⤷ Animation Skillz ୭ ˚. ᵎᵎ
- freyamanning0
- Nov 3
- 15 min read
WEEK 6 -
objectives:
- research into Dave and Max Fleischer
- do research into the animation principle Slow in and Slow out (easing)
DAVE AND MAX FLEISCHER ..・ヾ(。＞＜)シ
Dave and Max Fleischer. Out of all of the people I have been researching throughout the weeks these are the guys that I would say pretty much everyone in the world knows. Possibly not by name but by their work. These too brothers created some sort of animation boom. IfI am going to be honest when people think of animation the animations these guys made are the ones that everyone thinks of, the original animations (or Walt Disney) but these guys are 2 brothers who not only invented rotoscoping and the classic bouncing ball animation but they created incredibly recognizable cartoons like "Betty Boop (1930)", 'Popeye (1933)", "Koko the Clown (1920)", "Superman (1941)".
These brothers literally created Betty boop (1930) and Koko the clown (1920), But the other ones I mentioned they got the rights to be the first people to create them as animations as Superman and Popeye (1933) belonged to other people but they had the rights to animate them and even though they were brought to life by comic strips and comic books, through the Fleischer brothers they were actually brought to life, they moved interacted in real life situations, sure yeah cartoon like so it isn't perfectly real, but enough to create a universe that feels real.
Even though the Fleischer brothers didn't create "Popeye (1933)" they made him iconic, and brought him into the spotlight with things like how spicy gives him super strength and his song. I think it's really cool how things people made can be later turned into something much bigger by other people (I have always found it admirable collaborating as you are seeing your own work but from a different perspective and possibly improving it or become super famous with
what you made.
Now researching these guys mainly people talk about Max not so much Dave. Max was the guy who made the company and Dave was the co.owner. I mean they did make it together, but Max was the guy who animated and started it all. I still think Dave should have the recognition as they both did it, it wasn't just Max I mean without Dave "Koko the Clown (1920)" wouldn't exist he was the first proper rotoscoped character to be animated, as Max got Dave to dress as Koko. So without davr something wouldn't exist. Dave's sole job was the directing whereas Max was the guy who made the cartoons, the people and started everything. When they first started out in their own studio called "Out of the Inkwell" - though it changed to "Fleischers Studios" once they were offered a studio at paramount. It was just them and another person working as hard as they could in the beginning barely in anything that you could call a studio but in only a few years they became popular and had a team of 19 people who got their own studio and worked hard on the animations that were created to give such a huge impact on the worlds animation scene.
They started to fall out of popularity as "Steamboat Willie (1928)" was created but they came back after being the first people to ever animate "Superman (1941)" and make him a real guy and not just a comic. The Fleischer brothers have such a big impact their company is still going today, sure not as popular as it was in the 1930s but it is still relevant and a super important part of animation history.
The first things they worked on were physical puppets but it just didn't suit the fact that Dave and Max wanted to create their own films and cartoons, which then lead to the first studio they had. But before that could take off World war 1 happened and it did put a hold on all of the plans and they sent MAx and one of his friends out to create the first soldier training animations. Though once MAx came back he got straight on working on "Koko the Clown (1920)" and that flourished and turned into something great. MA and dave also created the some of the first coloured films (which included the "Superman (1941)" episodes they animated) though everything they made was quite a long time ago and the film is old but because of how much 'Betty Boop (1930)" is a part of American culture and who these animation are some of the most important animation in history Jane Fleischer (Their granddaughter) set up a fund to make sure these animation could be restored.
Due to Max having such an interest in rotoscope and creating it, it helped 3-d Animation come to life and have a bit of life and people started to recognize it all and these guys (besides Walt Disney) are super super important in animation history, they did so much for the animation world but most people don't know their names just their work. But I am glad that there are funds to keep their work safe as well as things like this animation are the stuff that got me into animation, I LOVE "Betty Boop (1930)" and the way she moves, I literally didn't know it was these guys who made this cartoon woman. I want to one day be as good as them!!
