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What got you interested in animation?

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What got you interested in animation?

Just a general question.

I studied visual arts when I was young, fresh out of high school. Didn't even consider animation as a goal.

But 20 years later when I was rehabbed, and got to study computer graphics, it became a possibility.

While training, computer animation was really limited. Animated gifs were about it. But then Flash happenned. Seemed like it called to me.

The idea that I could make my own films was heady stuff. In fact I bought Flash, before the vocational school had even heard of it.

I'd done flip books when I was in junior high, they were fun, but a lot of work for something I could only show my friends. Now I can share with the world. How cool is that?

That's how I got into it. How about you?

phacker's picture
Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

What got me into animation was going to the right schools in the right area and taking a few drawing courses. I wasn't interested in studying animation until about 1 year ago when I took some drawing classes( life and beginning) at a local community college. Taking those c classes sparked my interest in animation and art and lead me to pursue a degree in Animation along with my original degree objective, Engineering. My initial plan was to major in Electrical & Computer Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona but after developing a love for the visual arts and animation I decided to look for a local animation program, being in southern California that wasn't hard, and I chose the program at Cal State Fullerton which was only a 20 minute drive from Pomona. Pursing a degree in Animation offered me an avenue to be creative and express my imagination along with developing my drawing and animation skills and so far I am enjoying every moment of it.

Added:
I want to get better at traditional drawing and animation as well as my 3D skills. I currently own software like Cinema 4D, Lightwave 3D, Maya, Photoshop, After Effects, and Painter and saving up for a digital 2D animation software like TVP Animation Pro or Flipbook and a Wacom Cintiq 21UX(this makes digital drawing so much easier). I hope to finish at least one short animation before I graduate in 3 1/2 years.

Software: TVPaint Pro, Harmony Standalone, Storyboard Pro, Maya, Modo, Arnold, V-Ray, Maxwell, NukeX, Hiero, Mari, RealFlow, Avid, Adobe CS6
Hardware: (2) HP Z820 Workstations + 144-core Linux Render Farm + Cintiq 24HD Touch

in 1977 in high school a friend of mine explained how animation (and for that matter-movie films worked) and i built a light table, figured out a registration system, drew a 3 minute simple animation on paper cells, shot the film on super 8mm and i was HOOKED. i enrolled at NYU film school, concentrating in animation. my class was probably the last to graduate without any computer animation involvement. i spent a very short time as a freelance animator in manhattan, a somewhat longer time in video & effects photography, then out of the industry altogether. but i have always stayed in love with animation. i've fooled around with a few films over the years & learned to do a little animation. i bought toon boom and made a little film last year. that's my story.

What got me interested in animation?

Nothing.
I never really was specifically interested in it.
I set out to become, and am, a cartoonist.

That's how I view my career, as being one in cartooning.
For the past while I have worked IN animation, for many years actually, but I do not consider myself limited by that. The "animation bug" my colleagues talked about never stung me, per se--I was just happy enough to be drawing for a living.
The whole vista of cartooning, cartoon design, comics/strips, illustration, storyboarding AND animation is something I can do or move into.
I've grown to like and appreciate tangent skills and crafts like writing and storytelling, or things like inking and computer skills, but it always has to serve the drawing part.
When I was very young I was always drawing, and since that time, I was always told I was "going to be like Charles Schulz"--my relatives had grand ideas....
Animation could go away tomorrow and I wouldn't miss it, because there'd be some other drawing field to pursue instead.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Watching them 1950's Astroboy and 1960's Speed Racer and Gigantor toons---reruns. of course.

I was always interested in animation, but thought it was too hard (this is before I'd really even tried). I always intended to study animation but concentrated on designing characters and drawing (this would become a very good decision). I graduated from my bachelors degree and decided that advertising and the media wasnt really for me. 4 years later I figured that I was never going to study animation unless I enrolled right then and there. I was hooked as soon as I embarked on my first squash and stretch excercise. Nothing compares to the raw emotion of seeing your drawings come to life for the first time.

Talk about addiction...

What got me interested in animation (and enter the animation industry)?

