Don Bluth Animation Tutorial: Getting the Feeling

[gmosphere]

don dont you know that you have to get More than a Feeling

[HexSabre]

I couldn't agree more! I see too many animations that lack that needed essence...that emotion...that...what you said! :D

[DiscoSamurai7]

Don Bluth is the man.

If it weren't for you, I would never have understood imagination or creativity.

After seeing The Secret of NIMH, I started writing and thinking again; things aren't so fuzzy anymore.

[supermariofan03]

I hope Don makes another movie

[SamVS67]

I admire you,congratulations!

[alexneskoh]

Looks so simple but it's so hard!

[HDibbles]

I like the way he animated Jenner, the character looks genuinely evil

[etiscool1]

There's Walt Disney, There's Hayao Miyazaki, There's Chuck Jones, There's Walter Lantz, There's Hannah Barberra, There's everybody at PIXAR, and then there's Don Bluth. Why doesn't hollywood stick to cel drawn animation.

[gbindahouse94]

@etiscool1 What I found very ironic is that the head at Disney after Home on the Range said, "No more traditional animation!" and yet when Lasseter, the head of PIXAR, got some say over Disney, he helped create "The Princess and the Frog", which was a traditional animated film.

It truely shows that their is a difference between someone who takes great passion in their work and someone who just rides the wave.

[SulyapSaKasaysayan]

Mr Don Bluth, I really loved the way you explain things related to drawing for animation art. Very clear, precise to the point, your pronunciation is excellent.

I am Filipino, how I wish you could be our guest teacher here in Manila, Philippines.

Long live! Mr Animation Legend, Don Bluth! Salute!

[CaptainOvide]

0:03-058: That's Cynthia Brisby U were drawing, no?

have U thought of a Third NIMH Movie?

[Draco9898]

Hey Flash animators, listen up! This is how you do REAL animation, you can't just rotate your characters body-parts like cardboard cut-outs.

[RichardDeDappere]

@Draco9898 flash can be used for traditional animation as well, and cut out certainly had its place(I don't like cut-outs either BUT you know what I mean).

[ChronoKnuckles2]

@Draco9898 Flash actually is capable of frame-by-frame hand-drawn animation.

Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss and The Secret of Kells were made in Flash but were frame-by-frame drawn-by-hand.

Got you there.

[cantosprofanae]

@Draco9898 dude i use flash, and i dont rotate anything. i do everything classicly, dont say anything if u dont know what ur talkin about

[TiniNormi]

Aww Cynthia. "The poor turkey fell dowwwn!"

[Robogabriel]

I've cried at all your movies, Mr. Bluth, your four movies in the 80s because they were so wonderfully emotional, your four movies in the 90s because I was suffering (no hard feelings, just a joke) and your last two because they were epic. Please make another film, we need a guy like you nowadays.

[powerpup97]

Don Bluth...is so amazing!

[ronen4100]

saw if you make an animation and you draw your character

in a paper do you draw the character many times?

in different paper or all in the same paper?

were if you have many people how would you animate each one?

and also the background you need

thanks

let me know

if you know

cheers.

[NotOrdinaryInGames]

Just asking: what does the King Gator represent?.. ??.. ???

[ThinkTink606432]

I think it is either fear or strength or like evil?

[Joel4god]

@NotOrdinaryInGames Yeah kinda what thinktink said, I would say anger or rage.

[SchmoozeMinkey]

Don's one of the greatest animators who ever lived. Where he fell down was as a storyteller. When you get right down to it, that's what animation lovers expect along with the great visual artistry.

[Dalen77]

But you know that is where Speilburg helped, sometimes creative people need someone with good buisness sense to channel that creativity into the film, the problem is sometimes they take away a good idea also. If Don and Gary had there way and Speilburg and Lucas didnt, we would have a Land Before Time with more awsome T Rex scenes, dang nabbit.

[tehtapemonkey]

I looove the stories of Don Bluth movies. Are other people to credit for these?

