# Patience/Tolerance for animation?



## MaikeruNezumi (Feb 10, 2017)

I want to know how to build up a patience and/or tolerance to animate.
I'm taking an animation class in college right now and it's really stressing me out with how much I have to put into it, and I was wondering if anybody had some tips for animating to make this class less stressful for me.


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## katalistik (Feb 10, 2017)

...animations class...yeah,a nasty thing indeed.
It is a hard thing to learn but just imagine how rewarding will be in the future.Some people do it for fun,some because they want to learn something new etcaetera.
I can't give you proper tips but I know that if you will try your best you will get used with it.Good luck.


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## PlusThirtyOne (Feb 10, 2017)

Hopefully the class will teach you proper methods of HOW to animate instead of just showing how to use animation _software_.
You mentioned patience. Patience is important because of how long it takes to animated certain things. You may be super tempted to take shortcuts or scrap frames for time's sake but if you learn the proper method of "carving out" an animation, you can learn to entertain yourself with progress through the animating process. For instance, if you were to animate each and every frame one at a time to completion; sketch, line, ink, color, details, THEM move into the next frame, you're attention is going to stagnate and you'll start losing patience. Animation takes a looooong time if you want the end product to look good. if you animate your subjects properly through building on the details rather than penning them all in at once, you'll be able to see your animation grow.

Does that makes sense? Think of it this way. EVERY FRAME along your timeline should have equal work completed and equal work left. Rather than starting from one end of the timeline and completing each frame one at a time. This was the lesson that i learned getting into animation. i highly recommend the Animator's Survival Kit. in fact, i'd be shocked it it wasn't a part of your curriculum. The only piece of advice i wouldn't follow is that Williams says you shouldn't have distractions while animating. Lots of animators prefer to stave off the tedium by listening to podcasts, watching listening to TV shows and keeping your mind occupied. Williams argues that it clouds your perception of time and makes the work more tedious but everybody works differently. Me, i work _best_ with mild audible distractions, when animating or otherwise.

Good luck. i envy you. i wish i had the time and money to take a class on animation.


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## PlusThirtyOne (Feb 10, 2017)

Fall said:


> Another thing I found helped when I taught myself animation was the little steps; sticks/balls for body/head/legs, then do the basic frames in that way before using more layers to make details.


Yeah, exactly. That's what i was trying to describe above.


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## MaikeruNezumi (Feb 10, 2017)

PlusThirtyOne said:


> Hopefully the class will teach you proper methods of HOW to animate instead of just showing how to use animation _software_.
> You mentioned patience. Patience is important because of how long it takes to animated certain things. You may be super tempted to take shortcuts or scrap frames for time's sake but if you learn the proper method of "carving out" an animation, you can learn to entertain yourself with progress through the animating process. For instance, if you were to animate each and every frame one at a time to completion; sketch, line, ink, color, details, THEM move into the next frame, you're attention is going to stagnate and you'll start losing patience. Animation takes a looooong time if you want the end product to look good. if you animate your subjects properly through building on the details rather than penning them all in at once, you'll be able to see your animation grow.
> 
> Does that makes sense? Think of it this way. EVERY FRAME along your timeline should have equal work completed and equal work left. Rather than starting from one end of the timeline and completing each frame one at a time. This was the lesson that i learned getting into animation. i highly recommend the Animator's Survival Kit. in fact, i'd be shocked it it wasn't a part of your curriculum. The only piece of advice i wouldn't follow is that Williams says you shouldn't have distractions while animating. Lots of animators prefer to stave off the tedium by listening to podcasts, watching listening to TV shows and keeping your mind occupied. Williams argues that it clouds your perception of time and makes the work more tedious but everybody works differently. Me, i work _best_ with mild audible distractions, when animating or otherwise.
> ...


Thankfully, I am learning how to animate in my class rather than just learning the software.
Also, thanks for the tips! I'll take them to heart when I get to my work!


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