ABSTRACT
Animation! This is your main concern – this is the vehicle in which you have chosen to express yourself. A whole list of “tools” are required: drawing, timing, phasing, action, acting, pantomime, staging, imagination, observation, interpretation, logic, caricature, creativity, clarity, empathy, etc., a mind-boggling array of prerequisites. Rest at ease. You were born with all of them. Some of them may need a little sharpening, others may need to be awakened from a deep sleep, but they are as much a part of you as arms, legs, eyes, kidneys, hemoglobin, speech, etc. Reading and observing are two emancipators of the dormant areas of the mind. Read the classics, biographies, humor, mysteries, and comic books. Observe, observe, observe. Be like a sponge – suck up everything you can lay your eyes on. Look for the unusual, the common, characters, situations, compositions, and attitudes and study shapes, features, personalities, activities, details, etc.
