I would really appreciate some kind of pick-me-up. I don't know whether I'm burnt out or extremely stressed from the bomb of my most recent animation. But the one I'm currently working on, I storyboarded the entire thing a little while ago but in such a bad way that it is going to be a serious problem finishing. I can picture almost two months of un-needed additional work on top of how much it should take. I'm also having an identity crisis, I can't find my style and I feel like a useless bandwagon rider. I'm really not a great artist, all my work is derivative of something, I don't think I have much capacity to learn. AND GEEZ I'M JUST SO MAD.
I tell myself I should take like a week off from art or something but then what? It's a week down the drain and I burn myself out again. If any experienced animator could comment it would be appreciated. Is this common?
Really animation is all I can do, I guess. It's all I want to do. I try to take breaks by gaming or something but it's not the same, not as good and they make me feel horrible.
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. I don't even know how to get better. Everyone says doing something lots makes you better, but that is wrong. You could do the same thing wrong a million times over and not improve, you have to do things right before you can do it wrong and call it style, so what's right?
Man my brain hurts, I feel exhausted.
I just do STUFF!
https://www.patreon.com/Mushromeo
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So much pressure!
Posted by Mushromeo - June 15th, 2014
Comments
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.
Thank you thank you thank. I checked out that Sakuga page and I found it very informative to slide slowly through the frames of some of the scenes! I think it could be quite useful. And yes, certainly, I have been studying human anatomy for about a year now, it's very difficult, that in itself I don't really understand how to learn, it's weird, I don't know how to learn how to learn.
And the storyboard I fixed as I went, I'm very happy with it, the problem comes when I realize that I can't change the opacity of layers so I have to make frames next to every single frame of the entire animation just so I can onionskin and redraw, that's all.
Really thanks for taking the time to leave a message! Everyone is hitting on very important points that I'm now looking more closely towards. Maybe I just need to go back to a sketchpad for a while. :)
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
I'm sorry, I think you misunderstood. That wasn't the problem at all. I am more disappointed with myself over the quality of the animation and I knew I could have made it just that much better and it would have been more enjoyable too but I think I let "burning out" get a grasp of my mental function and I just wanted to get it over with and move back to my bigger more important project. But then I realized it wasn't just that single animation that did it to me, it was my frustration about my work ethic, style and everything in my life in general. Maybe this is more personal than I thought. But thanks for getting my thoughts running a little.
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.
Yes thank you, that comic was very enjoyable and opened my eyes a bit. :) Well, we'll see how my next animation does, it is definitely aiming WAAAAAAAY above my current skill level so.. aha..
You're burnt out and you've only made one animation? Try doing it for ten years and then complain lol
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.
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?
Oh thanks for the response! I think it might actually be depression, I mean it has been on and off pretty bad over the last few years and it does ruin quite a few things I want to do, I'll look into that! Yeah, I might just do a collab. And sorry about the message! I have been very busy over the past few weeks, I haven't responded to many people, just give me a day to get back on my feet and I'll get back to you!
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.
You're right, I need to let it come naturally. Ahah, don't get me wrong, I do love animating, a lot. I just feel I would enjoy it more if I were more versed with the technical side, I have seriously problems with drawing backgrounds, or maybe I am lazy? So I guess I'm going to have to buckle down and practice! I'm not going to look for loopholes. :J But yeah, I enjoy the bandwagons too, but I guess it's a bad idea if I want to make original content.
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.
Thank you, of course, it makes perfect sense the way you put it. I guess I just don't do enough of the same thing, I need to cement this stuff in my brain. But maybe this time I'll go for a walk to the park and draw in a sketchpad instead of on my computer. I'm sure a nice day and some fresh air would do me a lot of good. :)
Your art is fucking amazing man!
Nah you're flipping amazing man!
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.
Yeah, that's also the problem. I'm at that point where my ideas for expression are just beyond my grasp. I have the ideas but I don't have the means to create them. It's as though I'm at... I dunno, 70% of the skill level I wish I was. I'm upset I didn't apply myself earlier in life, I've only been drawing with intent to improve for about 2 years.
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
Yeah I sure will. Heh, something new huh? Yeah, maybe. Maybe I'll try and make a comic. It'll be like storyboarding and it will help with angles and backgrounds when I go back to animating. I'm sure I could learn a lot from it.
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".
I don't have to make comedy. You're so right, and it felt so unnatural to me, I didn't enjoy that animation much. Not to say I won't make comedy in the future, but what I really want to do, which I have planned is a sad/love drama I guess. Maybe something like a 2 minute short. Not exactly original but I really feel like I could express myself through it and show a lot more genuine emotion. I just... need to learn how to do backgrounds.
"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.
Of course, just gotta stay positive. Heh, I think I'm too new on the scene to be thinking negatively! Gotta keep my chin up. :J I guess I just have to find my stride, find what kind of animation I want to do and love it as I go, and I do have one I'm currently doing and love, I guess I'm just having a style crisis, but you're right, that'll come. I'll just stick to it! Thank you!
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.
And don't worry, I don't think I have ever forced myself to. Ahah, when I don't feel like it, I'll literally just stare at flash with a blank face for like... 20 seconds and then close it all grumpily. :P
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.
try listening to peaceful music to relax instead of gaming
Oh I do. I listen to music nonstop when drawing and when I'm at a point in animation where I don't have to hear the sound. :P Thanks for the response.
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)
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.
Very true, thank you. I have to find a way to enjoy doing what it is I'm doing. And I'm half way there, I need to learn more to be able to do more and that's what will make me enjoy it!
Also with my animation, I didn't mean it bombed in a public sense, but more on a personal level, I didn't like it and I wasn't happy with it but as an animator, the worst rut you can get into is constantly working on a piece, tweaking and tweaking, it can ruin perfectly fine works. So even if I'm not happy with something, I still have to learn when it can't be fixed and either scrap it or call it a day and that's what I did.
Thanks for the feedback though!
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!
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
sharpa22
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 :)
Mushromeo
"Sometimes I feel like I am not making the sounds I want to, but the crowd loves it."
Thank you, that made so much sense it blew my mind. I guess I just have to look at things through the eyes of others and not through a harsh self critic. I'll try and keep this in mind. :)