sharpa22 2014-06-15 01:48:00

If you look back in history, lots of artists struggle in the beginning, and then take breaks from their professions to do some soul searching. I think its part of being an artist :).

"I'm not a funny person, I want to have ideas and make funny animations and be original but I don't have the ability, skill or patience to do anything grande." Everyone is funny in their own way, since everyone has a sense of humor, stay true to yours and find the right crowd for it :).

I am not some sort of skilled artist, I am a trumpet and a sax player in a local jazz band. I do some improve and it tests my skills as an artist in its own way. Sometimes I feel like I am not making the sounds I want to, but the crowd loves it. Just like your animations, stay true to who you are, keep trying, and you will find the crowd that loves you. Remember big animations like "Family Guy" and "Futurama" were cancelled in the beginning because they were not well received, they changed their game plans and came back swinging.

So, all I can say is, never give up, stay true to yourself, and just keep swinging, you draw a lot better then i can :)

TheMiragician 2014-06-15 01:50:00

For me, I find it helps by stepping away from the computer, taking a well-written book and reading it, and having a story provoke some thought about life and the world in general.

Everybody's work has some connection to another, don't stress over it. When you break fiction or something else down, you'll find a bunch of rehashed tropes. True creativity is a result of having experience with fiction, and combining a variety of your favorite works into something that personally appeals to you. You're on the right track right now, you just need to keep refining and learning.

If the storyboard doesn't work for you, trash it, take another gander at revisualizing the whole thing, and go through with a new storyboard that you feel works for you.

Yeah, you're right in that practice makes permanent, not perfect (I feel the former should be said more), but that's not a bad thing. It shows you care enough and have the passion and will to commit to quality in your work. Again. you have the right thinking here.

You don't know how to get better? Why then, Google some tutorials, scrutinize their quality, pick and choose what suits you best and mix 'em together to make your own style. Study from the best and from what you love. If you feel that you only love a limited range of things, try something different and find other things you never knew you loved before. Keep adding and adding to yourself and your craft.

Personally, for me, I go through sakugabooru and study the animations there frame by frame. I find it inspiring to see animations that were completely planned out by individual animators, and often I find new techniques and styles I've never seen before.

P.S. "Doing it right" often refers to learning the fundamentals before varying and experimenting. It's basically why art teachers stress realism before drawing cartoons; you need to know actual human anatomy before warping it for your own purposes. Fiction is an abstraction of reality after all.

VictorVonVice 2014-06-15 01:57:13

here's the thing you should know when your putting yourself out there. There's no telling how well your stuff will do or how the audience will react. Thinking that there's a science to ....well.....ANY artform is foolish and would lead to disappointing results. You can just go straight for the memes of the hour if publicity is what you really want but I doubt you want that very much. All I can say is keep doing what you want and hopefully something clicks. Building an audience takes time and its not going to be done overnight

TheMiragician 2014-06-15 01:59:00

Oh yeah, and if you're thinking you don't have any imagination, you have a lot more than actual kids. http://english.bouletcorp.com/2012/07/13/fuck-peter-pan

As Boulet says, creativity is just having a variety of ideas to bring up. Having a variety of life experiences and fiction read/watched/played is the best way to do that.

I've had identity crises the past year as well, and I've realized they were because I was stressing out over the quality of my work too much, trying to stick to a certain school of thought and panicking whenever I felt I deviated from that pattern. I managed to solve it simply by relaxing.

If you feel you're not a great artist, take some steps to remedy that:

1) Go look at some terrible art. deviantART is a great place for that, since nearly everything on that site is crud. There is also a lot of material here at Newgrounds. Criticize the hell out of it with what you know, and keep in mind the mistakes people commonly make so you can avoid them themselves.
2) Pick something that's slightly above your skill level. Endeavor to reach it and learn what you don't know.

Hope this helps out.

Blordow 2014-06-15 02:31:16

You're burnt out and you've only made one animation? Try doing it for ten years and then complain lol

Plasmarift 2014-06-15 03:00:07

You've got to stop doubting yourself, man! I know it is cliche, but you do whatever you want to do in life (though I will admit that everyone seems to have a skill set that they are good at, but at the same time, they may desire to do something else that doesn't involve those skills). I will say that you are right: if you keep doing the same things over and over again and you still keeping making mistakes, then it's time to flip and table and try another way of doing it. You're not going to heal a cut with lemon juice, no matter how many different ways you apply it, so why not try some band-aids (lazy metaphor, I know).

