 "Photo: Justin Hilbert")
To prepare for their homework, Bruce Barnes' students are watching the movements of vampires, zombies and superheroes.
As a handful of arts & technology undergraduate and master's students watch the screen, Barnes slowly clicks through a scene in the animated film "The Incredibles."
"Look at his posture. Look at the effort it takes to get out of his chair. He hates his job, he hates his boss," said Barnes of the character's slouching movements. "Even the timing on the lift of his eyebrow. "
Perhaps for some, the arch of an eyebrow or the defeated slump of the shoulders is a fleeting, unremarkable moment. But Barnes is teaching the students in his traditional animation class to know otherwise.
The class is being offered for the first time this year as part of ATEC's growing offerings in animation courses. A typical weekly project requires students to create a short animation sequence illustrating motions such as a bouncing ball or walking form.
Barnes, who worked on animated Disney movies such as "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," emphasizes the detail and thought required to convey the simplest of movements in traditional, two-dimensional animation.
Desmond Blair, ATEC junior, said he learned those principles when he had to add a few extra pages to his project to fully animate the sequence. The animations are created using hand-drawn pictures, a camera and animation software.
"There's a lot going on with a person's body that most people don't notice. You're not like right leg forward, left leg forward," Blair said.
Blair flipped through a thick stack of drawings. His idea, he said, is that his cartoon creature will jump, transform into a bomb, which will explode, and then reincarnate from the smoke.
"It's probably 50 pages of drawings and this will be only about five or six seconds (of animation)," he said, adding he spent about three hours on the artwork. "Even though the character looks simple, it takes awhile because you have to be consistent."
Aaron Rathbun, ATEC master's student, said the class's projects are inspiring and worthwhile.
"I'm learning to take thoughts from my mind into reality," Rathbun said. "The character takes life before your eyes. It's one of the best feelings in the world. It's better than sex."
The purpose of the course, Barnes said, is to instill animation principles in students. The two-dimensional drawings are easier to use as a teaching tool for animation, because the 3-D work, such as that of "The Incredibles" requires more in-depth training in technology and software.
Though 3-D appears to be a popular trend at the moment, Barnes said he personally prefers two-dimensional animation.
"I love the immediacy, the tactile feel. When it comes to pencils and paper I'm like the princess and the pea," Barnes said. "I've just never had that feeling with a mouse and stylus."
However, he said he anticipates most of his students will likely take what they've learned into the 3-D realm.
There's at least one who won't, though.
"Most American studios lean toward 3-D. I want to bring 2-D back to the forefront," Blair said, adding he wants to start his own studio. "There's a difference in capturing an emotion in a drawing."
Barnes said he wants to work with students and give them the tools to achieve their individual goals, whether in game development, studio animation or freelance art.
"My sense is that they're hungry for this," Barnes said. "The students here are very open-minded and willing to try new things and new techniques. It makes it so much easier."
Barnes said he was attracted to teaching in ATEC because of UTD's potential and the possibilities available in a growing program. He said he gives students freedom to create what they want and explore their artistic interests within animation principles.
"I don't bend them to draw my way, or a UTD way, or the Disney way to do things. Nothing's carved in stone," Barnes said. "It's fun because I never know what to expect. The limits are only whatever they can imagine."
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