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My name is Angela Jiang, and I’m the
creator of the unicorn in Wild Life! I was very excited to get responsibility
for the unicorn, because I’ve always liked horses. When I was a little
girl, there were many horse wagons hauling vegetables to the store across street
from where I grew up in Beijing, China. Whenever Mom wasn’t looking, I
would run across the street to feed the horses corn leaves and smooth their
foreheads and necks while I watched them eating. Sometimes the owner of the
wagon got mad at me and forbade me from getting near the horses. I would hide
behind some trees and watch from a distance as the horses would eat, sleep,
and roll around. They were truly special to me during my childhood. Later on,
I started drawing and my favorite subject was always horses. At first, my drawings
looked more like dogs than horses, but I improved over time. When I later learned
3D animation, my very first animation project was a jumping horse. So, you can
imagine how happy I was when I learned that I would be creating the 3D model
and animation for the unicorn in Wild Life!
Creating the unicorn was a lot of fun, but also very challenging.
The Art Director, Sean Estipona, challenged me to make the unicorn as realistic
as possible. So, I studied many photos of a wide variety of horses. I also visited
nearby ranches to take pictures of horses myself. Many of my own photos were
later used to create the unicorn’s 3D model texture. In addition to studying
pictures of horses, I also watched many movies with horses in them. At first,
I watched the movies in real time to get the feel for how horses move. Later,
I slowed the movie footage down to watch frame by frame so that I could get
a very detailed understanding of a horse’s subtle movements. I also got
a lot of good detailed information from the book, Animals in Motion, by the
famous motion picture pioneer, Eadweard Muybridge. But when I couldn’t
find answers in all of these great sources, I resorted to a special trade secret
used by all great animators. I got down on my hands and knees and pretended
to be a horse. Hey, being an animator isn’t all glamour and limelight.
Besides, can you figure out how to transition from a trot to a run or a walk
without getting your arms and legs all tangled up together? If so, maybe you
have a successful career in animation ahead of you. Take it from me. It’s
not easy being a horse.
All the hard work and patience was well worth it, though.
An animator’s job is no piece of cake. Many times, I had to tear down
what I had done and start all over to get it just right. But, in the end, it’s
so rewarding to show your animation to someone else and say, “Hey! I did
that!”
If I had just one bit of advice for anyone thinking of
getting into animation, I would say, “Don't be afraid to try something
you've never done before.” Many times, trial and error is the best way
to learn. I learned a lot while working on the unicorn, and expect to continue
learning on every project I do in the future. It’s actually a lot more
fun when you get to learn something new everyday, and it’s such a good
feeling.
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