Does anything slow you down??

I wonder this everyday, what slows me down and how I can overcome such obstacles. The recent obstacle that I have run across is the cold & flu season. It gets me how they can know exactly when people get sick and capitalize on it with advertisements that come out at the exact same time, is it by chance or engineered.
    What ever it may be I am still plagued by a head cold. Does this slow me down, yes a little. But I still have the passion and the flame to animate in me everyday. I have been working on the animatic of the first episode, "The power of Muk-Muk". I am currently on scene #12 out of 44 I believe. I did not understand how much it takes to produce a short until recently. It may be a little daunting, but the satisfaction is tremendous, even though I am feeling less than par.
    There are somethings that slow me down that are just out of necessity, such as work. Work is necessary to provide for our families and keep the lights on. Though at work my thoughts are that of home and working on projects.
    So when you feel like something is slowing you down or becoming an obstacle, keep in mind your goals and passion and push through. This will keep your projects on track and create positive forward movement.

(a digital painting from my portfolio)

Wishing for more animators

I have been working on this project for a while, I posted it on Artella and gained some interest from others to join my project. Lets just say that I am still the only one plugging away at this project still. It can be tough for one animator to create a quality animation all by themselves, but it is also rewarding as well. I look forward everyday to working on another shot to get this project done so that I can showcase it. I think the last count for this episode there are 44 shots. I am currently creating the animatic for it, and I am on shot 9. That is not to bad for a couple of weeks work. I am hoping to finish out the clean up by Christmas and begin the compositing of the voice overs and sound effects. Like I said, a lot for one person to do, but I have something that I am passionate about and get to work on it everyday. Happiness, plain and simple happiness.

 

This is a frame shot of the foot print that is in scene 8, this is after a giant mech's foot comes down upon the the poor butterfly, which you can see parts of in the middle of the impression. There are leaves, rocks and debris that is falling from the foot that just lifted up. The next shot/scene is very emotional, this is where the battle between Muk-Muk and the mech takes place, and it is epic!

Stay tuned for more updates! 

Again, thank you to everyone that reeds this production/rant blog of a dedicated animator. :)

Got side tracked a bit.

Today was a good day, why, you might ask. Today I found a really well documentary on Hayo Miyazaki. The movie is called "The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness", which I believes reflects everything I know an believe about animation, what it  means to me. It was so inspirational and moving, anything this man touches or is a part of evokes emotion. I am still feeling affected by it even though 6 hours have passed, wow, what a movie.
I will have to let you see it to feel it, I cannot put into words that will justly describe the meaning of this film. So, watch it if you are really wanting to be a master animator someday.

     I was able to start some preliminary sketches on the second episode, "The Power of Muk-Muk" today while I was doing laundry at the local wash. Trying to make the best of the situation lol.
Once all of the first season of this new series comes out I plan on creating an art of book. But that is for later to ponder over, remember from yesterday's blog, keep focused.

 

I could post images from this studio all day, big fan, the biggest perhaps.

Today's progress

Today we are working on the first episode. I found out the importance of backing up or constantly saving your work as you proceed. I lost two scenes and have to go back and redo them, all because of my computer doing an automatic update! So you can probably guess what I did next, I disabled the auto update. But I still frequently update my work now to avoid losing a days worth of work.

If you want to see some of the progress we are doing you can visit my YouTube channel and look for some of the production videos I have posted. I am going to make a point to give this series its own channel some day soon. So much to do and not enough daylight, but what can I say, I love what I do!
YouTube here 

I wanted to thank everyone who reads my blog, you take the time to read my rants, updates. If there is anything you want to know just post a message or a reply and I will get back to you. I am taking more effort to post something everyday now, like a visual diary and/or production report. It helps me keep on task.

Here is a picture I did in my spare time, LOL, spare time...I like that.
Just want to give you some visual inspiration so that you are not reading text all the time. :)

Which software do you like?

