| |
Interview With Stefan Andersson
The freelance Character Animator who worked for companies such as The Mill, Jellyfish Pictures and FilmTecknarna talks about what it means to be a freelancer, XSI and the CG industry.
February, 24th, 2004, by Raffael Dickreuter, Bernard Lebel, Will Mendez
 |  | Stefan Andersson, Character Animator
| | |  | Hemglass Penguines, Commercial made at FilmTecknarna F. Animation, director Jonas Odell, Animation/Setup Stefan Andersson
|  | Tamworth II, facial animation for BBC TV movie, produced at Jellyfish Pictures & Condor
| | |  | Independent Caricature test, Design by Tomas Andreasson and Character Setup/Animation by Stefan Andersson
|
Tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in the industry.
I grew up in Sweden in a small town (really really small) called Högboda (Midwest of Sweden near the Norwegian border), and the last ten years I've been living in Stockholm and now London. I studied music until I was 22, but soon realized I wouldn't make a good living with it. But another passion of mine had always been cartoons and drawing cartoons. And my parent have had a "Multimedia" business since 1984-85 so graphics and computers had been in my home for quite some time. So drawing in a computer was a given (and I had Photoshop).
However, at this time I was living in Stockholm, and no one I knew used computers or even had a clue of what CGI was. So it was back studing on my own, and I found a few books regarding Digital Imagery and I was "off" for a new proffession. Stubborn as I was I learned Photoshop and got a job as a Photoshop instructor for web publishing. Back then it wasn't really difficult to become a Photoshop genius. And that job led me into learning a bit of 3D from other instructors (that had 3D as a passion).
So I started out with testing Electric Image, Infini-D, Amapi and Pixels3D (All machintosh based softwares at the time). Then I moved over to learn 3D Studio MAX R1.0 and I started for real to do 3D. Not long after that I was given the chance to test Softimage|3D 3.7, and it was love at first sight. Though no company could afford to have a "student" in front of such a expensive software, so I went back to learning 3D Studio MAX. My bibles where now "Inside 3D Studio MAX", and I read them over and over again.
And it payed off, I managed to get a job for the 3D Studio MAX distrubitor in Sweden (EMT Design & Teknik AB). They don't exist anymore as distrubitors, but it was a great way into the business. I met many companys that were doing 3D animation and I also got "behind the scenes" in production and how a software vendor works.
It was during that time the Autodesk bought Discreet Logic and renamed it "Discreet". And because of that we were transfered to London to the Discreet office to have some training in Disreet Logic softwares and the hardware they used. That became my first visit into the post-porduction world. I shortly left the distributor job (and 3D Studio MAX) and became a freelancer (this was early '99). I haven't looked back once.
When did you realise that character animation was your forte?
The first time I managed to make a sphere go from one side of the screen to the other side. This luckly was at the same time as I saw the "Making of Jurassic Park" on TV and Toy Story was about to hit the cinemas. I instantly knew that this was the road I wanted to go. But animation software was quite difficult to learn back then. For instance, Inverse Kinematics was a big thing that he software vendors pushed that hey had. 3D Studio MAX couldn't even envelope anything at all without Character Studio or another third party plugin. And the fastest PC computer a normal mortal human being could buy was a Pentium 166Mhz (though there was PentiumPro and DEC Alpha machines around they were really expensive).
But when testing all these 3D applications I noticed how close keyframing and music sequancers were. After years behind the screen of a Atari 1040STE and Cubase I was familiar already with moving keys in time.
Music and Animation is very close when it comes to what you do and how you think about it. First of all we can take basics as timing, they both need timing and all motion/phrases are based more or less around timing. Then we have emotion which you also need in both music and animation. Without emotion you don't have motion. In the book "Illusion of Life" they mention that you should never move anything unless it has a point (or meaning). So from that you can say that "without emotion you don't have motion". So with music in my background it felt very natural to be moving things.
What are the good aspects of freelance work?
Freedom is the best aspect of it. If you can get good work you actually don't need to work more than 6-8 months a year. But then you also have to remember that you never save any money. It's basically dependent on what you think is imortant in life. If you like freedom/traveling and doing your own stuff you will have a blast working and then spend it all on your self for a few months.
Also you will get experience working with a lot of different companys and different kind of people. You will be put in situations that you would never get into if you were employed at a bigger company. So you will get experience from other fields of the production which you normaly would never touch. Which is always a good thing, experience/challanges will make you grow as a person and an adult.
And the bad ones?
