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.
