motivation

[jtg91]

what motivates you to animate and finish what youir working on i always get an idea do the 1st stages and then cant seem to find the motivation to carry on anyone got any ideas on how to motivate yourself?

[dlpwillywonka]

Remind yourself that only you can finish what you start. Nobody else is gonna make your toons.

[Chance1234]

if im one hundred percent honest, i really dont have the patience for animation, I have about six animations in various degrees on completioness(one very annoying as flash keeps crashing when editing it) , but i do enjoy getting a end result, and i also enjoy coming in and picking up one of them and adding a bit more to it.

At the end of the day the only deadlines you have got, are the ones you set yourself. And in the words of Douglas Adams, "I love deadlines, especially the noise as they go wizzing past"

[Katsuko]

just an idea will motivate me to animate or get me started at least but I dont get the chance to finish them for the most part I have school that keeps me busy and deadlines to complete no matter how IM feeling so I really dont have a choice in the matter lol.

but my own deadlines.....are always extended lol.


when it comes down to it you just gotta do what you gotta do

the best thing about animation is you can always change and fix it later or just deal with it the choice is yours. ^^;

[ElusiveMoose]

I surround my workspace with items to inspire motivation:

• My hat from working in industrial pest control
• My security badge from working in R&D
• My apron I wore while bartending
• A small wooden apple given to me by a student when I was teaching

and I remember that I could be working a real job right now.

It's basically about figuring out what you want to get out of what you're doing, and then using that for inspiration.

I'd like a job that I enjoy. When I remind myself of that, I find the motivation to get back to work.

Oh, one more thing I have on my desk is a little statue of a teddy bear climbing a mountain. On the back is this quote:

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
— Calvin Coolidge, 30th American president

[kdog]

excellent quote, moose, it makes some great points.

JTG... Motivation is a tough one. Different things inspire different people. Some advice would be to really focus on your ideas & play them out in your head over the long term before you actually start drawing anything. I've had numerous ideas that sounded great when I said them out loud, sounded pretty good as I began putting things on paper, & sounded like crap by the time I finished my little written proposal to myself. So I don't even start on these ones, I find them most likely to fizzle out or seem forced(if I finished them). This happens alot when you think of a gag & then try to build a whole cast of characters & storyline just around the gag..... it wont work that way. I find I am able to stay motivated more when I know an idea has some staying power, Daft Wullie's strip about the life of a husband for example, has an infinite number of gags & anecdotes that will always be funny and will be much easier to write because the characters & general plot already exist. As long as there are husbands out there, someone will be entertained by that strip. When you hear something funny & say "that would make a great toon..." I think it becomes much more difficult to stick with because at that point even you don't know what end you are working towards.

Just to be clear I'm not advising you disregard all the funny stuff people do & say, because that can account for alot of inspiration, but you might be better served if you jot those ideas or jokes down & save them for a rainy day. As you develop characters & ideas that can play out over time, you can easily dip into your "rainy day bag of jokes" & then put them to much better use in an animation you'll actually finish.

Theres my .02, & its just an opinion. Personally I work a mundane job with horrible hours, & I don't get paid to animate, so I have no deadlines & I don't impose any on myself either. I would love to be able to make $ sometime down the line, but for now, animation is my escape from work, and deadlines make it seem way too much like real work for my taste

[LanceITP]

A cleaner work-space
And less stress from your day job (for those of us that have one )

And to tune out the people around you that say, "you're wasting your time."

But who am I to talk, I barely have enough motivation to do any creative work. Be it, stressed out from work, lazy, "no money in it" (yet, anyway). Oh, and no-one to talk to about this kind of stuff in social situations.

[Peachpitt]

People need motivation in order to do things that the don't enjoy or that the don't really want to do. Like cleaning up your room, or doing your laundry, or going to work in a job you dislike or working with people you don't respect or paying your taxes or staying on a diet. People don't need motivation to do things they really care about or love. So I hate to be the one to break the news to you, but if you need motivation to finish doing your animation work or to make cartoons, then you may want to revisit how you really feel about doing that sort of work either for fun or compensation. It could be you like the idea of making animations or you like watching cartoons but that you yourself are really not seriously interested in making them. If you think it is too much work or effort, then you need to find something that you really care about and go do that instead. I'm not try to discourage you, but I'm just telling it like it is.

