Are you an animator?

[furtech]

Do you remember why you wanted to be an animator in the first place? How long has it been since you thought about that passion-- instead of fretting about keeping your current job or getting your next one? Unfortunately in the Real World those lofty ideals you embraced in college (or before college) are often sidetracked for the more urgent needs of just surviving. There are rare instances of those who still-- even after years of being beaten down by the realities of the animation industry-- still manage to do unique creations springing from their original passion for animation (hi, martes. But most of us (myself included) just get beaten down.

Michael Sporn's blog is the blog of a professional animator who has managed to nurture his passion for animation even after years of being a professional animator. His work speaks for itself and his posts are both well-written and filled with that, "I want to be an animator!" zeal that originally got many of us pointed in this direction.

Read it for a daily dose of zeal...check out his archives for the treasure-trove of information, notes. In particular, the notes from a seminar Richard Williams held in 1973, inviting animators from all over the world to speak to his crew just prior to his Ragedy Anne film. These are pretty raw (notes on a lecture that weren't intended to teach)-- but well worth pouring over-- that focus on the incredibly personal process of bringing drawings to life.

Here's a nice bit about the trend for new animators to make shorts that are more sales pitches than good short films. Further down this page are scans of the Ken Anderson Layout Training Course from 1936. Just a sample of the amazing information you can find in this blog-- it's like the warehouse from Indiana Jones, but easier to use!

Here's a sample from a post: one page of Richard Williams notes from the Art Babbit lecture in 1973:

Comments

[cooner.livejournal.com]

It's so easy for the Hollywood machine to chew you up and embitter you ... to this day I still have a hard time watching and enjoying almost any animated stuff on television and most of the stuff released theatrically.

That said, I still want to create something, so if I can't work on something big in the studio system, I'll scale it back and do what I can independently ... most likely in the form of a comic. Of course I've been saying that for years, and waiting for life to settle down enough that I have the time and financial security to devote time for it ... but life never does settle down, does it? I'm making progress towards that goal this year, though ... getting too frustrated with constantly working for scraps on other people's projects and having nothing to show for it, so hopefully soon I'll be able to pull things together.

And yeah, while in principle I'd love the idea of one of my projects developing into a high-profile TV series, I don't think I could do one of those marketed sales pitches. First of all because, well, I don't like most of what's on TV, so I'd want to do something very different from the glut of what's being aired now. And second, well, I'd want to maintain creative control over a TV series based on an idea of mine. Obviously the chances of that happening are close to nil, so I won't even worry about it right now. :)

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Ya' gotta make time to do the things you love! And if you're going to do that, make it personal!

[kaijugal.livejournal.com]

Your post grabbed me immediately. ^_^

My college trainning is in classical animation, which is not the booming buisness of yesteryear.

Very few of my school friends, even the most talented are still in the Classical Animation buisness.

Fortunately costuming has been a life long passion, and when the glamour of animation started to wane, I was still heavily dedicated to costuming.

I do find myself warning a new generation of would be animators about the perils of entering the buisness. (And of course, just as I did, they completely ignore the advice of someone who's been there). *Wry grin*

Thanks for posting this.
Cheers! :)

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Animation's a tough business these days is right. I have a number of classically trained animator friends who are doing everything -but- animation. At least you found a great way to express yourself!

[crimsonyoukai.livejournal.com]

Hey! I'm just like the person above me. I was attracted to your journal thru this post. I am an art major (animation), but i've been discouraged about animation lately. What with all the expenses rising these days. haha.

I skimmed thru your journal and saw other very interesting entries. Would you mind if I added you as a friend? :)

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the reminder about that blog... The internet really steals time away, and scatters things so much that a lot of time can go by between remembering to visit so much of the great stuff out there...
Time. Related to your post itself, it had a lot to do with where I decided to hang it up and go in other directions... but so many factors (ferocity replaced fun in the late 90s, being one of them) influenced things for me..

[iisaw.livejournal.com]

*heh* I'm slowly working on a new project... when I'm not animating bacteria growing.

It's hard to hold on to passion... until you see the results of some good work.