Quick question ☝️ i want to animate a thing but i cannot get myself to do it, how do you motivate yourself to start an animation? Like i really like animating and i have an idea and everything like i wanna do it but its like there's this invisible. Thing. Stopping me from doing it somehow?
WAIT WHAT'S MY DINOSAUR COLLECTION🦕🦖🐊 GOING TO EAT-
Oh GOD NO WHY?!?! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DINOSAURS?? 🦎🐍🐦⬛🦢🦤🕊🐓🐦HOW DID THIS- 🐊 oh you're still basically the same still that's neat-
🕴STAY AWAY FROM THOSE DODOS AND ENDANGERED BIRDS WHERE'D THESE MAMMALS COME FROM?!
👩🏫 oh they're inventing math and numbers. 60...
🤹♂️🤹♂️🤹♂️🤹♂️🤹♂️🤹♂️🤹♂️🤹♂️
I’M CRYING WHY DID YOU EXTERMINATE ALL LIFE ON EARTH AFTER YOURoh god its 67 AGAIN I’M GONNA GET ALL OF YOUUUU GRRAAAHH
Sometimes you just won’t have motivation for an animation, even if you really want to do it, and that’s perfectly okay :3! But if you keep waiting until motivation finds you then it’s unlikely you’ll ever start it, so you have to go and find motivation.
An easy way to do this is setting aside and planning a point of time when you aren’t doing anything (Like “oh I’m not doing anything Tuesday afternoon, I’ll start after lunch” etc) where you can start your animation, and this can look like storyboarding or concept art or just even a written out plan of what you want to do!
I like to plan out my animations because I find that I might have a really good idea for a scene, but once I sketch up to that scene I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of the animation, so I lose interest and stop the project altogether. This is also why I recommend making concept art so you can see what the finished product might look like, as I lose interest if I don’t feel like I’ve made anything of note/anything visually appealing.
It also helps if you have a place you do your animation at that’s different then where you spend most of your time. I have an ipad so I usually just work on my bed (which isn’t always the best for motivation) but I feel more motivated if I’ve actually went somewhere to do my animation. This can be your desk, or a different room of your house or flat, or maybe go out somewhere like a coffee shop or a library if you can!
Obviously if you feel burnt out, don’t continue. I’m not telling you to do something you don’t want to do when you’re not in the mental headspace, take care of yourself!
On that note, whenever I’m hungry or tired I just rest. I can’t do anything when I’m hungry or tired so I sleep or eat before I get started on anything, and it improves the quality of work as you aren’t sitting there like “oh my god oh my god I’m so hungry oh my god I’m going to die oh my god” when you’re trying to think of something.
If you’re animating a bigger project, like an amv that has lineart, colour, shading, the works, with multiple scenes, then try and switch around what you’re doing. For example, I used to just do all of the sketch and all of the lineart and all of the colour and all of the- you can see how even the list sounds monotonous LMAO. What I recommend doing is starting on the sketch (after you have planned everything) and when you’re bored of the sketch then start on the lineart for one of your scenes, and if you’re bored of that do backgrounds. That way you’re switching up what work load you’re doing!
I myself am autistic and struggle with keeping focus, but what I do on the more crunchy part of the animation is watch something or listen to music. It’s better if it’s something you’ve already watched before, or something that doesn’t require your full attention, just so you can have some background noise to keep your brain busy. I don’t do this when it’s something that requires a lot of thought, like planning the animation or sketching, but if you work better when you multitask then go for it!
And share your project! Let your friends hype you up or even your family or followers if you have a blog, sometimes all you need is a little praise and encouragement from others (as long as you aren’t completely reliant on it hehe)