Lovely. Just Lovely.

Advice to aspiring 2D animators/storyboard artists/concept artists etc.:

Don't go to expensive art school

Don't work for low pay indie productions in hope of boosting your resume

Don't do cheap commissions

Don't post traced or AI art ever

Don't make animation your career

Stop telling yourself artistic skill = money

If you are in high school right now, do not go to college for animation. I'm so so serious. The animation industry is crumbling right now, and the last thing you should be doing is racking up college debt for a degree that will fail you.

Here are some things that you can do:

Use your creative skills for jobs outside of the entertainment industry

Work on personal projects

Do not feel like you have to spend your time marketing yourself on social media if you don't enjoy it

Collaborate with other artists on projects you actually want to work on

Widen your creative influences

Try new mediums

Keep private sketchbooks/journals

Allow yourself to flow through periods of creative highs and art block

Even if you 'make it' in the animation industry. It is highly likely you will get laid off, be overworked, or underpaid. Most likely all three.

I've been laid off by two studios, underpaid by all of my animation jobs with exception of two, and I'll name them so no one thinks I am accusing them. One was a small short film called Emaho where I got to set my own rates and pick my workload. And the other is Wild Card, which was commission based and priced by me. I have had three animation studio jobs, and all of them have either not paid me or paid me very little.

The last studio job made me finally quit the industry. It was the largest most prestigious studio I had ever worked for. And, with exception of the studio that paid me nothing as I was an intern, this studio paid me the worst wages of any job I've had. I had calculated my pay, and it was less than minimum wage in my state. The studio had hired me promising part time hours, but would often leave me without work for days. The managers were hard to reach. I had little to no contact with the other animators working at the studio. But it was my first and only credit in an animated show, so that's something.

This expierience has been echoed by my animator friends and coworkers. It is not a sustainable industry. It profits off of worker exploitation. Don't feed it with your time, money, and creativity.

**FLASH WARNING**

Original Title: “When I’m Electrical [MEME]”

Xurnam, Urnam7, UrnamBOT

Moxy wanted to do something nice for Lou, but Lou (being his mean self) rejects it. It's only when Moxy throws it away, Lou secretly takes it, and appreciates her craft.

Hope you guys had a great Valentine's Day.

IT'S TIME! The Far-Fetched Animated Pilot Kickstarter has officially LAUNCHED! To kick things off, here's a first look at our fully animated series opening!

Consider donating, spread the word, and help us bring this beast to life!

Kickstarter

Coming soon: Far-Fetched: The Animated Pilot That Wouldn't Die

An animated horror comedy about a rock band of misfits filming a music video that’s so lame, monsters try to kill them.

Yep! Lou wants to take in the best of the best dolls. If you ain’t it, you are forced to work. This is the Institute of Perfection after all. A bit more stricter than how it was in the movie.

It's done! After so many days of procrastinating this piece, I finally finished it!!

This is my redesign of the Institute of Perfection. I found the movie version to be very bland and boring, so I took some inspirations from some of the concept arts, and made my own design. I have it to where Perfection is actual in the toy factory, protected by this glass dome. A very glamorous city where Pretties can eat, train, and shop for accessories. There's also some advertisements of "Perfection" and "You can be better" to encourage the Pretties to be better than ever. Underneath Perfection is a workshop where Imperfect dolls are forced to work on crafting accessories. I'll make a drawing of what it looks like once I'm done with my re-design of Lou, the Pretties, and the Imperfect dolls.

Finish it days ago, just forgot to post it.

HELLO!! big fan of your animatics!! How do you make them and do you have any tips for inspiration, planning, and what software do you use?

Thank you! I'm glad you like them!

I think the realization that revolutionized the way I think about storyboarding the most is that you HAVE to let your imagination drive. I start off every animatic with super loose, super messy, barely legible sketches, with wrong anatomy, janky movement, etc. Instead of focusing on making it look good, I can just focus on setting it up for its potential, and starting my motivation at the highest point it can be. I never let my first draft take more than a few hours over the course of like 2 days max, or else the drive dissipates.

If I start a board right away with the cleanest, most beautiful art I can muster, I'll kill my own motivation, like "Oh god, in my head, I imagined a huge spinning 3D camera shot here, with a bunch of dancing characters. That last panel alone took me like 30 minutes to draw, I don't wanna do this! I'll draw a simpler, flatter scene instead." and then it ends up looking nothing like how I imagined, and I get demotivated before abandoning the project. But if I start with super messy lines, just barely enough to get the idea out onto a screen where I can watch it, the excitement and imagination will drive, like "Wow, this shot with a huge spinning 3D camera and all these complicated characters looks SO COOL! It's gonna take a lot of work, but look how interesting it looks already! I can't give up on this!"

