[Updated 4/15/2015: Factual errors corrected.]
Recently, the Cleveland Institute of Art invited
professional artists to speak and workshop with the Animation and Game Design
Departments. Hunter Grant, Lead Animator, of Blizzard Entertainment and Tomáš Jech,
Lead Animator, of Riot Games spoke about their careers and how students can improve their creative processes. Tomas titled the talk “How to Poop.” The following are my notes from that excellent
talk. At times, I've inserted my own thoughts [in brackets] among their comments.
The talk began with each artist sharing his most current
demo reel. You can get an idea of what we saw here:
 |
| http://www.huntergrant.com/new-gallery-5/ |
 |
| http://www.tomjech.com/reel/ |
Hunter’s reel was a showcase of dramatic and powerful character
interaction. Each shot included lighting and VFX that
interacted with the characters beautifully. Interestingly, Hunter later admitted
to being a fan of the Transformers movies, and we all know how much they depend
on rich VFX simulation to help sell action too!
 |
| Transformers 3 film still from http://moviemansguide.com/main/2012/01/review-transformers3-3dbd/ |
Hunter and I (Michael) have similar origin stories. If
you read the bio on his site (http://www.huntergrant.com/about/),
you’ll see that he started as an architecture student in the Midwest (Ohio),
but was dissuaded from that discipline after a friend showed him 3D graphics on
a SGI workstation. Me too. I was in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois studying architecture, when my roommate introduced me to the one and only computer
animation class at the U of I, taught at the Beckman Institute by Donna Cox. We
used IRIS SGI workstations (when 3D modeling and animation required machines
that cost tens of thousands of dollars). Maya was called PowerAnimator back
then. But, I digress.
I got my start as a 3D graphics professional at an
ornamental metal shop in the Chicago suburbs, making fancy metal plaques with
computer-guided machines. Meanwhile Hunter chose to pursue a series of animation
gigs, starting at the now defunct 3DO, until landing a full-time position at Blizzard
Entertainment, which he cultivated into his current position as a lead animator, within the cinematics department. The
point is, nobody gets to the top level of a craft without taking an occasional risk or sub-optimal job. Even if one doesn't meet your long term
aspirations, you can leverage each experience toward your goal.
Tomáš (pronounced “Tomash”) was a student when Hunter met
him. In fact, Hunter knew of him before they met face-to-face, because Tomáš
shared his work online. He too followed a series of jobs after school until he
found a full-time position at Blizzard and then at Riot. There were setbacks
and experiences that left him emotionally drained (a Pixar internship that did
not turn into a full-time offer, and a Bungie contract job that ended the same
way). Despite being hired at great studios, he questioned his qualifications,
he feared being the worst animator in the room, and he was intimidated by the
skill demonstrated by his peers, whom he saw as rivals. His negative reaction
to thwarted goals, critical feedback, or the success of others, harmed his
career and well-being. He learned to overcome this and dedicated his talk to helping us overcome the same problems.
As a sub-text to all this, I couldn't help but notice that Tomáš's
opportunity to enter the field was greatly enhanced by his connect ion to
Hunter. I may be biased, because I too entered the industry with the help of a
guest-speaker at my school (Paul Zinnes, Lead Artist at LucasArts Entertainment). So during the Q&A that followed the
talk, I asked, what happened to the other students that Hunter did not immediately notice? They elaborated that many of the students went on to very successful careers.
The time it took varied; some graduates rocketed to success right out of school, some
needed years of additional study and
practice, but they all ended up in the same place – doing top-level work in a
creatively rewarding environment. No matter your situation, put in the time you
need to get there.
Tomáš’s demo reel clearly demonstrated his ability to bring
non-traditional characters to life. Some looked like inanimate objects, but through motion, became living creatures with unique personalities. Many lacked
features we normally need to empathize with a character – no face or
no hands, for example. During subsequent portfolio reviews, he noted how
important specificity and pose are to creating a character. What counts most is
whether or not we understand the specific details that motivate a character –
why it’s performing an action, what it is thinking or feeling. Also, each
frame/pose should be considered important, as if you were going to make an 8
foot tall statue out of it. Don’t skimp on a pose just because it’s a transition
between states.