Here is my advice.
- I'd suggest collaborating with others. Even if you're a big fan of doing stuff on your own, I'd suggest just trying it out with a few people you feel you can trust. Working with others may broaden your horizons and possibly introduce you to ways of creating that you originally hadn't thought of (and in my case, it allowed me to be involved with projects of creating animations when I can't draw or animate).
- Find what you think is funny and do that, even if it may sound stupid. What I enjoy doing is parodies of popular notions or things you usually come to expect in life. Just don't pressure yourself to come up with ideas. Some of my best ideas come when I'm socializing and talking with people. and if that doesn't work, try doing stuff like making Game Grump animations (where you take the audio from a Grump episode and turn it into an animation. You might be surprised with what you'll come up with to represent it).
- I wish I had an answer for that burned out feeling you have, but I don't (though in my case, it might just be depression). I sure you'll get a second wind. I suggest punching something. Get something to use as a punching bag and just wail on it from time to time. If you have any frustrations, a need for exercise, or a desire to improve your fighting skills, this can take care of all of those in one.

By the way, I never heard back from you on those questions I sent you concerning the animation background. Was it something I said?

Blordow 2014-06-15 03:02:18

It's normal to feel burnt out if you're spending lots of energy on something. Take breaks when needed. Don't force yourself or give yourself unnecessary pressure, especially if it's just a project for fun. The thing is everyone wants to be an animator but realize when they get into it how difficult it is to actually do. You need a lot of patience and the ability to overcome self doubt. Art is a journey, a journey of self expression, it should not be used to follow bandwagons or be done just cause everyone else is doing it, because you won't find joy in that for very long. You need to look deep within your consciousness and feel the things you're passionate about and work towards them. Just don't force yourself to create, let it be when it needs to be and it'll come naturally.

Cyberdevil 2014-06-15 05:57:15

I don't think gaming would work as a break, as you're still there, by the computer (or whatever other device you game on). Machines are tiring, and lack of sleep/rest = brainhurt. Better relax, take a nap or bake a cake or go for a walk or something... and re-evaluate your priorities and outlook on line. As Confucius said (I think it was him): a man is his desire. So, what do you really want to do? Do you like animating? We all have strengths and weaknesses, but the quality level of the art you've submitted so far is way higher than I'd even aspire to reach, it doesn't seem like that one's yours. If that's what you want to and like to do then go for it! It's something a lot of people would dream of doing but never have the opportunity to. If that's not it I'm sure you'll find something worthy! All practice is good practice as long as you enjoy practicing btw, even if it's the same motive, it may not be practice in creative thinking but definitely in technique and proficiency at that particular style. It's like speaking, the more you do it, the easier it is to do.

GTChimp 2014-06-15 07:47:26

Your art is fucking amazing man!

InvaderAtomis 2014-06-15 08:12:33

You need to find your niche, you are a good artist. i think you have just been doing what you have just to do it, but it sounds like you do not enjoy doing it anymore. You are creating art but you have made it a chore to get through instead of a method of expression of your vision on things. Find what you enjoy doing and you will be happy about drawing again.

Kel-chan 2014-06-15 08:50:03

This is how progress happens. You typically hit walls every now and again. I'm in the same situation myself. I'm not happy with anything I've made recently and have tons of grand ideas for stuff but lack the ability to execute. It's really annoying and frustrating.

But maybe stepping back, trying something new. Experiencing something else or just doing something else with your life for a bit will help. I honestly can't say because I'm trying the same things myself but the only thing that works for me is just doing more stuff. Maybe slowing down a bit and putting more care into things. I dunno.

If you find a solution lemme know

Gianni 2014-06-15 09:29:32

This looks like a personal problem to me. Every single one of your pieces are filled with people bombarding you with compliments and trying to dispel your self-doubt. You're not convinced that it's actually fine and that you're on the right track, and I could grab six million people right now and have them all throw money and their virginity at you, and you still wouldn't be convinced.

