How an Animator Can Bring Your Characters to Life

One of the central features of any animated production is the character that populates it. You provide the vision for those characters. A skilled animation company sharpens that vision and brings it to life. There are many ways in which the animator develops characters perfectly suited for whatever type of project you need, from advertising animation to educational animation and more. The following are just a few of the valuable contributions the 2D animation studio can make to character design. The art of creating pitch winning storyboards is full of challenges for our animatics artist Sydney.

Target The Desired Audience

The exact look and feel of any animated project depends in large part upon the audience for which it is intended. For instance, an educational program geared toward children would use bold patterns and bright colors, whereas an animated explainer video for business executives would use more restrained design elements. The studio you choose to provide animation for your project will enhance its effectiveness by creating characters that are appropriate for the audience you wish to reach.

Animation studios will help you define the correct style for your audience right from the start by also providing you with concept design services. These services formulate vague ideas into a specific overall style. A skilled team of animators can walk you through the development of your concept and then create unique characters that fit both your vision and the audience who will be enjoying the finished product.

Visually Depict Personality

Each character in your animated project will have a distinct personality. This personality is one of the traits that will set them apart from the animated characters already out there. Through concept design and character design, your animation partner will work with you to determine the personality that each character possesses. Developing this personality may involve creating a back-story to give them history and depth. The animator will then use this background to inform their understanding and development of the character.

The animator will use their skills to take the traits that were fleshed out earlier in the process and visually depict them in the character’s body shape, facial expressions, and movements. For instance, the animator will use lines to create a body for the character that reveals their personality. Soft lines may denote gentleness, while sharp corners may reveal stronger or negative aspects of the character’s personality. Animator Moritz Schneider, for instance, explains that he used sharp edges on one of his characters to depict that character’s hidden strength and integrity. These sometimes subtle design elements convey to the viewer aspects of the character’s personality that may not be explicitly articulated in the dialogue or actions and give him or her added depth and intrigue.

In addition, the animator will use design elements such as accessories and colors to reveal a character’s thoughts, feelings, and preferences. These elements can become integral parts of the character. For instance, the yellow complexion of the Simpsons has become their trademark look, one of the reasons they first captured viewers’ attention. Reds and blues can convey a sense that the character has something in common with comic book heroes, while dark colors will give viewers the impression that the character has some less than pleasant aspects to his or her personality. Accessories can give viewers a glimpse into the character’s circumstances (such as whether they are rich, stylish, plain, or simple).

Finally, 2D animation companies can add other design features, such as facial expressions, to give the viewer visual clues to the character’s personality. At times, they will exaggerate these features to emphasize certain aspects of the character’s personality, or swerve away from strict realism to create cartoon characters that will have greater appeal to the sensibilities of the target audience. Regardless of the specific techniques they use, however, animators will all strive to produce characters that fit comfortably into the purpose and overall feeling of the project.

Create An Environment To Complement The Character Design

Finally, traditional animation studios can bring your characters to life by creating environments that complement or further reveal their personalities. For instance, an animator may choose to reflect the conflict a character is facing by inserting elements into the surrounding environment that visually clash with the character. Alternatively, the animator may choose to insert small details into certain scenes (such as background objects or colors) that match the proportions or interests of the character. A good animator will understand how the environment interacts with the characters being created so that all the elements of a project fit together convincingly. In fact, a skilled animator will be intentional about nearly every detail they add into a scene, so that the entire project comes together as a realistic and cohesive work of art.

Character design is essential to the animation process, because the characters’ personalities, appearances, and actions have the ability to affect the success of the entire project. Viewers will relate to or be turned off by their experience with those characters. As a result, the animator will work carefully to choose the colors, shapes, styles, and environmental details around the character to create a personality and role within the project that will satisfy your vision and appeal to your audiences. A skilled animator can help you not only flesh out your vision for the characters populating your project but also build them and the world around them into a form that will charm, enchant, instruct, and motivate the audiences you wish to reach.

