Hi everyone!

[Vanessa]

Hello! My name is Vanessa. I'm an aspiring animator living in Alabama. I've been looking around this forum for a few days and had to join. Everyone here seems so nice and helpful, and I've already learned so much!

I've wanted to be an animator since high school but didn't have a very good start. I studied animation at a local community college and had a bad experience with it, and I regret that I let that stop me for as long as it did. Now I'm trying to teach myself as much as I can before hopefully moving out of state and going back to college in a few years.

I can't wait to start participating here (and joining Don's Club ASAP). Thanks, everybody! :)

[akkushisu]

Welcome to the forum, Vanessa! It's very admirable that you're not giving up on your dreams despite the setbacks in your life. That kind of determination is indeed a rarity nowadays. Again, welcome, and I hope to see you around more! :D

[OwenWelsh]

Welcome Vanessa, we are glad you are here.

[arif]

welcome to forum and Club........hope you will be enjoining a lottttttt here........

[zanekohler]

Welcome! The fact you left and are back at it speaks volumes. Great to see you made it here and am looking forward to seeing your participation! :)

[Vanessa]

Thank you so much for the nice welcome. This is such a great community. :)

[andrew sharp]

Welcome to the site Vanessa grab a pencil and jump in:)

[3ddrew]

Welcome to the club, Vanessa! :)

[Rodney]

Welcome to the forum Vanessa!

You mentioned a bad experience with animation at a community college.
If it's not getting too personal can you elaborate on that?

The reason I ask is that it's important that animation education increase it's role in local communities and it'd be nice to avoid the pitfalls there.

I suspect community courses are highly dependent on the experience of the animator's there. I speak from a slightly painful yet rewarding experience in teaching young kids sequential art and animation through the community's extension center. I really shouldn't have been teaching (I didn't know much myself) but they asked me to teach kids about cartooning and then asked me again for animation. The painful part was approaching the material without a firm understanding myself and a few kids probably weren't challenged enough, lost interest and got distracted along the way. The rewarding part was working with those kids really dove into the work and inspired me to want to stay. In truth, all of those kids were special. I wonder where they all are today. :)

Teachers don't always have all the tools, knowledge and experience they need but most will give their best to the effort.

I hope you'll find being here a richly rewarding experience. :)



*I should note, the courses I taught ('Basic Cartooning' and 'Beginning Animation') were way back in '85/'86? A lot has changed and information about animation is a whole lot easier to come by today!

[arif]

The Most worth things here is to show `our work to our Mentor`..sir Don Bluth......and get critics from him directly by asking and showing works during our `Live seminar` time on Wednesday...:D..you can do it from anywhere of the world.........no matters where you live...and of course....we are a great community and so helpful to each others....especially Don...:D

[Vanessa]

I'm very excited about that, Arif! :D I'm joining Don's Club first thing next month.

[Vanessa]

Oh, wow... Somehow I missed all those other posts.

You mentioned a bad experience with animation at a community college.
If it's not getting too personal can you elaborate on that?

It's not personal. The school I was attending didn't have a good animation department. It was just one class, one professor, and even though we got to show our work to professionals twice a month, the teacher had no experience with animation, wasn't involved in the class, and didn't seem to have a lot of interest in the subject. After two semesters, I realized I wasn't learning anything, wasn't advancing, and was unhappy with the program-- and, I thought, animation. The rest of my class, really talented people having the same problems, left either before or right after I did.

It took me a while to realize that the class was the problem (and, to be honest, my motivation at the time), not animation itself, and that I could start to teach myself. I've already learned so much more from books, the internet, observation and practice, and I'm even more enthusiastic now than I was then. :)

The rewarding part was working with those kids really dove into the work and inspired me to want to stay. In truth, all of those kids were special. I wonder where they all are today.

That's so nice. :) It's obvious that you cared a lot about your job and animation. I hope I find a lot of teachers like that where ever I go next.