The Money!!

Sometime 12-13 years ago, I was working as a draftsman for an interior design firm back in my home country. My colleagues and I were taking a break, and we were with some other group of guys who were comparing their payslips. My group were sort of looking down at them because they were all unkempt and untidy. But when one of them showed his payslip to my group, we were astounded. Their income was incredible! The taxes that was being taken out from their gross pay was bigger than what I was taking in for two weeks!

When we asked them who they were working for, they told us that they were animators and were working in a studio that was in the same building as ours. They were so unkempt and untidy because they were up all night finishing a deadline. It was only then that I learned that there exists an animation studio, and that artists there earn a good pay and having fun doing it at the same time. I wanted in!

And that's how I decided one day to pursue a career in animation. It was more that 8 years later before that happened, and it's not all smooth sailing. But it's worth it. And the pay is good, if you know how to do it right.

Blog

...a handjob from the recruiting officer..no, wait, that's what got me interested in the army.
..sorry, my mind is elsewhere

...a handjob from the recruiting officer..no, wait, that's what got me interested in the army.
..sorry, my mind is elsewhere

...what???

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

...a handjob from the recruiting officer..no, wait, that's what got me interested in the army.
..sorry, my mind is elsewhere

I got a tummy rub.

I likes them tummy rubs.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

lady with a cat, man with a wink

started 23 years ago when a nice lady who loves cats
took me in as an apprentice.

she made me an animation supervisor
after a year.

it's her birthday today.

then a nice man who loves to drink took me in and made
me a director.

but he's gone now.

i stayed because i like to tell stories.
it would be better if friends are still around to tell them with.
but then.

working on my first film now.
still, i'd trade it for just an afternoon of drinks and cat talk.

Don't worry.  All shall be well.

Please don't feed the trolls, they'll only come back for more.

My general interest in animation goes back as far as the 80s Bluth and Astérix movies, althoug my personal "inciting incident" took place during a 1996 visit to the MOMI (Museum of the Moving Image) in London which at that time hosted an exhibition of Space Jam production art. While I'm not particularly fond of Space Jam, the Cosgrove Hall animator present was an extremely interesting conversationalist. I talked to her so long and forgot the time that it took my enraged travel group which found me two hours after our appointed meeting time to get me back to reality.

Please don't feed the trolls, they'll only come back for more.

..exactly!..we need less time wasted on trolls and more time listening to jabberwocky's amazing life story.

hugh jampton

Meriwether this is my thread and those of us that have shared are enjoying it. If you don't have anything to contribute please start your own thread.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Meriwether this is my thread and those of us that have shared are enjoying it. If you don't have anything to contribute please start your own thread.

So we can each "own" threads now and dictate who contributes and how? Cool! :rolleyes:

Back to the topic...

I started by taking art classes after I'd gotten the "respectable" Bachelor's degree. Always wanted to be a cartoonist (like Ken), but once those drawings started moving around, I was hooked.

Had some lucky breaks early on, and have been riding this pony for the last 18 years. Now I'm laying the groundwork to do the "giving back" thing by getting my advanced degree in preparation for teaching.

Yeah, when you take the intiative to start a discussion, yes you have control over the direction of the thread. I for one am tired of threads being taken over by snipers and used for their own devices, whatever that may be.

My motive for starting this thread was to open a discussion for those of us that wish to share our experiences to be allowed that form of open discussion.

I hope if you ever become a teacher you will promote open discussion with your students. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Pat

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Yeah, when you take the intiative to start a discussion, yes you have control over the direction of the thread.

My motive for starting this thread was to open a discussion for those of us that wish to share our experiences to be allowed that form of open discussion.

Maybe it's just me, but the notion of "controlling" a thread seems to be at odds with the concept of an open discussion.

I hope if you ever become a teacher you will promote open discussion with your students.

Well, I can promise I won't be attempting to control any discussions. Guiding, probably; framing, certainly; controlling, not likely.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

My pleasure.

