My drive for video making and drawing started when I was little and was inspired my artist father who would make short films himself. Another life long influence has come from the comfort I feel from nature and wanting to preserve wildlife. Animals have often starred in my creations and I hope to help people feel the same through my art.

My goal is to try all kinds of projects and not niche down until I have more experience.

• Identify the 'problem?

• Preliminary investigations
  Has this already been done?

• Research: Establish Theoretical foundations

• Design solution | Form hypothesis

• How will I solve the problem?

• Implementation | Experimentation

• Evaluation and Conclusions

Here are drawings I did whilst watching the video to solidify the information in my mind and practice.

(I accidentally wrote the wrong month)

Amid Amidi (2017) The Art of Pixar Short Films. Chronicle Books.

Blaise, A. (2023) ‘How to draw dogs’, YouTube.

Blutch (2023) Lucky Luke vu par.... - Les Indomptés. Lucky Comics.

Cuncic, A. (2023) 5 tips to better understand facial expressions, Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/understanding-emotions-through-facial-expressions-3024851.

Cats and Dogs (2001). Warner Bros.

Hultgren, K. (2016) The art of animal drawing : construction, action analysis, caricature. Kettering, Oh: Greenpoint Books.

Lasseter, J. (2016) Art of zootropolis. Chronicle Books.

Rio [Animation] (2011). 20th Century Studios.

Robertson, B. and Dreamworks Animation (2014) The art of

Paik, K. and Pixar (Firme (2007) The art of Ratatouille. San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books.

Penguins of Madagascar. San Rafael, California: Insight Editions.

Simon, M. (2008) Facial expressions, babies to teens : a visual reference for artists. New York: Watson-Guptill.

Stromae (2015) Stromae - carmen, www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/UKftOH54iNU.

Sur la piste du Marsupilami [ Franco-Belgian CGI animated/live-action comedy] (2012). Pathé.

The Wild Robot [Animation] (2024). Universal Pictures.

Wilhelm Ellenberger et al. (1956) An atlas of animal anatomy for artists. New York: Dover Publications.

Bros., W. (2009) Bugs Rules, www.youtube.com. Available at: https://youtu.be/BX1ljYx3g3k

Dk Publishing (Firme and Smithsonian Institution (2016) Everything you need to know about birds. New York, New York: Dk Publishing.

Muppets, T. (2018) Muppet Songs: Miss Piggy and Danny Kaye - Cheek to Cheek, YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/UMz3Y30VFZI?si=RILHBAmaVmCfjDHv

I have looked at real life ,animated and anatomical examples to best understand in what ways is it most effective to animate animals expressively. What I have learnt is that are some key ingredients to form a successful animal with readable expressions. The first of which is the most obvious, the windows to the soul, the eyes. The eyes should be larger than real life examples and/or placed in a more central position to be easier to be seen at one time. Eyelids can offer the shapes that eyebrows also insinuate but push it further and tell the story and the size of the pupils can determine love or horror. Bigger will appear loving and small pupils can be perceived as horrified or crazy as just a couple of examples of this technique.

I’ve seen examples like in “The penguins of Madagascar” a big contrast in colour between the eyebrows and the fur or feathers they rest on. The fact they are so distinguishable make it easy to understand how they feel. However, for some other characters, like the penguins themselves, their brow bones are animated in a fluid way that mimics the use of eyebrows and are just as effective and is a good way to keep design believability for an animal character but keep them expressive.

Furthermore, the choice of making things more fluid such as their beaks may break the laws of nature but it gives more life to their physicality which adds another dimension to their expressions. This means they can smile or sulk or shout or seem sheepish. This is a brilliant tool for the storytelling.

Lastly, I noticed in all examples I looked at that posture and body language are vital to the answer to my question. These hints that we subconsciously pick up on is the first step to knowing what the character is feeling. “Ratatouille” was a great example. As I flicked through the art book I saw how important this element was due to the obstacle of trying to make rats that are so similar appear distinctive and individuals with their own thoughts and emotions. The laidback, slumped nature of Remy’s friend had the young and mature audiences guessing that that must mean he is lazy and that in comparison, Remy must be driven, outgoing and curious.

So the solution to my question “How to make animals the most expressive using animation?” Is clever use of anatomy. You must primarily focus on eyes and eyebrows, alter reality to gain fluidity and use body language to carry it all through.

I animated this on Procreate dreams.

This is my first attempt to try this suggestion.

I want to learn how to animate animals in an expressive way because facial expressions are an important part of non verbal communication and without it, you may not get the whole story( Arlin Cuncic, MA, 2024).

This makes acquiring this skill as an animator vital. Animation is very often targeted to all ages and also very young children. At the stages when a child is learning and developing, these expressions can help them get a better grasp on situations, emotions and feelings such as empathy. Which will, in turn allow them to learn how to react to them.The visual tellers are what make it work. Evidence of this is seen in pantomimes. Pantomimes like much of theatre use over acting; it allows the vast audience to collectively understand what is happening.

The reason I wish to focus on developing this technique of animation with animals is because of the vast appeal animal characters have. Anthropomorphic or not, they are the typical choice for characters in children’s media and I think this will pay off for me to gain this knowledge and have it really for my professional industry portfolio.