In the 1930’s, a group of very skilled animators were hard at work in Walt Disney’s animation studio. These pioneers of the industry developed a set of guidelines for their ground-breaking animation. Refined over the years, these twelve principles were published first published in a 1981 book called The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. Today, this book is still considered the “bible” of the animation industry.

The book covers a number of important animation fundamentals, including:

Squash and Stretch is the first principle and dictates that an object’s or character’s overall volume should not change regardless of action. When the length of an object is stretched up, its width must contract in proportion. In 3D, the depth must then also be equally affected.

Anticipation is the second principle and involves the set up before an action. It prepares the audience and though simple it enhances the realism. An example of this principle would be a character looking down at an object before they pick it up.

Staging is a term heard in theater and film, and entails making certain the attention is focused on where it needs to be, and the meaning is crystal clear. Whether it is an action, an expression, or mood, the animator can use placement in a frame, lighting, or other effects to achieve this.

Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose are two methods of creating the animation. Straight ahead action means drawing a scene from beginning to end where pose-to-pose is drawing key moments with the intent to fill it in later. Pose-to-pose is very common with computer animation as technology can fill in the gaps.

Follow Through and Overlapping Action are important as they make it seem as though the objects or characters are real because they obey the laws of physics. For example, “follow through” is when a character has stopped moving and their hair would continue to move for a brief instant then stop. An example of “overlapping action” would be when a character changes direction when moving and their hair continues to move in the original direction for a spilt second.

Similar is the concept of Secondary Action, which is adding any action that, without acting as a distraction, supports the main action.

Slow In and Slow Out refers to the fact that most objects need time to get going or to stop, so this principle is applied to movement. Most action by an animal or human occurs on an arched path, so the principle of Arcs should also be applied to movement.

The ninth principle is that of Timing. Physical timing can help communicate the mass of something, for example if a character picks up an empty glass, he will do so much faster than if the glass were full. The drawing is the exact same, but the timing between frames differs. Timing may also refer to comedic timing and is a way to induce emotion.

Exaggeration can help create more interest in a drawing than an exact imitation of real life.

Solid Drawing really just means ‘good’ drawing and implies that an artist should apply the fundamentals of good drawing to their animation as they would if they were a traditional drawing.

The twelfth and last principle is that of Appeal. This means making the character likable or interesting. This is comparable to charisma or chemistry in live-acting and can be achieved in many ways.

Skilled animators apply these twelve principles to traditional hand drawn animation, or advanced three-dimensional computer generated imagery. These fundamental guidelines are as important today as they were when first developed, and have earned a special place in the library of any animation studio.

I’d highly recommend trying Amazon.com to grab your own copy. Not only is a great reference, it’s a great resource to learn about traditional animation history - respect the pencil!

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Animated films have been a part of our culture for just over 100 years. In 1906, a newspaper cartoonist named J. Stuart Blackton released the first fully animated film, “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces.” Since then, animation has used drawings and illustrations to entertain and delight many generations of viewers.
In the past decade, the animated film industry has seen a number of exciting changes. Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) is increasingly used, as well as using individual cells drawn by animators. Animated film budgets are also much higher than they once were. As a result, animated films are now receiving greater recognition and are not simply relegated to being kids’ films. Animation studios and their work are also garnering more attention because high-profile actors are doing voiceovers as opposed to relatively unknown actors.

During the first 90 years of animation and animated films, each cell of a film was drawn by animators. Any of the classic animated films by Disney, including “Snow White” or “Aladdin,” used this method. Hand drawn animation is still used in tandem with Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI). But, like everything else in our culture, animated films are advancing technologically, with CGI animation used for special effects.  In 1995, “Toy Story” became the first feature-length animated film to use CGI.

Technology has raised the status of animated films, but star power has helped as well. When Disney’s “Aladdin” was released in 1992, it was one of the first feature-length animated films to feature the voice of a famous actor—Robin Williams as the Genie. Three years later, with the release of “Toy Story” viewers enjoyed being entertained by Tim Allen and Tom Hanks. This led to the phenomenon of other high-profile actors being cast in feature-length animated films.

Perhaps because they are making use of advanced technology and established actors, animated films are also more critically recognized than ever before. In 2002, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences added the Best Animated Film category to the Oscar awards. “Shrek” was the first to win the award. But, this category came after a long wait by animation studios to have animation recognized as an artistically valid medium of filmmaking. Before the award was introduced, “Beauty and the Beast” was the only feature-length animated film to be nominated for Best Picture.

The addition of this category to the Academy Awards Ceremony in 2002 had an affect on animation overall and increased interest in the medium. As animated feature films rise in popularity, animation has become more accepted and can now be found in a wider range of television commercials and even films not in the animated category such as Richard Linklater’s “A Scanner Darkly.”

The movement extends even beyond Hollywood; advertisers, web designers and marketing firms are now using animation due to its wide appeal with audiences. It is not unheard of for a branding agency to have an in-house animation studio to take advantage of this popular medium.   From the movie screen to your computer screen, animation is becoming more prevalent. Technology and star power have contributed to the animation phenomenon, and animation—a genre that has its roots in children’s entertainment—is now more widespread and widely respected than ever before.

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Chris Moujaes, Eric Moujaes, Austin Mayor Will Wynn & Sharon Mims (American Gateways)

Political Asylum Project of Austin (PAPA) is a Central Texas nonprofit that  promotes justice for immigrants and refugees by providing free and low-cost legal services and education.