At this point, my notes and recollection get a little muddy. The following is my
attempt to sort every insight into a few categories. I may have misattributed
a quote or mixed-up a fact or two, but the points should remain valid.
On Skill, Expertise, and Talent versus Work Ethic:
T: “Don't let being a generalist be an excuse for being bad
at many things.” A generalist that doesn't excel in anything is not hirable.
H: Hunter personally looks for employees with a T personality –
“someone with a broad working knowledge of many things, but are excellent in at
least one area.” (Hunter later clarified that the notion of "T-Shaped" people appears in Valve's handbook for new employees. I looked it up and found it on Page 46. Link to the .pdf can be found here:
T: Eight hours of straight work is really, really hard;
students don't actually work a full day while in school. You’re always taking
breaks. Being a professional means focusing for extended periods. It’s a skill
that must be recognized and honed.
H: Someone with good work ethic can out-perform someone with talent, but less discipline, in the long run, so strong work ethic is actually a very important characteristic to cultivate in oneself.
On Teamwork &
Attitude:
T: It’s perfectly normal to be frustrated, but it’s
important not to give into despair. Pull others out of it when you see them
giving in to frustration.
T: If you are the new person, you have to make yourself part
of the team’s “bubble” – it’s up to you, not them, to include you. Since you can’t be inside their heads, don’t assume they don’t want you there. If
you’re stand-offish, they may avoid you because they think you want space, when
the opposite is true. A room will reflect your energy back to you. For example,
during a job interview, if you’re reserved and serious, the interviewers will
be too. If you’re open and engaging, you’ll be treated similarly.
T: “Being rejected 20 times is no big deal, if you meet the
love of your life.” So go ahead and play a fool, risk rejection for the chance
to meet a kindred creative spirit. Remember, people will reflect your attitude.
 |
| Before: “Guy starts a Dance Party” |
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| After: “Guy starts a Dance Party” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk |
“You cannot learn this stuff and look cool.” Just make sure
you’d dance anyway, even if nobody else came; a sense of success measured by
external factors is fleeting -- it won't make you happy in the long run. [I’d like to add this quote from the movie Almost Famous:
“The only true currency, in this bankrupt world, is what you share with
someone else when you're uncool.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzY2pWrXB_0]
T: Even when you’re participating in an online art
forum, you should remember that you are critiquing your peers, possibly future
teammates (after all, there are only about 800 studio animation positions in the US); write and speak in the same voice as you would to your best friend.
[This is great advice for any situation that warrants a
difficult conversation.]
“You cannot indiscriminately rag on someone’s work.
You will be working with them some day.” They are real people, trying their
best; your online comments matter.
T: Measure your success by the success of your peers. If a
classmate finds a job at Pixar before you, great! You now have a contact there. Anyone who is part of a successful team believes that,
“You are only as good as the best person in the room.”
H: [Sensitive readers, skip this point. Gone? OK.] This is
very important – “Don’t be a dick.” Seriously, it’s one of the key things
Hunter looks for in a potential teammate. It doesn't matter if you’re a
creative genius if you’re toxic to a team dynamic.
[Here's a quote from an article about team-building that makes the same point, “My definition of a dickhead is a person whose ambition for themselves or their own career is greater than their ambition for the project or team.”
On Hierarchy:
T: Beware the danger of idolizing more experienced people,
especially your mentors and leads. If you do, you won't bother to consider how
you can help them. If the communication
between you and another person is one-sided, it’s not a genuine experience. A
real working relationship is reciprocal.
Another danger of idolizing others is
that you’ll follow their input without following procedure and hurt the project
or someone else by accident. For example, Tomáš spoke of the time he restarted
an assignment at Pixar, because a full-time animator made a comment as he
walked by. When his lead noticed that the work was behind and not what was
assigned, Tomáš reflexively blamed the other animator for the misdirection,
when that wasn't really the case. Tomáš simply put too much stock in what his
peer thought.
T or H?: What is leadership? If people come to you with
problems, you are a leader.
H: Junior artists only exist in title. Hunter expects the same
quality from all his staff. They may not be as
proactive or productive, or may require more input and time to create an asset,
but the quality has to be consistent with the team's. So when people say that a junior staff member is someone whose mistakes can be tolerated, they are talking about their need for support and time, not a lower quality bar.
