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RyanStorm
Ryan Storm @RyanStorm

Age 27, Male

Animator

Boston, MA

Joined on 5/18/08

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Self Questioning: Does What I'm Working on Suck?

Posted by RyanStorm - August 9th, 2014


Hello, and welcome to me when I'm in the middle of a phase I'm pretty sure all animators go through when they work on one project for too long. The ever so consistant self question of, "does this suck?" its the dreadful point when all  of the jokes you wrote wore off in their amusement and you start to question yourself.

You try to improve your self image of the cartoon, by showing the pencil test to your friends, but they simply lack the patience to watch something that isn't even close to done. This is where I am with Anime Amigos II right now. Its currently about five or six minutes in length and I'm half way done with inbetweening.

I've hit this with everything I've made, and for those other poor saps who are stuck in this ungodly rut, I offer some advice!

1. Don't show the unfinished project to other people, you'll be inevitably dissapointed by their reaction.

2. Re-record some lines, to add a fresh perspective to the cartoon. I just did this, its very effective.

3. Add subtle personal jokes when animating, ex: jiggle physics, hard nipples, thongs, and whatever other innapropriate shit that makes you laugh.

4. Watch any other material you like, for me this is usually stuff like Cowboy Bebop, Ren and Stimpy, or any other animated cartoons I like.

5. Start coloring some frames you know are finished or won't move. I find this to be a good and fun relief from the tedium that is inbetweens.

 

Although, as a foot note, you should also remember, that what your making might ACTUALLY suck. I've only had to abandon one half finished project because of this. If you really do look at your cartoon, disect everything, and decide it genuinely isn't funny...then you might be right. Thats the scary part of course. The idea of all that work being for nothing, but hey, it was a learning experience, so just move on to the thing you were gonna work on next. That next thing probably doesn't suck!

Heres a screen-cap of Anime Amigos 2 by the way! :)

2432983_140763704341_kap.PNG


Comments

Yeah everybody does this. Just gotta tough it out, finish what you're working on and learn post release from the feedback. Staring at the same project for months can really distort a creator's perception.

This guy gets it.
The thing I don't like about the post release feedback though, is that if the reaction is overall negative, then you just wasted months working on something no one will appreciate.
I've scrapped projects that are practically done, just because I've deemed them as crap and don't want to release them. I'm not sure whether or not I should be proud of that haha.

Could always post the script before work begins, to see if your fans (or the BBSers in the Writing Forum) think it's any good, I guess.
Screencap looks good!

Thanks!
I usually do a recording and show it to friends and family, to see their reactions. I never though of posting a script to Newgrounds, which is actually a very good idea.
I can't do this with the Anime Amigos episodes though, as those are all improvised, in the future, I might upload a preview recording or something for them.
Thanks for the idea!

Forget about Anime Amigos, it is time to go a step further and give birth to Anime Compadres, extra raunchy.

Lol I might actually use the name Anime Compadres for something, like the evil counterparts of the amigos haha.

Just playing devil's advocate, sounds like you got your shit together. I used to produce videos in the cassette era, it's similar to animation production... though the playing field has certainly changed.

Oh yes, what I'm currently working on does suck.

Nah, don't be so hard on yourself. Its probably gonna turn out fine man.

I know that feeling bro :/ but I think that's how someone improves :3

True, even if its not that great, it still comes out as a good learning experience.