Have been getting into the motion lately of finishing books I should have finished a long time ago and books that will help me become a better animator. Among them: Acting for Animators (Ed Hooks), The Animation Business Handbook (Karen Raugust), Figure Drawing For What It's Worth (the 1944 edition!) and even Leonardo Da Vinci; Sketches and Drawings. I figure if I'm getting distracted from animating, it might as well still pertain to animation! I recommend all you artists out there that if you get burnt out and want to take a break, just deviate to some other aspect of your discipline and it will still be productive. Modelers, you can't get enough anatomy. Try sculpting with real clay or using a sculpting program, too, rather than hard-edged box modeling in Maya. Concept artists: if you always do characters, try landscapes. You don't have to show anyone! Practice certain types of lighting in the scene, different moods... the possibilities are endless!
Oh, and I feel like I'm preaching, but I'd rather get this off my chest. A bunch of students have been complaining that the process to make a portfolio piece is taking too long and they never finish. And I look at what they've got and they are trying to create a full-scale production in less than a month. I would like to suggest if you're studying lighting and want a lighting portfolio, freaking download some models that are mostly textured and just light! Same for modeling and animation and a lot of other things! Have a concept artist draw you something real quick and JUST model! Don't worry about texturing it. Show off your wireframe, put it on a turn table and you're done! Animators... you don't have to have a unique character to show that you are talented... Download Norman or Alfred and use him over and over (change his colors if you like) until you have multiple scenes that are just acting. Use the least amount of background and props possible. It doesn't have to look pretty (splines excluded)! Cut your work in half and just take the time to really focus on getting good at one thing. Use matte paintings or google pictures if you have to. If it's in your portfolio for something specific, that's what the HR dept. will focus on. Clearly if you put together something that doesn't look decent, then you might suffer, but this is where critiques come in. Get other people to look at your work. Hell, bug the professors over break to look at what you have. We are all in this together :) In addition to that, come up with a collaboration with other students. Get one person to concept, one to model, one to light, and then then one to texture, etc. You can all have the same piece and focus on only one thing. I noticed some people are already doing this, so props to you!
And there are plenty of books and tutorials I'm sure you have on your hard drive that you haven't actually opened yet... well stop being lazy. You should be living and breathing your discipline if you really want to survive this industry. If you must take a break for Black Ops, or whatnot, focus on why it's such an amazing game. Ask yourself why the lighting looks so sexy, or why the textures are photo-realistic. Clearly they are doing something right and there's no reason why you can't learn from them. Same with movies... if you are a modeler, look at the creatures and study how the edge flow would translate into that character moving, or ask yourself what type of maps would create that effect on the character. Even be critical. The people that created these movies aren't perfect, if you can find a flaw in what they do, then you are doing yourself a favor and learning from their mistakes. Ask yourself why that scene didn't work, or why you hate level 38. Analyze it. It's that simple :)
Ok, I'm done. If you have any recommendations for books I should be looking at for reference, reading, or gesture drawings, I'm all ears.
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