Acting in Animation: Bringing Characters to Life
When we watch a great animated film, we often forget that the characters on screen are just drawings, sprites, or digital models. They feel alive because animators use the principles of acting in animation . Animators are sometimes called “actors with pencils” because they communicate thoughts and emotions through poses, timing, and exaggeration rather than spoken words. This week’s assignment focuses on learning how to show emotions and reactions in your animations. The key to acting in animation is clarity. The audience must be able to instantly read how a character feels, even if the sound is off. To do this, animators use poses and silhouettes . A strong pose shows emotion through the whole body, not just the face. If you filled the character in with solid black, the pose should still tell you whether the character is scared, happy, or surprised. That’s called the silhouette test . Another important idea is exaggeration . In real life, emotions may be subtle, but in animat...