Their animations weren't only a part of the first color animations, it was the first animations to also use sound, the music and small speech parts brought everything to life. I think things like "Betty Boop (1930)" helped shape things like "Tom and Jerry (1940)/(2014)" and more recently The "Cuphead Show (2022)". Just everything about these 2 brothers generally helped animation history and the way their animation looks because its hand drawn is something I want to be able to do. I really love hand drawn animation. It's got a cool look to it all, and of course I would use things like 3d to assist me because I am not just going to ignore all of the technology that I have to use and go straight for classic animation. It would take forever, I mean I would be down to do it but it's time. I think the hand drawn animation they create just has that comic book feeling to it and I am pretty sure I have said this multiple times and many times I want to make my own comic book so badly. But if I were to do 2d animation I would want to work on something that is hand drawn, but I also like stop motion. I think I just prefer much physical work then doing it digitally, it's just more fun in my opinion, time consuming but so worth it in the end.
Cuphead the Show (2022), Netflix, 18 February 2022
Tom and Jerry (1940), Warner Bros., 10 February 1940
SteamBoat Willie (1928), Walt Disney, 10 June 1929
Betty Boop (1930), Fleischer Studios, 9 August 1930
Koko The Clown (1920), Out of the Inkwell, 10 June 1920
Popeye (1933), Fleischer Studios, 10 June 1960 (USA Relese date)
Super man (1941), Paramount, 26 Seotember 1941
Now just like I have for all of the other animators I have looked into. I have looked into their works. I decided I would look into something from each of the things I talked about from the research I did above. Looking into these animations I have had the most fun, I mean the toehr animations that I looked into for the other people they where cool and I did like them its just this kind of animation is literally my favoruite I love it so much. I mean stop motion and comics have me more but 2d animation that looks like this is generally some of my favourite animation styles I mean the way it looks so smooth and I just love the effect it is, it isn't perfect like it is now its grainy and I just really enjoy the old feeling. I guess that its not old to the people who grew up with it but for me it is. It is what I see as Retro animation (I really hate saying that). But enough of what I think personally the animations that I looked into are AWSOME!!! Okay they really arn't that impressive if you compare them too he animations now but they certainly hold up and are very respected in the animation scene, I mean why wouldn't be they are part of history and are important ot how things are made!!
Looking into the different types of animations that I mentioned I really enjoyed seeing the progression of what was created and how they made it. Now I was going to separately look into everything but in the three Betty Boop (1930) animations Koko showed up to I thought that will do as you can clearly see the rotoscoping aspect that the brothers worked on/developed. I really enjoyed looking at the Popeye (1933), Betty boop (1930) and Koko animation. Everything had so much more life and much more time was spent on it compared to the superman animations. I mean the Superman (1920) Animations where being made during the end of their career and they had to work for a studio but I could say I could blame it on the world war but world war 2 was from 1939-1945 so I mean they managed to create really epic and cool looking animation in their own studio but I suppose actually working for a company and not for yourself and having to follow the comics exactly their really isn't much creative liberty and differences you can put into it, because viewers want it to be authentic.
I just think that the animations could of been cooler, they could've at least made them move a bit more, the movements that were happening with the characters in Superman (1920) were barely moving at all and if a character did do a prolonged movement the next few scenes would be hardly any movement at all just the narrator doing a voice over. I will say that the quality of things improved (the sound and colour quilty) but it almost feels like the animation techniques and quality went completely down, it just isn't that great. That's what I expected everything that I looked into to look like, not very good but outstanding for the time period.
