How I determine an animator's skill level + How I would level up

are you still animating bouncing balls what's your skill level in animation and how would you like to move up to the beyond zone so here are some ideas and bits and pieces that i can share [Music] hey guys it's cynical pantoja and today i'd like to talk about how i would determine an animator's skill level this one's quite tricky to talk about because animation is a vast medium with different styles and genres also you have to consider if the animator specializes in characters background animation or even effects however since i come from a character animation background i'm only going to talk about my perspective regarding the subject matter i'm going to talk about defining an animator skill based on a certain level what i would expect in that level what i would expect at a higher level and how would i move up again this is coming from my point of view this is not a universal scale of an animator's skill level and heads up there will be a lot of generalization the first level in the scale is the starter and again the most common question i get all the time in my dms is how do i start animation how do i start learning about it because i want to get into it and my constant response is you just started just do it and that's what it is you can just start with zero experience of animation you're not yet official about making animation a long-term thing or making a career but it sounds interesting and it sounds fun i would say get your hands on whatever software is available to you whether it's a free open source or pricey licensed industry standard my advice here is to learn how the tool or the software works and just learn how to create new frames how to make basic animation how to draw in that program or software save them and export them start getting a feel of what it feels like to animate and experiment with fun things i would say you know think of really fun scenarios like how do i make it look like my character is moving or talking what are some things i can think of think of it as like doing doodles and if you want you can follow tutorials here and there i feel like the starter level is such a special time to be at because it shows how you can utilize your initial instincts and how you can do things without knowing any rules any theories and i feel like that's where creativity shines introduce rules too soon it'll limit that creativity too early and besides rules theories and foundations can be taught much later on the next level is the beginner stage maybe you've taken an interest in animation and you've started experimenting with it and now you want to get better at your animation skills you want to learn more about the basic foundations the principles at this stage maybe start considering more focused practices that teach let's say the 12 principles of animation things like squash and stretch timing arcs slow ends and slow outs and the list goes on i think by the end of this level you want to have a good sense of the foundation and the mechanics these are things like overshoot spacing maybe weight distribution and momentum and learning how to keep things consistent meaning things like arcs spacing and solid drawing those ones are super important so when i talk about assignments and practices it's more focused so things that actually introduce or heavily focus on each principle so let's say the bouncing ball it teaches squash and stretch it teaches slow wins and slow outs and spacing and timing if the ball is moving it's all about keeping track of that spacing for both horizontal and vertical properties and let's say you added a tail to this bouncing ball then you can think about overlapping animation things like the pendulum it teaches arcs it teaches about slow ends and slow outs and you can introduce a bit of the walk cycle walk cycles are probably one of the toughest subject matters to tackle in animation because there's just so much to talk about that at this stage you should probably try to improve your solid drawing skills these are there are several ways you can do this you know gesture drawing life drawing perspective drawing are the popular staples every animation student and teacher love to preach but i would also suggest trying to study from existing art or existing animation like character model sheets and trying to recreate new poses from these character designs that way you can learn the foundations of how a design can work or can't work or how to understand why it works the next level is the novice i would say you're still a beginner at the stage however maybe have a better understanding of the fundamentals so you can apply them to practicality so at this stage maybe you've gotten a good grasp of the basics and the principles of animation now it's all about utilizing drawing draftsmanship skills on top of animation fundamentals most beginning year animation students are at this level and some of the most competitive schools where they ask for an already existing skill level of drawing drastic ship so the thing about this level is applying your drawing skills into animation being able to draw solid and keep them consistent in each frame so let's say a character turnaround is a classic exercise to show your understanding of soul drawing character skill more emphasis on you know utilizing weight momentum and making it feel believable you're probably also going to start animating fully animated walk cycles with character while keeping the characters consistent for drawing also if you're animating you should be able to have a good grasp of your spacing and arcs things that every beginning animator tends to screw up character and acting performance might come into play but i would stress that it's important to think about bringing life to your animation so things like a character breathing thinking reacting is it all believable can we read the attitudes a great animator can do this with a flarsack and use its gesture to make it relatable to us one last thing that i will say and that every novice should master is that they have a sense of control in their work this is a more general term but it's more about knowing when to push things and when to subdue things when you know there's too much or too little so let me use my first year student short as an example the character was just constantly moving and everything felt chaotic there was just no control the arcs and animation itself seemed okay but like i said there's hardly any control so it feels very and chaotic so it felt tiring to watch and there's a place where you can control it so knowing when to subdue things or knowing when to push things crayon dragon was my next film and it was more subdued and i made sure that the animation was a lot easier to track and things felt more controlled the next skill level i will say is an intermediate and these are the types of animators i see potential in becoming professionals either they can be taken in for mentorship an internship or training program to help finesse their skills or