The last few years has been hard on all freelancers (especially for those outside the UK area). The bad thing is that you have no safety at all. And you will spend most of your money waiting for the next gig. You also need to be on top with the latest softwares and also learning many different things in the CGI area. A very few can survive just doing one single thing.
Do you think there is a different life-style associated with freelancing?
Very much so. Freelancers today is what hippies in the 60's was ( *laughing* ). We like to have no ties and we want to travel all the time. Seriously, I don't think there is much of a difference. Perhaps that freelancers are more "go getters" or not afraid to make new contacts. I do know that we perhaps are more outgoing that other people, but that is also the nature of freelancing. You need to be outgoing and not affraid to make new contacts. But it's also the hole freedom thing, I think that a lot of the freelaners are freelancers because it enables you to plan your own time to do your own projects.
As a freelancer you can decide to do a project almost for free because it sounds fun. Or you can help out with doing video projections for the local theater because you think it's fun. There are a lot of art projects going around which you couldn't participate in as a employee of a company. There are also other kinds of projects which cant be made without a freelancing computer artist. I have done a lot of things for free because I also belive in art or the artistry. But those are very personal projects or projects you do with your friends. I don't do projects because it "might be good for my reel", I do them because I find them fun and exiting.
As a freelance artist, how do you handle long-terms projects, like buying a house or a car, founding a family and such?
It's no different from anyone else. You can also look at paying rent as a long-term project, how are you going to do that? As a freelancer you do have up's and down's, but you learn how to save money and also where to spend money. This is why freelancers charge more than the normal employee. You can have months with no work, which means you live off your savings. And if you have come as far in your life that you are buying a house and you have a kid or two, you also probably know how to calulate these things. You plan ahead, and when you see that one contract is about to end you will gather up your contacts and look for new work.
Do you think there are more opportunities available to freelance TD's, Lighting and Rendering artist than Character Animators?
Oh yes. There is 8 TD jobs on each animator job. This is due to the reality of a production. Let's say you have a character like "Dobby" in Harry Potter (animated by the good ol' folks at ILM). You need one guy for muscle systems, one for skeleton/animation controls, one for skin shading, one for cloth/hair simulation, one for lighting, and one for rendering, and one for compositing, and at last of course someone who models the character. I've probably forgot someone, but all these people can also work with physical things. Such as buildings / cars / enviroments / etc. While it's not really necessary to have a character animator to animate a moving car.
But you shouldn't chose your profession based on where there are jobs. You should chose your specific area because you love to do it. This is also how you get good at what you do. If you don't love what you do you will never be good at it.
What are your techniques to adopt to a production very quickly, if you join as a freelancer?
Speed, how to cheat, and be quick to see what the existing talent base is good at. Never fight for doing something that someone else will do better. It's all about teamwork, and there will be a production further down the line where you will get your chance to test your wings. There are so many tricks you learn when you are a freelancer. First of all it's really good to learn compositing. So many things can be solved (cheated) in compositing that you don't need to do in 3D. And by knowing compositing and understanding the basics of a composition you can also adjust your 3D.
Another thing is to learn new softwares. You need to understand what can be done the quickes way in what application. Even if a company is outspoken with their extensive use of Softimage|XSI, they might also have quite a few licenses of other softwares. Sometimes other softwares are quicker to solve a specific thing. And it's more important that you are able to render the last frame, than discuss how you got there.
What do you do inbetween gigs?
Practice animation! I animate all the time, very important to practice and test new things. And I also do quite a bit of drawing / writing / reading to stimulate that part of the artistry. It's very important that you stimulate the artistic nerv even when you don't have a job going on. Having a 4 hour coffebreak with your friends at the local Starbucks is also important. That can be just as inspiring as reading a book or seeing a Oscar winning movie. Never underestimate the impact of having a social life with lots of discussions.
I'm a very social person myself and likes to grab a coffee or having a beer at the local pub. Meeting people and people you normaly dont meet is also a good thing.
What character traits do you think should a freelance character animator have to work successful?
Being a team player is number one by far. If you can't work in a team they will never call you again. If people have fun and learn from working with you they will call again. As number two is being able to spot problem areas and solveing them. And specific to character animation is a good portion of humor and being able to come up with gags quickly. You need to build up a character so that it IS a character. Not just a 3D character that can move. And here lies also something which is equaly important to the rest, talking and having a constructive discussion with director / producer. You need to understand what the director wants and what you can do to help the director reaching the goal.
Do you think that such attitude and skills alone are enough to be successful?
