This is part two of our interview with Ryan Woodward, animator, story artist and creator of the groundbreaking iPad comic, ‘Bottom Of The Ninth.’
In Part Two Of Our Interview With Ryan Woodward:
This episode continues the previous discussion about Ryan’s emotional animated short Thought Of You where Ryan talks about how his early work in traditional effects animation influenced the design of the film.
“I credit so much to my early years, just learning how to design. …not really learning how to draw. Not learning how to draw cool characters or backgrounds, but learning how to design. Effects animation teaches you how to design.”
-Ryan Woodward
Early in his career, Ryan worked as a traditional effects animator under the direction of animation legend Michel Gagné.
In this interview, he shares a story about how effortlessly Michel could create a beautiful drawing. This story is followed by some interesting discussion about the link between effortlessness and beautiful drawing.
“Frequently a student will want the magic pill for how to design or how to draw and I just tell them, you gotta make the mistakes, you gotta fail. …a LOT.”
-Ryan Woodward
The Making Of ‘Bottom Of The Ninth’:
Then, Ryan tells the hilarious story of how his iPad comic Bottom Of The Ninth “completely snowballed out of control” because the passion he and his team of collaborators had for the project.
‘I hate the thought of putting a lot of effort into something and not seeing it done, not seeing a result. I want to get it to a point where I can actually say ‘Yeah, that’s everything I got.’ So if someone doesn’t like it, it’s going to be because they genuinely don’t like it and at least the honest truth is out there. I can’t fake it or make excuses.”
-Ryan Woodward (on giving his all to personal projects)
Ryan gives us a look under the hood to show us how his animated comic works.He gets into the geeky, practical details about media types, .gif tricks and how to keep the file size small.
Around the half-way mark on this episode, we ask the question that is on everyone’s mind: Is it possible to create a viable business with elaborate, animated digital comics?
We think you’ll find Ryan’s response both challenging and inspiring.
Inevitably, the discussion about Bottom Of The Ninth leads to the recently re-ignited hot topic of hand-drawn animation.
Lastly, Ryan shares how his personal projects have benefitted his life and career and he wraps up with some of the best advice about personal projects we’ve ever heard.
Listen To The Second Part Of Our Interview With Ryan Woodward:
Resources:
Ryan’s new book about figure drawing is available now! Buy it here.
You can purchase ‘Bottom Of The Ninth’ in the iTunes Store: Click here.
Comment And Share:
What did you think about Ryan’s parting words? How did they help you with your current personal projects?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
