Visiting Practitioner: Reg Isaac

A while back we had Reg Isaac coming to talk to us about his experience in the industry. It was refreshing to hear from someone who is young (24), and knew exactly what we were about to experience as recent graduates.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt - Trailer

It was really interesting to hear about what he had been involved in, 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt' and 'Ethel and Ernest' being two projects that stood out the most to me. What I found particularly interesting was the way Reg used reference videos for WGOABH; he had got friends and co-workers to act out the scene where the family were trailing through the mud. In the LAV they didn't actually walk through mud, but they made sure to exaggerate their walks to make it seem like they were struggling. Reg could then use the reference to mark out key poses, but would exaggerate his own work slightly to emphasise the struggle and give the characters more personality. This made me think about my own practice and how I have used reference in the past. LAVs can be very useful, especially when the characters are very life-like and naturalistic, but it's a good idea not to use them extensively. You can inflict more life and personality into the characters by exaggerating and deviating from the references.

Ethel and Ernest

During the presentation, Reg spoke about his time working on Ethel and Ernest. What was reassuring and interesting to know about this was the amount of different passes and people that could sometimes be involved in the production of one section of animation, and how long of a process this could sometimes be. I wasn't really aware that multiple people could take charge of producing keys and inbetweens, or doing roughs and neats. I was more under the impression you'd be in charge of the whole sequence.

For Example, Reg showed us the breakdown of a scene involving firemen from a birds eye view, running to man a hose to put out a fire. First there were the rough keys, which were neatened up, followed by rough inbetweens and final linework. At each stage the progress would be reviewed, and there were many changes made to actions the characters made. It was reassuring to know that it took time for the scene to look the way it did, as I can often be quite negative about my own work. It also made me feel like I should be less precious about my work in the future as it's likely I won't be the only person handling the animated sequence in industry, and other people may not be so nit-picky about the mistakes that I can see and get worked up about. 

The advice that I took away from his talk was the importance of life drawing. I had managed to find this out for myself during my time at uni, and through researching for my dissertation, but it was refreshing to hear it in person. Reg tries to attend as many classes as he can, and he's often been on drawing holidays, where he has done nothing but sketch. Whether it be people or landscapes and environments, to better his drawing ability. This is something I definitely want to keep up myself.

Emails With Reg

I spoke to Reg after his talk and asked further questions about his work and practice. We also spoke about my work and what it was that I was hoping to do. I asked him whether I'd be okay sending him my showreel to see what he thought and he said he'd be happy to take a look, and that he'd give me further contacts of people that might be interested in the work that I produced.