I have a piece of advice for beginning animators. Heck, this really applies to anyone who uses any kind of computer program to do their work:
Customize the keyboard shortcuts.
I bring this up because when I was starting out I was hesitant to customize the keyboard shortcuts to my liking. My theory was that someone made them the way they were for a reason, and I shouldn’t go messing with them before I even learn how to use them. The theory doesn’t really end up panning out, though.
I’m not generally big on new year’s resolutions but this year I kinda made one. Well, I don’t really think of it as a resolution – more of a goal. I set the goal for myself to do at least fifteen minutes of animation every day. It’s a really short period of time, but I figured that if I could get myself to do that much, even if I’m busy, I’d at least be doing something. And then once I’m actually sitting in front of the computer, I might as well work longer, right? At least, that’s how it works out more often than not.
I haven’t been totally successful in my goal but I think it’s fulfilled its purpose so far. For the most part, I sit down and work on Don’t Fear the Sitter every evening. I usually try to do more than fifteen minutes, because that seems like such a limited period. I can’t actually get much done in that amount of time.
And so, after kind of stagnating for most of last year, I’m working on my thesis again. Now I think I’m back on track to finish the film by the summer of 2011, making it about a six-year project. Yikes. But it feels good to be chipping away at it again.
Here’s an example of the kind of thing I’m accomplishing. I finished animating this scene a few days ago: