Nilknarf & Revilo

These are the little friends who helped us day after day while we were trying to learn how to animate. They seemed to know how to do story work, gags, character development, and even how to create the situations that brought out the varied personalities of the actors. 

During the periods when we could 't tell if we were going forwards or backwards, they leaped to our rescue, yet never received credit for their work. They taught us while we taught them.

Revilo is impetuous, eager, quick to get ideas, and impatient. Revilo is more like the young people of today who are excited but do not spend enough time on the things in front of them. They want to get going on everything at the same time.

Nilknarf is well organized, likes to see things working properly, makes lists and takes notes.

From the beginning they have been playing jokes on somebody or criticizing our choices of action and character. They are stimulating company even today but we don't know where they came from. They just moved in one day and they've stayed ever since.

Revilo and Nilknarf are more interested in sharing their own senses of humor, exchanging gags, whistling, enjoying what they do, and making funny pictures instead of putting everything in order. They leave that part to us.

They even did their best at being models for our drawings, whether it was a dog eating spaghetti, a rabbit reciting poetry in the meadow, or a fairy-tale dwarf in tears when his princess dies. Once they also became an owl who was laughing hysterically and a wooden boy perplexed as he watched his nose grow longer and longer. At one time they wanted to be animators too but they wouldn't stay at their desks long enough.

We can't remember where they came from. It must have been a long time ago because they've started calling us "old guys" with memory lapses and having difficulty in finding just the word we want. We accept the title as long as they add to it the word "lively" but we won't admit to this memory thing. Sure, they're still very, very helpful, but we are smart too.

If you visit the Animation Tips you'll see just how smart we can be.  And don't tell them what we told you. OK?