What software do you use to create your animations? I personally have used most of the 2D and 3D software packages that are available to everyone. There is a long list of one that I like and more so a longer list of those that I don't. I personally want to primarily focus on 2D software because that is what this whole blog is about. When I was young like so many out there I loved Walt Disney's cartoons and the Saturday line up.
     Back then they only offered a pencil and paper to create you animations. 2D software was not available to the general public. Drawing programs such as Corel Draw where just coming out in high school and by time I made it to college, 3D programs had started to emerge.
2D animation programs have gained traction for the past few decades, giving more amateur and professionals the ability to create animations out side the major studios.
    Now these days there are too many choices and the everyday animator is inundated with so many tutorials not only on how to use these programs, but on how to animate as well. There are so few out there that actually are worth following and learning from. Most of the cartoons that are even being produced by big name studios lack the fine art luster that the whole art form was built on. You cannot tell me that most of the "Saturday" cartoons that are produced today have the same quality to inspire and motivate the future generations to pick up a pencil and tell their stories. If you do find other artist who have the qualities and skills that can teach you to hone your own skills as an animator, seek them out and stick with it.
    Many animators out there are wondering why they cannot make progress with their own animations, I too have felt this way at times. The reason behind this is that you are so worried with missing out on learning a new technique, or trying to learn someone from someone else on Youtube,  that you loose sight and focus on developing your own projects and skills. I cannot tell you how many hours I have lost trying to learn from others, even sites that are there to professionally teach you.  Animation is an art of self discipline, You need to find a way to discipline yourself when your creative mind starts to wander.
    At the beginning of this post I asked you what 2D software you use, many animators that are just starting out feel that they need the best software out there to create works like that of bigger studios. This is a great way to lead yourself astray. The software is only a tool. Many software companies will boast that they can provide you with tools that will take most of the work out of animating for you. That they have automated the process so that you don't have to waste countless hours animating repetitive task. This type of thinking is what takes the magic out of 2D! I can prove it.

   
     The company who put out the OpenToonz produced this software for Studio Ghibli to composite their work into a finished product. If you notice how beautiful each one of Hayo's films are and then look at the tool set that Toonz software offers, you will notice that there is no magic button that creates these beautiful works of art. The magic is made by the artist that helped create the films, the software just organized their work into a cohesive story.  But I have seen since the release of this software so many tutorials explaining that if you learn this software, you too can create films like Miyazaki.  This is far from the truth, just another way to commercialize on popularity of something else. You as the artist will be the determining factor to the success of your film, not software. Software is a tool to help you tell the story, your art and ability to translate your ideas and imagination is what will determine your success.
    Keep these points in mind when you go to watch another video or consider buying more software that tries to automate everything for you. You will sell your own talents and artistic abilities short.

    As for the topic at hand, the 2D software I have chosen is TVPaint Pro. The reason being is that I love the flexibility of being able to use both vector based tools (like Animate CC) and Bitmap(like Photoshop). Other than that the rest of the features are more like a bonus if I have extra time to play around with them. As an example, TVPaint offers an FX stack that allows you to create smoke or particles automatically. It does not look natural or realistic no matter how much you tweak it, the randomness that occurs in nature is hard to reproduce using algorithm's. They do it in 3D programs, but it takes a physicist and a programmer to get good results.
  On a final note, the best 2D animation software that you can invest in is YOU! develop and hone your own skills as an artist, use the tools and focus on your own work.

Stay tuned to our next article : Using 3D to create better 2D shots. 

managed to post a new tutorial on YouTube! Watch it here : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClO7qI5B5uGbsWlRJrvwOGg
I have been working fervently on the first episode of "The adventure of Muk-Muk". We are working on the animatic which will be used for our final pass.
I am also working on a book for animators, giving insight into how animation is created and the foundation in which it is built upon. I am finding that the best way to create a successful animation, an artist needs to understand and master the basics of art itself. Learning to master subjects as form and function, anatomy, perspective, color theory just to name a few. Without the foundation, your animations will not become what you inspire it to be.
Follow this link to see the storyboards to our first episode : Muk-Muk storyboards
Let us know what you think of the project so far :)