keeping the job, and keeping sharp

mnagaha · Post by **mnagaha** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 1:00 pm

i am now working as an animator for a tv station.(have been for some time now)

but what they mostly want is 'motion graphics'? (and that they want fast!)
it has come to a point that i really don't do any character or any narrative animation any more (these things take time) at work we mostly use adobe after effects (which is fast)

and the few 2D animation things i have done i did most of the designing in my own time. but these are getting fewer as time goes on..

has anybody met with this particular situation, and still find a way to keep on doing character work?

thanks in advance for any comments

this is the Christmas animation i did in 2 1/2 days..very poor quality IMO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Og6bpYK ... re=channel

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 5:12 pm

I thought that was very nice, especially for 2 1/2 days. Did you composite the clouds in AAE?

mnagaha · Post by **mnagaha** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 5:19 pm

synthsin75 wrote:I thought that was very nice, especially for 2 1/2 days. Did you composite the clouds in AAE?

yes in AAE

thank u for the kind words,

but i can see a quality drop from lets say
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbK67-BYibc

i think i should be getting better with time, not getting worse.

dm · Post by dm » Mon Jan 26, 2009 7:22 am

A friend does motion graphics during the day, then spends an hour or two of his own time on character animation. You just have to make the commitment, and stick to it. From what I've seen, you don't have any time extra work time when you're cranking out TV graphics. Pretty cut and dry "we need this, and we need it yesterday". Isn't that about it?

Or did I misunderstand your initial post?

mnagaha · Post by **mnagaha** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:08 am

dm wrote:A friend does motion graphics during the day, then spends an hour or two of his own time on character animation. You just have to make the commitment, and stick to it. From what I've seen, you don't have any time extra work time when you're cranking out TV graphics. Pretty cut and dry "we need this, and we need it yesterday". Isn't that about it?

Or did I misunderstand your initial post?

thats about it. fast is the key word.
but i have creative freedom to do logo animations and such with my own concepts. but then i have to do most of the designing on my own time. i have started to use AAE more and more, sicne it increases speed. but there is a limit to how fast you can draw backgrounds and design charachters

.
lately i have done a few things too fast and the resulting loss of quality has left me really dissapointed.

but i plan to hang on to the job for one more year. and if i cant find a way to balance out things (specially with RSI). i will look for something else.
any thoughts or experiance with balansing out things?

thnks

mnagaha · Post by **mnagaha** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 5:19 pm

got bad case of viral fever
had to stay home from work for a few days..and thought things over
now i plan on taking on only as much work as i can handle.
finish one thing THEN take on the other thing.

it seems obvious, but when you get caught up in work, taking time out can seem like an impossibility.

burning the candle at both ends is not a good idea,
especially in something like animation, which is so labor intensive.

thanks everyone!
i appreciate all the help