Inspiration for animation fans, students and professionals
Is Animation an art or a craft?
Confession time: I don’t like being called an artist.
At Dr D Studios, the producers refer to all of the animators as artists. They might say: “I’ll assign this shot to one of the artists” or “Let’s gather the artists around to have a meeting about the schedule”.
Even now, it’s not a term I’m 100% comfortable with.
Honestly – I’d rather be known as a craftsman.
And there is a big difference between artists and craftsmen (of course I’m including craftswomen here as well).
Art with a capital “A” is what happens when someone hangs your painting in a gallery, or selects your film for a festival.
Craft is what you do when you’re by yourself making stuff.
Think about what it means to be a craftsman:
Craftsmen care.
They concern themselves with quality of their materials and their technique.
A master pastry chef, or a furniture maker, or a fashion designer all put their talents towards making their work as good as it can be.
An artist might worry about getting “discovered”. But a craftsman worries about the details.
The good news is: you can get better at your craft.
Learn something new. Read a book. Watch a tutorial. Get a critique from a trusted mentor. Experiment with techniques. Practise.
Every single one of these activities makes you better at what you do, and is completely within your own scope to control.
The bad news is: you can’t control whether your work is deemed “art”.
Producing quailty work certainly helps. So does maintaining good relationships with people, protecting your reputation, meeting your deadlines and building networks.
But ultimately – that decision is in the hands of someone else.
I’ve always been an enthusiastic supporter of people who want to show their animated film in front of a live audience, but don’t let the fear of not getting selected put you off doing the hard effort involved in making a film.
Gatekeepers may well decide what the public see as art, but it is the diligence of craftsmen and creators that impresses me more.
I say: Let the critics curate, and let the craftsmen create.
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| Print article | This entry was posted by Phil Willis on August 28, 2011 at 1:06 pm, and is filed under Training. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 8 months ago
Animation is an art, not a craft. I personally consider myself an artist. Some people consider themselves both artists and craftsmen. But if there was a difference it would be; Artist visualize and create from their ideas, craftsman follow the artist’s plans to create. So is an animator an artist or craftsman?… I say both. Because it takes both skills to create animation. I understand your point, but your idea about an artist and a craftsman is misguided. To imply that craftsmen care and artists do not is incorrect. To be an artist, is to be disciplined in your craft. It takes time, passion, love, education, quality, technique and all the details.
about 8 months ago
Hey Juan Carlos
Thanks for you comment.
The reason I find it hard to say “animation is art” is because I also find it hard to say “painting is art”. Or “sculpture is art”.
Clearly it isn’t.
My five year old nephew likes to paint. But it ain’t art.
I totally agree with you in that artists care about their work. They have to.
My main point is that the only things you can control when you do your work are related to craftsmanship (or if artisanship if you want to call it that).
You can’t control whether someone will love or hate your work.
As Pixar has often said, quality is the best business plan – so if you aspire to be considered an artist – working on the elements you can control will definitely be fruitful.
Appreciate your feedback.
–Phil
about 8 months ago
An animator and a craftsman are artist…What they do, can or can not be considerate art.
Point is, what’s an artist?someone who creates art, but being art something that depends on general opinion, not always “things” made by this “artists” will be taken as art.
Painting is an art form.Period.
But like i said above, it doesn’t mean, by itself, that every ink dropped on canvas will result in an art piece(on how i know that…;) )
Why you don’t feel comfortable being called an Artist?
“when you’re by yourself making stuff”…i’d say you’re an artist and a craftsman…like Juan Carlos Valdez…
about 8 months ago
Hi Phil,
Yes, you can’t control if people consider your work art or not… but that does not mean that it wasn’t art to begin with. The question is; what is art? They are too many people who have different opinions about what art is. And these “opinions” cloud a solid and true definition about art.
You’re right when you say, “You can’t control whether someone will love or hate your work”. Everyone has different tastes. So some may like your work, some may not. The problem, is that people confuse what is art and what isn’t with what they like or don’t like. People may not like a Jackson Pollock painting, but it is an art piece. Also an artist/craftsman is an artist because of talent, skill, technique, education, discipline, love, passion, and the desire to be better. That is what an artists is… Animation is created by many people who fit that description. Those people are artists… you are an artist. Be proud of that! Don’t let the messiness of business, ignorant opinions, and executives who have no reason to be anywhere near art mislead you.
about 8 months ago
Hi Phil, well, I would like to add some thoughts to the other comments. As you said, many things people do as crafts are not art, but this doesn’t mean an animator isn’t an artist or animation can’t be art.
I think anything to be called art needs to bring something new to its medium and to instigate people to think about that piece of art.
If we think deep inside animation there are many animation books which shows how to do walk cycles. So doing an walk cycle can be considered a craft. It doesn’t bring anything new to the medium of animation and doesn’t change the way people see and think walks but when somebody brings a new way of movement that brings another sight for that craft I think it can be considered art.
And sometimes art is manifested through industry as we saw in many movies (and in Up’s opening sequence which gave the movie the honor to be the first animated feature to open Cannes Festival).
Michelangelo was not an “artist” as we think today. He was a painter and sculpter who used to sell his work to survive as many of us do everyday but he went beyond the simple craft of the painter and brought a new way of showing “the paint” which made him an artist.
I think as an animator that I am an artist and even if sometimes it seems not to be, I try to research even more and do the most I can to bring something new to its medium with skills, techniques, education, love and passion as Juan said.
about 8 months ago
Art the art is all that stuff that gets in there by accident – the things that make it recognizable as yours, the craft is about the tools and techniques. Artists have to master the craft, otherwise they’re no better than a monkey with the tools. But there’s art in it, you can invest a lot of yourself into your work. Stuff that is unique to you and delivers something no one else can.
about 8 months ago
like Juan Carlos Valdez “said”….i just notice right now that i miss one word.
about 8 months ago
I agree with you. I’ve always had “issues” when people refer to me, an animator, as an artist. It doesn’t bother me but an animator, in my mind, doesn’t fit into the typical stereotype of an artist. Even though animation is in art schools we aren’t producing art to show in galleries or for people to buy a one off piece. We are working hard to make a successful reel to acquire a job to work on films with a team. I like your craftsman comparison.