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Matthew Transeth @dirtshake

Age 33, Male

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University of Michigan

Michigan

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Animating With Friends

Posted by dirtshake - July 15th, 2009


For the past couple of weeks Yungjazz and I have been meeting up in my basement to work on animation together. The results were amazing and I decided to write up something because everyone should know how awesome the experience is.

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EDIT:Thread For Further Discussion

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Animating With Friends

Almost everyone, artists, animator, game designer, or average Joe, knows what it feels to have little to no motivation for a project. As students we've slacked off; as employees we've acted like zombies. Even with personal projects that we may find interesting we've slacked off due to stress, a lack of drive, or procrastination. Some of us have figured out how to get past these roadblocks with certain techniques, work habits, or just telling ourselves to, "Get Over It". Despite these methods many of us still may have trouble working on whatever project we have assigned ourselves to do. Recently my friend and I have discovered one way of working which not only increases productivity but also makes working infinitely more enjoyable.

Throughout my entire time as an animator I have had a hard time staying focused on what I am working on. Mixed with my already horrible procrastination trait, it has made making anything in a timely manner difficult. I have tried many different ways of combating this flaw. I have tried working on two projects simultaneously thinking that maybe switching back and forth from them could keep my focus. This worked, though not as great as I had wished. I have tried making deadlines for myself, which utterly failed. I've even tried making a spreadsheet of the various things I have to do to complete an animation. While making me more organized it didn't help me make anything more quickly. Since nothing worked well I used the wonderful method of telling myself to, "Get Over It" and plowed through. For the most part, this worked, but it wasn't enjoyable despite my love of animating. Roughly three weeks ago I found a great solution; parties.

How would parties make anyone more productive? They are filled with people, distractions, and everything to make you less motivated to work. However when I say parties, I don't mean the college style, filled with kegs, drunk fools, broken households and dreams. An environment such as that is unsuitable for working, unless you're the videographer type. In that case you can make a fortune. However, most of us are not those people so the parties I will talk about are a bit different.

My friend Kalen (aka Yungjazz) has had similar problems in terms of completing (or in some cases starting) animations. He has been working on a very long and ambitious project called "Necropolis: Xenophobe" and the work load at times has burned him out. I suggested we meet up one night in my basement and each animate something quick and stupid to submit to the portal, similar to how "Queers of War" came into existence. One fateful night we set up our laptops and microphone and along with our non-animator friend Joel recorded the most hilariously stupid dialogue ever heard in my house. We immediately began animating. Unfortunately nothing of value was finished that night as originally planned, but we found ourselves being more productive than if we had animated separately. We decided to try it again.
The next week we again set up our animation station in my basement and started cranking out frame after frame of animation. This past weekend was our third and by far the most productive session. We had animated for a few hours with anime playing in the background for inspiration and food between ourselves to take away from the munchies. I finished sketching a new movie and Kalen had drawn and shaded 100 frames (for a frame-by-frame fight scene). Afterward we talked and realized these were the only times we were very productive and it was benefiting both of us greatly.
Allow me to further explain the benefits in greater detail.

1) Increased Productivity:

Many of us already set aside time to work on projects. Though when we are alone we may let the distractions of life interrupt our time. When you animate with others you setting aside time for them as well, which naturally gives you more motivation to work. You don't want to waste your friends time as well as your own, so you work longer than you would normally.

2) Support:

Animating with a friend provides support for you and your friend. If one of you needs help with something you have others there to aid you. When Kalen tried out a new way of showing magic I was there to provide instant feedback, which benefited his work. When I needed help animating Kalen was there to provide some of his tips and tricks, which made animating more efficient. We were also able to watch each other's movies and provide instant feedback on that as well. It is invaluable to have this kind of support when animating, and even more invaluable if you have it right next to you.

3) Positive Distraction:

Distractions are in our lives. They will never go away no matter how hard we try. Even if we somehow manage to eliminate all outside distractions there will always be internal distractions trying to force us off our game. However, some distractions can be positive. Concentrating on animation for hours at a time can be exhausting, even if you love it. Having someone across the table from you to talk to you about something other than animation can reduce stress and boredom and make animating more enjoyable.

4) Inspiration:

Something different inspires each of us to do what we love. Our ideas are inspired by things we see or do in our lives. Even if our ideas are original we receive inspiration to act on them from our idols. When you animate with someone else you can receive that same inspiration, even if it is on a lesser level than your idols. Ideas or the drive to do better can be inspired by friends just as it can be inspired from professional animators, artists, or game developers.

5) FUN!!!

This is arguably the most important thing you can get from animating with a friend. Very few activities are less fun in a group and animating is no exception.

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I hope this advice helps and it would be awesome if more people started to work this way. It truly is invaluable.

O T H E R N E W S !!!

As the above article suggests I have been working on a new animation. I am keeping the details secret for now until closer to the release date, or possible until it comes out, but I have been working.

Work has kept me busy otherwise, though it has allowed me to brainstorm many ideas, all of which I am writing down. There is no shortage of content available for any movie I decide to make.


Comments

Great article man, I agree. When you think about it too, animation crews don't work apart. \I'll plug it in my next front page post, I have 2 days until I'm allowed to again XP

Thanks. Don't waste it all on me though. lol

great post. I agree with everything, though I havent had the luxury of real interpersonal contact its definately cool that you are able to do that.

Thanks. If you ever get a chance to experience contact like this than take it. I know I'm going to miss it when I head off to school, though I might try your webcam idea when that time comes. It sounds like a great alternative if you don't have the face-to-face contact.

Yeah I agree with it all. When a couple of friends and I are working on similar things it's a lot easier to focus. Almost like a super friendly competition. In college, though, it got to the point where my roomate and I were on separate working schedules so he'd be playing video games while I'm hustling to get work done. But other than that, yes, more motivation comes from something about showing off your work every now and then to peers. The little bit of impressed feedback keeps one going, and even just talking about it, getting one more excited.

Super friendly competition eh? I'll have to try that sometime. Sounds like a good idea.
And I know how you feel about working when your friends are playing video games. Just this week YungJazz and pijju were playing Castle Crashers while I was working. >_<