Looking for a tutor

dougthonus · Post by **dougthonus** » Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:24 pm

I'm potentially looking for someone to tutor my daughter in animation creation. She's nine year's old and loves to draw/create artwork.

She presently creates youtube animations with some software called flipbook, but here level of use is limited to basically creating a new image each frame.

I'd like someone with some basic knowledge of anime studio to teach her how to create quality animations in it and show her how to use all the tools.

Obviously, when working with a nine year old there are some limitations in terms of present computer knowledge and concepts as well as she's just developing a bit as an artist.

I live in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

3deeguy · Post by **3deeguy** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 1:35 am

The best way to make that happen is for you to participate with her on the forum. This forum is filled with gifted professional and hobbyist animators who willingly share their knowledge without a fee. The key is that you must participate since she's only nine.

slowtiger · Post by **slowtiger** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 10:49 am

Flipbook is good for a 9yr old. Better would be real paper and real pencils.

In Germany we have several organisations which offer animation workshops for kids. Something like that should exist in the Chicago area too?

I don't think that this forum is the best way to learn for her, and I don't think that AS is the best program. You're talking about "quality animation", but that's not a term a 9yr old should think of - at least I'd be surprised. I've done workshops with kids her age, and they did amazing things just with stop motion undr a "real" camera. It's a good way to train the intuitive parts of an animator's mind: spacing and timing.

What exactly does she want? Draw a lot, and get better with it? See her creations move? Do complete films with sound?

A quick google search turned up this: http://www.cicff.org/content/take-one-workshops/61 - you should contact them and ask for animators doing this outside the festival. Or you could search Craigslist or Yellow Pages for an animator willing to help - most would do it. A real person sitting next to her would be the best, much better than this forum. (Maybe there are even more children wanting to do this? Split costs?)

Patmals · Post by **Patmals** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 12:07 pm

Hi, Dougthonus.

I agree with both Slowtiger's and 3deeguys responses.

You might also want to consider this software package:

http://shop.fablevisionlearning.com/ani ... ctid/2542/

or the same product from this site:

http://www.toonboom.com/products/animationish/

I highly recommend trying the demo and watching the demos with your daughter and see how SHE likes it.

All the best to the next future star animator!

dougthonus · Post by **dougthonus** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:18 pm

slowtiger wrote: I don't think that this forum is the best way to learn for her, and I don't think that AS is the best program.

I'm not sure what the best program she should learn with is, but anime studio seems to allow her to do many of the things she'd like to do easier than other programs I've checked out (integrating sound, lip syncing, realistic movement rather than flip book style movement).

I'm probably not going to show her this forum (or any forum really). In general, I find forums are fairly rude to people they perceive as stupid, and a nine year old participating on an adult forum will seem stupid by adult standards.

You're talking about "quality animation", but that's not a term a 9yr old should think of - at least I'd be surprised.

Well quality to a 9 year old is probably different than quality to an adult, but she'd like to be able to integrate music, sound, and realistic movement while not having to redraw a scene every time she wants to move a character.

I've done workshops with kids her age, and they did amazing things just with stop motion undr a "real" camera. It's a good way to train the intuitive parts of an animator's mind: spacing and timing.

I'm not really aware of how to do stop motion video either, though I'm not opposed to trying it.

I would love to get her into a workshop. Unfortunately, I live far enough from Chicago that a Chicago based workshop isn't practical.

What exactly does she want? Draw a lot, and get better with it? See her creations move? Do complete films with sound?

I think primarily to create scenes with moving characters with integrated sound. I wouldn't really say complete films, but 30 second to 1 minute clips.

A quick google search turned up this: http://www.cicff.org/content/take-one-workshops/61 - you should contact them and ask for animators doing this outside the festival. Or you could search Craigslist or Yellow Pages for an animator willing to help - most would do it. A real person sitting next to her would be the best, much better than this forum. (Maybe there are even more children wanting to do this? Split costs?)

To be clear, I was hoping to get a real person from this forum to invite us to their house (or come to ours) and sit with her to show her stuff. I wasn't looking for a learning over the internet thing, though something like that might be possible with go to meeting and a skype video chat. I was hoping to find someone who lived in the area who'd be interested in showing her in person for an hourly fee.

