Self Education

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More on Self education in my WORKSHOPS tab ^^        

I've always been about making education if not affordable, well at least free. "But Danny now you are teaching for a hefty price... what gives?"

         -Yes, I thought about that and that's why I'm writing this post. There's a lot of people out there who can't afford colleges, animations schools or workshops. They lose hope and don't know Self teaching is an option. It's hard but IT IS POSSIBLE. I came across many students trying to teach themselves how to animate as I did research on this topic. Some had the self taught route under control and knew what they were doing. I'm passing along what I found so that it may be a guide to those who want to become animators but are lost because they can not afford higher education.  

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       Personally I can relate to the self-taught route because growing up all I did was study on my own and teach myself to draw. Even though teaching yourself how to animate and teaching yourself how to draw are very different, they share a lot of the same hurdles and issues. Self Education is not easier than going to college, in fact it is harder because you are doing this on your own with no teachers or mentors. Many people try to go the self taught route and fail (True Story)

IT TAKES TIME

       - Yourself is not a walk in the park, teach at your own pace, smooth merry go round full of fun. It's as much work as a full time job. The amount of effort you put into your self education is equal to the results you should expect to receive from it. If you spend 5 hours a week self teaching while there are students in colleges spending 6 hour days, 5 days a week taking classes, what do you think your chances are when it's time to hire you or them? 

IS YOUR DRIVE BOTTOMLESS

       -You have to want your goal really bad, but your WANT can not be more than what you are physically willing to do. Example: You want to be an animator but you didn't realize it was so tedious to create animation. You must have patience and foresight to keep the light at the end of the tunnel with in reach. 

REALIZE YOU ARE NOT A PRODIGY

        -Surround yourself with people who do better than you, work harder than you and want their dreams just as bad, they just might rub off on you in a good way

We aren't all just destined for greatness - it takes hard work to get there!

Here are some Idea's I compiled from online sources of things to do for experience:

1. Make your own animated film, even if you have no budget. It doesn't matter if it's very bad,  stop motion with Lego figures, or an experiment with Post it notes. Making a film will show you exactly how much work goes into everything and help develop perspective and respect for the business. (though making a film should not count as practicing working on your skills - PRACTICE ROUTINE)
2. Watch a lot of movies, take notes, and listen to the director commentary tracks. The commentary can be a gold mine of information on why directors made the choices they made, the challenges they faced, etc. Sometimes they'll call out things you never even noticed.
3. Learn a lot about story structure, and what makes something engaging, entertaining, satisfying. Here are book I found people mention
   • Invisible Ink and The Golden Theme by Brian McDonald
   • Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
   • Francis Glebas' blog (especially his "Ride the Dragon" story structure)
   • The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
4. Once you've figured out story, then learn about Visual storytelling. It's is an awesome tool for your 'mental toolbox'. In any film, but especially animation, you want to say as much as possible with the visuals, and use as few shots as possible to get it across. Watch really good movies, do sketches of the key moment in each shot or a whole scene and take note of all the different shots there are, and put them together in a reverse-engineered storyboard, so you can see how they were constructed and why the director and story artists made those decisions. There are a few books that have been recommended to me on this subject, but that I have yet to read:
   • The Visual Story: Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media by Bruce Block
   • Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative by Will Eisner
   • Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts by Nancy Beiman
   • DREAM WORLDS - Hans Bacher
   There are also plenty of video tutorials on Vimeo and YouTube, if you search for them. One great video lecture I read that was recommended Sherm Cohen on Vimeo, about the 7 Hidden Patterns of Successful Storyboards.
5. Take a look and see if there are any workshops, classes, or other resources you can tap into to help inform and build your knowledge to create your own curriculum. Skillshare is popular, and it's very affordable as well. there are courses from Sarah Zucker that teach a bit about story structure with the added benefit of valuable feedback from peers. The course was Screenwriting: Writing the 10-minute Short. Daniel Gonzales, an animator at Disney, is also teaching a course called Constructing a Story: Advanced Visual Storytelling, and his lectures have been invaluable from the visual storytelling perspective. Another resource that you may be very interested in is a new book by Tony Bancroft, who directed Mulan. The book is Directing for Animation: Everything You Didn't Learn in Art School.
6. Learn how to make decisions. There is an interview once with Brad Bird, where he compared being a director to being one of the grasshoppers who get pummeled with seeds in that scene from A Bug's Life, when Hopper makes a point to his gang. The seeds are questions, and as a director, you are buried in them every day - you have more than you can possibly ever answer. But as director, you can never say "I don't know..." you always have to know, because you are the #1 decision maker, and there is no one else for you to go to. So figure out how to look like you know what you're doing, so your crew can trust that they can come to you and get an answer.
7. Aim to make your work compete with the quality of the work of someone who has a job you want! Aim high and never settle
8. LEARN FROM ALL ARTS: straight from Lips of Brad Bird (Director of the 'Incredibles')