As to the Moose's quote about persistence, that is so totally true, the real secret to success in anything is being able to avoid distractions and overcome obstacles and never giving up. Sometimes you have to retreat and try a different approach but you never surrender or quit. Persistence isn't motivation it is just the desire to succeed no matter how tough the road becomes.

[jtg91]

i dont have a problem doing animation it seems that i start one project get half way and do another. its not like i stop animating i just start one piece animate it a little bit and then start another piece and animate that.

[myshkin]

I don't think that is always the case Peach.

Procrastination does not only occur because you don't want to do something, it can also be a result of fear of something you love doing not turning out the way you want it to.
I have sat infront of a blank canvas for hours. The painting is perfect while it is still in my imagination. It is when my brush hits the canvas that i have doubts.


I think a good way of motivating yourself to finish something, is making the rule that you will not start a new project until you finish the one you are on. Let the excitement of the one you want to start help you finish the one you are on.
I still have a half completed painting from six years ago when i broke this rule.

[kdog]

Myshkin, I couldn't agree more with your rule. I am trying to hold myself to the same one, & I think it's the best way to see your task through to the end. I've been working on a spoof infomercial for a while & although its slowed down as I have to learn alot as I'm doing it (this is my first attempt at an animation) the only times I've even remotely worked on anything else are when Im doing some random sketches etc, that turn into possible characters. Or if I get a good idea, I write it down & keep it in the back of my mind, but I don't work on it, & I will not until I finish my infomercial. Even if it sucks & the other ideas are better, especially as it is my first piece & I'll probably learn more doing this one than any other in the future.

[Peachpitt]

Motivation to do something is different from procrastination or more to the point loss of focus. Procrastination is just putting things off or delaying doing something usually that doesn't interest you or you don't enjoy or want to do. People definitely need motivation to overcome the urge to procrastinate. Loss of focus is usually caused by distractions and can be a serious project issue. All projects, but particularly longer duration projects, have many phases that occur during their execution. It is a common problem that project workers will become tired or bored doing something that becomes too familiar and want to switch to something new and unfamiliar. To stay on task requires discipline. Cartoon making is a long duration project oriented craft. So it isn't a question of motivation to do the work but rather planning for how to keep the work as fresh and interesting as possible throughout the length of production time. And having the discipline to stay on task.

[RageArtworks]

I have exactly the same problem. What I do when I am REALLY serious about something I try to show others some concept art, and I ask people what they think. Once I've shown people I usually stay disciplined, not always motivated but surely disciplined to finish it. I feel like I owe them that. And when it's done, and I'm happy with it, that's what motivates me to continue.

What also helps is letting you creativity flow, and let flow quickly. For an animated film I try to do as much of one thing (say concept art, writing the script, etc.) on one day. That way it feels fresh every time I work on it. Vacations are great to do this, as you have all the time of the world.

At least, this is what I think about it.

[Peachpitt]

Many people have the problem of trying to stay disciplined and keep going on their animation projects. One particular person, whose work I enjoy watching, started off making small under a minute cartoon episodes in a series. He made 8 or 9 of those at the rate of about one a month. Then he started losing focus and being distracted and procrastinating and getting frustrated with his software etc. So he decided to start trying to do daily progress reporting. He e-mailed a small group of friends and interested people and told them he wanted to get back on track after a several month period of not working on his cartoons. I heard that he sent out e-mails every day or so with a recap of what he was doing and sometimes links to his work in progress tests. This helped some but he soon slipped into a new distraction which was to redo his web site design. He now has converted his site from just focusing on his series to being a combination blog and tutorial site as well as having his cartoons. He has been making short quick animations which seemed to satisfy his need to quickly put out work, a common urge among creative people. But he is also publishing fairly regular blog articles about the different steps in his cartoon series production and he is back to actively working on his series. This just is an example of how one artist has tried to create some artificial deadlines and public commitments that he uses to motivate himself to overcome procrastination and distractions. In his case he just got bogged down in the slow pace of production and a little burned out and needed to re energize himself. I don't know this guy personally but I visit his web site often and I have followed his struggle with staying focused. The site is CALICO MONKEY.


