Forumberichten van Phantoon

Hi, I'm an animator. I've won several film festivals with my work and have worked with a lot of different clients over the years. Here's an example of some of my work. It's from a film I've been slowly picking away at.

First off, draftsmanship is typically pivotal, but an incredibly strong understanding of the fundamentals can suffice if you're going into CG. If you want to get into traditional animation, or 2D digital, you will need to be a very strong draftsman, and a strong designer. Most people overlook learning a lot about design and simply learn how to draw, which can work, but great animators know how to take what they learn from drawing and implement appealing and stylized designs for varying forms and structures they have to work with. Disney, for example, uses a lot of straight to curve design in their characters and shapes. Nowadays, animation is heading more toward the golden era design of symmetry and noodle arms, but the choice is ultimately up to what appeals to you. However, you can't make something appealing if you aren't versed well in design.

I'd also give some advice about the difference between prospective careers in CG/3D versus Traditional/2D. You can still be hired by a major studio to do 3D work, but 2D is much more spread out to smaller studios, or almost entirely outsourced overseas. If you want to go traditional, it's become more and more imperative in the market to not only be incredibly strong at draftsmanship, but also to be able to sell yourself. If you choose to go into 3D, it's the future and it's the now, but always remember that major studios have been notoriously outsourcing a majority of their 2D work overseas, and 3D might soon follow as it did with the CG effects industry a few years ago. With streaming services on the rise, however, who's to say what the trends will be in 5 years or so?

So, to reiterate. Practice your draftsmanship (aka drawing, preferably from life) and study/practice a lot of design. Combine them together to create a distinct, appealing, and efficient style and you'll be well on your way. Hope it helps.

Aram, start drawing immediately! It doesn't matter if you're a super amateur! Remember, everyone starts somewhere, and there will always be someone out there better than you no matter how good you get, so there's literally no point in worrying about where you stand with others. Just worry about your growth, okay?

If you're just beginning, I highly recommend drawing cubes. Buy some dice, or draw boxes from observation. Draw TONS of them! It's so critical to get the concepts of perspective in as early as possible, and that's the easiest, most effective way to do it! Draw them from as many angles as possible, until you're good enough to draw them from your mind at any angle.

Good luck, work hard, and remember: It takes time!

Hello everyone.

I've been drawing for at least 6-8+ hours a day for the last 4 months or so. I've been visiting this site forever, but never felt like posting before.

I noticed this challenge you set up Ryan, I'd be more than glad to match you each day with drawings/feedback. Love your enthusiasm to draw, you're going to need it through the hard gains.

Something I noticed in a lot of your work is crutching on things like shading/rendering. I'd honestly advise staying away from that stuff until you can properly utilize form, perspective, shape, anatomy, etc. As it stands, it really clutters your work and gets in the way of clarity. I'd also advise to worry less about time limits at your current ability. Trust me on this one, it's better to take your time and really learn these skills properly than to worry about how quickly you can push out a drawing. Speed comes naturally with proper practice.

I like that you're using lines across the hips and shoulders to help you with perspective, have you tried connecting corners to those lines, like a box? It should help you better see dimensions of the figure and give you a better grasp on how perspective works. I red lined over one of your drawings to kind of show you what I'm talking about. One of my mentors, Mike Mattesi, calls it "the turning edge," and it's invaluable to defining form effectively. You also want to watch out for inconsistent surface lines, they'll immediately inform you when something's off.

Okay, with that out of the way, here's some of my work.