And that's good, actually. It should be about what's good to you, not the world. You know you don't have to do comedy to animate, right? You probably know that. Just don't forget. Comedy isn't everyone's actual desire even though it is the popular content on the net.

I don't have a solution for you. I don't know you, but it might be something with you as a person, intense and constant doubt to the point of discouraging you from creating, rather than something with you as an artist. You might go off to become a construction worker or a fisherman and find the same issue because it's a part of you that would need to be dealt with and figured out. Just a possibility, like I said, I dunno.

You mention that you'd like lessons to make you feel like you're creating "right" and in a way that actually develops your skill. Maybe that's the answer. It could either fix your concern because you get exactly what you might want from it, or dispel your concern because it shows you that there isn't a "right". Or do nothing and make you walk away with one more thing ticked off your list of "things that might fix this problem for me".

bocodamondo 2014-06-15 10:09:01

"It's the fact that I've been working non-stop for 3 weeks, 14 hours a day, I've also been doing non-animated art for the last 5 years and it burns me out just as bad. I'm looking forward to the next 10 years of animating." ...dude it took me more than 6 if not 7 months to finish my recent animation and i dont reget any second i lost for making that animation. i also been doing lots of stll artworks for the last 6 years and i dont feel burn out or anything infact i can say it all helps me to improve....what im trying to say is, you think too negativly .think more positive , i mean just look at my first animations here in NG back in 2009. most infamous one is "coocking" with egoraptor and late eddsworld voicing in it. that animation was shit, no it was horrible dog poop. but if you look at my most recent animation DBM EP3..its allright. only because i never gave up and was like "why do i do this in first place...emo emo emo" just dont think too hard about this and do it for fun, you'll improve and get your own style with time before you'll even notice, trust me.

also if youre really want to make a funny animation and cant think of something funny , just collab with a writter, theres tons of them here in NG.

bocodamondo 2014-06-15 10:11:58

oh and NEVER , i mean NEVER force yourself to draw or animate. you'll only do a horrible mess.. its the best time to do it when youre motivated and want to, if you force yourself to animate you'll only do everything wrong.. this tip comes from personal experience.

Gianni 2014-06-15 15:18:46

Ah yeah, I'm part of the fight to get more drama/action/adventure seen and liked on the net. I don't mind comedy at all but it's got an overwhelming stranglehold because there's less pressure and more demand.

I'm a voice actor and you can check my page for a demo in case you'd ever like to utilize me for any piece you do, comedy or not. Good luck, it sounds like you'll pull outta the rut.

FlamingFedora 2014-06-15 23:08:29

try listening to peaceful music to relax instead of gaming

OldManCricky 2014-06-15 23:59:34

I really like Bocodamondo's fact. As I thought about it for a second, he's absolutely right. The greatest Artist/Animators always do their best when they're inspired and pumped up, but we would only make mistakes if we grind our-self while we're burnt out from a long day. I had the exact same experience with my brand new animation and previous voice acting projects, which led me to blame myself when in reality, we simply can't rush genius.

(I ain't no genius though, just some vocal actor)

Bistander 2014-06-16 15:34:42

I don't see that your recent animation bombed... It has a good score, several good comments, people actually took the time to tell you what they liked and didn't like, so much of the criticism is constructive, and it made me grin, despite the fact that I don't know Markimation.

Also, your posted art does have a style you can call yours. Perhaps not the style you will use when you have years of experience in animation, but you definitely can envision, compose and present things "your way." Your animation style will come as you integrate more of your still art trick and develop new tricks in further animation.

So... maybe work on _why_ you think it bombed, why you are stressing so much, and why you're being so hard on yourself. 'Cause basically, it seems like you _can_ do what you want to do. You just have to find a way to enjoy it.

TheUnseriousguy 2014-06-17 06:26:54

well, finding ones style is something that can take a while and even i am still finding my style (but it has evolved enough into what i could call my own). but if you want to find your style then just keep doing what your doing, it will eventually form. and i think your latest animation was really good!

Jeranda 2014-06-28 19:57:29

In your down time go back to your roots, what got you originally interested in animating the way you do. personally i love your animation, but there is room for improvement. I also find it similar to superjail. maybe watch a few episodes of that if there was no source besides you for the original seed. i look forward to your future endeavors. ~stay frosty