Learning acting is hard. Learning to be an animator is doubly hard. Not only do we have to learn acting but we have to understand WHY body parts act the way they do when a character is sad or angry or happy. Actors have it easier (Don’t ask Andy Serksis) because their bodies do it without them thinking about it. Animators can’t.

Want to show your character be scared? As an animator, we have to dilate the pupil, raise the brows, shrug the shoulders, pull the arms together…We don’t just push the scared button in Maya.

But we all know we have to do that stuff. Let’s deal with the problem of the subject of this post – avoiding cliche acting.

First, let’s define cliche. According to Dictionary.com the definition is a trite, stereotyped expression. In Gasaway terms, it’s something that you see every day and ONLY shows exactly what the character is saying. Let’s take the example of confusion, or the “I don’t know” expression. As you can see in that handsome guy on the left, it’s the typical I don’t know expression. Hands up to the side, eyebrows up, corners of mouth down. Pretty boring.

And cliche.

So how do we avoid it? The easy answers are: learn more acting, try different poses, express yourself. That’s all well and good but that always leads to another question. HOW?

That’s a little easier but takes a heck of a lot more time. It’s called get to know your character. Hello, Character. How are you? Having a good day today?

If you work for a studio doing television, games or movies, most of this next work is done for you. If, however, you are TRYING to get into one of those hallowed halls, you have to do this on your own. It’s not easy but it’s simple.

First invent your character. Give them dimension. What do they like? Do they get their hair done weekly or monthly? Frozen yogurt or ice cream? Are they afraid of the dark?

Now hold on a sec. What the heck am I doing? What does this have to do with animation?

Everything.

You want to get a different performance out of a character, you have to have a DIFFERENT character. By giving them dimension, life, desires, fears, you give him depth AND, better yet, you put a mental thought in your head as to who this character is.

In my ANIMFLOW class, we do an exercise where we all think of definitions for a character and invent him. All in less than 30 minutes. I have no guide so each time it’s different. And you can see the students understand and their eyes open to new ways of performing.

THIS will lead you away from cliches. Give the character some backstory. Give him a job. What happened to him RIGHT BEFORE this scene?

Do that and you have won half the battle.

What would my character who is timid, introverted, strong, afraid to be wrong, that just set a date with a dental assistant do with a pose like the I don’t know expression from above? Maybe like this? Is that cliched? It’s all from the character. Try it out. I’m sure your animation will thank you.

Want to learn more? Watch the Video Lecture here. Or get the entire set here.