blog
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86. sometimes you throw away work
April 8, 2024
I spent a great deal of time making a scene and the project changed. It’s hard to let go of the project. it’s hard to change. It’s hard to face the limits of my skill
But here I am, employed and focusing in. It’s a good job. I have to…
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85. embrace breaks
April 5, 2024
u need rest and to prep mentally. don’t feel guilty! enjoy
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84. buy 3d models
April 5, 2024
saves time
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83. set yourself up for success
April 5, 2024
preparing everything is so key to animation. folders n stuff. have a plan and references
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82. Use a pencil and paper to prevent tunnel vision
March 31, 2024
I see so many designers get wrapped up in executing a specific idea. once you’ve put hours in, it’s impossible to see it objectively. We get tunnel vision
Using paper and pencil to roughly sketch out ideas first frees you to start fresh, to move things around to delete things…
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81. rotoscope is magic
March 14, 2024
Is rotoscoping lazy animation? Is it cheating? Finding another artist’s work or footage and tracing it
Recently I was struggling to animate a man walking away from the camera for my Joe Pera animation and again for an upcoming animation. It’s hard to animate a person walking away! I even…
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80. there’s always one more dish
February 29, 2024
you finish washing the dishes and wipe the counter. that’s when you inevitably find a dirty spatula. so you have to get your hands wet again or leave it at 99%
Soooo this is true for animation. it’s not finished until it’s finished.
The best thing to do it get…
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79. Choosing is hard, gotta choose tho
February 29, 2024
I’m a pretty happy person. Been really lucky
There’s something holding me back. I don’t want to choose. I don’t want to choose a job or choose a project. I want comfort, not change.
But the time comes and it has. To face reality and make a choice. I can…
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78. lip syncing is about shifting mouth positions
February 21, 2024
I’m lip syncing a large amount of dialogue for the Joe Pera sleep animation. In my last post on how to lip syncing I wrote that it’s about rhythm - that means you want to hit the timing of when the mouth is open or closed
In this post I…
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77. Be your own editor
February 7, 2024
This could really be seven blog posts but they all came from one 1982 scifi magazine on writer’s block. Robert Sheckley describes a few tricks
1. Return to simplicity.
When he started writing it was easy, as he got sophisticated it became difficult. return to the basics to get back…
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76. add camera movement in post, not during animation
January 30, 2024
Moving the camera before finishing animation just makes it harder to animate the shot and it locks you into camera moves prematurely.
if it’s just pans, make a big image and animate it after.
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75. focus on form, not line
January 26, 2024
David Hockney’s iPad art is totally loose and amateur. it captures something real and honest.
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74. i wont give up
January 24, 2024
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73. link up with a creator
January 24, 2024
and their launch
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72. animating mouth talking is about hitting rhythm
January 24, 2024
hitting rhythm
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71. composition is about relationships
January 23, 2024
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM6VyV9kA/
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70. how to show scale?
January 21, 2024
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69. plant a flag
January 19, 2024
take a single action that gives you a win and establishes your determination to do something
to be more creative just put a single brush of paint on paper
to be healthier just run a single block
it’s a small thing but that’s the point. you get a win and…
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68. story writing: write stuff happening over time
January 16, 2024
in a story write longterm changes
two years ago I helped a man have your father killed.
I left my husband a decade ago.
Make these changes part of the story and relationships.
it’s simple but helps add depth to writing
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67. look at what you do naturally
January 14, 2024
want to know what you want to do with your life? look at what you do naturally.
I find myself drawn to teaching and writing.
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66. put stuff in your hamster cage
January 9, 2024
put a wheel in the hamster cage and the hamster runs
put a ball in there and it plays ball
this is how you can control yourself basically hahaha I wanted to learn piano but it’s kinda hard to play because I have a synth that has to be plugged…
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65. write it down
January 8, 2024
overwhelmed by ideas? write them all down!
get it out of your head
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64. instead of painting shadow, carve light
January 6, 2024
look at this
shadow helps add depth to a scene. but it can be a struggle to add shadows well. so that first video says to add a dark layer and carve out where the light hits, then add detail.
meanwhile this video
is about adding shadow lines that work…
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63. sketchbook drawing is loose
January 5, 2024
im having the problem with sitting down to draw and it not being good.
don’t worry, just draw. try shapes and make characters, faces, buildings. loose and happy. sketchbook drawing is about exploration
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62. practice creative minimalism
January 3, 2024
creating an animation can be a big undertaking. it is easy to lose focus.
remove the noise and focus on the core idea. only creating what is essential.
this allows for more satisfying and complete work.
