When I started making Animan cartoons, I used a simple tablet to draw my animated drawings in the animation software. I found it to be super awkward at first, because I couldn't watch my hands. But animation is very labor-intensive, and soon I found I had hundreds of hours of practice under my belt.
My only complaint with these standard tablets is that you have to keep the edges of the tablet in alignment with the angle of your computer screen. If you don't, you will have trouble drawing straight lines--instead of going up and down, or from left to right, they'll be going diagonally, all over the screen.
Click here to watch someone draw beautifully with a standard tablet
My first few films: Twist Party, Sex Ed, Big Beach Adventure, Camp, and Carmen were all drawn using a standard tablet. Thanks to my fans who bought some of these first videos, I was able to save my money and get the tablet I had always dreamed of.
My only complaint with these standard tablets is that you have to keep the edges of the tablet in alignment with the angle of your computer screen. If you don't, you will have trouble drawing straight lines--instead of going up and down, or from left to right, they'll be going diagonally, all over the screen.
My first few films: Twist Party, Sex Ed, Big Beach Adventure, Camp, and Carmen were all drawn using a standard tablet. Thanks to my fans who bought some of these first videos, I was able to save my money and get the tablet I had always dreamed of.
I've been using this tablet for the past two years, and I've become very spoiled! Recently, I had to get this tablet repaired. The manufacturer had to send me an empty box which was humongous. I put the super-heavy Cintiq inside the complicated box, and sent it off for repairs. Here's the box.
The big box on the bottom is the "cover" that goes over the entire inner box. The Cintiq 24HD must be shipped at a diagonal angle, and therefore, it requires a box of epic proportions. The top of the cover box hits me about mid-thigh. And it costs about 30 plus dollars to ship back to the manufacturer! After a week, I got it back again, and all goes merrily.
Wow Animan, if only you were that quick! Amazing skill, hope to hear you've started your next film soon,
ReplyDeleteDavid
Sometimes I really am that quick! But maybe I just seem slow because I have so many drawings to do.....?
DeleteThe next film has been started. I'll announce it soon. :)
Good man, I can hardly wait. I'm still working on the five, maybe your next film will be the necessary impetus. Be lucky.
DeleteDavid
Right.
DeleteHi Animan. I'm curios to know how much of your drawing and animating abilities are learned and how much is natural skill. For example I am not a good drawer, do you think it's possible to learn how to create movies like you do or do you think you need to have a natural ability?
ReplyDeleteIn my own case, natural skill is 0% and learned ability is 100%. Do you love drawing so much that you can't pull yourself away from the drawing board? Does the mere act of putting your ideas on paper for others to see fascinate you? Do you still enjoy it, even if you haven't reached your goal yet? If the answer is yes, you will naturally be drawing all the time, and you'll naturally improve.
DeleteThe perfect example of "natural ability" is on YouTube. There's a parakeet named "Disco" who can talk like crazy. There are many many videos of Disco the Parakeet to watch. I noticed one thing: Disco is fascinated with SOUND. The sound of his owners' voices, the sound of his toy bells, and the sound of his own voice. He spends every moment he can, just practicing what he has learned. Disco isn't discouraged because he can't recite the Gettysburg Address. He's content, just speaking his little lines. And the result? He just keeps getting better and better!
With computers, learning to draw and animate is getting easier and easier. You can draw animation and instantly see it move. That's a super high learning curve, and it's really fun! If you enjoy drawing, and animation, little by little you'll get to the goal. Start with 1 or 2 scenes.
If you've seen my free video, "Early Animan", you'll see many short scenes or unfinished stories I made. Making them was fun, and I knew that if I didn't give up, I could make them longer and longer. The first attempt was "School Fantasy".
So, when people tell you "You don't have talent!", just smile and walk away. If you love drawing and want to get better, that's enough. Good luck!
Thank you for your inspirational words.
DeleteYou are very, very welcome. :)
Deletehello animan i love your jobs... very hard and exciting... i have a question, umm what do you use to draw, what programms and elements, what type of tablet do you use... ? sorry my english is a lil bit bad
ReplyDeleteHi Elyonerethelyon!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like my movies.
Here's a list of all the things I use to make movies.
Macintosh computer. I use it for all the visuals, as well as recording voices in the built-in microphone.
Toon Boom Harmony software. Before I got the expensive Harmony software, I used Toon Boom Animate Pro, which is almost as good and much cheaper. I do all my drawing in the animation software.
I draw on a Wacom CIntiq HD24. I draw directly onto the screen. It's much faster than an ordinary tablet--I don't make so many mistakes.
To create the music, I compose, record and play it back on a Yamaha Motif XF7.
Animan