For reference, this was puppet boy's first draft!

Storyboarding is a bit different from a lot of other visual art mediums because it takes a LOOOOT more work before it starts feeling rewarding. Learning to manage your own motivation is a huge part of building the skill that I feel a lot of people don't mention.

But when it comes to learning how to finalize it, study up on your storyboarding rules! Learn about perspective, anatomy, screen direction, and learn to draw FAST (that's a big one). Draw out shots from your favourite movies, study their composition and take note of their camera/character movement, and how it aligns with the shots sandwiching them. Learn from other artists (I recommend Toniko Pantoja, he's a very experienced board artist who makes a lot of videos abt improving your boards and what it's like to work in the industry), and PRACTISE! Your first piece of art, whenever you try anything new, is going to SUCK. You're gonna think its bad. That's just how art goes. But the next time you do it, you'll always, always, improve, even if just a little, even if you can't see it for yourself.

The biggest thing to keep telling yourself when making storyboards is DON'T GIVE UP YET. YOU'RE SO CLOSE TO MAKING SOMETHING COOL. And then you have to keep telling yourself that over, and over, and over, and over, through all the sighs, and the frustrated rage-quitting, and the exhausted temporary give-ups, and then eventually, those animatics you keep building in your head get to be real! And it feels incredible.

Hnk 89 analysis

Like a goddamn clockwork, here I am again

Disclaimer: Same as every time. I’m an ex-theravada buddhist, studied that for a decade or so, but not mahayana like in hnk. Also most sources I know of are in thai/sanskrit, and my ability to translate those two into english is limited, so I can’t properly cite anything. However, if you take the sanskrit key words or names I mentioned here and google them, you will find additional information or the full explanation of them.

Content

1. RIP box :(

2. A theory about reincarnation

3. Ice floes & realms within Samsara

4. Caste system, its relationship with Buddhism and how it applies to Hnk

5. Enma

1. Box is dead for sure, and he’s in the sea. RIP box. RIP box. You’re dead now. It’s ok. You’re dead nothing can hurt you. You’re dead RIP box. RIP box. RIP box. RIP box. Box’s dead now. RIP box.

Keep reading

Houseki no Kuni, Chapter 107

Hey guys, I was reached out to by my friend Siraj @siraj2024 to share his story and shed some light on his situation

Please listen, do not scroll away.

Siraj used to live in Northern Gaza with his family of five, including his wife and three children. He had painstakingly built the family house over ten years, going into debt so that he could provide a beautiful home for his family. But when the occupational forces declared war on Gaza, the area where he had built this home was one of the first areas to get invaded and destroyed by the tanks and bomb shells.

This is the state of their family's beloved home now:

Since large portions of their home was destroyed and they were forced to flee from the violence, Siraj's family has been displaced six times in the months that followed.

Siraj has described to me that living out of these tents has been like living in a convection oven under the current heat wave, and full of disease ridden pests.

His children, who should have been in school and playing with other kids their age, instead have to worry about if they'll have enough water for the day and how they will carry it over long distances. They have to stand long queues just to fill their buckets and even then, the water is so polluted that they have to risk serious illnesses like hepatitis when they drink it anyway, for the sake of their survival.

They have lost an entire year, along with a lot of hopes and dreams, to this genocide that they will never get back.

The gravity of their situation cannot be understated. They do not have access to clean water. They do not have access to basic medical care and hygiene products.

There is no safe place left in Gaza. They are constantly living under the threat of violence from the IOF, illness and starvation.

The funds collected from this gfm will go into reconstruction of their home, as well as providing for the family's basic needs during this troubling time.

Please support Siraj and his family to rebuild his home, educate their children, and meet their needs.

gofundme.com

Donate to Support Siraj's Family in Rebuilding Their Home, organized by Ahmad Abudayeh

hi, my name is ahmad and I'm raising a fund for my cousin Siraj and thi… Ahmad Abudayeh needs your support for Support Siraj's Family in Reb

This gfm was vetted by @/nabulsi and appears on their list of vetted fundraisers (#219)

July 1st: $1,789 CAD raised of $82,000

They have a long way to go, so please dont hesitate to donate anything you can! No amount is too little!

And if you can't, please spread the word so that someone else can. Please make sure to follow Siraj's blog @siraj2024 so you can hear updates on the situation from him directly!