Article Response: "Lessons I Learned as a Traditional 2D Animator: Thumbnails and Planning"

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    In this article, The Animation Mentor Crew shares lessons from one of their mentors, Jay Jackson. Jay was taught by Eric Larson, one of Disney's Nine Old Men, who has brought to life some of the most well-known Disney characters of all time. With this knowledge, Jay passes on Eric's lessons to every student he mentors, and here he talks about planning animations and thumbnails.

    Jay explains that when he first started the training program at Walt Disney Feature Animation, he was overwhelmed and inspired by the famous drawings surrounding him, and was determined to create animations just as good as the experts. He tried his best to perfect everything in his drawings, every detail. Yet, once he brought his plans to Eric's office, Eric taught him that you don't need to be detailed in order to bring your animations to life. Simple scribbles and stick figures during the planning stage will suffice, and they'll show so much more life, personality, and weight.

    Thumbnail sketches are also quite important during the planning stage. On Eric's desk, Jay noticed drawings of Robin Hood made by Milt Kahl. Robin Hood was posed as laying on the ground with his legs crossed, stirring a pot of stew with a spoon, staring off into space thinking about Mariam. Milt had apparently drawn every possible pose he could think of for this scene so he could pick out the best one. "The importance of making thumbnail sketches to explore variations on a pose, while always looking for a clear silhouette, was the next big lesson I learned at Disney." says Jay.

    Even though I'm most likely not going to get into animation in the future, I do believe these are important assets to the planning of any animation. You shouldn't have to make perfect sketches and drawings during the planning stage, otherwise you'll just be wasting time and probably won't feel as motivated to make the final drawings in the end. But who knows, if I ever do need to create an animation for some reason, I will definitely use these methods!