Though when you look into what else the 2 brothers managed to create superman just falls short. I mean in terms of popularity (excluding Betty boop (1930)) it is incredible they got to be the first guys to ever animate him, but the other animations they created are just so so so so much better. The movement is fluid and flows nicely everything feels much more thought through and you can tell time was spent on it, and a lot amount of time. I mean sure the Popeye (1933) animations they made because it was moving so much were only shorts that really lasted for 3 minutes but in just those three minutes a short story was told that is effective, funny and just overall looks good. Though I suppose that with the Superman (1920) animations they have to animate.
The whole 10-12 minutes of shortcuts had to be taken to release episodes but, I just feel so much more could have been done. The Betty Boop (1930) animations are incredible, I mean they are amazing. It's really cool to see the progression on how Betty looked from the beginning to the end of her show career. I love the way in Popeye (1933), Betty boop (1930) and Koko the clown their are silly elements things don't make sense for this world in reality but they make sense their and it just all fits perfectly that silly cartoon vibe that makes you giggle at the actions taking place, the pushed proportions and stereotyping of people to make it universally understandable and just funny to imagine someone looking like that in real like. The crazy injuries that the characters should get but don't, everything about the animation are just charming and make me happy to watch.
I personally believe in the differences between the animations you can see the animations they enjoyed the most or the ones they spent the most tim on producing. Especially the Betty Boop (1930) ones. I love how Koko the clown is in the animations, something about the way everything is clearly animated hand drawn and looks all flat but when Koko moves in a certain pose he feels so much different showing the rotoscoping technique, but you really have to pay attention to see it. I was pasting, rewatching and screenshooting things so I saw it all, the differences in techniques used but overall it fits perfectly within the 2d animations that aren't rotoscoped. The use of sound within the animations as well is cool. I mean the only animations that have a lot of talking are the superman ones, but the other animations have less talking more letting the characters personalities speak for themselves, I think animation should still do that, sometimes talking isn't needed music is perfect and just right or the characters personality shows alot about them. When colour got introduced I believe they lost some of that 3d and real life aspect to it but I mean it was some of the first animations done in colour so I am not that bothered by it.
It's just in the greyscale ones, there are scenes where the backgrounds or people are just really detailed drawings and only the moving parts are the cartoonish and loose that in depth sharing but something about the difference environments makes the characters feel so alive and 3d, I suppose it just makes them stand out from everything else but I really like it. It is giving comic book vibes and I love comic books so I like it even more because it just feels more like a story book than an animation but is also an animation that is giving off a real life feeling because of the differences. Everything about it is just so cool!!
Betty Boop and Koko the Clown
Now I know this may seem like way to many images but the images that I have screenshotted are too show the progression for when they where super popular and had colour to the first ever appearance Betty had on an animated film. These animations I watched where all about 6 minuets long (and its impressive how they manage to tell such in depth stories in that short amount of time) and I wanted to showcase the differnce in style, production value as well as differnce in just how Betty and other characters looked in comparision. I think all of these images are important for their own reasons. It just perfectly captures how much time and effort they put into these animations, the style is literally everything. I love this old style of cartoons everything is silly and stretched way out of reality but still feels so real at the same time.
Popeye
Compared to Betty Boop Popeye didn't really change I mean the style and everything about him as a character stayed the same its just the production value went up as time went on but Popeye is just a very out of reality kind of character anyway considering he basically has a super power through spinich.
Superman
Compared to the other animations I looked into there is barly any screenshots from the Superman animations because I was only able to watch through one epsiode because I found it so boring, the animation to me is just so boring there isn't enough going on, not enough dramatic scenes or music the narrator is so boring but I mean it is still a good animation, it just isn't for me, for the other animations I looked into I was able to watch about three not only because they where shorter but because overal I had a better experince watching them.
SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT ┐(シ)┌
Slow in and Slow out isn't really called that anymore its mainly called easing. So I will be refering to it as easing as well that what I know it as and its easier to write that!! Now researching into the different animation techniques has really made me reevaulate my own work. On how to get better and how things that I thought where good could be improved but with a different techniques all in it so then the animation feels more natural. Not only does it make me think about animation but also illustration, I don't know how much I have stressed this enough but I LOVE illustration so much more.