[Dalen77]

this is geting funny, the people in Ratatouille were cartoony they didnt have any grace or beauty like some of the female human leads in the Disney cartoons like Belle and Ariel. computer will always be around but there is just somethings it canot do because it is a machine not a human hand touching a paper with a pencil, CGI has a hard time making a human have soft skin beautiful hair and real life like eyes, look at Daphne in dragons lair, theres just no way GGI could duplicate Daphne

[ThePBass]

You see, all of that is only your opinion, yet you state it like fact. I want to tell you that I find that many characters in 3D have soft skin, beautiful hair, and are just as appealing as 2D. However, you'll simply contest that. It's fine, you're entitled to your opinion, but no matter how much or how loud you spout it, it's not going to change it into fact. You're not interested in discussing animation, you're only interested in being right. Yes, this is getting funny. It's laughable. You win

[Dalen77]

Hey take it easy Im an animation major, I was also excepted into Sheridan college in Toronto canada for there classical animation program, the chances of geting in at the time were like 5 percent, Im interested in animation I gave you examples of what I thought could not be duplicated and you havent given me any real examples of CGI that I think really offer the same feel and life, do you think Bluth agrees with me. Just an ex. I would love to see CGI capture the animation of Jessica rabbit

[ThePBass]

Surely at Sheridan you must have talked to some computer animators and have learned how the pipeline works? The reason I didn't give examples is because they won't prove anything, just because it's my opinion. But here goes, the magic as woody and buzz flew threw the air, the distress on Mr. Incredible's face when he thought his family died, the sense of freedom as Carl's house takes flight. And Bluth may agree with you, or he may disagree. It'd be interesting, but it wouldn't change anything.

[Dalen77]

Ive seen some of these, but still what your mentioning is still more on the cartoony side, its not serious drama, with serious depictions of life like humans like Princess Mononoke, Im talking about touch here, Alot of japanese animation is still done by hand most of it, because alot of it consist of pretty shiney, glossy shaded characters with hair blowing in the wind, my point is the human hand is better for that kind of stuff than CGI

[ThePBass]

Haha, Miyazaki says the same thing about Disney movies, is that it's not serious drama. That's my point is that it's all opinion, what might be dramatic or deep to you is cheesy and predictable to someone else. Anywho, while 2D has it's own special style and feeling to it, have you heard of Rapunzel? Disney is trying to capture the feeling of hand drawn animation in 3D, which I think is neat, but I'm not so sure it will work. It'll be interesting to see how it works out.

[Dalen77]

Ive heard of Rapunzel I heard Glen Keane was going to direct it but then it go shelved for awhile, I looked at some test footage of it, you can kind of tell its hand drawn, but there is so much shading and texture on Rapunzel it almost looks like it was complete CGI, for some reason even in Avatar, whether it is animation or a live actor, when the images and frames are transported digitally, the flow of the frame rate becomes almost to smooth and mechanical. This will be interesting though.

[ThePBass]

@Dalen77 I like the shading and textures on Rapunzel because it looks a little bit like a painting. But the frame rate flow won't be any smoother than in hand drawn, as it's still captured in 24 fps, and smoothness of movements much more related to the animation and not so much the frame rate. I hope it turns out well, I'd really like to see 2D and 3D combined successfully and effectively.

[Dalen77]

the other point and I dont mean to criticize CGI is handdrawn animation is becomeing a lost art form in the US, but not in Japan, people in America love to laugh at the movies and dont take animation seriously like they do in Japan, so in my opinion I think the two can be mixed together to produce somthing new, but ive gut a say further, even the mecha, robots and machines done by Japanese artist look better to me than if they were done in CGI, look at the plane scenes in Porco all by hand

[ThePBass]

Yes indeed, animation here in America is not taken seriously. I have to go to the children's section for certain books on animation in my public library. But I believe with the recent efforts of John Lasseter and James Baxter, hand drawn is indeed making a come back, and I'm excited for it. Personally, I don't like it when CGI is inserted in 2D. On rare occasions, like Iron Giant, or the Cave of Wonders tiger, it works out pretty well, but generally it looks cheap and ugly.

