I WILL BECOME THE BEST ---- ANIMATOR EVER!!! People were designed to write, to draw, to create, and to be dramatic. No other creature can do it, because human beings are more than creatures. I want to be the best animator ever. I want to be the best animator ever. I want to be the best animator ever. I want to be the best animator ever. I want to be the best animator ever. I want to be the best animator ever. I want to be the best animator ever. I want to be the best animator ever. I want to be the best animator ever. Heh. Think I''m cocky? I think you''re ugly, so there! > Anyway, who here happens to live in California? Sacramento? attend American River College? Sac State? Cosumnes? or works as a professional animator? You know what? I don''t care where you live. If you''re an animator, post. I want to know everything. Anyone who says you can''t make a living with a pencil is a liar and a ---- fool. But you gotta start somewhere, typically at the start. How do you do it? What''s your secret? What''s your favorite books on the subject? GIMME GIMME GIMME!!! I wanna know everything there is to know about animation, and I want to become a professional animator. If I don''t, I''ll never be satisfied, and I''ll live out my days with blocked ideas and a bleeding heart, screaming, "Why didn''t I take that chance? Why didn''t I do it when I could?" If you''re an animator, post. If you''re a student in arts/animation, post. If you''re a writer, post. If you like to watch and closely examine old Transformers episodes and Looney Tunes (an easy thing on DVD), post. If you''re a programmer who draws or an artist who programs, post. If you''re a musician at all. If you''re an expert, at this, post. Why the extensive audience? Because, if you''re in the above, you''re a little like me.

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Original post by Some Guy
Anyway, who here happens to live in California?

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I do. Now draw me a horse that captures the essence of a horse, and make it with realistic shading and proportions.

As long as this is about 2D hand drawn and stop-motion (claymation) you are in luck, as I have a little professional experience doing such in TV commercials as well as some freelance stuff

(If any of you are from the St. Louis, MO area...you may recall a few Hoyt Ford (IIRC) car dealership TV commercials with a animated barber shop quartet that "morphed" into the dealership logo as they sang...my first break in the industry about a decade ago...did the animation, inked and painted the cells...some helpfull folks at Columbia college in Chicago photographed it...you always remember those virgin experiences )

Anyway, what do you want to know?

I should warn you that I''m self taught and had asperations to work for Disney (but my thing for anime kept me from applying with them...didn''t want to draw "cute singing animals" for the rest of my life)...I did apply with Don Bluth...but they were in Ireland at the time, and had just released "All Dogs go to Heaven" to dismal boxoffice returns...got a nice letter back saying that they liked my reel, but they wern''t able to hire on at the time (a shame, as I really wanted to work on a Dragons Lair, Space Ace game...which they were rumered to be considering at the time)

I''m sort of a "jack of all trades but master of none" when it comes to animation...I can mimic several animation styles fairly well (like the difference between Bluth and Disney for example...even anime)...even do some effects animation (water splashes, etc..) But most of the really good animators specialise...some are better suited at female characters, others male characters...some can really bring out character personality...others are better at minimalisam or even realisam.

Then of course there is stop-motion (my favorite kind) which has a different set of specialties...armature and puppet makeing, etc...sadly this style is slowly being forgotten

again, what did you want to know?

Opps...missed this part of your post:

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How do you do it?

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Thats a very difficult question to answer...but like playing a musical instrament...you gotta practice...

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What''s your secret?

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I''m selftaught and studied both animated and live action films with the slow-mo feature on my VCR...films are shown at 24 Frames Per Second...but when transfered to video tape they play back at 30 FPS...essentialy every 4th frame is duplicated to make up the difference...this is important as the timeing in the animation is directed by frame rate...you will very quickly realise that Disney usually shoots in "2s"...that is 2 frame per drawing for just about everything except action scenes (sometimes dipping into 3s and 4s...which is what much of anime uses)...My DVD player isn''t able to step through film like this so it is harder for me to tell how long a frame is held for.