T: As a lead, we hire people better than ourselves. Tomáš
admits when he is not solving a particular creative problem well, he will
delegate that task to someone else – so having access to people better than you is
critical. [If you’re trying to figure out what an art team is
looking for, don’t compare yourself to existing work examples. Instead,
strive to be better than the current standard. A team wants someone capable of making the next big thing.]
On Feedback and
Criticism:
T: “All your ideas suck.” So stick with an idea and finish
it. Don’t stop a project just because you think you've come up with a better
one. They are all bad at some level, so maximize the educational benefit of the experience by
finishing what you start. [This is the same advice Adrian Finol,
senior programmer, Valve, gave to CIA GD420/320 students last semester.]
T: Know that you are wrong already. Don’t be defensive when others critique your work.
H: An example of good feedback is when someone offers an idea that helps you edit
(cut down) your work; it saves effort, or simplifies your plans moving forward -- even if it means abandoning work you've already done. An example of bad feedback is a critique
of your idea (rather than the work itself) after brainstorming is done. If you show an in-progress sketch of an orc warrior and
someone says, “Orcs are dumb.” Finish anyway. On the other hand, if you say,
“I'm thinking of drawing an orc, what do you think?” It’s perfectly fine to hear a suggestion for something else, because you haven’t started work yet.
On Adversity and
Perseverance:
T: The crew members for the first mission to the moon were selected
from a large pool of very talented pilots, by virtue of how well they survived
disaster.
[Studios do this too –
we need to see your failures. Do you fail elastically (you bend before you break) or catastrophically (you just snap)? In other words, do you communicate trouble in advance, and
in proportion to your need, or do you keep a stiff-upper lip until you suddenly
fail before anyone can help? Your teammates would rather support you before you
miss a deadline, but they need you to give an appropriate warning. We are much more
likely to forgive a failure if you do so gracefully.]
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| “Falling [Failing] with style” Toy Story, Pixar |
T: “Learning isn't fun.” It's satisfying and worth it though.
T: Aristotle said, “We
are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
[Success is not the result of a single act. It requires you to repeat things
over and over – learn from each attempt. Don’t stop once you’ve hit your mark,
keep practicing until excellence is a habit.]
H: In a race, everyone is struggling. From first to last, finishing
in any position is hard, but every participant ends up in the same spot. So
don’t sweat where you are relative to everyone else.
T: Do whatever it takes to make good art; don’t just finish
your homework, expand upon it, master the subject. [Bungie and Valve guys told the GD 420/320 class the same thing last semester – it’s not what classes you
took, or what grades you got; it’s about what you did with what you learned
afterward.]
On Creativity &
Working within Limits:
T & H: Don’t blame your equipment or software for an inability to
make the best work. Professional animators sitting down in your class/lab would
do amazing work, even with all the problems students complain about. Real studios don’t have unlimited
resources either and you’d be surprised how productive pros are with old
equipment and software.
[I had the pleasure of visiting WETA Workshop in New
Zealand a few years ago and while their performance capture and model-making
facilities were unsurpassed, the concept department worked with surprisingly
modest resources – imagine an attic cramped with files and models, with artists working nearly shoulder-to-shoulder, yet each producing world-class concept art. The CIA
labs are spacious in comparison.]
T: Here’s the difference between an amateur and a
professional. If you tell them that they've been granted more time to do
something, the amateur thinks, “Yes! I get time to add all that stuff I wanted!” On the other hand, the professional thinks, “Yes! This gives me time
to get rid of stuff that I don’t need.” Cut your work in half. Be an executioner. It will be less
effort and a better story. [This point is akin to Sid Meier’s game design rule: double it or
cut it by half. This means you shouldn't waste your time on small changes. Be
bold to really gain ground.
T: Make any idea work. Limit brainstorming time and set
deadlines for sub-tasks.
H: Artists are innovators. Every engine has its limits, so
cheat, take short cuts, and do unexpected things with technology to get your
point across. As an example, how could you use a handheld camera to make a spaceship
out of a pine cone? (For example, tilt and shake the camera so that pine cone,
lying on its side, looks like it’s flying.)
T: “If you can only make art when you're inspired with a
great idea, you won't make it.” Can you salvage or “execute out of” a bad idea?