[Dalen77]

There are alot of saturday morning cartoons on now that are hand drawn and are combination of anime style mixed with american, the prob is the actual animation is done mostly overseas, I agree the computer can look bad when its mixed with hand drawn, but I think it should be used for adding depth in camera movements, and in backrounds which is happening alot with some anime cartoons like Bleach, one thing too also the comp. is used in the color of hand drawn animation now.

[FiendofDA]

you can alway buy richard william's "the animator's survival kit" its a good medium for animation

[ThinkTink606432]

Yes I know I had to special order the illusion of life: disney animatoin from my libary also

[iSparkettei]

@Dalen77

i think it already has in it's own unique way

i find some of the choppy animations in some of the first fully 3D games such as Unreal 1 to be ten times more fluid and "real" than some of the cheap hand-drawn stuff nowadays, on par with some older hand-drawn animation

it might not be the same kind of animation, and it never will be no matter how you mess with it, but it has it's own unique fluidity i think hand-drawn can't match

[Dalen77]

@iSparkettei It just depends on someones drawing talent if you assemble talented people that can draw from the head, stuff can happen that the computer can't do, look at Miyazaki's films amazing touch, and limited funds on many of the first films. look at how little foot hatches from the egg in Land Before Time, a computer can't beat that grace and life. A computer can't make Ariel in Mermaid that soft and appealing feminine.

[iSparkettei]

@Dalen77

the problem is hand-drawn just takes way too long, too much money, too many people and too much skill to produce something a computer can make in half the time, for free, with one person who probably just pirated some program and learned about it off the net

i'd personally like to experiment on 3D works that mimic hand-drawn ones, with programs like Zbrush and it's materials i believe this is possible, it seems like noone's really tried it yet ---

[Dalen77]

@iSparkettei I don't agree at all, look at Frank Frazetta's comics or pen and ink work, look at John Buscema drawings, look at the Don drawing here, you can't get that touch.

[iSparkettei]

@Dalen77

...i think you probably can... or atleast very close, it won't look drawn traditionally of course, but pass for a digitally done drawing if you didn't know any better

but you'd have to make it like heavily cell-shaded with very fine tuning to the models, i don't know what the result would be i have never seen it done like that, i really need to try and mess with it

if i can just match up to a digital drawing level i'd be pretty happy with it

[Dalen77]

@iSparkettei Also hand drawn does not have to be so expensive right now it would be less to make then CG, way less. And it can take about the same time.

[iSparkettei]

@Dalen77

maybe i'm thinking of the kind of CGI i'd want to make, rather than what is currently being made

i'd make something more simplistic less "omg it's so realistic, look explosions!" that does indeed take the same amount of time and cost a ton

i can't imagine 2D being less expensive it's just so much work, i tried making a cheesy animated short with little sprites i drew and it took me a while mainly cause i had to redraw&recolor stuff over and over

[Dalen77]

@iSparkettei I'm just someone who wants to get serious beauty and life into art and drawings + animation, I got accepted to Sheridan, but never went, been out of the art loop for awhile, used to do portraits too. I'm the kind of artist where I don't even like it when comic artist use reference, never mind a computer, that's sort of where I am. Look at the video (Beauty and The Beast Glen Keane), this is what I mean.

[iSparkettei]

@Dalen77

i watched the video you described (it's the rough lineart one isn't it?) and that's pretty much exactly the level of feel & life i want to capture but i find traditional way too messy & restrictive to do it with

i even find digital still too restrictive, i just think way too fast and detailed, even my simpler ideas would resemble that scene in complexity and it just takes too long to make 1 piece for my quickly paced thinking, hence my search for shortcuts and tools

[iSparkettei]

@Dalen77

another thing to consider is that computer animation is very very new in comparison to classic, with classic there's people who have worked for years on achieving those "feelings" you described, whereas 3D artists have had far less time to do the same thing with totally different methods

[Dalen77]

@iSparkettei But it has to be completely hands on from the artist mind and hand to get the touch, artist are already drawing on the computer screens with digital pens.