Powerhouse Animation is a traditional 2D animation studio based in Austin, Texas with offices in Burbank, California. Since 2001, Powerhouse has been bringing ideas to life through animation, illustration, and motion graphics. With a staff of 35 in-house artists, animators, video graphers and designers, Powerhouse works on a wide variety of projects and has created animation for companies including Disney, Sony, Marvel, DC, Old Spice, Miramax, the USO and more. To learn more about some of these projects visit http://www.powerhouseanimation.com

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Check Out Charities – 5 Tips for Choosing a Worthwhile Charity and Getting Involved

The call to make a positive difference in the larger world around us is heard by millions of people every day. Most of us just put it off because we are understandably busy with our day-to-day lives of surviving and thriving: families, incomes and personal pursuits need to be sustained and nurtured. Still, around the country and around the world, more of us are increasingly answering that call to contribute and make a difference. Once you are ready to answer that call, what is the next step? Donating to charity will give you a legacy not only to the beneficiary but to the community as well.

There are so many ways to give of ourselves, our money and our time. We can volunteer for a local charity or send money overseas to the needy in faraway lands. When one’s heart is in the right place, any act of giving is a worthwhile pursuit. Still, with all of the options available to us, it makes sense that we think carefully about the form our giving will take.

If you are ready to heed the call to make a difference, here are 5 tips that I offer you as guidance in choosing a worthwhile charity and getting involved:

Tip #1: Look inside and ask yourself which issues move you most:

The act of giving is such a personal affair. There is so much need in the world: at least you will not be short on choices about where and how to give. In order to narrow the field of options, I recommend that you start by getting in touch with yourself and asking what moves you most. Is it wayward pets? Starving people? The homeless? The environment? Widespread or rare diseases? While you might want to make a positive difference in many different areas, chances are your time and budget are not limitless. As a short exercise, try filling in the blank of the following sentence, “I would be particularly grateful if I could reduce the suffering of X in the world.” Now, whatever X is for you might be a good place to start in your search for an issue to support.

Tip #2: Decide whether you want to donate your time, your money or your stuff:

Just as there are many issues and causes to support in the world, there are also many ways to make things better. In general, these boil down to three main ways to give: your time, your money, or your stuff (i.e., assets and goods). There are advantages to giving away each of these. For example, giving of your time can be a great way to feel more personally involved with your cause, and it is also ideal if you have a particularly limited budget. On the other hand, donating your money or assets can go toward the purchase of food, vaccines, services or other items that you likely cannot personally fulfill merely by donating your time. Also, giving money or assets can in some cases be written off for tax purposes (note: be sure consult with your accountant about how this works and whether your items are eligible).

Tip #3: Make sure the charity is reputable:

Once you have decided upon an issue or cause you want to support and how you plan to give of yourself, it is time to consider candidate charities. The main rule here is to find one that is reputable and that has been evaluated by a regional or national charity review organization. Find each charity’s Web site and thoroughly examine its contents, including news items & press releases, the About Us area, and any testimonials that appear on the site. It can also be helpful to ask a charity representative if you may speak with any of its current volunteers and or donors so that you can find out about their experience working with the charity. Finally, ask yourself if their model of giving makes sense to you: do you understand just what it is they do? Be sure you understand exactly how the charity operates and exactly how it adds value to the community it serves.

Tip #4: If you plan to donate your time, find a charity that is in your area:

If you have decided that at least part of your planned act of giving will involve the giving of your time, it makes sense that you would want to find a charity that has a significant presence in your area. National and international charities often have local branches in most populated regions of the country. Of course, regional and local charities are particularly ideal if you want to ensure that they can provide regular and frequent opportunities for you to participate.

Tip #5: Try volunteering for a day to get a feel for whether there is a fit:

Before joining a charity, try volunteering your time for a day to get a sense for the charity and how it operates. Every organization attracts different types of people and each has its own “vibe” or feel. If you plan to give significantly of your money or time to a charity, spending some time with its active members can be a great way to sense whether there may be a fit for you there. If you do so and you do not perceive a fit, keep trying elsewhere: the world needs people like you who are willing to pitch in and help and there are certainly many other charities out there that would love for you to give them a try.

