Starting studying in animation

Hey fellas!
This is a slightly long post I did on one of Orkut forums related to animation. It was about how to start studying animation. I thought I should write it all just to help fellow animation aspirants start studying. I am posting it on this blog to share it with everyone, even outside orkut.

So, heres my post. Please note that this content was posted on a community called "animation aspirants - Indians", so it is in reference to the animation training scenario in India and might not apply to other countries.

Hi everyone,
I felt that theres a need to put all information on how to start in animation. Instead of people starting new thread again and again asking the same question, I thought I could put up all my thoughts here.
Animation is ART. It takes time to learn it. Education in animation is never complete.
Check out possible options for studying. There are schools like NID, IIT Powai, IIT Guwahati that teach animation in India. ou can study by your own too. There are many animators like Victor Navone from Pixar who are self taught. I have some points about how to go about this below.
Learn about other schools, what you need to get there.. AnimationMentor.com, CalArts, Sheridan College, Ringling school . AM is more possible options for us Indians as its easier to get into AM than into CalArts becuase the number of seats are a little more and it turns out less costly.AM was suggested 2 years ago to me by an animator at Prana Studios, one of the best animation studios in India. Students are mentored by real animators from major studios in the US and beyond like Pixar, ILM, Dreamworks, Sony, Weta, Tippet and so many awesome studios! You get professionals to critique your work. They "mentor" us in the real sense of the term. I know its costly, but it pays off in the end. But mind you, it is not that once you get into AM, you will simply emerge out to be animators. Its difficult to keep up to their expectations. Yes, animation is extremely difficult !

Most "academies" and "institues" are places where they teach how to click buttons in softwares. It has been long since people are being cheated without even knowing it. Wake up guys!! Stop from being fooled.
Forget words like "diploma", "degree", "PG", "Engineering in animation", "animation specialist professional". Animation Studios just dont give a damn to what papers called "course certificate" you have. Its only your work thats going to get your foot inside the doors of a big studio. Demo-reel is one of the most important things a student of should focus on. Find out what makes a demo-reel stellar and different than others.

Dont get caught up into institutions promising to make you into animators by learning software! Dont get carried away by people telling you learning software is animation. They'll mostly teach you modelling,rigging n Not the Real art of animation.SOFTWARE IS JUST A TOOL just as Pencil is a tool. You have a pencil in your hands since you were a child. But not everyone who can hold or scribble with a pencil is an animator. In the very same way, not everyone who can use Maya or Flash or 3ds Max is an animator. Get into Animation only if you are really Passionate about it!
Watch a lot of animated movies ! Understand the motion, dynamics, acting. Also watch all types of movies, dont restrict yourself to animated ones. Get these books "The animator's Survival Kit - Richard Williams" and "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation". Study those books, Read them, dont just flip through looking at beautiful pictures, Dont copy from those books. Get a pencil and start sketching.. go out.. a nearby park, a Cafe and observe people and their movements, behaviour. Start making flip books.
Get a webcam and shoot images of each of ur drawings and make videos and check how it looks. Draw, Draw and Draw ! Search the internet for articles.
Watch a lot of movies - live action as well as animated. Watch movies more meaningful than staple bollywood masala flicks.
If you want to learn software to complement your animation skills, you can just buy tutorial dvds from digital tutors (http://www.digitaltutors.com/store/home.php?cat=51) and learn from it. Each dvd will cost you some $46. You get to choose which specific topics in the software to study. In the end it turns out a lot cheaper and even LOT MORE useful.

BUT remember, this is only for understanding the software which is just a pencil and paper for an animator.
If you really wanna study animation and not remain jobless or work in some dingy institute, dont put importance on the software. S/W is totally secondary.