[Dalen77]

@iSparkettei I understand what your saying the 2 should be mixed, and experimented rather then just abandoned.

[SMultikPultikS]

Большое спосибо!

[coldplay109]

Complete. Master. Of. ANIMATION. This is just plain awesome ;)

[Dalen77]

I so dont agree with the rules thing, but feeling is huge in drawing, the feeling and life of the human coming into drawing is what separtes hand drawn animation from computer. hope princess and frog dose well, maybe Bluth will make another film, maybe he could team up with Speilburg again,

[anthonyph3]

@Dalen77 So what you're saying is 3D animation cannot show life and feeling as well as 2D animation? If thats what you're saying then i guess you need to see a pixar film

[Dalen77]

I agree that pixar is really good dont get me wrong, but when you go to a theater and sit there and stare at the computer rendered images for over an hour in the dark, you dont feel the same attact ment as real people or hand drawn animation, I think in the first Jurrasic Park then controlled the CGI very well with the puppets, computer animation is almost to smooth in a icey cold sort of way, but I agree Pixar is the best at it, also Lasseter has said he likes hand drawn anim better thn CGI.

[ThePBass]

I think that might be how YOU feel, but that's hardly how most of the audience and other animators feel. 3D can be done just as well as 2D, and has been. I prefer to animate in 2D though.

[Dalen77]

You could never animate Nausicaa flying through the air with her hair blowing in the wind with GGI, you could never duplicate the scene in Land, when Littlefoot hatches with such grace and life falling out of the egg shell. CGI could never capture the energy and characture in Nimnh when Jemerey the crow stumbles and wabbles tripping over his big long crow feet while talking to fast for his brain to keep up. I could go on and on.

[ThePBass]

What? You just listed great moments from 2D animation and then opinionated that 3D couldn't pull it off as well. I could pull the same garbage vice versa, it doesn't mean anything. It's fine by me that you have more appreciation for 2D than 3D, but that doesn't magically turn your opinion into fact.

[Dalen77]

If your really into animation I dont know why your using the word garbage, just the fact that your using the phrase pull it off, proves my point, When Linda Miller was animating Little Foot hatching from his egg, Bluth didn't tell her hey Linda just pull it off, its the same for Miyazaki, he wasn't trying to pull off anything, he was trying to make magic. He was and is trying to create memories, from memories. Not just rotoscoped actors with blue plastic CGI pasted over them like in Avatar.

[ThePBass]

How does my use of inappropriate words and phrases prove in any way that 3D is incapable of creating memories every bit as powerful as 2D? It's neat that you want to criticize how I use (or I suppose misuse) English, but it's not at all relevant to our debate. Of course Bluth was trying to make memories, so are many 3D studios. Brad Bird didn't decide to stop trying to make memories when he joined Pixar. Just because you don't have fond memories of 3D films doesn't mean nobody else does.

[Dalen77]

I understand that a CGI movie can create memories, Jusrassic Park is one of my favorite movies, Im not against CGI, to think if they had CGI when E.T. was made it would have been even better. But what I am saying is you cant make Nausicaa's hair blow in the wind the way a human hand can versus complete CGI, amatter a fact with CGI you would need a model any how to scan in and rotoscope, everything in CGI is taken from somthing real, where as alot of hand drawn animation is pure talent on paper.

