Hello and welcome to Scribble Kibble, a show about animation where each episode features
a neat cartoon you can watch by clicking the link in the description.
And then I use that cartoon as an example to talk about how animation works.
Today’s animation to watch is Delta, a C2C music video created by nine animators at France-based
studio CRCR.
Lately I’ve been obsessed with lighting, so this animation is great because it uses
a lot of moving shadows.
The problem with lighting is it’s so complicated there are artists who build entire careers
out of their ability to handle light.
Even though I know next to nothing compared to them, I still could spend episodes talking
about light, so let me pick just one thing to focus on.
Shadows.
Um, crud.
That’s still too complicated.
Let me just… get rid of some of this.
Great.
There are two main types of shadows: form shadows and cast shadows.
The form shadow is what defines the 3D shape of an object.
Form shadows are shadows on the object because of the shape of the object itself, like the
shadows over deep set eyes, gaunt cheekbones, ear holes, neck shapes.
Cast shadows are shadows that come off of an object.
I’ll add a cast shadow into this drawing.
Now it looks like the king is no longer sitting with his back touching the chair.
Cast shadow is easy to remember because we say the phrase “casts a shadow’ in every
day life.
This statue is casting a shadow on the ground.
Cast shadow.
Form shadow.
Looking at Delta, many of the critical points in the animation are defined by cast shadows.
The shadow of the pyramid as it floats over the land.
The shadow of the king as he sets off to face the pyramid.
The parting shadows of the doors as they open to the world.
Meanwhile, form shadows give definition to characters so they don’t look flat.
The easiest place to spot them is on people’s faces.
The more form shadows there are and the more carefully sculpted they are, the more severe
facial expressions look as a result.
(zoom of king’s face) Darker shadows increase drama.
Lighter shadows are more subtle.
You can manipulate the shape of form shadows to really make things stand out.
The form shadow on the side view of the king is straight, but if you wanted him to seem
like a super beefy body builder, you would change the shadows to curve along the muscles.
Cast shadows can be just as effective for defining the shape of the environment.
Look at the difference between a straight cast shadow, and one that is properly animated.
A straight shadow looks fake because it isn’t behaving the way a real shadow would.
The pyramid is all straight lines so its shadow on a flat surface is a simple triangle.
But if the surface isn’t flat, the shadow hits obstructions either before or after the
ground, depending on the position of the light source and how big the non-flat thing is.
A cast shadow breaks when it goes over anything other than a flat surface.
The bigger the obstacle, the bigger the break will be.
Cast shadows pay attention to 3D shapes as much as form shadows do.
What I like about Delta is that the shadows are drawn by hand.
In animation there are ways to cheat shadows with special effects.
A cheat shadow looks better than no shadow, but a carefully animated shadow looks the
best.
The reason for this is because only the artist knows what the 3D dimensions are on a 2D piece
of art.
The artist can create an illusion of reality.
A computer can only generate realistic shadows if it is working on a 3D animation.
Just like the sun can only generate realistic shadows in a 3D world.
Come on.
Put the shadows in.
Do it.
Do it!
Why aren’t you working?!
Stupid sun.