Students at the UTD Bass School are lining up to learn stop motion animation, one of the most mesmerizing and complex animation storytelling techniques and a recent addition to the Animation and Games program’s curriculum.
A veteran of the 3D animation industry, Monika Salter has taught courses on character effects, surfacing and shading, and production management at UTD since 2017. Four years ago, she decided to take on a new challenge, diversify her skill set, and introduce stop motion to the program’s course offerings.
“My motivation was getting the students off the computer and reminding them that they can also build and animate in the real world, away from the computer graphic system,” said Salter, associate professor of instruction. “You can make whatever is in your head with some string and some fabric and some wire and then make a really cool animation out of it.”
In stop motion animation, the filmmaker photographs still objects and then physically manipulates them between frames. When these frames are played in sequence, it creates the illusion that the objects are moving on their own.
The graduate course, taught for the first time this semester, builds on the success and high demand of the undergraduate course Stop Motion Animation (ANGM 3320), which Salter piloted last year.
In Summer 2022 Salter and Assistant Professor Dr. Christine Veras collaborated to strengthen their expertise in stop motion. They joined Aardman Academy, a part of the famous Aardman Animation Studio in Bristol, England, that offers development programs for animation professionals, and took their first 12-week stop motion 1 course taught online by Aardman’s very own stop motion industry professionals.
Salter continued taking courses with Aardman Academy the following year and eventually piloted UTD’s first full stop motion course in fall 2023.
“The classes all filled up quick,” she said. “The two undergraduate classes and the graduate class. There’s an interest and a demand among our students for a different type of animation option.”
For the undergraduate course, Salter introduces the students to the principles of animation by teaching them how to make their stories come alive using modeling clay and flat background spaces. The students then advance to using 3D clay characters and simple wire armature puppets to add the next dimension to their animation projects.
In the graduate course, the students design and develop their own character to star in their own 30-second stop motion film. They draft their own story, design their own characters, build a full-sized professional level puppet of that character, and then animate it for the final film. During the design and building process, the graduate students continue to hone their animation principal skills using fully articulated Stickybones poseable figures during their weekly assignment exercises.
“I built a puppet this summer to make sure that I could take reference photos as I went through the process,” Salter said. “We build the armature. We “foam out” the characters to their full 3D shapes and then we add skin, scales, clothing, hair, accessories, everything that makes their puppet the character they want it to be. It’s a multi-week process, and they did it in four weeks of in-class puppet-building this semester.”
From Nov. 11 through Nov. 22, Salter’s class will host “Escape the Menagerie,” a window-shopping-style display in the ATC 3.102 gallery. The exhibition will showcase the class’s work, featured to spark inspiration among Animation and Games students, faculty, and passersby at the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building.
For students who need inspiration before trying this laborious yet visually striking animation storytelling technique, Salter recommends watching the 1993 classic The Nightmare Before Christmas or the 2017 Academy Award nominee Kubo and the Two Strings to see just what dedicated artists using this animation technique can do.
Coming this December, to a theater near you!
Besides teaching stop-motion and 3D animation courses, Salter co-leads Animation Lab with associate professor of instruction Peter McCord. In this advanced course, students annually produce an animated short simulating a professional animation studio environment.
Sunny, this year’s Animation Lab film, will debut at the Meteor Theater on December 12. Sunny – the story of an upbeat circle who embarks on an adventure in a city surrounded by sharp edges and uniformity – is a collaborative effort involving 55 students over two semesters who contributed to various aspects of the film, such as concept design to animation and sound production.