Now is the time !!
The Internet is here at your finger-tips, make use of it.
Go to youtube, search for demoreels of animators.
Check out blogs of animators.
Visit carlosbaena.com, www.navone.org , www.synchrolux.com , all of them have a lot of valuable stuff to read. Search for more stuff such blogs.
Check out JasonRyanAnimation.com for Video Tutorials (paid).
Go to http://www.animationmentor.com/tipsandtricks/signup.html and get yourself the e-book. It is n amazingly helpful book.
Join free online forums like www.cgchar-animation.com , CGTantra if you want to discuss animation and learn more from upcoming animators.
Many will point that most of the resources are paid. Yes, nothing comes for free, almost. Except for some blogs and articles on the internet a lot is paid stuff. Well, you should be grateful that so many people are ready to open their knowledge to us ! If they arent paid for their efforts, they would stop doing it and the art form would neve reach us !
YouTube is a great thing happened to our world. There are so many videos for reference, so many clips and documentaries to study from. We are lucky to have such a source just a click away.

Its time to change the animation training/learning scene around us guys. It will change only with us. If you want to learn the art badly, go for it.
Dedicate yoursef 100% to it and remember to have fun all the way.

Good Luck ! :)

If you want to take at the original topic I started on the orkut community, here it is.. http://www.orkut.co.in/CommMsgs.aspx?cmm=17738106&tid=5208531587475126042

Kung Fu Panda and Legendary Animation !

Kung Fu Panda !!
This latest movie from Dreamworks Animation is a hell of a ride ! The animation will blow you away. You actually feel the agility of the fighters and the weight of the beloved panda Po. The fight scenes are so full of strength and action, you just get hooked to it. The story is not something very different, the trailers give much of it away. But still, the movie is a must watch !

The opening sequence of the movie in 2d was done by James Baxter Animation. This sequence alongwith the music that accompanies it, sets the pace for the movie and makes sure your eyes stay glued to the screen for rest of the movie. The end titles in 2d were done by a collaboration with Shine studios and James Baxter Animation.
Here are a few clips out of the start and end titles sequences of the movie at kevin Koch's blog.
http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=242
http://www.synchrolux.com/?p=240
If you havnt yet seen it, you are missing out a lot of good animation treat for your eyes ;) I would love to see an entire movie animated like that :D
Now I am going to frame by frame through this piece of animation gold !

Class One - the last week

Its one month since my last post. Last four weeks I was too busy animating that I really couldnt find time to update this space. We had to do two walks over two weeks each. One Vanilla walk (plain everyday walk) and one personality walk. Choosing a personality walk was one tiring thing for me. I had so many ideas to go for. I did a Moon-walk first but later kept it aside to go for a happy playful walk as the moon-walk would be a dance and less of a personality.

My mentor Jalil liked the final assignment and he said he dint have anything to point-out. This was the best moment of my term at AM. In week12 we also get personal feedback from our mentor about whats our strengths and areas of improvement. Jalil said that he was happy with my way of working as well as the understanding of principles. I started the class with some problems in understanding weight, but soon overcame it in some weeks.

Two of the biggest things I learnt from him are 1. Depicting weight in animation and 2. Treating every frame of animation as a drawing. Its amazing how he went through the animation assignments frame-by-frame. I really mean it -- frame - by - frame ! Even a slight posing problem, pop in motion, timing issues, nothing can go past him. This detailed critiquing helped me a lot. Its surprising how personalized crits from such experienced people can help one understand so much.

All of the term my class had a lot of fun! Its great how we get to know our mentor so well. Jalil is an insanely awesome guy ! He had a quiz for every week's Q&A for us. It was a superb way of learning and discussing. The winner of the Quiz who had most points at the end of the term would get a T-shirt from a movie production thats finished at the studio where he works, Weta Digital, NZ. Guess who won it ? Me !! So, I'll be awaiting the Tee as a souvenir of class1 :)

Heres my progress Reel for class1



This term has been so awesome! In some weeks of starting the term, we got a chance to talk to Shawn Kelly, ILM animator and co-founder of AM. It was So cool to be able to talk to him personally !

Now we gonna have a break for a week and then jump into class2 for some more action :)