A Career Opportunity!

Today I met up with an animator named Joe Wakim and he led me through on the basic principles of becoming an animator. I was very excited to meet up with him as I was told I would and I would never let an opportunity like this get by me.When I finish my HSC I plan on doing some animation for myself and for people who want it. I would incorporate my manga style which I know so well and which I cherish now. So when I was told a professional animator would be helping me in developing my skills I was overjoyed and with blazing eyes I accepted the path that would lead me to a career in animation. This was where it all began of course, that's why it was such a big moment for me. Opportunities like this come once in a lifetime and there it was, with a pretty pink bow on top. So I met up with the animator and he talked to me about techniques and programs to use when animating, he also told me about a drawing tablet I can use to create these works. The tips that he gave me were to use Photoshop, use layers within Photoshop and use shapes on each layer when creating people and body parts. He didn't go into depth with animating yet as he only told me how to start animating and where to begin. I will be integrating this animation into my major work somehow as he gave me the idea after our long talk on animation.

Joe also gave me a few tips on animating using a mouse without a drawing tablet as to improve my skills on that first then move on to a tablet. He taught me how to create a background using layers in Photoshop as well and gave me an example. Use a pencil tool to draw, position everything you want to include inside the background, add the base color/s, add details, shadows and then light bouncing off of objects. He also told me to use the program Adobe Aftereffects, which he has not taught me to use yet but I will soon. So much progression has occurred and at the end of all this work it will surely be integrated into my major work. Hopefully it all goes well!