Hello everyone!
I'm going to be studying animation and digital film production at university next year, but I wanted to have a little go at doing some work before hand so that I don't begin the course completely from scratch. That being said, I have never animated anything before and I'm extremely lost about where to start.
I see a lot of freelance animators talking about how they begin in Flipbook, cleanup in Photoshop, and finish things with After Effects. I have all three programs, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm supposed to do to begin.
Any advice for a complete novice?
Maybe you need to make a decision on what you want to do.
Once the idea comes out,you should know where to start.
Or just imitate works of others,this is always a good way to practise your skills.
I've done a load of pre-production for something I want to make, but I mean I don't know how to actually MAKE it. Do I need to look up tutorials for the specific programs I have or...?
What are you going for with the finished product? This can adjust the answer sometimes. With me doing traditional fused /w Flash my pre-college start came from doing these (crappy) little straight-ahead run pencil tests in software like ToonBoom and Flash. I purchased the Animator's Surival Kit by 11th grade then by college I began practicing with a webcam and MonkeyJam and animated (on paper) stick figures doing walk cycles and whatnot-never went beyond that then, but it was legit practice.
...then for the hell of it I took one of those stick figures, cleaned her up in Flash and well-the obsession still hasn't ended. :p Now my method is doing keyframes on paper, scanning them in, and inbetweening in Flash. Sometimes it varies on a per project-basis, long as I get a finished film in the end.
thanks cromartie for the advices, i'm still new in the field
hi
Starting something new can often times be stressful but in order to become better at animation you should practice drawing, study constantly, watch cartoons and study what is happening, some of the best things I have learned have been from renaissance artists and their paintings, people watching is also very helpful.
Hey Zizzani, I can understan your difficulty in starting animatin career. The thing which will best work for you is your animation college or university which are you going to start. They will teach you from the very beginning. When I started my career in animation a year ago I too was on your end but my college here in Mumbai( http://www.zica.org/) has helped me every possible way to start my career in the field I want to go in.