Anonymous asked:

It's the "Since I'm doing the minimum effort to keep my mediocre show alive any constructive criticism that could come for my future projects is invalid". Well no wonder this current gen of animators are a joke.

C’mon man, be real. You and I both know that what you said certainly didn’t count as constructive criticism; let’s not pretend that was a message sent in good faith.

Here’s something I can say, in all seriousness, that I hope can help you:

Right now is the easiest time in all of history to make your own animation. People used to have to do everything on paper, use film cameras to take photos of it, then wait a few days to see if it worked. Then do this for every background and colored cel and do it this way for years. Then they had to physically ship it to theaters and TV stations (more film, video, and shipping costs) and then had to market the thing like crazy! It would have to go through layers upon layers of executives and focus groups and all kinds of stuff because it all cost so much money and it took multiple years to make things. That’s also why there just wasn’t that much animation a couple decades ago compared to now.

Now? You can download animation software, make an entire short film at home, put it all on youtube, and build your own audience online with your own creative vision, not obligated to make anyone happy but yourself, all for free. This level of freedom wasn’t even available 10 years ago. There’s really no excuse anymore to not be making your own stuff, and to not be beholden to the whims of some other creator.

So go make something! You clearly have some strong opinions on art, which is helpful to have in a creator. If you’re really upset that the world isn’t making the stuff you want to see, then use your vision to create your own!

Here’s some animation programs to help get you started:

FREE:

- Pencil 2D https://www.pencil2d.org/

- Opentoonz https://opentoonz.github.io/e/

- Blender (3d) https://www.blender.org/

- DAZ studio (3D, part of what I first learned in high school and still use) https://www.daz3d.com/technology

- GIMP (what I first learned on) https://www.gimp.org/

MONEY:

- Photoshop and After Effects ($53 a month): https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html?single_app=photoshop

- Toonboom ($15-$73 a month or $375 perpetual license): https://www.toonboom.com/

- TV Paint ($616-$1539) https://www.tvpaint.com/

- Maya (3D, free for students, $1129 a year for professionals) https://www.autodesk.com/products/maya/overview

- 3DS Max (3D, $1129 a year for professionals) https://www.autodesk.com/products/3ds-max/overview

- Carrara (3D, $285, what I used in high school, bought by DAZ) https://www.daz3d.com/carrara-8-5-pro

Obviously if your general trajectory is to try and get into the industry at large, the pay programs are what everyone uses, so those would be good ones to learn. If you wanna do indie stuff though and be your own boss, then use whatever you want! Most of these programs are very similar to eachother, and skills you pick up in one program (free or otherwise) can usually translate to another program pretty easily.

I would also recommend taking a hard look at what you have already and working within your means. Some people get discouraged because they think they also need a wacom tablet or something, but that’s not true. If you think about what styles and techniques can look good that aren’t hand drawn, then you can start to go down the paths of pixel art, stop motion, CG, collage, special effects, etc. There are a lot of avenues to explore that don’t require drawing skills.

I hope this helps you in some way.