I was hanging out with some friends the other night, and a buddy of mine mentioned he had recently learned that Baloo was in the Jungle Book. Being an animator and the fact that The Jungle Book is my favorite Disney film, I was shocked and in disbelief said, “WHAT?!”. Even some of my non-artist friends were astounded and began to tease him. In defense, he said something like, “Well, I don’t think that would hurt any of the cartoon characters feelings or anything…” To which I jokingly responded, “Sure it would, they’re real!”

So, I realize I sound nuts to some… But, this got me thinking about something extremely valuable I was taught in my time at Disney Animation Studios… “Believe What You Draw.”  A great performance demands it, I’m sure any actor would tell you the same. I’ve had this principle taped to my desk for years.

Its easy to animate from point A to point B to get your scene done quick so you can get on to other things. But real life doesn’t work in ‘point A to point B’. We must get into the head of our characters and ask many questions about what they would do. We must BELIEVE they are real personalities and connect with them. Without this connection, we will never connect with our audience.

Believe What You Draw!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Animation/ Drawing Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.