Watch out for the drop-off in productivity that comes with working for too many hours straight. I have watched so many artists pull great big 16- to 48- hour stretches of working straight through, only to see them crawling in extremely late the next day, thus starting a vicious cycle of having to work late into the night. If you need to get the extra work done, why not go home at 9:00 or 10:00 pm, and come in fresh at 6 or 7 the next morning? After 12 hours straight, the average person's real productivity tends to drop off pretty drastically anyway. Go home. Get your sleep. Break the workday down into the smallest chunks you possibly can. Take naps if you have to, but don't work straight through for too many hours. It just ain't worth it.

Stay hydrated! Coffee, Coke, Red Bull and the like can do an excellent job to fuel you, but water keeps you alive. Drink as much water as you can; it's worth the extra trips to the restroom. And if you have to have drinks at the local pub during break time, well then, you might as well just go home and sleep it off. Work after drinking gets us seriously dehydrated, and real productivity drops off dramatically. Stay sharp! Save the drinking for a break in the schedule!

Stay away from the Internet while working. This goes for all of us poor stiffs who are now forced to sit in front of these infernal computers day in and day out. It's no news that Internet browsing, chatting, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, etc. can be a serious detriment to a business's productivity. But in animation, I am seeing a very disturbing trend with regard to this. I see more and more people wasting incredible amounts of time online every day. A new funny video on YouTube has half the studio transfixed for a half hour or so. I see young artists who have headphones on, a video streaming, and are gabbing on their cell phone at the same time. They may not think they are missing out on getting any work done, because, after all, they sit in front of their computer for 12 hours a day. But their numbers tell a different story. Vast amounts of time are wasted away online. On the other hand, I see that people who work for me who have no inclination to dabble online tend to get twice the work done in half the time. And so they also get to go home a lot earlier, get more sleep, and stay sharper, generally. If you are getting paid by the hour, well, you are not only ripping off the company by spending too much time online, ultimately, you are ripping yourself off. Work takes longer to do, and you may be earning more in the short term, but in the long term, you burn yourself out, and you are far less likely to be hired back when the jobs are more scarce. Leave it alone! Email does not need to be checked every 10 minutes, your friend on MSN in Lebanon can chat with you at home, and that funny video on YouTube isn't really that funny!

Pace yourself with work of varying complexities. Break up your time wisely between the simpler work, and the more difficult work.

Get up and go for a walk. Get outside, breathe, get your focus off the work for a few minutes. Reasonable breaks need to be taken. Even when the schedule is fierce, and time is limited, it is the very best thing you can do to increase you productivity. Stretch, walk, look at something far away, let your eyes focus on a distant horizon, let your mind wander a bit. Shake it out. Run, jump around, get the blood moving. Sitting at a desk hunched over a computer is a lot like flying nonstop to Europe. Our blood stops moving, we breathe too shallowly, our muscles contract and stiffen up, our eyes get tired of staring at something 18 inches away. Break the routine. If your boss frowns on your doing that, explain exactly what you are doing and why. If they have a lick of sense, they'll respect it. If they don't, do your darnedest to do it anyway.

Of course a good diet is always smart, but I don't want this to turn into a "mothering" column, and hopefully that's a life skill you've picked up along the way. But still, I am amazed how many people I see eating junk food when they are trying to get a lot of work done. The two almost go hand in hand, the excuse often being that when you are working such crazy hours, you don't have the time for anything but junk food. Balderdash! It is not all that difficult to get healthy stuff -- that's not filled with sugar -- into you on a regular basis. Nuts, carrots, fruits, veggies, can be crunched on constantly, and you'd be amazed how well they keep the cravings at bay, and your energy levels healthy.

Don't work when you are genuinely sick! That's just sick! And you'll make everybody else sick too. Stay home, get better.

Pace yourself with work of varying complexity. In most animation jobs, we get a variety of things to work on, some far more difficult and time-consuming than others. For example, for an animator there are scenes that are simple -- talking heads for instance -- and other scenes that are difficult, like wild action scenes with multiple characters, or those with subtle acting that demands great finesse. Break up your time wisely between the simpler work and the more difficult work. Find out what time of day best suits which kind of work, and work accordingly. If you get stuck on a task that is extremely difficult, sometimes just being able to put it down and work on something much simpler can be just the thing you need. So think about that always, and divide your time for maximum productivity. I frequently see younger artists who will get obsessed with a difficult scene and almost kill themselves trying to get it out in one big push. Whoah! Take a break, walk away from it, and get three or four simple scenes done. It'll boost your morale, make you feel like you've accomplished something (which you have), and it may very well give you a fresh new perspective on the scene that was killing you.

To some degree, stand up for yourself. I see too many people in the business (myself once upon a time included) with some kind of victim/martyr complex who let themselves get treated like absolute slaves. If you let them get away with it, they will use you all up, believe me. But there is a fine line between really working your ass off, and letting yourself be abused. Recognize that line. When you are overtired, and need some rest, be clear about it. Leave when you need to, and don't let people guilt-trip you. If you work hard and do good work, it will be recognized and you will be respected. You don't have to kill yourself. So don't!

Don't lose your sense of humor!

We are making cartoons boys, and girls. It is supposed to be fun. We got into it because we love it (hopefully). Keep smiling, keep it light. Yes, the deadline is important, and we always do our best to make it. But at the end of the day, our health, our peace of mind, our sanity, and our good nature is more important. Remember, one day we'll look back on these stress-filled days and laugh (once again... hopefully). We might even refer to them as "the good old days!" I know a lot of the most difficult jobs I have ever worked on are remembered just that way. So keep your perspective, take care of yourself, and just do the best you can.

In his 30-year animation career, Joseph Gilland has worked with studios as diverse as Walt Disney Feature Animation and the National Film Board of Canada. He has worked on all styles of animation, experimental films, television series, commercials, theatrical feature films, stop motion, title sequences, live-action films and documentaries. He is writing a passionate book about the art of animation.