Inspirational animators?? - Simply Maya User Community

# 1 13-03-2003 , 05:36 AM

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Favourite animators??

I thought itd be fun and interesting to find out who everyone's favourite animators are. Who's work has been most inspirational and influential to you? Dont worry if you dont know their names...you can just name the cartoon etc. And it doesnt just have to relate to 3D - all forms count. It might also be interesting to see what character(s) have had the most impact on you...I'll start user added image

For me, the best traditional animator has to have been Chuck Jones. I grew up watching the likes of Tom and Jerry and it always had me fascinated...still does user added image

I guess the same could be said for Fred Quimby and Tex Avery.

Art Babbit did some awesome stuff for Disney too. There was always something magical about classical 2d animation. You dont quite get that now sadly...

Other favourites are Matt Groening, Nick Park and Tim Burton (Nightmare Before Christmas is fantastic!!)

And of course there is Ray Harryhausen and his inspirational work

As for 3D, I guess Pixar gets all the plaudits. The benchmark!! Blue Sky also....Though I really like Mark Behm's style user added image

As for best character, well Homer Simpson is so damn funny but then again Ive always liked Wile E. Coyote - some sort of empathy I guess lol.

Last edited by alexgc; 13-03-2003 at 11:03 AM.

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# 2 13-03-2003 , 04:52 PM

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Chuck Jones --> Tom & Jerry

Richard Williams -->WFRR

Matt Groening --> The Simpsons, best show ever

Trey Parker & Matt Stone --> Not really animators but there ideas a great

John Lasseter --> Pixar, Toy Story

As for character, well it's Homer Simpson. Also like Tom & Jerry, Silvester & Tweety, Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner and the South Park Kids

alexgc: I proberly know these guy's work [Fred Quimby, Tex Avery, Ray Harryhausen] but i cant assign the name to anything, which are very familiar.

Yeah, but no but yeah but no....

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# 3 13-04-2005 , 09:02 AM

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Jeff Lew --- Killer Beans

Jeff is my Hero he because he tought himself how to model and animate just because he was bored with his real job.

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# 4 13-04-2005 , 09:14 AM

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Walt Disney and Co. When you watch Bambi and realized how much work went into that.... whew! Also some of his WWII work was cutting edge... and wouldn't be PC enough today.

Studio Ghibli (spelling?) - good animation with great stories.

Chuck Jones... The guy was a machine! BTW if you like his work, you have to track down a copy of Chuck Amuck. Great bio.

Brad Bird and Co. Incredibles! Iron Giant didn't get the box office hype but it was a very solid movie and good combo of 2D/3D

Who ever did the Triplets of Belvelle, great stylized look.

Frazetta, we'll not actually an animator, but the movie Fire and Ice based on his work had great look to it.

Square for pushing in Final Fantasy and more currently with Animatrix

And I definely have to agree with Groening and Pixar.

AIM: mhcannonDMC

"If you love your job, you'll never work another day in your life."

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# 5 13-04-2005 , 10:13 AM

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Adding some odd bits of more recent stuff:

Ico
The PS2 game ICO had great animation. Handmade and with lots of attention to the little details and quirks. Highly underrated game that failed commercially, but always been critically acclaimed.
The team is busy at work with Shadow of the Colossus and hopefully they will get the recognition they deserve this time.

Pics and info here:
https://games.kikizo.com/features/sha...ew_march05.asp

Appleseed
Anime. Fantastic animation. On par with the incredibles I think. Story was a bit poo and cliché. It tried to be deep but fails, and I had a lot of Deja Vu moments from other movies. Visually stunning though.

Studio Ghibli
mhcannon already mentioned Studio Ghibli, but I will do it again user added image

They're top of my list. They are working on Howls Moving Castle. Screenie here:
https://media.outnow.ch/Movies/Images...movie.2/04.jpg

and of course I also hold the old WB and Disney animators high in regard.

Currently working on reclaiming Space
The Salvation Prophecy

Last edited by AlphaFlyte; 13-04-2005 at 10:25 AM.

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# 6 15-04-2005 , 10:37 PM

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i wasn' t really a fan the tom and jerry series- although i do remember watching it the odd few times, for me I didn't really get into animation until I first watched Shrek- from there... I've become obsessed (not a good thing i tell ya!)

since then I've turned to Japanese companies for my inspiration, such as Studio Ghibli - Princess Mononoke blew me away!, creators of recent animes such as Evangelion, Escaflowne, Naruto and more recent Tsabusa Chronicles- the fluidity (if that is actually a word) of the movement of the characters as well as the visual effects and environments are incomparrable to anything released in the west. (2d wise anyway!)

as for 3d, pixar... obviously user added image

oh and everyones favourite family!!! The Simpsons! homer still cracks me up!

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3D Modeler and Texture Painter (Learning)
"We have limits.... our imagination does not"

Final Year: University of Bradford (Worst place to live and study in the UK!!)

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# 7 16-04-2005 , 12:09 AM

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Hi Guys,

I don't really have a favourite animator, but this is one animation I really liked: Download From Here

BTW: I've never played the game.

Cheers
Paul

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# 8 26-04-2005 , 08:00 PM

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Hmmm a tough one as theres so much stuff out there.

If you are asking standard Keyframe stuff then its gotta be Pixar for all their stuff and also PDI Dreamworks for the first Shrek movie

But for mocap stuff with the overall cg stuff I would say Robot for their killer opening sequence for Onimusha 3, Outstanding to say the least, and of course Weta for the Gollum stuff although he was keyed here and there too.

_J

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# 9 02-05-2005 , 02:35 PM

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Don't think i really have a 3D favourite yet (except maybe for everything from Pixar), but as far as traditional go, I've been on a japanese spending spree and bought Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Spirited Away (I think that's the english title), and they're amazing, especially the last one!

But also the classics as Chuck Jones (T&J rules!) of course, and who doesn't like Matt Groening (though Futurama beats The Simpsons by far IMO)?

Liter is French for 'Gimme some ****ing cola before I break vous ****ing lips!"

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# 10 03-05-2005 , 12:59 AM

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Originally posted by mhcannon
Studio Ghibli (spelling?) - good animation with great stories.

Originally Posted by

Yeah, thats the correct spelling.

I think the most influential animatiors to me are...

Roy Sato->Lead Aki Animator in FFTSW

Jason Schleifer->Weta digital for his amazingly fast rigs.

Everyone at Pixar, Monolith, and ESC.

Kurt->Simplymaya for getting me on my feet

My dad->For his on-going support and critiques, and first mentioning Maya to me.

And of couse, the biggest one of all, Jason Edwards. For his uncanny knowledge of Maya, human anotomy, and british humor :p

Plus all the people here at sm that have helped me get to where I am today.

Cheers!

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

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# 11 03-05-2005 , 01:57 AM

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Gotta say, those guys involved in Weta Digital for the Lord of the Rings. Just in Gollum you have perhaps the best example of 3D character animation ever, and a feat that will take a long time to top. Not to mention all the beautiful modeling on so many of the other creatures and monsters. Guys who can model and animate like that are just truly amazing. Lord of the Rings is why I started an interest in computer animation and modeling.

David

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