Komrade Floursack

Last month I told a bitter-sweet story about life lessons from 2 of my former teachers. I mentioned how animation-instructor Doug Compton had been my living nightmare before wiping the Maya from in front of my eyes and revealing the truths of the universe. The "living nightmare" involved weeks of repeatedly drawing flour sacks. In traditional animation (before them computers did all the work) students would learn to animate form and weight by drawing flour sacks as substitutes for humans. It was thought they most closely resembled the American physique.
None of us realized how difficult this could be. Doug had us draw pages of flour sacks, rejecting them all. He was as disgusted with us as we were with him.
Thankfully, our storyboarding class gave me a chance to vent. I boarded a sequence involving a "Ministry of Animation" where the animators wore Soviet-style uniforms, drawing flour sacks and having them rejected by their cruel Komrade Supervisor. One night while the supervisor is working alone, he is attacked by living flour sacks brandishing an exacto-knife.
My storyboard instructor told me he could hear "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" in his head during the above sequence. While it was a big hit with the rest of my comrade-workers, it didn't earn me many maturity points at the Kubert School.