I will try and look for some workshops, that's a very good idea.

dougthonus · Post by **dougthonus** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:39 pm

3deeguy wrote:The best way to make that happen is for you to participate with her on the forum. This forum is filled with gifted professional and hobbyist animators who willingly share their knowledge without a fee. The key is that you must participate since she's only nine.

I am trying to participate with her to the degree I can. I've learned how to make a basic picture and connect bones to it. I've shown her how to do that and how to work with layers and connect the bone layers to the picture layers. However, this advice isn't very practical.

To put your response in perspective, my six year old daughter loves dance, would you ever suggest to me that I learn dance myself and then teach her or would you suggest I take her to a dance school?

I'm hoping to find a private [in person] tutor for my daughter who can show her how to do things that I simply wouldn't be able to do myself because I lack the knowledge to do so.

dougthonus · Post by **dougthonus** » Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:44 pm

Patmals wrote:Hi, Dougthonus.

I agree with both Slowtiger's and 3deeguys responses.

You might also want to consider this software package:

http://shop.fablevisionlearning.com/ani ... ctid/2542/

or the same product from this site:

http://www.toonboom.com/products/animationish/

I highly recommend trying the demo and watching the demos with your daughter and see how SHE likes it.

All the best to the next future star animator!

Thanks, I've downloaded the demo, I will check it out with her soon.

3deeguy · Post by **3deeguy** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 5:50 am

dougthonus, I agree with what you said. This is an adult forum and I should have made myself clearer by stating that all dialogue should go through you. I didn't expect you to tutor but, now that I think about it, you probably would have to simplify some things.
Patmals links seem to be good ones that are designed for young people and should help her make good progress. If your daughter has a question you should still post it to the forum. You will get some great information here.

dm · Post by dm » Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:00 am

I agree with Slowtiger's comments. My daughter is nine. She hates Anime Studio. It's not intuitive, and its relationship to physical reality isn't clear enough for her. Same sentiments from kids at her school. Stop motion software with a web cam: http://www.stopmotionworks.com/stopmosoftwr.htm is a good way to do animation on paper or with real objects.

She did well with flip books (real paper). She took to Flip Boom on an iPad too. We've done some paper cutout stop motion, and that went well enough. Paper dolls with pivoting joints (hole and brad) were also good. Toon Boom (Studio and Animate) both get some use. Mostly drawing with a mouse though (She doesn't like the graphics tablet).

Better, she's been using paper on an animation disk. That's something that's real, and easy to deal with.

Audio is all done as a post 'dubbing' session.

So, now that I've said all that, I find that it works best if some need is being fulfilled. Not a teaching situation of "here's how to use this tool." My daughter has learned some very sophisticated techniques to get her story told. If you can manage the patience, maybe she could figure out what she wants to do in a scene, pose the question, and hope for a tutorial sort of answer. Naturally, better to have someone sitting next to you and actually doing it, but if you can't get that to happen, it's the next best thing.

What does your daughter think she wants from this experience?

good luck.

(sorry, a bit rambling, isn't it?)

also, take a look at stykz: http://stykz.net/ It's simple, 'boned', and free.

Mac or Windows? What variety of Anime Studio are you using?

dougthonus · Post by **dougthonus** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:19 pm

What does your daughter think she wants from this experience?

Quite simply, I think she wants to make videos of "Warrior Cats" (a book series she likes) dancing to music videos or re-enacting scenes from the books.

I think the primary specific takeaway she would want is to be able to do would be to be able to take a song, create a single character, have it dance around to the song, and potentially lip sync to it.

dm · Post by dm » Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:19 am

Sounds rather ambitious. I guess you could manage with Anime Studio for that. Maybe take a look at something like CrazyTalk too: http://www.reallusion.com/crazytalk/crazytalk.asp

If you manage to get to lip synch, I'd suggest doing it with open/closed mouths (ie: two mouths total). It generally works fine, and is a lot less frustrating. Looks like a lot of the 'fanimation' of that is that way.

Well, good luck with it.