Over the past several years, PAPA has grown and expanded its services, as well as expanded the geographic areas where PAPA offers its services. PAPA is also engaged in reaching out to a much broader constituency on immigration issues. The name no longer accurately fit what the organization does, and it was found that its name caused misconceptions among people who were learning about the group for the first time.

Back in 2006, we met with representatives of PAPA who were looking for help to reposition their 20-year-old organization. On a pro-bono basis, we worked closely with PAPA’s branding committee to help rename and rebrand the organization to better fit its mission.

The result was American Gateways a product of a thorough, 2-year process of research, focus-groups and design work. On Tuesday, November 18, we were honored to be invited to the official unveiling of the new brand atop the Speakeasy in downtown Austin. The new brand was unveiled by his honor, Austin Mayor Will Wynn.

Sharon Mims, Director of Funding Development for the new American Gateway, preps the audience for the unveiling.

Chris Jimmerson, Executive Director for American Gateways thanks the crowd, talks about American Gateway’s mission and talks about the future of the group.

Austin Mayor Will Wynn unveils the new logo

Chris Moujaes (President, Moujaes), Eric Moujaes (Vice President, Moujaes) and Mayor Will Wynn.

The new American Gateways name and logo. Design by Eric Moujaes & Rodrigo Maycotte. Art Direction by Chris Moujaes.

Moujaes will proudly continue to provide pro-bono services to American Gateways for years to come. We’re excited for the who team and we’re so happy to have been able to put a fresh new face on a group that has done so much good work.

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My birthday was on Oct. 7th and I got a very cool gift from my friend Jon in California. I’m a longtime fan of Disney’s Goofy Movie that came out in 1996. Last month I got a surprise package in the mail with an autographed photo of Max from the movie by Jason Marsden, one of my favorite animated voice actors.

Thanks for the awesome gift, Jon - it’s hanging in my office. You’re tha coolest.

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We’re excited to release Coz/Effect’s debut single “Never Back Down” through our new mini-label Boomboxer Records (named after the record label in the Coz/Effect comic). We had the awesome pleasure of working with Clint Baker of Riddlin’ Kids fame who wrote and performed the song.

Buy a copy of the MP3 through the Boomboxer store at SquirrelWorks.com

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Here’s the latest scene that we just finished at Boomstar for the Coz/Effect 3D video. There’s another scene that introduces J-Zel (the comic’s main villain) right before this that we’re still working on at the animation studio.

At first, I was going to do the illustrations on the slideshow, but I thought they would look too much like the comic instead of drawings that Skyler had done, so I asked my good friend and fellow artist Phil Gibson  if he wanted to contribute to our project.

Thanks so much, Phil, you’re tha coolest ^^

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

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Summer 2008 has been a blast at Moujaes and we’re celebrating it with some photos and the launch of our new website. We’ve been busy at work on a number of projects and many thanks go to our awesome interns Rodrigo Maycotte and Fifi Yang for all their amazing help this summer. Left-to-right: Rodrigo Maycotte, Eric Moujaes, Chris Moujaes, Fifi Yang, Leila Moujaes.

Fifi Yang, our animation intern, has learned to trust the design gods.

Rodrigo Maycotte charms our guests in his own special way.

Eric finds the hidden safe and the stash of jewels behind the “M” painting.

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Hey guys, check out a 2 minute trailer of our Coz/Effect animated short video on YouTube!

Check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLgGDt-ArUM

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Volacci Corp. is a helpful resource for small- and medium-size businesses who want to understand how search engine marketing works and what it takes to implement it. Originally named SpryDev, the Moujaes branding agency helped rename and rebrand the company into the new Volacci.

The name is derrived from the Latin word meaning “to fly,” reflecting the company’s mission to help its customers reach their revenue potentials through effective search engine marketing and optimization. We’re very proud of this project and are excited to see it live!

The new brand was unveiled on June 2, 2008, at a special event at Volacci’s offices. During the event, fine artist Megan VanGroll revealed a commissioned painting depicting the new logo design for the company’s office. It was very flattering to see our brand work captured in a painting, that’s for sure!

Megan is available for commission work - please visit her website at www.meganvangroll.com to contact her. Thanks for the photos, Megan!

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We’re very excited to announce the launch of Boomstar, Inc. - our new jointly-owned subsidiary. Boomstar operates offices and studios in North America and Asia.

Boomstar combines both companies’ production arms into a complete animated entertainment services and original content production company. Our studios specialize in high-end 2D & 3D animation, modeling, layout & design, rendering, visual effects, property development and entertainment marketing for television, film, video games and the web..

Our studios are equipped with the latest SGI platforms, high end workstations, editing studio and industry grade software like Maya, 3DS Max, US Animation, Animo, Macromedia, Adobe and other authoring and programming software.

Complementing our advanced infrastructure is the rich pool of talent including directors, artists, producers, writers, technicians, software professionals and other pros in related business areas: 2D/3D animation production, special effects and graphic solutions, print and comic content development and web-based solutions.

Boomstar USA is home to our character design, story development, post production, original series development and entertainment marketing teams. Our United States studio also serves as our operational headquarters.

Boomstar India is home to our primary production department, equipped with a comprehensive set-up of manpower and infrastructure to develop content for diverse media: film, TV, print or the web. Boomstar India houses leading edge software and hardware for developing 2D/3D animation, high-end special effects and computer graphics.

Visit Boomstar.com for more information or contact us today to learn more about how our high-end animation studios can provide unforgettable work for your project.

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