Not seperate, but together they are a good team. You can't survive on talent alone, and you can't survive on attitude ("coolness") alone. I know a few people that are really talented, but they never get anywhere. This is due to how their attitude is or how well they work in a team. I would say that 50% of the job is communication with the team you are working with, and 50% is your talent. Team play is really important, I can't point that one out enough. You are working with people and you are creating things for people. Which means you need to have a good communication and being able to take harsh criticism. You shouldn't either be affraid of having discussion about the production. But only in a constructive way.
Would you move to any place to do work?
I have been moving around, and that is a part of the freelancing thing I like. You get to live and see places in another way than what normal travelers do. At first it's kind of scary to move to another country (if not just for the language barrier). But soon you realize that everything is pretty much the same. Some different things, but most of it is basicly the same.
What are some of the complications of taking a postion in the USA if one is made available to you?
The INS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) is a big problem for me since I don't have a degree from any college/university. So many companys in the US wouldn't even bother trying to get me a workvisa since it's quite difficult without a degree. And after the horrible terror attacks on September 11th it's even more difficult.
So I do understand that it might take a long while before I will be able to work in the US, and I would really love to do it one day. And to those out there who are in college now and thinking of dropping out because of a job offer, don't do it!!! Job offers will always popup and they will be there in the future too, so don't worry about it. Stay in college and finish that degree. The same thing goes for people in the US that wants to work in Europe / Asia / Australia / etc. Everything will be easier if you have a degree.
Do you think freelancers are more restricted in the type of projects they work on?
Depends of what kind of freelancer you are. Some people working at Framestore|CFC here in London claims that they are freelancers (since they are on contract basis). But generally I would say yes. A freelancer is many times called in when the project is in trouble or they have such a tight deadline that they need someone they know can do the work quickly. This is the nature of freelancing. Companies use their employees as much as they can, but when that isn't enough they call the freelancer.
This can be very frustrating at times, and this is why many freelancers takes months of vacation to clear their heads. But remember that freelancing might not be something you do for the rest of your life. So all these experiences (even with low-end jobs) will come in handy. There are tricks of the trade that you will only learn in these situations, and you can use those future producions.
In which way does XSI make your life easier, especially as a freelancer?
That would be workflow and how easy it is to get to the final renders. Softimage has always had a good workflow and been a production proven tool. Ease of use and the exellent character tools is very helpful. At first when I used the animation mixer I couldn't really understand what the big fuzz was all about (unless you were a TD). Today I wouldn't wanna live without it, I do so much work with the mixer.
As a character animator I've always felt that Softimage is the company for me. They have proven themselves greatly over the years, and it really shows in the software that they are a character animation based company.
And the fast response from the support at Softimage is the best in the world. I haven't met a single company that is as good as Softimage is with that. Even if your problem is a bug and it can't be solved in the way you did it, they will come up with a workaround for you. Whenever I have e-mailed or called them it has never taken more than 24hours before the problem was solved. Speed and quality is a huge factor, and XSI has both of that. And as me working almost exlusively with animation it is the best tool around at the moment. Things can of course change, but at the moment I feel it's the best character tool out there.
How do you deal with being an XSI user and having to adopt to a pipeline that uses different software?
For modeling it's no big deal since most softwares can import either OBJ or use the dotXSI. You can also use the dotXSI to export a plotted animation of your character. A big reason why a character would be used in another software might be Pixar's RenderMan® (PRman). You can still do all UV work in XSI and then export the character with dotXSI with the final animation. During that time you animate the TD guy in Maya can setup the shading and lighting on the characater you exported without animation.
But also as a freelancer you might wanna prepare yourself for doing some work with other packages. So it's good to know the basics of most leading 3D softwares. I can pretty much do the same setups/animation in Maya as I can do in XSI. So learn both! it will broaden your freelance pool of companys that you can work with.
Tell us a bit about your upcoming Advanced Character Animation tutorials at 3D Tutorial
It's about how you animate in Softimage|XSI. I show the most common tools you have and also a bit of how the workflow in Softimage works. I see many animators animate in a traditional way and missing out on some of the great features in XSI. So basically its shows you how to animate from blocking to grabbing objects and some lipsyncs.
Is there a question that you wished that we had asked you? Something that you wanted to tell the rest of the CG Community?
Always remember why you chose to enter this business. Many people get stuck with the wrong things because they forget why they do this in the first place. You are making movies or pictures that people will look at and (hopefully) admire. It doesn't matter if it's a still image or an animated piece, you are still creating a story of a imaginary world. Remember to always laugh and try and have fun with your 3D imagery. That is why we do this.
Related Links
Stefan Andersson
3D Tutorial
Discuss Article at the forum
| |
|