[Ben Sword]

It took me a while to realize that the class was the problem (and, to be honest, my motivation at the time), not animation itself, and that I could start to teach myself. I've already learned so much more from books, the internet, observation and practice, and I'm even more enthusiastic now than I was then. :)

I think you will get a lot out of this forum.
Ive had a lot of things that kept me from pursuing animation, mainly lack of encouragement.
Here at least you can see other people's work and progress which can give you ideas on how to improve and encourage you to keep working. Plus the Seminar is a lot of help too. :)

[Rodney]

Thanks for the answer Vanessa.

I've heard of similar experiences before (all too frequently) and it's a difficult problem to overcome. Schools often realize they need animation in their curriculum but don't always have the ways and means to get that done.

I suspect smaller communities especially have this problem as there may be few artists with animation experience and an interest in teaching to tap into. Not all animators make good teachers either.

In these cases schools are necessarily 'stuck' with whomever is willing to conduct the class. Keep in mind that animation is a very broad category teachers of 'Disney-style-character-animation' will be even harder to come by. Over the years I've noted that most schools have had a broader based 'experimental animation' approach to animation studies. While this is useful in many ways it is sure to be frustrating for aspiring cartoon character animators. In those courses I think the instructor secondary job is as a dream crusher... Cartoons?!? Oh no, we don't do that sort of stuff here. When are you going to grow up!?! Aspiring animators are then forced to deal in terms of the eternal struggle of 'what is art'?. This can be fun for a little while but inevitably proves to be frustrating.

Of course, I would think some communities near animation epicenters are exactly the opposite and may have a wide range of animators to learn from.

My thought here is that the aspiring animator may benefit by seeking out retired animators and those artists who for one reason or another have moved away from that artform. The classic example I can think of is Grim Natwick. This legendary animator (and creator of Betty Boop) was living in a small town in Missouri. Few probably even realized the extent of his knowledge and talent.

It's hard to say how many experienced animators are living fairly close to you right now. While it's best to get a broad perspective from a wide array of talents, the minimum requirement is... one.

The good thing you can take away from your bad experience with animation is that your future experiences will always improve on that first one. That experience is highly valuable so use it to fullest advantage. I will even go so far to say that because of your experience, you are better prepared than most to measure what success in animation tastes like. Something for which there is no curriculum.

[Vanessa]

Ive had a lot of things that kept me from pursuing animation, mainly lack of encouragement.
Here at least you can see other people's work and progress which can give you ideas on how to improve and encourage you to keep working. Plus the Seminar is a lot of help too.

If there's one thing I miss about my old class (aside from the access to all that equipment!) it's the feeling of being part of a community. So I'm very happy to be here.


Over the years I've noted that most schools have had a broader based 'experimental animation' approach to animation studies. While this is useful in many ways it is sure to be frustrating for aspiring cartoon character animators.

I've never done any experimental animation. It seems like it would be fun to try, like you said, for a little while, but I'm definitely in this to make cartoons. :)


Of course, I would think some communities near animation epicenters are exactly the opposite and may have a wide range of animators to learn from.

This is why I hope to relocate for school, eventually. Alabama isn't what I'd call an animation epicenter. (Too often, I've had to define the word "animation" in conversations.) It's hard to imagine any retired animators living here, but you never know. I'll look into that. And I know I'll learn a lot here, especially once I join Don's Club. :)

The good thing you can take away from your bad experience with animation is that your future experiences will always improve on that first one. That experience is highly valuable so use it to fullest advantage. I will even go so far to say that because of your experience, you are better prepared than most to measure what success in animation tastes like. Something for which there is no curriculum.

Thank you again, Rodney. I've been kind of insecure about my reasons for leaving the class, and the fact that I left at all, for a while. This has been very helpful, and I'm feeling more confident already. :)

[JoshSketchInMotion]

Welcome Vanessa! Glad you could join us here! I hope you find the things you need in learning animation. There are a lot of great people here to help you out so feel free to ask questions. Best of luck!