So if my plan goes as I expect, I should have a bunch more time pretty soon to get back into writing and talking about animation... so that basically means more time for watering the blog, more time for personal work, and more chances to create stuff for the educational community.
I have been thinking for a long time now about creating an instructional DVD
training course for intermediate/advanced level animators. I have watched a whole bunch of these kinds of DVDs over the years, on different topics, and I have a good understanding of what makes these things useful... but most importantly I just know I could create a really good one for animation!
My main goal would be to clarify a number of issues that many training DVDs seem to gloss over; most importantly the process of how you actually generate ideas that play well on screen, and how to actually turn those ideas into structured animation. I would also like to explain a properly detailed insight into how to actually take a shot through blocking, with some different approaches and methodologies behind blocking techniques. The blocking aspect is a key thing for me, as I found it one of the hardest things to learn how to do, but once you master it, improves your ability as an animator in immeasurable ways.
I would love to animate a medium length shot, but record the whole process in its entirety from start to final, with no "so earlier I finished up this part" sections. Its always those edited out parts that seem to contain all the secrets! I want to show the real blood and guts of how a shot gets finished, including all the "that looks horrible" bits and how a professional animator would actually work through and solve those exact kind of problems.
Please comment below with the kind of things you would like to see covered in a training DVD set. Ask yourself these kind of things:
- "If I could get an animator to just sit down and explain something to me, what would it be?"
- "What seems like a stupid question, but I just can't figure it out myself?"
- "What was really annoying last time I did some animation training, because the instructor just didn't explain it properly, or just glossed right over it?"
- "What kind of format would be good to watch and learn from on a DVD?"
If I don't get many comments I'll just have to figure it all out myself, but I would really appreciate input from you.
