How does a large animation studio like Pixar maintain consistency when dozens of people with varying artistic tastes are working on a single project?
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They create guides for characters that all the other artists need to reference and follow when assigned to doing any animation. They usually have the characters in different positions, angles, perspectives, outfits, etc. There are also usually levels of review and editing by people who control the design before it’s signed off as production ready.
Everyone is also professionally and extensively trained in their role. They’ll be capable of following the guides/directions if they are going to remain employed.
That’s what art directors are for. They direct the artists on maintaining a specific artistic style. Of course in the case of hand drawn animation there was some variance between frames and scenes, either due to different artists working on different scenes or even from the same artists. This usually could be seen as lines and shapes “flickering” a bit as lines were not drawn in the exact same way.
CG movies like the ones made by Pixar however have a relatively easier job in maintaining consistency since the models they use are digital so all the animators do is move them between each frame. Certain scenes or facial expressions may be drawn by hand but those drawings are only used for reference for how the model will be animated.
I think you’re confusing “taste” or even personal style with skill. The illustrators/animators doing the work have the skill level to consistently reproduce the style of the project, regardless of what or how they like to create on their own.
That’s the job.
They create guides for characters that all the other artists need to reference and follow when assigned to doing any animation. They usually have the characters in different positions, angles, perspectives, outfits, etc. There are also usually levels of review and editing by people who control the design before it’s signed off as production ready.
Everyone is also professionally and extensively trained in their role. They’ll be capable of following the guides/directions if they are going to remain employed.
They create guides for characters that all the other artists need to reference and follow when assigned to doing any animation. They usually have the characters in different positions, angles, perspectives, outfits, etc. There are also usually levels of review and editing by people who control the design before it’s signed off as production ready.
Everyone is also professionally and extensively trained in their role. They’ll be capable of following the guides/directions if they are going to remain employed.
In addition to the style guides that others have mentioned:
Another thing that was used in traditional 2D animation was having dedicated animation teams for each character. So you had a smaller group that could really focus on animating personality into a character and make that character distinct from others in movement and expressions because the 10 (or however many) people drawing them didn’t need to learn how to animate anyone else.
Since 3D models don’t need to be redrawn every frame, it’s not as necessary these days, but some studios might still work that way
In addition to the style guides that others have mentioned:
Another thing that was used in traditional 2D animation was having dedicated animation teams for each character. So you had a smaller group that could really focus on animating personality into a character and make that character distinct from others in movement and expressions because the 10 (or however many) people drawing them didn’t need to learn how to animate anyone else.
Since 3D models don’t need to be redrawn every frame, it’s not as necessary these days, but some studios might still work that way
I can explain this very quickly. The person saying ‘it’s the director’ is kind of an idiot and has no clue what they’re talking about. When they go to produce a movie they create ‘reference’ models and documents. This is the model that all artists work with from the start. These are all the characters and such and also major background images. This tells every artist that your work matches this mdoel and matches these styles.
In addition to the style guides that others have mentioned:
Another thing that was used in traditional 2D animation was having dedicated animation teams for each character. So you had a smaller group that could really focus on animating personality into a character and make that character distinct from others in movement and expressions because the 10 (or however many) people drawing them didn’t need to learn how to animate anyone else.
Since 3D models don’t need to be redrawn every frame, it’s not as necessary these days, but some studios might still work that way
I can explain this very quickly. The person saying ‘it’s the director’ is kind of an idiot and has no clue what they’re talking about. When they go to produce a movie they create ‘reference’ models and documents. This is the model that all artists work with from the start. These are all the characters and such and also major background images. This tells every artist that your work matches this mdoel and matches these styles.
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