How to get Motivation

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Patt
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How to get Motivation Empty How to get Motivation

8/16/2011, 2:25 pm
I would like you to play this song whilst you read this guide. It doesn't make it seem anymore epic but as you read the guide you may understand why I told you to listen to it while reading. Enjoy.




- In the Mist by SupraDarky.

Introduction

Motivation, one of the hardest subjects to the world of animating, and any other type of thing you will ever come across. First off, I would like to say, there is no sure way to 'get motivation'. However, there are ways that I use to get back into the mood or help me slightly by opening Flash and maybe animating 50 or so frames. I have seen numerous topics asking how to get motivation as if it were something tangible, and as I have said, there is no sure way to get it. It just comes to you. This is probably my main reason for typing up this introductory guide which will give you tips, and hints on how to get back into your animations efficiently.

Taking Action

Before getting onto specifics you need to ask yourself some questions. Generally losing motivation may be like becoming bored of making the animation. If you're becoming bored of your animation then that is obviously not a good sign. First off you need to ask yourself, that question. If the answer is yes, you are bored of your animation then you need to take a different approach to this task and you can skip to the next paragraph. If the answer is no, then perhaps you need to just wait it out, trying something more less intense. Per say, a test. Another thing you need to remember is, no one is forcing you to upload everything you make. Do not be afraid to make tests that you will not upload. It is not a waste of time.

Sometimes you have your entire animation planned out. Even typed out, the entire storyboard the entire pretty much animation written down, typed up, or drawn ready for future use. But, for some reason, you just open up Flash, you get disrupted, and you end up screwing off. Then before you know it, it is time for bed. What have you accomplished? Nothing. Pish posh. Well, what you can do to avoid this is; if you know exactly what you need to animate, you should just save your work, and make a new canvas. Open up a new document. Trust me, this is fine, this feels amazing to any writer or artist. A blank canvas is a whole new world for an animator. A blank canvas is a booty porn site for Ping. I'm sure you all understand what I mean now.

So now what. You've got your blank canvas, you still have no motivation, it feels like you've gone backwards! What on earth is this guy trying to explain?

For some reason in my animating life time it feels like a blank canvas is a new battle. When I'm stuck in a normal animation, an example being in one of the animations I'm making now, I didn't know how to correctly animate a back flip smoothly. Every time I tried it just looked so false and so gravity defying it just was awful. So I tried this, I opened up a new canvas and got to animating the back flip. I didn't put in any background or any effects or anything, I just animated the original back flip, just like that. And what do you know, it came out excellent, just by trying to make it in a new canvas.

Okay, so let's say none of that works. You still had no motivation to even make the new canvas or anything of that matter. Basically right now you're in that lazy state and for the past four or even week, you've only opened up Flash, only to let it waste CPU memory while you are browsing the web. Well, needless to say, you're in deep trouble, you've wasted all this pure precious time for nothing. When in this week you could have discovered your inner true power. One thing I can say that helps me when I'm down in the dirt like this, is do what we all should do, and view the other open animations out there.

Inspiration is a great thing to use, it will lead you straight into motivation. And with the motivation, all you now need to do is apply determination. But, let's try to get this inspiration, and cheat our way into motivation because these two practically go hand in hand. What works for many people is just watching an awesome dope new animation that makes them want to bust open Flash and get working. But soon this flame burns out and you're sitting there back browsing the web, wasting time. What I tend to do, and Ping knows this for sure lmfao, is I like to listen to music. Not even just Video Game Music, but like legit music, like rap or hip hop or something. I've told a few of the people I've been close friends with what I've become inspired by for my tests or anything for that matter. Sometimes it's a Wiz Khalifa song, or even a song by Kanye West, other times its an instrumental by Kanye West, and times it can be something more relevant, like a really awesome Battle song from an RPG.


All in all, it's pretty clear that motivation isn't something that just comes to you when you want it. It's something you actually have to try to get, as weird as that may sound. You need to work to want to work on something. Sounds weird, but it's how it works. I've explained this to many other users before, there's no such as Animator's Block. It's just a term that animators use to say they're lazy, whether or not they want to admit it. Animator's Block, or laziness is pure bullshit, remember that. It doesn't exist. Your job, or your hobby of animating is to animate and entertain other people. Other jobs, such as a lawyer or a cook, they don't get this bullshit Lawyer's Block or even Cooker's Block. That's because they just do their job, the way they are supposed to. The thing about us animators these days is that thinking requires work and that's why few engage in it. To get into your work 100% is to put your self to the test an animate something for another to enjoy.

You need to remember why you animate. You animate because it's enjoyable and fun. It's not a chore, and if it ever feels like a chore, that's a very bad sign and you should seek to fix it before you get to the point where you want to quit and leave the animating world. I will have to say, sometimes, taking a break is necessary, but when you come back and the world has advanced so much, it's crazy and you will wish you never left.

