There seems to be a misconception that you go into animation school to learn to draw. That is not true. You go into animation school to learn to animate. Anyone else telling you otherwise is trying to make money from you without actually telling you the truth.
That means you need to have sufficient ability to draw competently in order to animate. This includes anatomy, perspective, shape and form.
A lot of aspiring animation students are unclear about what that means. So here is a breakdown of the skill sets that you should know before coming on to the course.
- Draw from observation. Aka live drawing/sketching. Drawing what is in front of you. Draw your table, your room, the people on streets. Observe the space and measurement between objects and shapes. And put it to paper. Not Ipad. Paper. This will train your proportions and perspective. And builds confidence.
- Try drawing with a PEN only. Try to do some of these sketches/drawings with only a PEN. Not pencil. This is to prevent you from erasing and drawing over. It will also force you to make decisions about what to commit down on paper. You are learning to decide what line is important enough to put down on paper. And gives you confidence later down the road. Besides its gratifying seeing your drawings in ink.
- Draw quickly. Animation isn't a fine arts course. We don't spend 10 hours or 10 days over ONE drawing/painting.We draw hundreds of drawings over the same period of time. That is why we courage you to spend 5-10 minutes on each sketch. No more.
- Draw prolifically. In animation school, you will be drawing 8-10 hours a day. So you will need to get used to that. If not you will not last very long. Keep a sketchbook and draw in it. Draw everything.
- Learn to do perspective drawing. Google "perspective drawing". make it 2nd nature.
- Learn to draw gesture drawings and human anatomy. You are creating movement with drawings. And most of these drawings are characters and their poses to tell their mood and . So learn to draw gestures and human anatomy. Just follow these for a start.
How I Draw Anatomy Playlist.
- History of Art. It can be dry. But its very useful to learn about the history of arts. Of its evolution from medieval to modern times. And you will expand your visual library. I always find it interesting that before the 13th century, the concept of perspective was not even present in paintings. That is why all those paintings of the time looks flat. Food for thought.
- Take photographs. Not selfies. But photos of your environment and of people. It helps with composition and framing.
- Research. Your are doing animation. Devour all you can about the art form and the business of the industry. Be aware of what you are getting yourself into as a career and see if you really want to get into it.
- Keep a sketchbook. Duh.
- Watch TV and movies. Keep your pop culture currency relevant.
Used THIS as a bible.
- DRAW DRAW DRAW