        So those are some things to do. I know the reality right now is that you'd love to go to a school and have a mentor, work with peers, and get all the benefits that a study course would offer... but you can't. I hope this post is a little beacon that gives you a little more guidance than you'd have other wise if you are thinking about taking this scary journey on your own. 

Why is it great to be an animator. Here is Steven Spielberg saying why

"Secrets"

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"-The greats weren’t great because at birth they could paint, the greats were great because they paint a lot.”
-Macklemore

"Danny whats the secret, Danny I thought you were going to go deep into cool tricks, Danny you told me things I already new, I was looking for something that would help me out, Danny this stuff blows."

       The first line above says it all. The lines following the first quote show ignorance in its full glory. Many times I'll come across people learning to draw/animate/storyboard and I always have some students coaxing me to reveal secrets on how artist become so good. I'll say this again and again: There are no secrets, there is no gene that make people better artist than others, there is no epiphany one must have and from that moment they are gods.

        How does one get better at catching a baseball, How does one get better at making rice, how does one get better at playing video games, how does one person get better at creating art? 

YOU DO IT A LOT.        Done, there you go, that is apparently 'the big' secret :) bc nobody knows this. Practicing and repetition will make you better and faster. Completing one student film or 2 assignments in a semester will not cut it. Sure, some people can pick up the trade faster than other students but that does not mean becoming a great artist is out of anyones grasp. There are people at Disney and Pixar who are not natural artists. With their hard work and determination they BECAME great artists.  

Thats my little rant of the day. :D

       Oh and if you are looking for opportunities to learn, I will share you two links for two online Lectures/workshops I gave a while back. I think the site is still charging for them but once you pay you keep all the material FOR LIFE. True Story.

The first link is: The Art of Visual Storytelling 
http://skl.sh/16i3Ze9
This lecture/workshop goes over the fundamentals of visual storytelling and breaks that down to its most basic elements. And by breaking visual storytelling down you gain more insight on how a visual can communicate an emotion. This one if definitely safe for those with no art background. 

The second link is: Constructing a Story: advance visual story telling
http://skl.sh/19yLtmt

       In this lecture/workshop I go in depth, and go as basic as I possibly can to break down what story really is and what makes good stories into great stories. Even though this has the word advance in the title it really is accessible for all ages and skill levels. After this class I guarantee you will never look at another movie or read a book the same way again. 


Enjoy and thanks a lot

GREAT LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES 2013

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QUICK SIDE NOTE: I will be teaching an online workshop on visual story telling starting MARCH 19th If you are interested and want to know how to sign up for it click the link :)

     I'm teaching on this site called SKILL SHARE. There's a lot of things being taught on that sight but not much art, so the site reached out to me and I agreed to host a class for 3 weeks. ITs not crazy expensive at all, you pay $15 bucks or less for the class you want and then you're given access to the class online and you get to hear lectures from me and participate on assignments. Its really straight forward and fun.

     So here's the link for those who would like to learn about VISUAL STORYTELLING. I'm sharing everything I've learned since I started to work at Pixar and Disney. It's going to be dense with a lot of juicy info that I won't share on this blog :)  I strongly strongly suggest you check it out. It might actually blow our mind.

