quathryn - Tumblr blog

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A show I worked on is premiering this Friday!!!

Go check out Evelyn and Friends starting June 9th! :D

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https://www.patreon.com/quathryn <3

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I have new prints! :)

https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/quathryn/

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March printable available now on https://www.patreon.com/quathryn  ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

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I made an animation instead of watching the Oscars last week! 

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Reflect🐰 Posca pens and colored pencil on 6x6" MDF panel

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New animation up on YouTube! Happy Big Run everyone! :) 

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Little forest kid I drew in late 2020/early 2021🌱🌿

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Cruising along at https://www.patreon.com/quathryn :)

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New animation coming soon 🦑

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First printable of 2023 is available now! https://www.patreon.com/quathryn :o)

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Learning how to animate like Milt Kahl (of Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Recently I found myself fascinated by the work of Milt Kahl. He worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios from 1934 to 1976 and was famous for his way of animating “head swaggles.” He is widely regarded as one of the best animators to ever live. However, I haven’t found many examples of people trying replicate his techniques. It feels very much like “Oh his work is so amazing, I could never animate like that!” 

WHY NOT? If Milt Kahl could figure it out, why can’t someone else? So here are a few rough animations I made trying to figure out the head swaggle. 

-The First Head Swaggle Test

This first attempt was made before I really dissected how Kahl actually animated the swaggle. The bulk of this was animated in about 45 minutes. Mostly I was testing the waters here. It’s not quite right, but I’m still pretty happy with it. 

-The Look and Pivot Swaggle Test

Around here, I realized that there is a trick to the swaggle: they are all guided by the nose. Many of Kahl’s best head swaggles are on characters with very pronounced noses or muzzle areas (Shere Khan from the Jungle book, Edgar from the Aristocats, Tigger, etc). Very often the nose acts as a pivot point for the swaggle. It will stay relatively still while the whole head swivels around it. Even though I had figured that out, I wasn’t fully satisfied with the swaggle in this animation. Too subtle. I had to try again.

-Full Pivot Swaggle Test

I wanted to fully commit to the pivot swaggle with no ease in or out. Having a slightly more defined head shape definitely helps with making it appear more three dimensional. The secondary action of the ears also helps sell the movement. While still a little rough, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out!

-Final Thoughts

It was a lot of fun trying to figure this out. I’ll likely continue to study Kahl’s work to further improve as an animator. I’m not going to say it wasn’t hard, because it was! Even with using animation software and animating on twos, it was hard. 

I would love to see more people give this test a try! Milt Kahl was an extremely talented and skilled animator. But, I worry that others see this level of skill as unobtainable. It is obtainable! It’s not Disney magic, but it is a cool magic trick ;)

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Ducks in a different pond, this time with more algae🦆

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Teeny tiny duck pond🦆

Posca pens on 4x4" MDF panel

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I made a playlist of my favorite songs release in 2022! Here’s the link if you wanna listen :) 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzL_Osq7p6esEs1DF2YNRkkkDeB_Dv_rN

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This was my first time trying out posca markers, I think from either late 2020 or early 2021. I found it while flipping through old sketchbooks looking for something else. I think I'll try posting some more old art. There's a lot of it 😅

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Printable holiday card available now! :D https://www.patreon.com/quathryn