Hope you enjoyed reading this guide!
~ Patt


Last edited by Patt on 8/18/2011, 4:08 pm; edited 2 times in total
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8/16/2011, 2:34 pm
lol, very well said. Nice, glad you took the time to type this guide :)
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8/16/2011, 2:37 pm
Didn't take that long. ^^

Thank you.

Also, please point out any gramatical errors or spelling errors if you notice any. I typed up most of this this morning, (12-1 AM) and just read it over real quickly before posting it up.
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8/16/2011, 2:54 pm
Patt wrote:I like to listen to music. Not even just Video Game Music, but like legit music, like rap or hip hop or something

You've just discredited your entire tut with this statement Wink

and dude, your Anim. Block thing doesn't work, because they get paid for their work, its their job lol If I got paid and it was my job to do with then you're damn sure ima animate
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8/16/2011, 2:58 pm
Lmfao I didn't know how to word it sorry.

Secondly, I completely understand what you mean. But I hate those that work for the fame and money. I work from the heart because it's what I desire. I rather animate for the feeling of knowing others enjoyed my animation.
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8/16/2011, 3:01 pm
I didn't mean you worded it wrong, i was saying that hip hop/rap isn't legit music Wink

and yeah, I like that feeling too, but money just gives me the incentive to actually burn half a calorie moving my fingers and hands
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8/16/2011, 3:02 pm
Oooh lmfao, well we all have our own music don't we. ;P

Lmfao well I dunno it's whatever.
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8/16/2011, 3:19 pm
I only read half because I have motivation HAR HAR HAR
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8/16/2011, 3:19 pm
You're quite the rebel there aren't you. :0
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8/16/2011, 3:21 pm
Knux wrote:I only read half because I have motivation HAR HAR HAR

Why did you even read half then? You shouldn't have read at all
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8/16/2011, 3:24 pm
Granadico wrote:
Knux wrote:I only read half because I have motivation HAR HAR HAR

Why did you even read half then? You shouldn't have read at all
I was curious as to what he wrote down. I practice the first part of what he said myself so I became uninterested and stopped readin.
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8/16/2011, 3:28 pm
Knux wrote:
Granadico wrote:
Knux wrote:I only read half because I have motivation HAR HAR HAR

Why did you even read half then? You shouldn't have read at all
I was curious as to what he wrote down. I practice the first part of what he said myself so I became uninterested and stopped readin.

Damn you're my hero
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8/16/2011, 3:32 pm
I told him to do that privately. :L
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8/16/2011, 3:35 pm
Wow this guide is very long, although I read it all. : P

Patt, I must say, great job with this. It really does kind of 'teach' or well, puts you in the direction of getting some work done when you really don't think you can. It certainly made me open up Flash and try to animate something. I think this will be a page I will be visiting often for your tips. Thank you very much. ^^
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8/16/2011, 4:58 pm
Excellent. I enjoyed reading over that tutorial. Very thorough in detail and explanation.
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8/16/2011, 5:11 pm
I didn't want to spoon feed anyone, I just wanted to give animators that haven't picked this up naturally the idea. Picking them up and putting them in the right direction you know? I didn't want to just hand it over. Usually most animators get this by instinct and do not even realize it. However, for those that haven't explored enough, here you go. ; )
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8/17/2011, 2:01 pm
Well hey.
I've been doing most of the stuff you've said here, even the part where you create a new document and animate random stuff. So this is mostly for the inexperienced ones.

Most of the times I have a life as well so that can completely take all of your free time that you use to animate (especially since my computer is shared so eh)

And hey, most of the godly animators (not talking about sprite animation here) like Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and many others have been paid for their work. Yet their work was awesome but that's because they really cared about their animations.

But money really motivates people. I know because if I did get paid for doing stuff then I'd do my animations at full speed, faster than Sonic.
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8/17/2011, 2:33 pm
Yeah I did, as I have said earlier, tried this for the more inexperienced animators. This way I'm not spoon feeding them but putting them in the right direction, it will help them for the future times where they do not know what to do.

I agree, if I were paid, fuck I would work harder too. But I'm saying the there's a lot of animators that don't animate for the enjoyment but moreso for the fact of the money. It's a waste of talent.
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8/17/2011, 4:16 pm
Chuck Jones? The Looney Toons guy?
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8/17/2011, 6:25 pm
You get a trophy for guide/speech/lecture of the year
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8/17/2011, 8:20 pm
Granadico wrote:Chuck Jones? The Looney Toons guy?
Yes.

crashbox111 wrote:You get a trophy for guide/speech/lecture of the year
Thank you good sir.
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8/17/2011, 8:24 pm
I thought he was the director, not the animator?
once this is answered then i'll get back to topic
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8/17/2011, 8:26 pm
The question you should be asking is what wasn't he.
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8/17/2011, 11:50 pm
Man I read this like in 3min it was really good and shit though but sometimes i put my self down and shit and I thought u were gonna cover that
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8/18/2011, 12:02 am
3 min seems like a helluva long time
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