Video & Animation
I’m an animator too, and here are some samples. Most are Maya, one is in Rhythm & Hues’ “Voodoo” (I worked there for nearly ten years teaching animators) and my demo reel, which predates all that, is in Lightwave.
Writer’s Rules for Storytelling
Why am I just splatting out this thing I found on Facebook? Emma Coates was a storyboard artist for Pixar. The rules seem to be sound, and I want to remember them. Posting them here is handy for me if nothing else. If you’re a writer, you might find them useful too.
- You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
- You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
- Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
- Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
- Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
- What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
- Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
- Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
- When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
- Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
- Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
- Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
- Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
- Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
- If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
- What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
- No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on – it’ll come back around to be useful later.
- You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
- Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
- Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
- You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
- What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
Character Study in Black and White In 90 Seconds
You would think that being able to do something like this in 90 seconds flat would be worth some serious money to somebody. Especially combined with all my other skills. I’m hoping it is, anyway. I’m testing the waters to see what I can really do now that I’ve been steeped in motion picture studio culture for almost ten years.
Yes, I did paint this. Yes, it took 90 seconds. And I was talking to somebody about something completely unrelated who was standing in the room while I did it.
The Secret to Being Happy In Life
It’s time to rediscover who you are. It’s the secret to life, the universe, and everything, and I can tell you now the answer is not 42.
Right, and you think you know who you are. You don’t know anything, and I’ll tell you why it’s time for a quiet sit with a nice cup of tea and a rethink. Got your tea? Oh, you don’t drink tea. Time to start. Do yourself a favor and pick out a nice orange pekoe, they call it Constant Comment at the supermarket. Go get some, come back, brew the tea, pour a cup, then come back here.
Have a careful sip, it’s hot.
Now where were we? Oh, yes. Rethinking.
You know that thing you’ve been telling yourself? I’ll do this or that when the time is right, I have to wait for things to get better, I’ll be able to make my stand then, well guess what?? That day is never going to happen. Quite a shock, I know. But trust me on this, it’s never going to happen.
You’re never going to be smarter than you are now. You might be wiser later, or you might not be. But the important thing is that whatever you’re hoping to be able to do, now is the time to start doing it. If you want to go open a restaurant, it’s time to start not only thinking about recipes, but making a business plan and finding out what it takes to do it. Want to paint, but don’t know how to draw? It’s time for the foundations – go take life drawing, color is nothing more than a wet pencil with tint. Trust me on that one. Want to act? Time to start dreaming, not stop – but do it with your eyes open.
Have you ever felt like there is a big secret to life and that everyone knows it but you and that nobody’s talking? I’m talking, and I’m going to tell you what it is: no matter what it is you want to do with your life, no matter what it is you want to become, it’s a solvable problem. You can solve it in tiny bits and pieces, but it’s up to you to figure out what problems you have to solve and what doesn’t help you move forward, and that’s a very very easy test. Think of something you think might help you. Then think about how that’s going to move you closer to your dream, and if it isn’t, don’t do that right now. Move on to the next thing. And if you don’t know what to do, make a list of all the things you don’t know, write them down, and start asking questions of people who know more than you. Amazingly, most people who know more than you do are anxious to pass on their knowledge. It’s a sign to them that they’ve been on the right path, and they’re generally very happy to do it.
But the big secret is that success is a matter of figuring it out. It’s a puzzle, yes. But it’s a puzzle with finite rules, learnable ones. Have you ever assembled a bicycle? Remember how hard it was, but you had those instructions to help you out. Success in real life is just. Like. That. The instructions are out there, and each step, each problem you have to solve, I can promise you somebody has done it before you and written down how they did it. You have to have the persistence and the determination to keep looking things up as you go, but if you do that, and keep doggedly at it, and you don’t let anyone tell you that your dream isn’t worth while, inch by inch you will succeed. And it will be ungodly slow. You’ll feel like it’s like pulling teeth sometimes, that there has to be a faster way, and there just isn’t. This is how it’s done – this is how it really works, and there is no faster way of doing it.
A New Drawing
I’ve been trying to raise the quality bar of my illustrations lately. No, this image is not unique, it’s from the cover of a Supergirl comic I saw in a store today. However, I did pencil and ink this myself.
Supergirl
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