an entry-level job they may be qualified for an entry level position while having the guidance from the supervisors if it's animation they might be doing cleanup or in between or smaller assignments for a studio the more we move up on skill level the more abstract or theory-based animation becomes so what i mean is that if i talk about sustaining control in the performance you know character performance breaking limbs what smears can do finding keys story beats in your key poses before you animate or how to have a procedure for animation from a shorthand pass to a full tie down these type of animators can grasp it and understand it they already have a strong understanding of animation mechanics and are actually applying them to character animation they can have clear ideas and more intention within their drawings instead of just winging things now they can tackle more complicated performance and acting talking about acting more of a philosophy and character exploration more so than just talking about animation how to's and hacks they can animate characters doing basic actions like a character lifting something swinging something maybe jumping over a platform such as a character running or navigating through a scene or maybe you can deal with fight scenes characters fighting maybe two characters fighting you have the skill level enough to tackle normal actions at this skill level you're going to want to be able to do some acting assignments featuring dialogue you know maybe broad acting scenes and knowing when to do subtle scenes you want to be able to do different types of scenes and at this point i would also suggest trying to animate characters from pre-existing productions or currently existing productions so i would collect model sheets for those and and learning how to make animation using those characters and keeping them consistent now the next level i will talk about is advanced this is professional level these guys can pretty much work already and can handle difficult acting scenes or shots with a lot of complexity they already have the tool set to be able to explore that these are the types that if given an assignment they can be used for an actual production i'm also aware that there are many productions in different styles that also play a factor here your dressership skills are at a point where you can draw in different styles in different settings and being able to draw in many different character design styles you also have the tool set to adapt to a different animation style meaning that some animations are more limited and stylized and some are more realistic and detailed this can also stretch to jumping in between the western south animation to the eastern and the more anime style of animation but i would say the animation design sensibilities are on point timing is really good already a strong understanding of the fundamentals but i would say a majority here can already do professional work now the last level i'd like to talk about is beyond and this is what i call pushing the medium and this one's a really tricky one to explain since a lot of it has to do with taste honestly the more i think about it this could be anywhere in your skill level whether you're a hardcore veteran or a student this one's more about finding your own voice with a medium regardless of getting professional work or focusing on independent personal projects it's kind of like when you see an animation work you can tell it's from that person it's their style it's highly unique and recognizable there's a clear direction in their work and they know exactly what to prioritize and what to sacrifice that's a huge huge thing when it comes to finding your own identity these types of people have a good knowledge and animation and have many different inspirations and of course the more inspiration and influence you have it builds taste which then helps you form your own style these type of individuals are more experimental and they break the rules and maybe create new rules but what it is is that they're good problem solvers so if you want to explore this level i would suggest you know maybe try making a short film and i would say a very short film and see what you can do with it and you'll realize the things that you need to prioritize things you need to sacrifice or take out and knowing how to see the production as a whole rather than just the animation stage in a way i feel like beyond and the starter are somewhat closely related to each other the starter level is really all about why you got into it in the first place the beyond level is what you can do with your voice with your style and with your vision can do now remember this is just my perspective and how i would look at an animator's skill level however skill level doesn't equate to something that is engaging entertaining and memorable you can get highly skilled animation work that means nothing to you or have something that's crudely animated but gives off so much humor love and charm and like i said animation is a vast medium ranging from independent to professional productions limited to highly detailed styles something zany and wild to something subtle and dramatic and that's why it's important to have many different inspirations and influences really get yourself cultured make actual things of your own and start experimenting now this skill level thing that i made that i just showed is really just there to give you guys some ideas maybe can help track your journey and animation or maybe there are things you'd like to review like i find myself going back to how i animated when i was starting out and i'll make new discoveries that i missed out now the problem i've noticed with these charts is that sometimes people take it too seriously and make it an official sort of tier or leveling system or make it a rule or bible i'll make a video regarding how i feel about those but the reason why i made a chart like this is just to visualize how i think and my overall opinion so again just take things with a grain of salt but always find ways to challenge your own growth and that's all i can say really however if you want to try following most of these assignments that i showed in the video it's all in my introduction to 2d animation video package and i go through each assignment in order step by step anyways that's all i can say bye interested in learning hand-drawn animation or learning how to finish an animated shot from beginning to end have a look at the store where you'll find the complete introduction to 2d animation video course tutorials and other resources learn classical animation approaches drawing lectures techniques and other process videos visit the store through the link in the description below

Channel: Toniko Pantoja

Views: 166,693

Keywords: Toniko Pantoja, Youtube, Animation, Tutorial, Advice, Lesson, Vlog, Adobe, Photoshop, Animate, Flash, After Effetcts, Premiere, Video, Film, Drawing, Tips, Gestures

Id: 43J0h7N6FoQ

Length: 11min 58sec (718 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 11 2021