The art of controlling patterns in time and space

February 9, 2024 4:10 PM

We’ve all seen the classic cartoon juggling farce; the character wiggles their arms up and down while the balls fly in a circular pattern in front of their face, yadda yadda yadda. Most jugglers you ask will groan every time they see this. [...] Now what’s really special about juggling when compared to other inaccurately animated activities is that animation as a medium enables artists to create really creative and unique depictions of juggling that would otherwise be impossible in real life. A poorly animated drum set will still sound like a drum set, and a poorly animated piano will still sound like a piano, but quote-unquote “poorly” animated juggling can lead to some really beautiful patterns that have no real life analogue. [...] As I started diving deeper and deeper into this world of animated juggling I became amazed at the huge variety of ways in which juggling can be visually conveyed and obsessed with finding every single example that I possibly could. [...] I have learned a lot from this project, and in this video I wanted to share some of my findings as well as some notable examples that either really impressed me or even pushed my understanding of what counts as animation.

Juggling YouTuber Jasper Juggles asks (and exhaustively answers) "What's the deal with juggling in animation?" [transcript], featuring hundreds of mesmerizing examples from television, film, cartoons, video games, claymation, zoetropes, and many, many more.

The complete spreadsheet, with over 400 examples

Related: Juggling in Animation reviews playlist

TVTropes: Cartoon Juggling

posted by Rhaomi (8 comments total)

This is great!
Also useful: Juggling Notation
posted by chavenet at 4:57 PM on February 9 [1 favorite]

He's verging on "annoyingly narrow-mindedly pedantic", but charming nonetheless.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:17 PM on February 9

[More Outside]
posted by y2karl at 6:36 PM on February 9

He's verging on "annoyingly narrow-mindedly pedantic", but charming nonetheless.

I think that was his starting approach but then he came to appreciate creative non-accurate representations of juggling? Which IMO made his journey a success instead of a slog
posted by aubilenon at 7:57 PM on February 9 [3 favorites]

The pattern juggler lifts his hand
The orchestra begin
As slowly turns the grinding wheel
In the court of the crimson king
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:55 AM on February 10 [1 favorite]

The Amiga "Juggler" animation
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:30 AM on February 10

As someone interested in both juggling and animation, I love this. It is also tempting me to put aside my current project (animated sword fighting) to play around with animating juggling.

He is 100% correct about Entry of the Gladiators, too.
posted by eruonna at 6:57 AM on February 10

MetaFilter: verging on "annoyingly narrow-mindedly pedantic", but charming nonetheless.
posted by isnotchicago at 10:16 AM on February 10 [6 favorites]