[Dalen77]

The other point too is alot of computer animated films are done for humour, there made to entertain the kids and make the adults laugh, this is sad, theres no real drama here like in Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid, everything is just wise cracks slap stick, the only real serious CGI is when it is used in live action with actors, like Harry Potter. All of Pixars films are usally comedy with stand up comedians doing the voices. I would love to see Pixar make Beauty and Beast

[ThePBass]

While there is plenty of humor in the Pixar films, they aren't without drama, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Finding Nemo, and UP all had serious tones to them. Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid had plenty of humor in them as well, and were both relatively light hearted films. With other 3D studios, you're completely correct. They only seem interested in cheap jokes and famous voices, but not in developing characters the audience can relate to or care about.

[ThePBass]

I agree that 3D can't impact people in quite the same way that tradtional animation can, but it CAN impact them in it's own equally powerful way. They're two different animals that have their own magic to them, but they can both show bring characters to life. Also, I'm not quite sure you understand how 3D animated movies are made. Rotoscoping isn't really used for full CGI movies. 3D models are based off of hand drawn images and animated based off of video reference.

[Dalen77]

What I ment by rotoscoping is I guess motion capture, where the actor has to act the motions out for the computer animater, my point is really talented artist like Miyazaki can draw Kiki flying up in the sky on her broom twisting and turning in the wind, he can do this all from his mind and feelings, a computer animator would need to put a real little girl on a fake broom, motion capture every scene and then paste over the CGI texture, this is my point

[ThePBass]

Mocap is more commonly used for animating for video games or creating digital doubles in movies, such as Gollum in LOTR. Studios like Pixar do not use motioncapture, and Pixar has a disdain for it. Again, I don't think you really know how the animation pipeline for 3D animated films works. Like Disney, Pixar relies heavily on using video/live reference from actors and themselves.

[Dalen77]

Alright my point is, in Pixar they may not need the motioncapture, because there doing toys and cars comedyesq movies, What I was trying to say from the begining is you claimed you could easily pull off animating and duplicating the scene where Little Foot hatches from the egg, Nausicca flying on her glider hair blowing, and Jermey the crow, I would love to see you duplicate these scenes in CGI, I know for a fact you couldnt, if you did youd need alot of help and it would be stiff and plastic

[ThePBass]

"because they're doing toys and cars"

More than that. Incredibles, Up, Ratatouille all included people.

"you claimed you could easily pull off"

I never said easy.

"I know for a fact you couldn't,"

No you don't. Facts need proof. You have none. You're assuming, based on your own beliefs, which is fine, but don't confuse that with facts.

"would love to see you duplicate"

This isn't about me (unless you were using the generic 'you') or my skillset. It's about what 3D is capable of.

[mcbain754]

He's been wanting to make a Dragon's Lair movie if he can find a studio to fund him. I wish it would happen.

[Dalen77]

I hope he can do it, I went to school for this sort of thing and would love to work on a Bluth movie.

[Tentenchi]

I listen to music to help get feelings across in my drawings. =)

If I want to draw a sad picture, I play sad music.

If I want something happy, something upbeat is better.

Just something I found out not too long ago. =)

[VinnyVanYiffy]

Bob Ross got nothin' on you, Mr. B

[78jw]

When I was a kid me and my sister loved watching his films our favroutes both were a american tale all dogs go to heavan and land before time hers were thumbelina anastsia mine were rock a doodle doo pebble and the penguin but I realy loved titan a.e that film was awsome

[jennydream]

Thank you! thank you from my heart

for all:) for your magic

[flurng]

The master! A true legend!!!

[aquelescaraaaaaaaaaa]

mr bluth you rocks

animation today is dead

T_T

[Angeliclily]

o_o I love you Don.

[LoboMuchacho]

On the closing comments: Yes sir, Don Bluth! YES SIR!! My gosh...I teared up watching this for some reason...Don Bluth is just an amazing person...

[Chosenviper]

Don Bluth...YOU ARE MY NUMBER ONE ANIMATOR!! Way to go!!

[freelistic]

Don, You truly are an inspiration to all animators and artists.

[gurney71]

@freelistic The same can't be said for those saps who tried to make sequels out of his movies...and got away with it.

