Aside from that, I also in completed another shot (well four sub-shots to be precise) and made excellent headway on two others in the same sequence. Those should be finished early next week- I ‘just’ need to finish the faces on them. I always leave the faces until the end of each shot- my process is basically start with the lines I find easiest, such as the long/ straighter ones, then once those have all been drawn, I move to the next hardest/ detailed which are usually the hands (and feet in the case of these shots as she has bare feet- toes are not easy to draw)! Lastly I do the face, as by then I’m warmed up enough on said shot and the harder lines don’t feel as hard anymore.
I am also quite disciplined in not starting too many new shots at once, because a) I have to draw them all no matter what and there’s no getting out of it and b) it’s a nice relief to go back to easier feeling lines after completing the harder section of the previous shot. I also don’t want things to get out of hand. I will sometimes break this rule if I’m working on a really quite detailed or long shot (like I had been doing this week), where I’ll do say an hour first thing in the morning (when I work best) and then move onto the second shot for the remainder of the day. Tackling a shot in bitesize stages like this makes it feel easier and means I can work on it each day, without it feeling so overwhelming. Though a shot needs to start to feel super difficult before this process begins and no, I am not fun at parties!
Anyway, that’s basically an insight into my animation process. Sometimes when there’s no exterior forces or deadlines hanging over you, you need to come up with your own ways of pushing through when the going gets tough. On the whole my self motivation is strong (I always have the end goal of the finished film in mind), though I would be lying if I said every day was plain sailing. I struggle with insomnia so on the days I haven’t slept well, the work feels harder because I’m tired. Those days do feel a bit of a slog, but I just listen to a load of podcasts and music to power me through and work on easier sections of the animation. I also find playing back what you’re working on helps- when you can see the animation progressing and looking good, then it really gives you a boost. I’m sure I’ve covered this before on this blog, but it’s always good to mention every now and again incase it helps if you’re too working on a short film…
I should probably post another clip at some point soon, as the only one I’ve shared so far was at the very start. But at the same time, I don’t want to give too much of the film away and also, I don’t want to be faffing around wasting time exporting clips for the socials when I could be using that time to animate. Plus going on Instagram just drags me down mentally, so I can’t really be bothered with it right now- hardly been on it this week and life feels a lot calmer! There’s too much happening at once on it and feels impossible to ‘keep up’ (probably because it is). So yeah, find me on here and/ or in real life!
Image of tracker below, see you next time!
