EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH GRAHAM ANNABLE

BEHIND THE FRAMES
By Santiago Mendez

Graham worked as an animator at LucasArts, on such games as Full Throttle, Outlaws, Curse of Monkey Island, Star Wars:Obi-wan and Star Wars: Episode 3. In addition to his game credits, he's the creator of the alternative comic novels, Grickle, and Further Grickle. He has done illustration/cartoon work for numerous companies, among them, Walt Disney, Chuck Jones Enterprises, and Nickelodeon.
Obvioulsy he also worked on our beloved The Dig.

Tell us a bit about yourself. What do you like about drawing?

My name is Graham Annable. I worked as an Animator and Lead Animator at LucasArts for over 10 years, from 1994 to 2004. I've been drawing for as long as I've been walking I think. I love the process of turning my ideas and thoughts into actual images and stories, and therefore have always enjoyed drawing.

What is your favourite animated movie?

I would have to say that my current favourite is "The Incredibles." It's just such an absolutely brilliant film, all the way from the design to the story. Superb.

Do you remeber what of the movies (from The Dig) where done by you?

It's been a while but let's see. I remember doing some of the conversation scenes between Boston Low and the alien creatures. I did a ton of stuff on the little turtle animal that swims around. He was a lot of fun to work on actually.

What can you tell us about the animation process of The Dig? (from white pages to the monitors)

At the time, I had recently come from working as a freelance animator in TV and film. The process of making cutscenes for the game didn't differ a lot from the workflow I had previously been accustomed to. Scenes were storyboarded out, approved by the director, then a layout was made (sometimes we skipped this phase), and then final animation was done. The art was then scanned in, page by page, and coloured on computer. Movies were rendered out and then nested in the engine to play at the appropriate times.

The gameplay animation was a bit of a different story. When I say gameplay I mean primarily all the navigational animation created to allow the characters to walk through environments and interact with things. This was all done drawing with pixels on the computer through the use of a wacom tablet. Very tedious stuff when you're used to working with traditional pencil and paper. The results were ultimately fun though, and the animation had it's own unique style and look.

How does this wacom tablet work?

The wacom tablet is basically a drawing device that works like a mouse. You draw with pixels but instead of a mouse (which would be really tough and tedious to do, although I heard that a lot of the art created on Maniac Mansion and Day of the Tentacle was done that way) you use a stylist or pen type thingy on a flat board. It's a much closer feel to drawing with a pen or pencil than if you were using a mouse. We created a ton of animation for the Dig this way.

Did you participated in the "Pizza Orgy"?

It's been so long ago I can't truly remember. I have vague recollections of looking over people's shoulders as they played and praying that my animation looked okay in the context of the game.

Any anecdotes of The Dig?

Ummm....hmmm...anecdotes eh?....let's see....One thing I remember distinctly about the Dig was how at 3 o'clock sharp every day myself and another animator, Dave DeVan, would take a tea break. At 3 we needed our routine break and we'd head across the street and spend 10 minutes in a little cafe. I'm still not sure that qualifies as an anecdote because nothing too eventful ever occured, but it was a nice part of my time on the Dig.

Have you played the game? What do you think of it?

I've played sections of it ( largely to test and see certain sequences of animation.) The game had a very distinct flavour to it. It reminded me a lot of the animated film "Fantastic Planet" in terms of it's tone and feel.


Would you like to see Steven Spielberg's The Dig Movie?

Sure!

February 3, 2005
Copyright © 2005 Santiago Méndez.

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