This is too big a question to address in just one post, but I'll hazard an incomplete answer. What should an animation studio look like? Why, maybe something a little like Jim Henson's Creature Shop in New York. (above)! Click to enlarge.
Actually, Henson had a creature shop in Hollywood, too. That's it above, on the site of Charlie Chaplin's old studio. It's near me, but I'm ashamed to say I've never been inside.
Since Henson always had movies, commercials, TV shows, toys, theme parks and books to work on, there was plenty of employment for puppet people and artists.
It was an eclectic bunch. Mostly he'd hire on the basis of skill and experience, but sometimes he'd take a chance on charisma and an innate feel for entertainment.
Storyboards would be rushed to wherever Henson happened to be when he wanted to see them. It must have been great to pitch a story in a wonderland of puppet parts.
They must have made a lot of puppets that they never used. A good, risk-taking studio will have lots of interesting rejects to display.
The display above was designed for a department store that allowed kids to buy muppets that they designed themselves. It's easy to imagine an alternative use, as a work station in an animation studio.
How do you like the eye lamps hanging from the ceiling?
Those are puppet people above but the room reminds me of animation background departments I've been in. Before studios switched to computer color, I used to love to hang around places like this. The painters' area was full of color swatches, paints, paint splatter and works in progress, and I always got a million ideas there. In some ways paint is a more mystical and intuitive process than drawing. It's stimulating to be around.
Those are puppet people above but the room reminds me of animation background departments I've been in. Before studios switched to computer color, I used to love to hang around places like this. The painters' area was full of color swatches, paints, paint splatter and works in progress, and I always got a million ideas there. In some ways paint is a more mystical and intuitive process than drawing. It's stimulating to be around.
A good studio will do half it's backgrounds using traditional wet color, not because there's anything wrong with computer color, but because every living studio needs a heart, a source of inspiration for the artists who work there. You need to see interesting art on the walls.
I love the clutter of Henson's work area (above). At least some animation work stations should be just as sloppy. You could hope that artists who have a knack for it would would make quick and dirty models of characters and scenes that they have a special feel for...sort of just fooling around to see if anything they come up with can be used in their work.
So that's it...a studio that would wow a Boy Scout troop if they came to visit. The public expects studios to be hot beds of conspicuous creativity. Maybe we should make an effort not to disappoint them.
21 comments:
I liked the eyes and nose lights a lot.
Hi Eddie. I don't work in animation, so I'd love to know how studios look today in comparison. But anyway, I agree that when I think of what a studio should look like...I'd expect it to reflect the type of charismatic, creative people that work there! Lots of things for inspiration...rough ideas strewn everywhere.
You've also reminded me of how entertaining the Muppets were -and they were puppets!!
I Loved this post, I actually need to work in that kind of enviroment, it gets me kind of depressed to think the impossibility of it.
by the way, I support Brad's question about how do animation studios actually look.
Wow, it makes me want to visit the Muppet studio. I wonder how it looks now.
Let me be #3 and say that I'm curious to see how cartoon studios today look in comparison to how it was in the past. I imagine that there are less people and space is smaller now, since layouts and animation are often subcontracted, but that's all I can guess.
(there are still some shows that paints backgrounds by hand, although it's still being touched up on computer)
Brad, Diego: What do animation studios look like now? Unfortunately they're much less flamboyant than they used to be. There's a greater reliance on freelancers now, so the rooms are sometimes kind of sparse, and computers have really taken over, so everybody's got their head buried in a screen.
As the industry gets more and more digital the desk space devoted to drawing gets smaller and smaller, in fact it's not uncommon to see work areas where there's no space to do paper drawings at all.
In spite of all this, you still find cubicles that are oases of caricatures, gags, mobiles and tons and tons of action figure toys. Some people even customize thir work areas with rocking chairs, rugs, beaded curtains and wallpapers.
I love your description of how you get tons of ideas in the paint room! The look or feel or vibe of the space you create in is EXREMELY important to the atmosphere and creative output!
My school is lit with flourescent lights and has a very drab, sterile colour scheme. Today I tried to sneak 40 winks on the couch. When I opened my eyes, the ceiling looked like something out of Stanley Kubrick film. Completely lifeless, and sort of symmetrical. I'd planned to do some writing or something while I was there, but I couldn't get the juices flowing! I can't even think in there, much less be creative!
And every office and workspace in America is lit for flourescent lights! What happened?