Comics is something I want to get in to but I don't want to give up animation, and learning the animation principles also helps knowing that I can still apply these principles to comics and the characters may not be moving fluidly and is broken up but adding things like easing to a still few images also helps give a realistic stand point and make it all feel a bit more normal to be in say a fantasy world.
Now I can here you saying... What is easing?? and like all of the animation principles that there are ad I have been researching, well its just another things to help you animation look right to the human eye and not be too out of the ordinary to the point where you can't focus enough to make a fake reality feel real.
Easing is something that I always forget and wonder why my animations feel so robotic and don't have alot of fluidity. It is where when an object or a person or anything in a animation moves and when it moves slowly there would be move frames to emphasise on the movement or the frames would last a lot longer and it they where moving fast there would be much less frames to get them across the screen or whatever area they are in. It is something that I think gets done later on in a animation. Because when I am doing my own animations things like anticipation and pose to pose come naturally and first I gotta plan out how things will move but the easing for me comes last when I am doing through and maybe adding in between making frame lengths shorter or longer just to make the movement that little bit more real.
Again in class like always we watched this video to help us understand (as a class) what easing is. I always get easing and anticipation mixed up so it was super helpful ot be refreshed because they are super similar but not the same:
Anticipation - the action before the main movement
Easing - the length, time and speed of all actions that happen
Animation is a skill that is super hard but for my work that I did in the last few weeks I feel like i have been able to at least accomplish this one animation principle. The animation principles I always find hard to actually be able to do to make sure that the work I produce is good but easing is something that I always manage to do because if I don't then everything is either too fast to understand what moment is happen or too slow to be an animation and it doesn't feel like it flows it just is jittering to image to image.
I don't see easing until I have the full animation movement down because before that it is all planning how fast things will be and the movement is jittery bellow are screenshots of different lengths of frames - the short ones with more there means the movement is fast but the semi short ones with a lot there I want focus on that spesifc movement where as some of them hold for a long period of time to let the viewer focus on that or at least make sure the movement isn't too fast to where the viewer isn't even digesting the actions that are happening or why they are happening.
All of these screenshots I have taken are all from what I have done at uni, As you can see some of the screenshots are before I really thought about how important easing is so everything is the same length and it does move quite fast, but sometimes it is needed, like for the bouncing ball the frames needed to be the same, to let you as a viewer really focus on the bouncing action and not let it go to fast to not be recognisable but in the head turn animation I did, having a fast movement helped to show the urgency of the feeling so sometimes it isn't always that big of a deal but it is important to think about and not neglect.
I mentioned my head turn. Well the head turn I did I kind of explained the usage of easing and it does use it s well as the anticupation and streching and squash and pose to pose. So it sort of uses everything that I have researched about in the past few weeks. I know that it porbably was the point of the head turn but it felt like everything that i practiced in the last 6 weeks I was bal to combine int ot one full animation. I am really proud of what I managed to create considering that the animation I did it was my second try compared to the first try and I didn't think that it would improve as much it did. I thought it would still be pretty awful and hard to understand. It still isn't perfect of course and it could totally be better but the fact it came from a really hard to understand thing to something I am much more proud of the line art may be wobbly and the colouring is messy but I love it generally think it is something I have really done well, I don't want to like hype myself or give myself a big ego but well done me!!
The colouring was all I did this week but it really brought the animation form 50 percent ot 100 pweerent awsome. I love it I am so so so so so proud of it. The colouring I usally find hard but it feel like a illustration which is what I want, I want it to be illustration like because I think they have so much detail and tell really cool stories but in animation its hard to do a load of detail because tis super time consumming but the lighting I did I am super proud of and I think thats what gave it the detail I was looking for.
I thought this colouring would of taken me ages be it only took me about 6 hours !!! I am super proud of course everything I make could always be better and in the future I hope I make something better but for now I am satisified.
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