Henrique Barone – “we always try to not repeat ourselves”

We talk to Henrique Barone about his work in the animation industry.

This week, Creative Chair is in Vancouver, Canada talking to animator extraordinaire Henrique Barone. Henrique works with an exceptionally talented team at Giant Ant, and together they have produced many extraordinary animated projects using a broad range of visual styles.

We caught up with Henrique to find out more about his work.

Don’t forget; you can see more work from Henrique Barone and Giant Ant on Behance and his website.

How did you get involved with animation?

I clearly remember going to Anima Mundi, an animation festival in Brazil, and thinking to myself that I would love to animate. What amazed me the most in the festival (and still does) was the variety of artistic style, ways to tell a story, the themes of these stories and just how no two were the same.

After the festival, me and two friends (one of which is my wife now – Fe Ribeiro) started doing an independent short, mixing techniques and exploring the possibilities of animation. From that moment on, I became an animator.

Some people struggle with character animation. Did character animation come naturally to you?

It comes more naturally now than when I started, of course, but there is always some level of struggle involved; either if it’s getting the right pose or a challenging design, or the timing doesn’t get right at first.

As with any art form, the more you practice, the more naturally it comes but, on the other hand, you also start being more picky with your own work. So, there is this fine balance as well.

What are the challenges associated with working with such a diverse range of people, projects and visual styles at Giant Ant?

At Giant Ant, we always try to not repeat ourselves. Every new project that comes in we try to play with something we didn’t play with on the previous video. There is this challenge in itself – to be somehow new and original every time – and, after that, there are the technical challenges about how to actually produced that new idea that got us all excited at the first place.

We are a small group and really take advantage of being constantly in touch, showing and discussing work in progress and deciding the best route to take.

With the rise in computer-generated animation, do you think that that hand-drawn, frame-by-frame, and stop motion will always be relevant?

I absolutely think so. The computer and the software are a tool – a great and very powerful one – but the DNA of movement still relies on understanding how the frame you are working relates to the previous and the next one.

And finally, if you died and got reincarnated as a song what would that song be?

Glen Hansard – Bird of Sorrow