Jorge: Good point! Flourescent light is cheap and convenient, but it gives rooms a bad vibe and the the fixtures hum in a really annoying way when the balancer goes out.
Actually, I think we need to rethink the idea that rooms in public buildings should be lit from the ceiling. I always prefer spot lighting myself.
Good point about vibe, too.
Jorge: Good point! Flourescent light is cheap and convenient, but it gives rooms a bad vibe and the the fixtures hum in a really annoying way when the balancer goes out.
Actually, I think we need to rethink the idea that rooms in public buildings should be lit from the ceiling. I always prefer spot lighting myself.
Good point about vibe, too.
I suppose that if you let a bunch of creative and talented individuals run loose in any building, this is what you'll eventually get, even if it's just a sparsely furnished room. Just keep the executives and other "authorities" in an office far, far away... unless the boss is Jim Henson!
(P.S. I posted a little something based on your recent James Gillray post, thought you'd like to take a look.)
"Unfortunately they're much less flamboyant than they used to be."
Hmm. When were they ever whimsical places?
Neither Termite Terrace nor Hyperion were the sort of obviously visually appealing or fanciful places that the singular Henson studios are in the pictures.
Actually, although I've never been there myself in person, the stories and photos I've seen of Pixar's Emeryille studio suggests it's every bit the sort of expressive, creative, stimulating space that you describe as ideal-so there is one place that would make a painter happy. Or an animator/cartoonist!
I remember when Henson died. The urban legend goes that he'd inhaled so much felt during his career that they pulled an entire knitted sweater out of his lungs at the autopsy.
That might have made a pretty good skit on The Muppet Show, come to think of it. Actually, the real story of his death is even more unsettling.
In 1990, Henson complained of flu-like symptoms. His crackpot Christian Science upbringing had taught him not to seek medical treatment. Although he reportedly no longer practiced the faith, he declined medical help until it was too late. He died of organ failure brought on by streptococcus pneumonia at age 53.
If he had sought treatment just six or eight hours earlier, he might still be alive today.
I'm gonna guess that the reason Henson's studio was able to look that way is that he was able to achieve autonomy. He was not beholden to some moronic media gatekeepers telling him how it was all going to be. At least by the time of THE MUPPET SHOW, He just made product, and they bought it. I don't think he had to deal with, "We have some notes about this week's FOZZIE sketch..."
How did he achieve that? --Syndication. He went straight to the local markets. Syndication has performed autonomic miracles for Oprah, Ebert & Siskell, Dr. Phil, and others. Maybe it could save cartoons --and cartoon studios, too. A good show only needs to succeed in one local market. When the other ones find out about it, they want it, too. Suddenly you are not begging some underqualified network yapping-toy-poodle lackey to get something on the air, you are now in a supply-side selling frenzy. I just made this up, and my examples are all mainstream enough to get sold, but I hope that someone tries it before they figure out how to plug that hole, too. I guess you'd need enough dough to get it off the ground.
Post your cubicle post photos from the 80s and 90s! They should be required decor for every artist! But for girls, naked women photos would be replaced with photos of kittens bathing in the sun.
What are your thoughts on Postmodernism Eddie?
IDRC,
I dunno about first-run syndication. It's been pretty much dead for over a decade now.
Right now only game shows, talk shows or "Judge Judy"-like stuff are syndicated. But a sitcom or a cartoon show created just for syndication? Not likely anymore.
I hope they'll eventually return someday, though. Who knows.
Syndication is how Fox and Warner Bros grew during their booming production years. That market is currently dead.
Animation studios should be cluttered with artwork, strewn about in a random fashion on animation desks and pinned on cork boards. All the tools should have noticable wear and tear. The building itself should border on dilapidated.
Mike F.:
Religion claimed yet another victim. :(
Excuse me, I must amplify my point about sloppy being a key to a good studio. Many dedicated artists live on their own plains of reality, that is why they appear so sloppy. We all heard the old saying of the "absent minded genius", that's because their imaginations occupy their daily lives frequently instead of personal appearance or hygiene.
Bru,
There is now the CWB or whatever, which I surmise is a large bloc of syndication from a single source.
Xena wasn't that far from a syndicated cartoon.
It's a messy, messy world.
Speaking of Henson, he was a great artist:http://www.amazon.com/Jim-Hensons-Designs-Doodles-Sketchbook/dp/0810932407
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