Hey Ross, I'm currently 15, a Junior in high school, and love to animate. I don't think going to an art institute/university is the right move though when I get out of HS - financially or for many other reasons. Community College is a huge possibility though, as it's less expensive and would still teach me more things about animation all together. For the most part, I believe animation can be a self-taught experience, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.
That’s great dude. Don’t feel like you HAVE to go get an education in animation to succeed. I tried it, but it wasn’t for me. I found I wasn’t really learning enough compared to what I learnt just fiddling and making mistakes by myself. I mean look at Arin, he didn’t even finish high school yet he taught himself to be an animator. Some people learn better being pushed by an education system, some are better left to figure things out for themselves. If think you’re better going it alone then GREAT! You’re an autodidact!
Here’s some stuff I’d recommend you focus on while getting started:
Learn Flash or Toon Boom.
Maya/3DS Max/Zbrush if you’re interested in 3D (I have a minor background with it)
Study life drawing and human anatomy. Try this if you’re at a loss for material: http://www.posemaniacs.com/
Keep an organized folder of art reference (find it by following art tutorial blogs or your favorite artists). I have gigabytes of reference in my folders.
Get your head around cinematography. Watch legendary films and figure out what makes the shots great. One exercise is to take your favorite shots and make silhouette thumbnails of how things are placed, helps you break it down in your head.
Composition! It’s crazy and even those who get it sometimes don’t get it.. but just look it up online to get your head around it. It’s all about placement and arrangement of shit.
MAKE FRIENDS! Talk to other artists like yourself who are starting out. I met Arin online through Newgrounds when I was 16/17 and we’ve been friends ever since. It’s important to have like minded friends!
Keep a sketchbook, draw all the time. If you prefer doing it digitally then that’s fine, but keeping a sketchbook is a magical thing. Also helps with your line confidence, at least I think so.
If you want to develop your own stories to go along with your animations, consider the following books: Screenwriting 101 (I LOVE this book, really great read AND it’s written by someone pretending to be The Hulk), On Writing: A memoir of the Craft (Stephen King! Haven’t read this one yet but friends recommend it) and also Save the Cat! (this one is more so about selling scripts and writing to a formula, don’t take it as gospel.. But it’s interesting).
Voice act! Shit man, just get a decent microphone when you can. Make goofy voices, do imitations. Get silly! Lots of animators have at least some experience doing voice acting!
WATCH STUFF. Seriously, I can not stress this enough. Everything is derivative from other works and that’s okay. Inspiration comes from everywhere and anything. My late friend Monty also preached this, he even proudly told me some of his early influence for RWBY such as Black Rock Shooter. Finding influence breeds passion. You’re not slacking off watching cartoons, you’re researching.
ANIMATE! Do it however you can! Stop motion lego, flipping paper.. I don’t care. Just do it. Whatever you learn, It all translates across any version of the medium.
ANIMATORS SURVIVAL KIT. This book is a must and most animation schools highly recommend it. It was written by Richard Williams the director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (among other things). If you’re not big on reading, then you’re in luck because it’s MOSTLY pretty pictures. http://www.amazon.com/The-Animators-Survival-Richard-Williams/dp/0571202284
Lastly but not least.. Just don’t stop. The people you see online and on TV right now, they’re not kicking ass because of some god given talent. They’re there because they didn’t stop. They persevered through it all and kept going, no matter what anyone else told them.
Good luck!