In addition...I took what knowledge I could from studing film and applied it to Super 8 films and by turning every paperback book I could find into a flipbook

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What''s your favorite books on the subject?

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hands down Disney''s Illusion of Life...you can find it, and tons more at www.awn.com a website dedicated to animation...everything you could ever want to know...from jobs to reseach material is on that site

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GIMME GIMME GIMME!!! I wanna know everything there is to know about animation, and I want to become a professional animator. If I don''t, I''ll never be satisfied, and I''ll live out my days with blocked ideas and a bleeding heart, screaming, "Why didn''t I take that chance? Why didn''t I do it when I could?"

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whoa!...slow down...it takes lots of practice to get resonably good...and it takes mondo amounts of patience and concentration...it can take a day or more just to animate enough for a single second of screen time.

I get overly frustraited when I''ve tried 3D animation...without being able to physicaly touch the model, it''s hard for me to get a sense of control in keyframeing anything...so someone else should help you with that.

My talents:

imaginative-- I''ve been writing little stories since I was probably 6 or 7, but I''ve been making up stories and drawing since... birth???? One of those natural things that you never really start, I guess... I recently came back into that creative mode I was in for years as a child, that is, the third stage of being a good artist, where you start to shun impractical ideas of photorealism for childish style/imagination. I now have an idea for a long series of games I want to make with some of my friends, inspired by the crumbiest capital in the US, Sacramento. (I don''t care what anyone says, it''s not a city, IT''S A TOWN!! A BIG, UGLY TOWN!!!) Basically, I have an idea for the Pulp Fiction of shareware video game series. BUT YOU WON''T HEAR MORE ABOUT IT TILL I WANT YOU TO HEAR MORE ABOUT IT!

impressionist-- I have no trouble mimicking celebraties for friends, family, or in front of a mirror for my own enjoyment. Kevin Spacey, Val Kilmer, and Wayne Knight are some of my favorites. Steven Seagal is also fun to watch. Since I''ve crossed over into the third artistic stage, I don''t care anymore, and embarassment just doesn''t happen.

musician-- I play an acoustic guitar, WILL buy an electric.

joker-- Let loose. The greatest men on earth have always had a sense of humor, irony, and intelligence. Smart people make people laugh.


And ask anyone who knows me, and they''ll tell you that I''m indeed an artist.


bishop_pass, I prefer style and emotion to photorealism. Photorealism is not an upbuilding factor, but instead a stone ceiling on wooden beams. Don''t you agree?

you go girl! =) I kinda feel like you do, I wanna be an animator. I''m only 14 though.. I wanna start NOW, but not sure how, hehe. I know I could be good though. I''m still young, how can I not feel ambitious =P

AHw! It's killing me!

This is the 3rd post just today that i ran into about animation question. I even got an e-mail asking us how we do it.


[sigh] Well for the betterment of this community, if your really that dedicated, I'll convince tha boys [and one girl] to create a tutorial for beginners on the Liquid Moon Site.

We'll put it under special features. We've been animating for some time now. Most of us attend CDIS's game art or character animation programs so we have plenty of content to share.

sound like a good idea?

Can't say how soon that will be though, it just seems like it's a need that hasn't been addressed or something.

peace

-Sage13

Liquid Moon Team

X2: Official Site






[edited by - Sage13 on November 14, 2002 6:08:03 AM]

Are we talking good old pencil and trusty lightbox kinda animation here, or just any kind of animation.

Listen up. If you want to learn, get the holy Bible of animation "Illusion of Life" by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. Like I said, it is the holy bible of animation. You will read it a million times throughout your career, and every time you will learn something new and incredibly valuable. Run, don''t walk!

Richard Williams'' book "The Animator''s Survival Kit" is also a must. Both of these books are pure and simple essentials, no matter what your medium is or style.

Get your hand on some old school pencil and paper animation. Even if you swear you''ll animate 3D for the rest of your life, it will show in your stuff. I hear this everywhere, you can never do enough pencil and paper animation. Like I said, I will show in whatever else you do.

Thanks

Marque Pierre