CGTalk - Any professionals willing to give an ambitious animator some advice?

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ElusiveDreams

01-28-2007, 08:46 AM

Hi all! After having blundered around trying to settle on what career I'm going to go for I have settled on animation. I've always had a strong desire to create animation and be involved in it, but I have been clueless as to how to go about learning.

Anyhoo, I realise now that there is no such thing as the 'right' or 'wrong' way to go about learning something new, but I know that setting of on the right foot and learning things in a natural progression will bring about better results faster.

If I were a complete beginner (have had some experience in related areas) what things would you advise me to begin learning? should I start of doing life drawing studies? should I people watch and make notes? should I read books on acting? try to think of how you would have done it had you the chance to 'turn back the clock'.

Thanks a lot guys/gals, I would really appreciate any help that I get from you

SirRon

01-28-2007, 05:26 PM

This is a pretty common question, here's some links to how it's been answered.
LINK (http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=26&t=455343&highlight=learning+animation)
LINK (http://www.animationlounge.com/index.php?topic=322.0)

You didn't mention whether 2D or 3D animation. While they work distinctly, both have the SAME fundamentals. I'm speaking about character animation here though. But learn those fundamentals (http://www.frankandollie.com/PhysicalAnimation.html). Also, look up Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Glen Keane, Victor Navone (http://www.navone.org/blogger/). Look for anyone posting their work for Animation Mentor. And chances are the first exercise you'd do is the bouncing ball.

To answer your other questions. I believe life drawing will significantly help, but it really isn't required unless you're doing 2D (in that case you need to know how to draw). Knowing how to draw is like having to another language, you can probably live where you are not knowing any other language but if you want to be able to go to other parts of the world then it will really help. I wouldn't start watching people and taking notes in the beginning, you might not know what to look for. Once you settle into animation then it'll be helpful. Books on acting, as an animator I HIGHLY recommend getting 'Acting for Animators (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acting-Animators-Complete-Performance-Animation/dp/032500580X/sr=8-1/qid=1170006711/ref=pd_ka_1/026-4728863-2526807?ie=UTF8&s=books)'

If I could turn back the clock.... you're going to have to give me a moment to think about that :)

Sorry, I'm not a professional but I've read many of the answers to this question because I wanted to know too.

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