Open a new thread, they said. You will improve, they said.

[Miss Caféine]

Hey there! Name's Rachael, age's 18 and my dream is to become an animator someday.

Why is this a dream? I've been drawing my whole life, and a year and a half ago I decided that I wanted to become an animator, but my parents want me to study medicine and there's no way they'll be paying art classes for me. They just think that it's not worth anything and that I won't get anywhere with my drawings.

Now I'm saving money to pay the art college myself, but it's VERY expensive and I'll have to wait some years to make my dream come true...

So I'm here to keep improving and not to give up, and hopefully, get a better level in my drawings.

I'll appreciate any kind of help, really!!!

[Miss Caféine]

Some drawings of mine are in this blog: misscafeine.tumblr.com

[Psychotime]

Er...I think you might have put this in the wrong section, but whatever.

I think everyone would recommend this book to start off for anyone interested in animation.



And then this book for anyone interested in representational drawing, period.

[Miss Caféine]

Thank you so much! I'll try to get them

Also, you said I opened my thread in a wrong place, where should I do it? I'm really sorry, I'm still learning how this site works

[jinny]

Oh hey, I follow you on Tumblr. I think what Psychotime means is if you're looking for critiques/advice on your sketches you should post a thread on the Sketchbooks forum. Upload, get crits, and maybe you'll be ready to get some scholarships to help you pay! Hope to see your work on here soon.

[Alice Herring]

Hey there! Name's Rachael, age's 18 and my dream is to become an animator someday.

Why is this a dream? I've been drawing my whole life, and a year and a half ago I decided that I wanted to become an animator, but my parents want me to study medicine and there's no way they'll be paying art classes for me. They just think that it's not worth anything and that I won't get anywhere with my drawings.

Now I'm saving money to pay the art college myself, but it's VERY expensive and I'll have to wait some years to make my dream come true...

So I'm here to keep improving and not to give up, and hopefully, get a better level in my drawings.

I'll appreciate any kind of help, really!!!

So young! You have plenty of time. (There are quite a few people who went back to study and didn't start working professionally until their 30's.) First, just be aware the animation industry does not require a degree for a job - but skills. So you don't NEED to attend an expensive art school.

That being said it's not a bad idea to work for a few years - not only will you save money for school, you can work on a portfolio to increase your chances of a scholarship. I would encourage you to try and find a local life-drawing class; sometimes they can be at a local community college, or even a museum or community center. Take an acting class! Animation is about performing!

I'd highly recommend the Drawn To Life books from Walt Stanchfield; he talks about the kind of gesture drawing that is really important to know in the animation industry. You might also be interested in looking up artist blogs like Mark Kennedy - http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/ Oh! you'd probably enjoy the animation podcast too! http://animationpodcast.com/

Also, if your parents are concerned that being in animation doesn't pay anything, you might want to have them look at the Animation guild website - it lists the wages for various positions. Animationguild.org

Granted, that's US-centric - And mostly Southern California centric - I don't have info for other areas.

That being said it's like any other craft; it takes a lot of time to build up your skills - and there are a lot of people that want to do it who never develop to a professional level.

[Yakirb]

Er...I think you might have put this in the wrong section, but whatever.

I think everyone would recommend this book to start off for anyone interested in animation.



And then this book for anyone interested in representational drawing, period.

looks good

[Miss Caféine]

Jinny: Oh sweet! Thank you so much! Then, should I erase this thread?

[Miss Caféine]

So young! You have plenty of time. (There are quite a few people who went back to study and didn't start working professionally until their 30's.) First, just be aware the animation industry does not require a degree for a job - but skills. So you don't NEED to attend an expensive art school.

That being said it's not a bad idea to work for a few years - not only will you save money for school, you can work on a portfolio to increase your chances of a scholarship. I would encourage you to try and find a local life-drawing class; sometimes they can be at a local community college, or even a museum or community center. Take an acting class! Animation is about performing!

I'd highly recommend the Drawn To Life books from Walt Stanchfield; he talks about the kind of gesture drawing that is really important to know in the animation industry. You might also be interested in looking up artist blogs like Mark Kennedy - http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/ Oh! you'd probably enjoy the animation podcast too! http://animationpodcast.com/

Also, if your parents are concerned that being in animation doesn't pay anything, you might want to have them look at the Animation guild website - it lists the wages for various positions. Animationguild.org

Granted, that's US-centric - And mostly Southern California centric - I don't have info for other areas.

That being said it's like any other craft; it takes a lot of time to build up your skills - and there are a lot of people that want to do it who never develop to a professional level.

Alice: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INFORMATION!!!! Yes! I wanted to take performance classes this year, I know they're important. Thank you again! I have no words to express my gratitude towards you!

[aks9]

Jinny: Oh sweet! Thank you so much! Then, should I erase this thread?

Don't erase the thread it's full of useful info.
I think what he meant was, perhaps it would be a good idea to start a thread in the sketchbook section, and start posting all your drawing practice there for everyone to critique. There aren't many animators there but you could still post your animation practice there too. And for help with specific animation stuff, you can post that in one of the animation subsections.

I wanted to become an animator for a while, ended up realising it wasn't what I wanted, but I can testify that all the info that Alice gave you is spot on and very worthwhile taking

[kestryweaver]

The Animator's Survival Kit is of course awesome, but I hadn't heard of that other book--it looks great! thanks for sharing!

[[email protected]]

I think everyone would recommend this book to start off for anyone interested in animation.

It is an excellent book, but for beginners I suggest Preston Blair or Eric Goldberg

[Balthazar Dahl]

I think you should check the Johnk K's blog, it's like university for animators: http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com
It may not be the easiest thing to navigate throught it but it's the single most useful place to start and it's full of nice surprises.