I am not a controlling type of person either. But when some can shanghai a discussion, and turn it to their own means, something has to take place, and since our moderators are absent without leave...if I start a discussion, I'll try and keep it on track. Maybe that's not within the guidelines, but even when carrying on a general conversation, it's something I will resort to if another party is being obnoxious or taking advantage of another particpant.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

These are always fun.
I got into animation purely by accident. In New Brunswick I spent a couple of years working as a stage hand in live theater and lucked into a couple of PA jobs for the National Film Board. I quickly realized that if I wanted to stay in the entertainment industry I was going to have to move. I hitch hiked accross Canada and stayed in towns like Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver. I really like Ottawa so the next year I moved here. I had $500 and stayed with a friend that I had made earlier. I took on a job at a camera store and tried to worm my way into the local film industry. It wasn't very big.... I saw a job in the paper for something called an "Opaquer" with a local studio called Crawley Films. I took the job ( 1986 ). It was a great time to get into animation. There were two studios in town that did everything under one roof. It was a great time to learn! I still work in the Ottawa area but have had some adventures in other cities accross Canada although I always seem to come back here. It hasn't always been just animation though. I love to take on challenges and tend to live for the moment. I have worked on live action films and T.V. as a grip and a gaffer and very early on fell in love with editing. First on film and then moving into the world of non-linear. I guess I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up!

The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself. My Blog: Strange Thoughts

I guess I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up!

Me too Robert. My family could never understand that. They always had goals and outlines.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Me too Robert. My family could never understand that. They always had goals and outlines.

My Mom still asks when am I going to get a real job! Different generation

The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself. My Blog: Strange Thoughts

My family had a hell of time when I switched to landscaping and horticulture. They thought I was crazy, but they were some of the best years of my life. I'd always done office and administrative work until then. Now I am totally off the wall, but my folks are dead now, but every now and then I hear them ask me what I think I am doing. Now it's totally up to me...which is scary!

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Meriwether this is my thread and those of us that have shared are enjoying it. If you don't have anything to contribute please start your own thread.

man, listen to that whining!..do us all a favour and grow a sense of humour..or better yet, take your ball and go join AN..they wallow in the sort of humourless self importance you seem to treasure.
...now let me get back to my gay carefree existence, I have flies to de-wing.

man, listen to that whining!..do us all a favour and grow a sense of humour..or better yet, take your ball and go join AN..they wallow in the sort of humourless self importance you seem to treasure.
...now let me get back to my gay carefree existence, I have flies to de-wing.

You're the one with hard feelings agains AN. This is AWN, and it's always been a place where people could share, do you wish to change that?

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

You're the one with hard feelings agains AN. This is AWN, and it's always been a place where people could share, do you wish to change that?

if you're trying to raise a point (and who isnt?.. I've got a saggy one in my hand right now), please make sure you've read all the previous comments THOROUGHLY first.
...I DO love your idea of what 'sharing' means.

miss grundy

working on my first film now.
still, i'd trade it for just an afternoon of drinks and cat talk.

Know that feeling. Must have been great to have such mentors early in your career.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Hey phacker!

Who made you the big forum and thread Sheriff of AWN?
I thought Harvey was the self appointed Marshal
of the board.

So do believe in censorship as well?
Jabberwocky you too I bet.

Some of the people that you two consider trolls have more to say about the price of eggs than you could ever gain in a lifetime.

Maybe you should go to some fantasy fan site or some geek forum or some anime arse smacking jamboree where everyone is all kissy face.

I want to read what everyone has to say. It's a boring snore fest around here most of the time as it is.

I have seen with my eyes Ken's rosy belly from all the rubbing, and I also
know he is fibbing a bit about not being bit by the "animation bug".

I think from the cut of the hem on Meriwether's soiled garment that he knows more than most of us what really goes on in the animation business".

Many a day doesn’t go by when I have uttered the phrase "don't piss on my back and tell me it's raining" when some producer, or production toadie or management flunkie has spouted some shite about how things should work or how things should be done or how many beans must be counted.

Cleaning toilets and buffing the knob of many an ego
is the way I remember starting out.
So stuff that up your crunk and dream your dreams about the glorious
world of animation.

