OK, I'm going out on a limb, both content-wise and technically, (but hopefully not legally), and posting a version of a recent project I did with Mass Animation. Check out the Mass Animation page on FaceBook (http://www.facebook.com/massanimation). Our goal with this was to provide a strict template for the animators participating in the current Mass Animation/Sony/DC Trailer Animation contest. Basically, it's your chance to animate Batman.

I was responsible for the Batman and Wonder Woman sections of the boards; another artist, the fabulous Marty Kline, did the rest. It was fun, (tho' I sure as heck wish I could go back and massage some of that Batman/Joker fight--oy!). I tried mainly to come up with dramatic poses and some dynamic staging/action that an animator could really sink his teeth into. Because all the animation will be 3D, and all takes place in an already constructed 3D world, I didn't bother as much with drawing in the background. Maybe I should have been.

What is this thing, "the animatic," you may be asking. The animatic, in it's most basic usage, is meant to be a tool for the directors and animators. Individual storyboard drawings are linked up in order (or "in continuity" the film-types would say) and put up on the screen, with music and dialogue added on top of the drawings. You time out each shot, and you wind up with a rough edit of your movie--all without having to commit to any actual animation or live-action filming. Very useful. And when you watch one of these animatics, it shows you how much of a movie you can get done just via the drawing and editing process. You can make something nearly as good as this with something as basic as iMovie.

So whatcha' waitin' for? Get on it!