Master The Rubber Hose Pose: New Lessons On Animation

Sprite Fright is Blender's new Open Movie, now in development. You can follow progress and updates on the Cloud. Here, we announce a new series of training videos delving into the key points (and keyframes) of cartoony animation.

Posing a cartoon character requires a very specific set of skills. Luckily, Sprite Fright’s lead animator Rik Schutte has those skills in abundance -- no surprise, when you consider his background as both an animation teacher, and animator on Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

In this new series of videos, Rik guides you through the challenges of creating cartoony facial expressions using Sprite Fright’s rigs.

With the clarity of a true teacher, Rik covers the delicate matter of translating stylized 2D art into 3D. How exactly do you tackle 2D “cheats” when there’s an extra dimension involved? And how do you push a pose to maximize the silhouette?

All will be revealed, including tools developed just for Sprite Fright.

This video is part of a larger series, coming very soon indeed to Blender Cloud. Keep floating around the Cloud’s production logs for news.

Need rigging input? See this post with Demeter Dzadik.

Want inspiration for character creation? Try a series on Sprite Fright’s critters.

And for big picture views of Sprite Fright's process, read this on design language, or director Matthew Luhn’s take on effective storytelling.

Feeling a teeny bit unnerved by all that creative talent? Sprite Fright’s co-director will whack those inner demons here.