Having and implementing ideas through to completion is the only way to learn to build a good one.
Professionals can make even the most challenging or uninspiring material work.
[I remember learning that
Frank Lloyd Wright welcomed the most difficult building sites. Likewise, if your source material is extremely
flat and boring, find a way to express it in an exciting way. If a site is chaotic
and unmanageable, find a way to harmonize with it.]
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The Robie House built on a flat, featureless piece of former prairie, by Frank Lloyd Wright
|
 |
Fallingwater, built over a wooded waterfall, by Frank Lloyd Wright
|
T: An idea does not have to be original. Being specific is
more important. In terms of character animation, think of the specifics of the
character. For example, a completely unique depiction of anger would be
un-relatable to your audience (they wouldn't know what they were looking at).
Instead, ask questions that will help you understand the specific circumstances
of your character. Is he is a leader of an Orc clan, or just a grunt soldier?
Is he insecure by nature? What is this Orc mad about? What is he holding? Your
depiction of anger may be typical (e.g. roar, scowling face), but the specifics of your character will
make the animation unique and compelling. So don’t try to be original, be specific instead!
H: Also on the topic of originality: [Spoiler alert:
comments about the plot of Iron Giant, Wreck It Ralph, and Big Hero 6 ahead.] Surprise,
they are all the same movie, with different specifics! A giant lumbering
character (often a robot) is befriended by a small child. In the end, the giant
chooses to sacrifice himself for the sake of the child. If you complain about a
movie being the same as something else, what you’re really complaining about is
the lack of specificity, because so many films retell some basic story, but
with new details.
 |
| Original film and promotional images: Iron Giant, Warner Brothers; Wreck It Ralph, Disney; Big Hero 6, Disney |
T: (Elaborating on specificity, i.e. creating unique details)
Dig down and ask all sorts of questions. To illustrate the point, we watched a relevant
scene from the French film Molière. A man is asked to act like a horse. After
some consideration, he begins to gesture wildly in a vaguely horse-like way.
 |
| Clearly not a horse, but a man playing as a horse. |
Moliere stops him, identifies details of specific breeds, and becomes each of
them in turn. Even though he uses the same basic visual and aural vocabulary throughout his performance, each breed comes across as distinct and believable.
 |
This is a horse. Specifically, a Selle Francais, haughty and noble:
|
T: Last, but not least – don't poop in isolation (don't create
something alone). Struggle, make a
mess, and share it. Likewise, if you see someone struggling to poop, don’t embarrass
that person or otherwise react with disgust. Instead, squat next to your friend and
share in the process. Create a mess together!
You're welcome and thank you for reading.
Hunter Grant site and blog:
Tomáš Jech site and blog:
Link to the Bungie/Valve Q&A I referenced in a few points:
Send email questions to me at koikodo@gmail.com.
-Michael
_________________________________________________________________________
Edited (4/15/2015): An error stating Hunter had initially taken a short contract at Blizzard was corrected, he was actually hired full time. I misheard him when he described being "loaned" to the cinematics department for a short time, but he ended up staying there.
This post originally contained a section that compared work ethic to skill and expertise, when Hunter was actually talking about work ethic versus talent. I also conflated Hunter's personal philosophy toward hiring "T-shaped" people with Blizzard's policy. Blizzard has never stated that as their policy; instead Hunter pointed out that the idea exists in Valve's employee handbook. Link provided in the post.
Tom actually stated the differences between an amateur and a professional. The misattribution was corrected.
Image from the day added.
Caption fonts fixed.
_________________________________________________________________________
Edited (4/15/2015): An error stating Hunter had initially taken a short contract at Blizzard was corrected, he was actually hired full time. I misheard him when he described being "loaned" to the cinematics department for a short time, but he ended up staying there.
This post originally contained a section that compared work ethic to skill and expertise, when Hunter was actually talking about work ethic versus talent. I also conflated Hunter's personal philosophy toward hiring "T-shaped" people with Blizzard's policy. Blizzard has never stated that as their policy; instead Hunter pointed out that the idea exists in Valve's employee handbook. Link provided in the post.
Tom actually stated the differences between an amateur and a professional. The misattribution was corrected.
Image from the day added.
Caption fonts fixed.