[bdragon660]

Don Bluth was responsible for all of the best animated films when I was a child. Even today, The Secret of NIMH is my all-time favorite movie. In my opinion, more recent films simply don't compare with the stuff that he put out there. Certainly, Disney's attempt at sequels left much to be desired, as they lacked the same level of devotion that Bluth put into the originals.

[Fragile0Still]

Aside from the magnificent Wall-E, Cg animation loses feeling, so Mr. Bluth, I agree. This is a fantastic tutorial (and my message was rhetorical, I know Bluth is not personally supervising this video, I am not the brightest, but not stupid). On a side note: ANyone else absolutely love All Dogs Go To Heaven? Perhaps Secret of NIHM?

[Fragile0Still]

Not to self, You are a dummy, this is the channel. In that case, Mr. Bluth, fantastic and inspirational. I say no more. Just fantastic. Great ideas and unique animation. I'm just glad someone transcends child animation and makes it more universal and ultimately human. Thank you.

[yayadesdm]

My favourite animator.

Charlie's Dad Forever.

[AuronTsubaki85]

I grew up on Traditional animation myself. Don, you along with Disney, Chuck Jones & Gerald Scarfe have been my heroes. It's a shame that the animation studios are going anti-hand drawn. I always find CGI animation more like cheap talent which is why I detest it being used heavily, There is no heart & soul into the characters they're all empty. I'm putting my hopes for Dragon's Lair.

[samyerdini]

I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU

[NeoShadowDGM]

Mr. Bluth, you're amazing! I love these tutorials. I wish I could pursue a career in traditional animation, but it seems to have died. =( It's a shame. CGI cartoons are retarded, in my humble opinion. I love your films. I grew up on Land Before Time, and I've been checking out a lot of the others recently. They're fantastic!

[mcljuggalette]

I grew up watching your stuff, you are beyond words. People say I'm hard on myself ect..but what I picture in my head never fully comes out right:(....I'm not trying to be hard on myself ..I just wish it would work out . I totally agree with the feelings/ connection with your drawings ..infact when I do draw it's because of a feeling/ idea. Why has hand drawn animation been beat out by CGI..I will never understand...it's sooooo sad. I look forword to your next movie..please may it be soon.

[KiCreativeStudios]

CG is the flavor of the month now....producers putting up money for CG films think that this is only medium of animation audiences want to see...

these things come in cycles....hand drawn animation will make a comeback someday.

Anyway thank you for the post Mr. Bluth. This is the best one yet.

[d3vilcat2004]

I hope so; hand drawn animation will return someday, because lately CGI feel kinda cold and empty. like a one big commercial media!

When you look at animations of the old days, you can feel the sense or the soul the animators put their hearts into their work.

[HippyShake9]

Yeah, Toy Story was special when it first came out, but now everything, absolutely everything out there now is CGI. I really miss the talent that has seemed to escape modern day animation. My sister often says that if the animation was like it was back in the day, she would totally do it!

[pixargod]

I heard that disney is resuming traditional animation. This could be don bluth's last chance to do a traditionally animated movie. I haven't seen another movie released by him since Titan AE.

[conradojavier]

I hope Disney is done with that Hanna Montana-esque thing.

[glitch2424]

@d3vilcat2004

I feel that the closest I've seen a CGI animation that has come close to the feeling of 2d animated drawings (both in artstyle and in hand-drawn looking movement [ie: does not look artificial]) is with Tangled. Especially when they animated teh horse in that one, it looked very comedic/soulful - it looked like it was meticulously crafted by a human.

[d3vilcat2004]

@glitch2424 Now that is how CGI should have been done!

lots of effort and love was put into that movie, it changed my mind on CGI a little but not completely.

[dirtybutter]

@d3vilcat2004 I concur! In fact, I'm going to watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit just to see good old fashioned animation the ay it should be: Hand Drawn

[GuidoAstrokz]

Thank you so so much for posting it.

You're my Idol!

[atomicbear]

Hey Don, thanks for posting. Please keep em coming.