An equally serious and very common reason that many people don’t finish projects beside the boredom that comes from seeing the same material for too long is the fear of failure or rejection. This can be real or imagined. We all have this fear to some extent. We get frustrated by comments given to what we perceive was a really good effort in a piece or we see others work get criticized and don’t want to face that pain. So the result is that we subconsciously find reasons to avoid finishing. Anything can distract us. This is a sad situation because failure is a relative thing. One person’s failure is another person success. In fact we all tend to learn more from our failures then our successes. And the only way to learn and improve in cartoon making is to make cartoons, to make animation pieces, and then to learn and improve the next time and so on. So the fear of failure that stops us from finishing is actually the only source of a real failure. Any piece that we finish is a success even if everyone who watches it gives us negative feedback. We still successfully finished it and that automatically puts us in a small group of people who actually finish their cartoon projects and more importantly we learned stuff that we will bring to our next project and then the one after that and soon we are making cartoons or animations that people will enjoy.

[kdog]

Calico Monkey has some great work to see & gives some great advice. I don't know him either, but I have learned alot from him and another guy on the TBS forum, he has been posting blogs & tutorials for quite some time now & there is a ton of info & ideas to digest. Some of it is geared towards the "how to" aspect of things, other stuff is more about ideas & concepts. anyway, he is linked up with calico's site as well, but here is the link to his main site & 2 of his blogs:
http://tallgrassradio.com/
blog #1: http://www.connectedconcepts.net/blog/
blog #2:http://www.tallgrassradio.com/craft/

Again there is invaluable information in here, & plenty of links, hope someone finds it as helpful as I have.

[SAB0TAGE]

I can see why this thread is growing, Great question.
I’m sure every amateur animator asks him/her self this question.
Probably at two in the morning, Working away on something that will only be seen by friends & family who will never appreciate the amount of work that went in to it. I just started my first Flash toon. Last night was my first crash. 2 hours of intense tweening gone. I think I handled it well. I think of it as a painful reminder to save often.

If you really want to tackle this question, I recommend one of two things;

1. Read The Artist’s Way. It has been recommended to me by painters, actors, art instructors, why not animators
2. Or, watch more animation. If you watch good animation you can’t help but get inspired.

[Peachpitt]

Kdog, it is funny that you referenced that Tall Grass Radio site and blogs. I also often read stuff there and when people ask questions , the guy who writes stuff always writes back and answers the questions and gives great advice. That's how I started to visit Calico Monkey and learn all about how the cartoonist there who is a friend of the other guy and has been struggling. Both guys seem very friendly and sure are willing to help others.

[LanceITP]

Originally Posted by SAB0TAGE

...watch more animation. If you watch good animation you can’t help but get inspired.

I agree. When it comes to 3D animation, most of which I've seen didn't appeal to me that much. Not much fluid actions. But when I rented and watched the movie, "Care Bears Journey to Joke-a-lot" I looked at the animation, and I thought, "Wow! You mean to tell me you can make a 3D animation that actually looks cartoonish, rather than stiff and realistic?" So, after watching that, my interest in 3D went from zero to a kindled flame.

It's just too bad I'm not into modeling or rigging. I like to make the characters move

[kdog]

Kdog, it is funny that you referenced that Tall Grass Radio site and blogs.... .....When people ask questions , the guy who writes stuff always writes back and answers the questions and gives great advice

He sure does, I've honestly learned more from JK's forum posts and blogs than I have from any other individual source. He's been at it a very long time, & actually kinda reminds me of Cartuneman on this forum (who I havent seen in a while). Both of them have been animating since before computers even existed, & I beleive are both still successfully doing it today. Anyone who doesn't tap sources like these two are just cheating themselves. There are plenty of successful animators out there, but the difference with these guys is THEY ARE WILLING AND EAGER TO TEACH & SHARE KNOWLEDGE. Check around for how many other people are willing to give so much time/effort for free. I've actually thought about hitting JK up for an interview, & if I get some good thoughts together once my site is up, I probably will.

[SAB0TAGE]

Originally Posted by LanceITP

I agree. When it comes to 3D animation, most of which I've seen didn't appeal to me that much. Not much fluid actions. But when I rented and watched the movie, "Care Bears Journey to Joke-a-lot" I looked at the animation, and I thought, "Wow! You mean to tell me you can make a 3D animation that actually looks cartoonish, rather than stiff and realistic?" So, after watching that, my interest in 3D went from zero to a kindled flame.

It's just too bad I'm not into modeling or rigging. I like to make the characters move

I have not seen “Care Bares Journey to Joke-a-lot”, though I hear it is the finest of all the films set in the Joke-a-lot universe.
The film that gets me fired up is
“Fire and Ice” – It is based off of Frank Frazzeta’s art.
The plot is so thin it only has one side but the animation is eyeball melting.