The act of giving selflessly to others is one of the greatest gifts we can give others – and ourselves. When you decide to answer the call to help the world around you, spend a bit of quality time being introspective about your needs and values. Then, spend some time researching the types of causes, ways of giving and specific charities that are best in alignment with your values, interests and life situation. It is my hope that these 5 tips will help you get a bit closer to your goal of giving of yourself in a way that is most beneficial to others and most satisfying to yourself.

Visit to find out how to get involved directly or make a donation to Mobile Loaves and Fishes’ innovative “Habitat on Wheels” program that provides affordable and sustainable travel trailers to otherwise-homeless tenants.

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Pilates For Beginners 4 Easy And Effective Exercises To Strengthen Your Core

People new to exercise often get intimidated by the mention of doing core exercises. This is one reason why Pilates can be a good place to begin if you want to develop a strong and toned core. Pilates can be done by anyone regardless of their current fitness level, and with some basic Pilates for beginners exercises, you don’t any equipment other than an exercise mat. Here are four effective yet easy exercises that newbies can do right away, proving that toning your core doesn’t have to be hard core! Pilates Northern Beaches offers an extensive range of graded Pilates classes and Zumba suitable for men and women of all levels of fitness.

1. The Pilates 100

This exercise is the core of most Pilates sequences and is designed to warm you up and your blood pumping.

  1. Lie on your back, your arms by your side.
  2. Bend both knees into your chest, and curl your spine, bringing your head and shoulders up. Look towards your belly button.
  3. Then, extend your legs slightly such that your knees are above the hips and the shins are parallel to the floor.
  4. Deepen your curl by hollowing out your abdomen, hands behind your thighs.
  5. Keeping your torso and legs where they are, move your hands to hover around two inches off the mat.
  6. Begin to pump your arms up and down, five counts for each inhale, five counts for each exhale. Repeat this movement continuously until you count to 100.

This exercise can be further modified for beginners if the exercise is still too difficult. One modification is to have the head on the floor instead of curling up. Another modification would be to count up to 50, take a couple breaths rest, then do another 50. Whichever option you choose, keep your focus on engaging your abdominals and keep your breathing even and complete.

2. One Leg Circle

This Pilates for beginners exercise develops your ability to engage your abs as you move your legs.

  1. Start by lying down on the mat with your shoulders down and your back flat.
  2. Extend the right leg to point to the ceiling, with the left leg bent, keeping your left foot flat on the mat.
  3. Move your right leg in a circle, starting by moving towards your left shoulder, rounding clockwise to the right, then stopping at a point in line with your nose.
  4. Repeat this movement five times, and then reverse with circling the leg counterclockwise.
  5. Switch legs.

Tips and modification for beginners: Keep your focus on scooping in your abdominals. Prioritise having both hips on the mat as you circle the legs instead of keeping the lifted leg straight. If a hip lifts off the mat as you circle the leg, try going for a little bend in the knee to keep the hip in place.

3. Criss Cross Crunches

Criss cross crunches are amazingly simple and yet they work your whole mid-section. Here’s how to do them:

  1. Start by lying down on your back.
  2. Then, bring your knees towards your chest with your hands under the base of your head.
  3. With your left leg bent, extend your right leg, twisting towards your left, chest facing the left knee, and hold for three counts.
  4. Switch legs, this time with your right knee bent and your chest facing the right knee, holding for three counts as well.
  5. Repeat for four more sets.

Options and tips: You can do the movements faster, with shorter holds as you twist. If you have difficulty lifting your head, roll up a towel and place it under your neck for support. This way, your will still be engaging your abdominals without having unnecessary tension in your neck.

4. The Saw

The Saw is a favorite in most Pilates classes especially with people who still want to work their core but are disinclined to do crunches.

  1. Start by sitting on your mat with your legs spread wide.
  2. Lift your arms to the sides, shoulder level, and twist to face your left leg.
  3. Bring your right hand to lightly touch your left foot and pulse three times.
  4. Roll up back to center, then repeat the movement on the other side.
  5. Do four more sets.

Beginners find this very easy to do, and at the same time gives them a good foundation for strengthening their core while giving a good stretch to their legs, shoulders, and upper back.