If you cannot find a good solution for an animation to portray a certain characteristics, what do you do to help provide inspirations?

Tommai78101

In these cases, I seek the help of my colleagues. I like to ask if they have any ideas, references or suggestion. If possible, I take a break from animating that clip and come back to it a few days later. It helps me to get a new perspective on my animation and see what’s wrong so I can fix it. Also, when I need an extra dose of inspiration, I like to listen music that fits the kind of animation I’m working on.

Do you like working with Sauropod Studio?

Mikxl23

In September, it’ll be my first year anniversary as a junior 3D animator at Sauropod Studio and I love it! It’s actually my first job in the video game industry and I couldn’t have found a better place to work. I’m having a lot of fun creating new animations for Castle Story and my coworkers and bosses are simply awesome!

What kind of reference do you use for animating?

LPMAN0

There are so many different kinds of references I like using. First at all, doing your own references by filming yourself is always a good idea! Sometimes, it’s easier and quicker than trying to find the perfect reference. But of course, some references can’t be filmed by yourself and the Internet will definitely be your new best friend. For free videos references, I love Youtube, Pinterest, Vimeo, DeviantArt, blogs and referencereference.com. I also like watching 2D and 3D animations, take a look at animators’ demo reels, play video games and analyse the movement of characters or get inspired by movie scenes. Old and new illustrated books can also be a good resource for finding animals and humans postures. Clickable editor’s note. ;)

Any tips quick tips for beginner animators or easy software to get started on??

Halliwedge

Unfortunately, I can’t commend an easy software for 3D animation. I personally prefer to work with 3Ds Max but maybe with research you’ll be able to find a software that you can try at home.

For quick tips, here’s a few :

• Do your research! (Internet, books, photos, draw, observe humans and animals, etc)
• Make your own references! I recommend filming yourself, someone or something in different angles to make sure to get a good look at the movement.
• Keep all your findings and tutorials by pinning them on virtual boards such as www.pinterest.com
• Don’t be afraid to show your work to others and ask them what they really think about it in a constructive way. Sometimes criticism can be harsh but keep in mind that through their comments, you can find the answer on how to ameliorate your work. So listen carefully, write down what you should fix and keep notes for the future.
• Have you ever experienced the feeling where your work suddenly looks terrible and your self-esteem drops just from looking at the demoreels of some 3D badass animators on Youtube? Well, it happened to me a lot when I was learning how to animate. But I told myself that these impressive 3D animators were once juniors and when you think about it, it’s unlikely to see someone open an 3D software for their first times and be good at it. Sure, talent is part of what makes an excellent animator but I’m convinced that if you keep working hard and animate as much as you can, you’ll eventually develop your skills and have a better chance to become a damn good 3D animator!
• If you can afford it, I recommend you get these 2 books : The animator’s survival kit by Richard Williams and The Human Figure in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge. These books are good tools for beginners as well as for the experts. In the 3D animation industry, they are even considered “Bibles”!
  
  
  

How long does an average animation take to make?

Kmlkmljkl

It’s tough to answer this question because there are many factors that can affect the time it will take to animate. Actually, it depends on the duration of the clip and the complexity of the movement. For an example, a normal walk cycle of 30 frames (which equals one second in time), I estimate it will take me a complete day to do my key poses, do the rough passes, to clean and refine the animation.