Animation 101

In keeping with the theme of "priorities" for 2015, I thought it was high time that I got around to one of my back-burner tasks of teaching myself some more basic animation skills.  A long time ago in a galaxy far, far way, I had my sights set on relocating to Vancouver and becoming a 2D animator.  I had just gotten out of school and was working as a mainframe programmer for very little money in a tough environment.  I was beginning to think I had made a career mistake, but then the animation industry suddenly went digital around that time, and I ended up becoming more preoccupied with paying the bills and attending to my own coming-out process.  While I was getting my life together (and off the ground),  I picked up a pair of self-study books on the basics of animation.  The books were written by Preston Blair, a classic Disney animator.  The books are "Cartoon Animation" and "Film Cartoons", which were published by Walter Foster Publishing in 1980 (pictured above).  These books have both since been repackaged and are actually used today in animation schools. 

The last time I worked out of these books, I only got as far as teaching myself character design, and tabled everything related to moving pictures due to time and technological constraints... it's not like I had a stop-motion camera or an animation stand lying around in my one bedroom apartment at the time.  Times of course have since changed... scanners are wonderful tools for bringing in hand-drawn artwork into computers; I've been doing just that  for quite some time now.  So last night, after working part of the weekend (which I'm not a fan of; more about that later), I dusted off the books and gave it a go.  Below are a couple sequences I threw together, just to see if I could do it.  They aren't perfect, but they are a good first step:

I admit there was a certain amount of instant gratification upon viewing the drawings in motion.  I immediately asked myself, why did I not do this sooner??  Well, I am sure I could spend a lot of time second guessing myself for the decisions I've either made or not made, but hell... my drawings are moving!!  So what will come next... not sure, but it's time to draw.