The Meet the Puppet Masters even was interesting as it spanned the breadth of the puppet making industry, from design, to maodel making, to the actual animation. The selection of speakerswas impressive and served to give a rounded view of the process of animating with puppets, as well as some fascinating insight behind some much loved animations, both old and new. There were a number of fascinating artifacts on display at the centre, from character designs to puppets from The Clangers, Bob the Builder, Corpse Bride and more, but unfortunately photography was not allowed.
The first speaker was Curtis Jobling, an author and illustrator, as well as working in the animation industry. A similar story which seems to pop up with animators (and indeed illustrators) is that they loved drawing from a young age and Jobling was no different, his crayons ever present. He was inspired by the work and career of Ian Mackinnon, who went to the same school, an interesting connection. Animation is a small world, really. Jobling has no degree, and has not found this to be a hindrance in his career, as even if you have a degree you will have to begin from the ground up in the animation industry. He managed to get some work experience at Aardman, working on A Close Shave, and also on Mars Attacks! It is important to make the most of these opportunities and make an impression in whatever way possible.
However, these experiences made Jobling realise that his portfolio was not strong enough, so he took advantage of a year of unemployment to drastically improve his portfolio. It is about quality over quantity. Some of the commercial work that Jobling had been working on was an illustrated cat character which could appear on greetings cards. This cat later became a part of his design work for Bob the Builder, with a few minor changes to the colour scheme and the shape of the cat's head. Bob also initially had a moustache, to make the lip synch animation easier, but apparently children can be frightened of facial hair, and so Bob was given a shave. Other design features which were influenced by the fact that Bob would be a physical puppet were bigger feet to allow him to stand, and bigger hands so that he could hold the tools. It is important that there is dialogue between all areas of puppet making, so that the designer, who may not be involved in the construction and animation, understands what is required of the puppet.
For a character designer, consistency is key. The difference is, Jobling suggested the difference between a Pixar film and a Shrek film. In the former, there is cohesion across the characters, they look like they belong together, and are part of the same world, whereas in Shrek there is too much variation between some characters, and it looks as though they have been designed by separate people with their own distinct visions. This cohesion will be important to bear in mind when designing my puppets, particularly the theatrical one, as alongside human actors a puppet's artifice can become all too obvious, and it could stand out for all the wrong reasons. Aside from strong design, and solid construction and performance, a way to make the puppet belong is to use the same materials and colour schemes across the scenography, to make the puppet seem at home, at one with its surroundings.
The second speaker was Carlos Grangel, a character designer who has worked across a range of animations in his twenty year career. Grangel's work itself is beautiful, but so very versatile, able to adapt between the macabre stylings of Tim Burton and the softer, more humerous designs needed for film such as Madagascar and Hotel Transylvania. Grangel's animation career began in London, at Steven Spielberg's company Amblin Entertainment (Grangel asserts the the UK and America have some of the best designers in a very competitive industry). Initially intended as 5 days training, it turned into a five year position. In spite of the technical avances that have occurred during Grangel's career, he still prefers to work with a stick of charcoal than on a computer, something which I can relate to. There is an extra character and quality which comes through the energetic lines of Grangel's illustrations, which one imagines would be near impossible to replicate digitally.
However, Grangel's illustrative style was at first a hindrance, as he was apt to include too much depth detail and complexity to be replicated in characters redrawn frame by frame. This is not so much of an issue with stop motion characters, as the detail, once sculpted or stitched on, is there for good. However, it was necessary for Grangel to change his way of thinking, and consider his drawings as characters for animation. He also struggled to visualise his character designs from all angles and create turntables. However these are important for giving the animator as much as possible to work with, to let them get to know the character and their movement and expressions.
The first step in designing a character is to draw silhouettes. A strong silhouette is the foundation of a strong, easily recognisable character, and it can also be helpful to draw the entire cast as silhouettes alongside each other to ensure that they have the same aesthetic and that they work together to form a cohesive world. Once you have a strong silhouette you can work from there, but be careful not to loose the line and proportions.
The first speaker was Curtis Jobling, an author and illustrator, as well as working in the animation industry. A similar story which seems to pop up with animators (and indeed illustrators) is that they loved drawing from a young age and Jobling was no different, his crayons ever present. He was inspired by the work and career of Ian Mackinnon, who went to the same school, an interesting connection. Animation is a small world, really. Jobling has no degree, and has not found this to be a hindrance in his career, as even if you have a degree you will have to begin from the ground up in the animation industry. He managed to get some work experience at Aardman, working on A Close Shave, and also on Mars Attacks! It is important to make the most of these opportunities and make an impression in whatever way possible.
However, these experiences made Jobling realise that his portfolio was not strong enough, so he took advantage of a year of unemployment to drastically improve his portfolio. It is about quality over quantity. Some of the commercial work that Jobling had been working on was an illustrated cat character which could appear on greetings cards. This cat later became a part of his design work for Bob the Builder, with a few minor changes to the colour scheme and the shape of the cat's head. Bob also initially had a moustache, to make the lip synch animation easier, but apparently children can be frightened of facial hair, and so Bob was given a shave. Other design features which were influenced by the fact that Bob would be a physical puppet were bigger feet to allow him to stand, and bigger hands so that he could hold the tools. It is important that there is dialogue between all areas of puppet making, so that the designer, who may not be involved in the construction and animation, understands what is required of the puppet.