Hey phacker!

So stuff that up your crunk and dream your dreams about the glorious
world of animation.

So do you have anything constructive to add to the discussion. Or are you just trying to be disruptive.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Hey phacker!

Who made you the big forum and thread Sheriff of AWN?
I thought Harvey was the self appointed Marshal
of the board.

Maybe he's your appointed sheriff, he isn't mine. If you would like to start a discussion with him feel free.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Most of us here on AWN are having a very reasonable discussion, what exactly is the beef that a few of you have with this discussion?

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Do we have to ask Mr. Meriwhether and Harvey for permission to post?

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

You scared Ape off the board. Is that what you want only topics started by your group?

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Cleaning toilets and buffing the knob of many an ego
is the way I remember starting out.

...ah, a fellow "spit and polish" man....animation truly is a hands on occupation....and the greasier the producer, the easier the job.

lord summer isle

I want to read what everyone has to say. It's a boring snore fest around here most of the time as it is.

How many threads have you iniated Ulalume? The forum is what you make it.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Hey phacker!

Many a day doesn‰Ûªt go by when I have uttered the phrase "don't piss on my back and tell me it's raining" when some producer, or production toadie or management flunkie has spouted some shite about how things should work or how things should be done or how many beans must be counted.

Cleaning toilets and buffing the knob of many an ego
is the way I remember starting out.
So stuff that up your crunk and dream your dreams about the glorious
world of animation.

Someone a little bitter perhaps? Sure the early days in any career are hard and a lot of crap has to be taken. That's why it's fun to look back. Rose coloured glasses and all. It's also good never to forget where you have come from. It helps to decide on where you are heading.

The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself. My Blog: Strange Thoughts

These guys are coming from outside the discussion Robert. We have no moderators now, since they scared Ape away, so they feel free to force us bow to their bidding. It's sad but it's true at the moment.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

These guys are coming from outside the discussion Robert. We have no moderators now, since they scared Ape away, so they feel free to force us bow to their bidding. It's sad but it's true at the moment.

no one's forcing you to do anything, sweetheart,merely suggesting...and since your down there crying on your knees, why not put that position to good use??

Uncle Tom Cobbly (and all)

PS..dont forget to visit Pooter's World

no one's forcing you to do anything, sweetheart,merely suggesting...and since your down there crying on your knees, why not put that position to good use??

Uncle Tom Cobbly (and all)

PS..dont forget to visit Pooter's World

You are crude, rude, and if you are an animation professional, I doubt it, if this is the type of discourse you resort in. Why even respond if all you have to offer is this sort of dissension. What team would wish for your inclusion? Your responses are those I would expect to see from 15 year olds on MySpace. And even there they are more adult than your behavior has shown you to be.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

If I could close this thread, I would just to end this shit! You've won, you've managed to close down a reasonable exchange amongst members that wished to share. Feel like a big man now? You're the professional aren't you Mr. Meriwhether you and Harvey, well have fun talking amongst yourselves.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

You are crude, rude, and if you are an animation professional, I doubt it, if this is the type of discourse you resort in. Why even respond if all you have to offer is this sort of dissension. What team would wish for your inclusion? Your responses are those I would expect to see from 15 year olds on MySpace. And even there they are more adult than your behavior has shown you to be.

...cant stop laughing.
...someone tries to inject a little comic relief into a thread, and you get whiners like THIS little girl boo hoo hooing that everything isnt all serious and nice...raised on Care Bears, were you?..every time I cashed a paycheque on that abomination I wondered what sort of humourless milktoast would watch such shit...now I know.

fred c. dobbs (no sir)

So you worked on a worthless commercial piece of shit like Care Bears, should I bow down to you. You probably only tweened someone else's characters. You aren't some big know it all shit! You are just another monkey working on someone else's crap. I was beyond Care Bears when you were selling yourself out. You lowly piece of crap, don't even attempt to paint me with your brush.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

Don't even try to smear Scooter. She had more heart and soul than you will ever have.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

You hide behind behind anonymity. You say you are a professional, but who the hell knows, we've never seen any of your work. We have no way of knowing who the hell you are.

