Hey Ross, I'm currently 15, a Junior in high school, and love to animate. I don't think going to an art institute/university is the right move though when I get out of HS - financially or for many other reasons. Community College is a huge possibility though, as it's less expensive and would still teach me more things about animation all together. For the most part, I believe animation can be a self-taught experience, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
Thatโs great dude. ย Donโt feel like you HAVE to go get an education in animation to succeed. ย I tried it, but it wasnโt for me. ย I found I wasnโt really learning enough compared to what I learnt just fiddling and making mistakes by myself. ย I mean look at Arin, he didnโt even finish high school yet he taught himself ย to be an animator. ย Some people learn better being pushed by an education system, some are better left to figure things out for themselves. ย If think youโre better going it alone then GREAT! ย Youโre anย autodidact!
Hereโs some stuff Iโd recommend you focus on while getting started:ย
Learn Flash or Toon Boom. ย
Maya/3DS Max/Zbrush if youโre interested in 3D (I have a minor background with it)
Study life drawing and human anatomy. ย Try this if youโre at a loss for material:ย http://www.posemaniacs.com/
Keep an organized folder of art reference (find it by following art tutorial blogs or your favorite artists). ย I have gigabytes of reference in my folders.
Get your head around cinematography. ย Watch legendary films and figure out what makes the shots great. ย One exercise is to take your favorite shots and make silhouette thumbnails of how things are placed, helps you ย break it down in your head.
Composition! ย Itโs crazy and even those who get it sometimes donโt get it.. but just look it up online to get your head around it. ย Itโs all about placement and arrangement of shit.
MAKE FRIENDS! ย Talk to other artists like yourself who are starting out. ย I met Arin online through Newgrounds when I was 16/17 and weโve been friends ever since. ย Itโs important to have like minded friends!
Keep a sketchbook, draw all the time. ย If you prefer doing it digitally then thatโs fine, but keeping a sketchbook is a magical thing. ย Also helps with your line confidence, at least I think so.
If you want to develop your own stories to go along with your animations, consider the following books: Screenwriting 101 (I LOVE this book, really great read AND itโs written by someone pretending to be The Hulk), On Writing: A memoir of the Craft (Stephen King! ย Havenโt read this one yet but friends recommend it) and also Save the Cat! (this one is more so about selling scripts and writing to a formula, donโt take it as gospel.. But itโs interesting).
Voice act! Shit man, just get a decent microphone when you can. ย Make goofy voices, do imitations. ย Get silly! ย Lots of animators have at least some experience doing voice acting!
WATCH STUFF. ย Seriously, I can not stress this enough. ย Everything is derivative from other works and thatโs okay. ย Inspiration comes from everywhere and anything. ย My late friend Monty also preached this, he even proudly told me some of his early influence for RWBY such as Black Rock Shooter. ย Finding influence breeds passion. ย Youโre not slacking off watching cartoons, youโre researching.
ANIMATE! Do it however you can! ย Stop motion lego, flipping paper.. I donโt care. ย Just do it. Whatever you learn, It all translates across any version of the medium.
ANIMATORS SURVIVAL KIT. ย This book is a must and most animation schools highly recommend it. ย It was written by Richard Williams the director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (among other things). ย If youโre not big on reading, then youโre in luck because itโs MOSTLY pretty pictures. ย http://www.amazon.com/The-Animators-Survival-Richard-Williams/dp/0571202284
Lastly but not least.. Just donโt stop. ย The people you see online and on TV right now, theyโre not kicking ass because of some god given talent. ย Theyโre there because they didnโt stop. ย They persevered through it all and kept going, no matter what anyone else told them.ย
Good luck!
