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Complete Newbie Looking for Advice

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Complete Newbie Looking for Advice

Hi there everyone, I'm a musician first and foremost looking to invest an equally ridiculous amount of my spare time into learning how to animate. I primarily wanna get good enough over the next year or so to be able to animate music videos but other mediums of animation would be fun to experiment with too. My friends and I have these pipe dreams of creating a succesful YouTube channel, TV shows, content of that nature, whilst also being in a band, so having some in house animation would be great DIY asset.

I used to be a good artist for a 10 year old but since then I have dedicated my artistic side to music. I'd like to delve back into this again but feel like I've lost an edge and am a little unpracticed. That being said, what would be a good tool or software to get started with animation for someone who is a novice? If it helps, the art style I would most likely be going for would be a kind of medieval psychedelic vibe, at least for some of the early music videos I'm looking to make:

Think Chad Vangaalen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKHD6INztfA

Meets King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8azlP-FgHs

On a few tabs of chivalry hanging out with nymphs and fairies

Image result for tarot cards

 Image result for tarot cards

I was also considering taking

I was also considering taking an online course. If anyone has taken a good one, I'd love to hear about it and be directed to it. I'm in the UK if that helps.

Well I downloaded the After

Well I downloaded the After Effects trial, Cinema4D and I'm thinking about getting Toon Boom Harmony if anyone cares lol. This forum seems pretty dead...

Hi Bard,

Hi Bard,

Adobe AfterEffects would be a pretty good tool if you want to create 2D animations by using rigs and pre-drawn bodyparts of characters exported from Adobe Illustrator or video effects and particles.
However, there is a way to draw directly into AE but I find it counter-intuitive since that's what AE is not built for apparently. (and the Adobe list of never added features keeps growing)

If you want to create more traditional-ish animations frame by frame I'd look at Adobe Animate, Harmony ToonBoom, TV Paint or even Photoshop.

I'd recommend handdrawn animation softwares or AfterEffects over 3D animation (such as Cinema4D) as this has a pretty high learning curve having to learn modeling, texturing, lighting, rigging, animation and compositing.

And yes, this forum does appear to be kind of dead :(
I just registered today and wanted to check how much activity there was. I might leave if it stays this way.

You should definitely learn

You should definitely learn to animate. And you must start right away.  With decent amount of skills you can be self-employed but you must always be on the lookout for new freelance assignments. You can also get employed full-time by companies and studios. However, you need to know that the work weeks are often long, and animators sometimes work nights and weekends too.

I will recommend considering

I will recommend considering tarot cards as inspiration. Those cards were elaborated a long time ago in Italy. They got their spiritual meaning a few centuries after. But, before using something like that, you will want to check the meaning of the images you want to use. Many people nowadays believe in tarot cards images meaning, so check everything. You don't want negative attention to use just because of some pictures that might mean "death". Good luck, and I hope you will be successful in what you are planning to do!

Exploring tarot cards for

Exploring tarot cards for inspiration is a great idea! Tarot cards have a rich history dating back to Italy, gaining spiritual significance over centuries. To enhance your tarot reading, make sure to thoroughly understand the meanings behind each image to avoid any unintended negative connotations. Best of luck with your best tarot reading journey; may it bring you success and positive experiences!