Scooter might have only weighed 7 lbs, but she never hid her identity. She charged life with everything she had, and sometimes it got her into trouble. She challenged even those much larger than herself.

Have you lived you life like that?

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

You say you are a professional, but who the hell knows, we've never seen any of your work. .

If you must insist on putting something in my mouth, I'd prefer it wasnt your made up lies.

you called ME a professional, I call myself the lowliest of lowlies, a scrubber of commodes, an emptier of buckets and a trimmer of unwanted hair (and not a very good one at that)...

woof woof

So you worked on a worthless commercial piece of shit like Care Bears, should I bow down to you.

yes...yes you should.

one of the good folks at hallmark

PS.. I lick my lips every time I think about Scooter

You should watch your ass. Or perhaps your little dick. But it may be too small to discern.

Pat Hacker, Visit Scooter's World.

You should watch your ass.

due to a serious physical trauma I suffered at the hands of a cruel Mr Pagan (he of the Undigested Retrieval Corporation) I AM in fact able to watch my ass...you might have seen the film they made about me, Looking at Yesterday's Meal, starring John Travolta.

chubby mccabe

Alright; let's everyone take a deep breath and calm down.

If anyone feels the need to swap epithets or question sizes further, could you please take it to PMs? We don't need to watch you guys curse at each other.

Tsk,Tsk, a pissing contest.

Makes for an exciting read, but scat throwing is best left to simians in the zoo.

For Phacker, I think there's been a LOT of this discourse that contributes to the theme of the topic.

You asked what got us interested in animation, you got answers. Some of us folks injected humour into the mix.
Consider that "humour" is part of what got us interested into the biz in the first place.

Its not always the craft, sometimes its the people.
Soetimes those people are salt of the earth, sometimes they are something you scrape off your shoe.
Folks like Ulalume and Mr. Merriweather are people I'm "pretty sure" I've met and worked alongside ( giggles) and if my suspicions are correct, can vouch for them to the end of the day. And then some.
Ulalume is certainly not bitter, and Herr. Merriweather is more pithy and pointed than trollish.
Even when they jest, they are telling you like it is.

There's some voices here that have a very pragmatic POV--but pragmatic because they've seen both side of the equation--the positives and negatives in the biz.
That tends to make one not only worldly, but, yea........a but weary too.

I know a few bodies from the Care Bear days, and I'd certainly NOT lambast them for their work. A lot of those souls are the foundation of the current biz these days. Yea, the cartoon might be lame, but the hands that made sure as shootin' are not. I arrived just on the tail end of all that stuff, and was on the wrong side of the continent for it, but I respect the guys that were over there.

And for the topic, you'll only get so many voices chiming it on what got them interested in animation, this thread can evolve (as many have) into what's KEPT them interested in animation.

For my esteemed Ulalume, I have bite marks and teeth trenches all over mine own thorax from the animation bug. It has bitten, but its vile venom has never run its course, never altered my DNA to that of yours and others.
I retain the flame of being a wayward comic book artist, still to this day. Though storyboards and such be my bread and butter, its remains so because I'm a lazy fark. Comics is an even scarier occupation than animation these days, and were my coronary muscle strong, my bowels be not. That and a missus now rips my sense of adventure from me and veers it towards home, hearth and car payments.
That and everytime I nestle down to actually "do my own thang" the farkin phone rings with more work offers.
Every. Time.

Look on the brightside, Phacker--the thread is 5 pages long at this point....
By the time is winds down, I'd expect you to have your posed question answered in ways you never dreamed of.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

That and a missus now rips my sense of adventure from me and veers it towards home, hearth and car payments.

Word, my brutha.

nice thread, but a nicer one could be

how unbelievably disgusting some of the guys we
worked for and those things that we had to go through
just to keep the job

and how we think of it now, time having given us
a better perspective

for after all, no matter how badly we think others have treated us,
it's our reaction that ultimately shapes our character in the end.

ps
a toast to good ol' scooter, phacker.

Don't worry.  All shall be well.

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