and so is the show, and any folks over in Canada should watch it on CBC at whatever time it’s on. There is also this accompanying video filmed on my phone of my face talking about making the thing, that goes for longer than the thing, HERE.

The bridge is guarded by Froggnut, the Obnoxious Dragon. You may not cross until you join his pub trivia team.