10 Insights from a Game of Thrones and Guardians of the Galaxy Creature Animator

  Nicole Herr has spent her fair share of time working on creatures in many movies easily recognizable throughout the past two decades. During an interview she first explains what peaked her interest as far as animation goes. her dream started when she saw the film the little mermaid, she says it helped her to realize what she wanted to do. But the real tipping point for her was when she received a letter from a senior animator that worked for Disney out of Florida.

   Next in the interview she goes over some of her favorite shots that she has worked on. some of which include Fantasia 2000, Sphere, Stuart Little 2, and Sucker punch. next up Nicole talks about realistic animation vs animation with her characters. to cover this she goes into a lengthy explanation about how she makes each one come to life. for regular animation she will record herself in poses and review them to get a feel for how the character should be moving. and for the realistic animation she studies the textures shapes and anatomy of the creatures she is trying to replicate. then in the next two questions she covers her usual workflow and the amount of time she has to complete it. 

   Nicole then finishes off the last few questions going over common mistakes new animators make such as over complication and how the can fix them like acting out a scene yourself or understanding the characters motion.

Nicole really provides a unique perspective on this topic and gives some cool advice mixed with some of the other suggestions we have heard over and over again. In a general sense I enjoyed the article, even though im not personally a fan of game of thrones.