LINK to class
link to site

PS. If you email me and say you are interested in the class I can give you a discount, it use to be a 10 dollar discount, I think now I can just get you a 50% discount, which is still a pretty sweat deal!
UPDATE (March 16th): I have gotten more emails than expected so I have asked the owners of the site if they'd let me give out more discounts, and they said yes! So email me if you would like a discount code. it is now available until that day the class strts WHICH IS THE 19th.
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ANIM SQUAD

LINK TO SCHOOL HOMEPAGE

     I have never been more excited over something in a long time than I am over this (Well thats a lie, I was excited the other day over this ginormous burrito that was soooo good!.. but thats besides the point)  

     Theres a new animation school in Los Angeles. Most if not all the teachers are animators at Walt Disney Animation Studios. This is a tremendous opportunity to learn the tricks and skills of animation from real professionals. Not only are you learning from animators who work at the legendary Walt Disney Animation Studios but you are also learning from the traditions and skills of animators that passed on their knowledge from generation to generation. ANIMATION was out on the map by Disney Animation. forget about if they're movies are timeless or flop from time to time because if you are worried about story take a story-telling class! I'm talking about animation! If you want to learn animation the way Glen Keane, Eric Goldberg and Milt Kahl do it, then you go learn from a Disney Animator.

     There are other animation schools out there but this is the first time ever that Disney Animators are coming together for you! They want to teach and to pass on the knowledge and the ways of animation that have been pioneered since the days of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937. This is a priceless opportunity for those in southern california wishing to learn how to animate.


Where is this school Danny?? How can I find out more??
One of the many amazing things about this school is it's location. It's in the heart of hollywood (Hollywood blvd and Highland Ave., Los Angeles, CA.) Whats more inspirational than being where all the movies are made and being in the middle of everything?

HOLLYWOOD CALIFORNIA

What can I expect from this Animation School, will I like it, what's it going to be like??
     You expect top notch quality. Every single one of our teachers is a supervising animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. So you will be learning from the best. It's not a hassle to get to the school since its right on the red line METRO subway station in los angeles. You can expect a very intimate student teacher experience bc the class sizes are tiny (8 people) You can expect an experience tailored to you. you can bring in work you are already working, or  to improve your portfolio reel, or start from scratch and learn something new. Its up to you! There will be lectures, Demos, critiques, assignments and much much more! so expect awesomeness.

WHO ARE THE TEACHERS DANNY????
Meet them yourself! HERE, these animators a great and I can not think of a more friendlier bunch of people than these four guys. This school is just getting started, expect new teachers rotating in and out! the site will also be updated soon with videos and all sorts of fun things! The four teachers are:

Nathan Engelhardt;
Focus: Expert level students who want to take their work to a professional level and learn to polish like a boss

Adam Greene; Focus: Beginner students that want a running start on beginning their education in animation

Brent Homman: Focus will be those who are struggling in the middle. Past beginner but not quite expert level. 

Michael Franceschi: for those too far to come to LA but still want to learn!

Wait WAIT WAIT!!! Did I just read an ONLINE CLASS will be available Danny?
     I did indeed. There will be ONE class offered as an online class. they will try it out and see how it works. If your in San Francisco or Utah or the butt crack of no where with no animation school insight? THIS IS YOUR CHANCE to get a first class, 101, professional: "This is how to F***ing animate" can of whoop ass and learn something! :)  I'm kidding about the ass kicking. 

The latest these guys have animated on were Disney's Oscar winning Paperman and Oscar nominated Wreck-it Ralph!

 


THE ANIMATION EXPERIENCE continued:
     You show up and bring your laptop (There's nothing like working with something comfortable and familiar. ) All classes will take place at night. Whats around the school besides everything? (music schools, acting schools, stores, restaurants and everything else you could think of. There's lots of energy around! There are all kinds of artist here in hollywood and you'll get to meet a lot of them too! The walk of fame is literally in front of the building. Since all the studios are in LA and around Hollywood, do you know what that means? NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES.


COMPARE AND CONTRAST
-Animation mentor, a lot of students fall through the cracks and dont attain the skills the need to be hired.
-Cal Arts and other schools (except CCA bc that school kicks ass) Who wants to spend 4 years and close to 50,000 bucks?
-Anim Colab is also a good school and just as good as Anim Squad. you can think of the Anim Squad as southern california's answer to Anim Squad.. but its up north where its cold, and they have like.. nature and shit. Who wants to go see a bear when you could see this accross the street from the Anim Squad location in Hollywood, California.

Last word:
     This is a something you will learn from. your mind will be blown. you will improve, you most likely will be at your highest potential artistically by the time you are done with this school. also take my class I'm teaching on skillshare.com here's the link to my class! CLASS

Also if you do take a class at Anim Squad, mention that you heard it from me and something great should happen :)