For a character designer, consistency is key. The difference is, Jobling suggested the difference between a Pixar film and a Shrek film. In the former, there is cohesion across the characters, they look like they belong together, and are part of the same world, whereas in Shrek there is too much variation between some characters, and it looks as though they have been designed by separate people with their own distinct visions. This cohesion will be important to bear in mind when designing my puppets, particularly the theatrical one, as alongside human actors a puppet's artifice can become all too obvious, and it could stand out for all the wrong reasons. Aside from strong design, and solid construction and performance, a way to make the puppet belong is to use the same materials and colour schemes across the scenography, to make the puppet seem at home, at one with its surroundings.
The second speaker was Carlos Grangel, a character designer who has worked across a range of animations in his twenty year career. Grangel's work itself is beautiful, but so very versatile, able to adapt between the macabre stylings of Tim Burton and the softer, more humerous designs needed for film such as Madagascar and Hotel Transylvania. Grangel's animation career began in London, at Steven Spielberg's company Amblin Entertainment (Grangel asserts the the UK and America have some of the best designers in a very competitive industry). Initially intended as 5 days training, it turned into a five year position. In spite of the technical avances that have occurred during Grangel's career, he still prefers to work with a stick of charcoal than on a computer, something which I can relate to. There is an extra character and quality which comes through the energetic lines of Grangel's illustrations, which one imagines would be near impossible to replicate digitally.
However, Grangel's illustrative style was at first a hindrance, as he was apt to include too much depth detail and complexity to be replicated in characters redrawn frame by frame. This is not so much of an issue with stop motion characters, as the detail, once sculpted or stitched on, is there for good. However, it was necessary for Grangel to change his way of thinking, and consider his drawings as characters for animation. He also struggled to visualise his character designs from all angles and create turntables. However these are important for giving the animator as much as possible to work with, to let them get to know the character and their movement and expressions.
The first step in designing a character is to draw silhouettes. A strong silhouette is the foundation of a strong, easily recognisable character, and it can also be helpful to draw the entire cast as silhouettes alongside each other to ensure that they have the same aesthetic and that they work together to form a cohesive world. Once you have a strong silhouette you can work from there, but be careful not to loose the line and proportions.
After the closure of Amblin's London studio, Spielberg opened Dreamworks with Geoffrey Katzenberg, by whom Grangel was also employed. He was reluctant to move to America (he prefers to work at home than 'in house'), and suffered insecurities about his own abilities, but was persuaded to make the move to work on The Prince of Egypt. This film called for a more realistic style than he was used to, and he had to match the skill of the other designers. After that he also worked on Antz (which he didn't enjoy) and The Road to El Dorado (which he did) for Dreamworks.
His work with Mackinnon and Saunders on The Periwig Maker lead to him working with Tim Burton on Corpse Bride which he claims to be one of his best experiences in the industry. Burton could probably have designed the characters himself, but he was a little too lazy, whic allowed Grangle to really stretch his muscles designing a range of weird and wonderful characters, many of which were translated into beautiful puppets by Mackinnon and Saunders. For these designs, Grangel found it helpful to work on the back of cereal box card, which are apparently an excellent material on which to draw and paint, and the grey patina was well suited to the style of Burton's film. It was on this project that he first felt as though his opinion was valid...the first time he was asked which of the characters he preferred. He was unused to such freedom, and working with directors who were so open to crazy and scary designs. However, many of the characters had extreme proportion, which were a nightmare for Mackinnon and Saunders to translate into 3D puppets. It drove them crazy but they managed to succeed in accurately recreating many of Grangel's designs, many of which are so close they look as though they could have stepped off the page. The artistic styles were well matched in this project. Grangel also worked on the props for this film, helping to maximise the design consistency.
Grangel's next project was again with Dreamworks, on their collaboration with Aardman, Flushed Away. While this film mimicked the much beloved Aardman aesthetic, something was lost in the translation from plasticine to CGI. It lost all of it charm, along with the fingerprints. This is not to say he didn't enjoy working on the film, but he was disappointed in the end result. He was happier with the result of Aardman's Pirates!, on which he also worked. Rather than adapting his style to the Aardman aesthetic, he develpoed the characters in his own, more detailed style before simplifying them a little and making them more Aardmanesque. Having seen Grangel's designs, and the finished film, it is clear to see how many of his ideas and designs were incorporated.
Some of Grangel's more recent work was for Hotel Transylvania. Throughout his talk, Grangel highlighted the importance of reference, whether for historical accuracy or to assist in making a caraicature of Queen Victoria. For this project, Grangel referenced old school horror actors, attempting to create caricatures one would instantly associate with the genre, but at the same time incorporated some of Adam Sandler's own features into the character of Dracula. He wanted to duistance the characters from their most iconic incarnations.
Some of the final points which Grangel made:
- He doesn't work on sequels, as life is too short to tell the same story twice, and you aren't challenging yourself if you aren't finding a new style.
- Horses are incredibly difficult to design. They are perfect creatures, and so easy to get wrong, and these faults will stand out, and people will notice.
The final talk of the day was given by Peter Saunders
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