Interview with...
Darlie Brewster
Darlie has been in animation since 1979. She is a Canadian and went through 2 years of the Classical Animation program at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. I first met Darlie when she was in 2nd year and I was in 1st. I clearly remember seeing her final film project and thought her work was very impressive. I later worked with her at Nelvana on Rock and Rule where she was one of the animators on the character “Mok”.
Her areas of specialization include animation, storyboarding, character design,
illustration, web art, painting and sculpting. She’s worked as a supervising animator on over 20 features including such notable films as All Dogs go to Heaven, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Prince of Egypt, Osmosis Jones, Looney Tunes: Back in Action and the 2D Kung Fu sequence in Horton hears a Who. In addition, she’s also worked on a whole bunch of television shows and commercials.
You can view her full resume here - http://tinybun.com/bookright.html
Brian: Before you start animating, do you go over the scene with the director?
Darlie: Normally I do if we have time on the deadline. Or I’d work off of the directors notes or what is provided on the exposure sheets.
Brian: What is your personal approach to working on a scene?
Darlie: I research everything I need to know before hand. Ask the directors any questions I can think of because animating is the art of the question. I keep my initial drawings incredibly rough and don't even think of model. I don't use the constructive part of my brain at all. It's all fun, and play. “What if ...” you know?
Brian: If the scene has a soundtrack, do you listen to it very many times before you begin?
Darlie: As many times as it takes to see it in my head.
Brian: When you read off the exposure sheet, do you make any notations on them?
Darlie: No, I write frame numbers down the side if they aren't there. That is the extent of it.
Brian: When do you fill in the drawing numbers?
Darlie : Not till the very end. I consider the scene and the timing in flux till I am totally sure that it suits. When you feature lead that's near impossible because you have 10 things happening at once and still have to produce footage.
Brian: Do you act the scene out physically before you start drawing?
Darlie: It's sort of a slight yes and no. I might act it out in place but only feeling myself do motions in a limited way. The observer would see it like I was talking to myself. I would rarely do it totally physically before a camera unless it's a really hard perspective. I think that after your hands start being able to draw what you see in your head you need that tool less and less.
Brian: So do you ever use a mirror?
Darlie: I’d use a mirror for expression or dialogue occasionally when I can't see it in my head.
Brian: As part of your planning process do you draw any thumbnails?
Darlie: Nothing but loose scribbles. I would rather waste my time being wrong on a terribly loose drawing than committing a great amount of energy on a drawing I must end up throwing away. You have to start the job knowing that the animation drawings only have value in sequence, never as an individual drawing. It makes them much easier to throw away.
Brian: How rough are your initial keys?
Darlie: Incredibly rough. Often directors will start trying to lecture me on how to draw the character because they think I was messing up the designs by accident. They quickly learn otherwise.
Brian: Do you block out all the key poses or do you just do the main ones first, then come back and put in any secondary keys?
Darlie: I do both straight ahead and key-to-key at the same time. I can do it either way or in any combination. I like both for different reasons but neither one by themselves is enough.
Brian: After you’ve finished the rough keys, do you need to show the director before its cleaned up?
Darlie: Yes, two stages. Rough and tiedown. The scene has to fit these:
1) All the directors required functions are in the scene,
2) the physics feel solid,
3) the timing is sharp and clear,
4) it fits in with the BG and registers to all elements it contacts.
Brian: After the director approves the rough animation, how clean do you need to make your keys?
Darlie: The finals are very tight, but that is out of respect for the clean-up people. I can be incredibly rough if I need to.
Brian: So then, how much of the final detailing do you leave up to the assistant animator?
Darlie: None, the system that could support that cost is long gone.
Brian: What’s the average amount of time you spend planning before you actually start animating.
Darlie: Say in a ten feet per week quota, I’d spend a day or two planning, maybe four hours of roughing, and then three days doing the final drawings.
Brian: For ten feet, about how many drawings, roughly would you say that would be?
Darlie : It depends on what the character is doing. 16 frames per foot = 8 drawings on twos so 3 minimum but often on ones 5-8. Sometimes you need to do every drawing.
Brian: So, that’s 160 frames for 10 feet which would be 80 drawings total if shot on twos. Then that would be 30 drawings as a minimum that you would draw or possibly 50 to 80 sometimes.
Darlie : Right. Again, it varies, depending on what the character is doing in the scene.
Brian: Is the amount of time you have to animate a scene different if you’re working on a feature film as opposed to a commercial?
Darlie: Vastly. Often many things are by a committee on features so the process and deadlines are more lenient. With commercials, sometimes the ad agencies will have waited until the last second to let go and (allow us to) start working on the commercial. So, many times, a commercial will air the week after production is completed.
Brian: Yikes! That’s fast. Which do you like working on better: feature or commercials?
Darlie: They both have pro and cons. Hard to choose.
Brian: Why?
Darlie: Features can drag on if the company/director is unsure. It can drag the energy out of you and make you complacent. Doing the same design for a year can become a touch monotonous. Commercials have a wider variety of styles and the adrenaline factor can be thrilling, yet brutal on your system. No sleep, very stressful. I like them both.
Brian: I remember working on a commercial at Nelvana and they had this horrendous deadline and the studio owner told us we had to have it done before Christmas day. We ended up working on it all Christmas eve!
Darlie: That's common. I had a producer once scream at an animator because he needed to take a day off for his moms birthday! " Well we’ll just have to tell the client that ‘Joe’ has to take off for his mother’s birthday so, you won’t be getting your film today!" I've known animators who had nervous breakdowns during commercials. The producers and industry don’t care so it's up the individual to set their own limits.
Brian: I know that at the beginning of my career, I was willing to do anything it took to get the job done because I was so afraid of getting fired, I never said “no” to anyone even if it meant I had to compromise my personal life.
Do you have any advice to a student who is in a college program right now?
Darlie: Let your unlimited thoughts guide your drawings and don't let your limited drawing guide your thoughts.
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