Information, Inspiration, and Motivation

I don’t know what people did before the invention of the internet.  I’ve heard about those library things and that they have stuff called books, but I’m not sure about that one.  Regardless, the internet is really living up to its other name, ‘The Information Super Highway.’  Being in the field of motion graphics / animation / video production, I am always on the lookout for more information.  Even though I’ve been out of college now for almost a decade, I never stop learning and I’m always trying to improve myself.  One of the greatest internet fads to come out of the web 2.0 boom is social networking; blogs, facebook, twitter, etc.  If you utilize these time wasters the right way, they transform into time savers and an endless stream of great information.  First off, the magical world of blogs.  Some very awesome and generous folks put up video tutorials covering a wide range of software and work flow skills.  Here are my favorites and the ones I have learned the most from…

Run by a gentleman named Andrew Kramer, Videocopilot.net covers a variety of very cool and easy to follow tutorials covering 3D and Motion Graphics products.

TutsPlus is a HUGE network of people tackling everything Adobe and all that surrounds the Adobe world.  You can spend a year cruising around here and not even scratch the surface of how much info they just give away.
Now for the latest internet sensation; Twitter.  What is Twitter?  It’s basically just like an RSS feed, but you get to respond and talk to each other.  If you don’t have a Twitter account, I highly recommend setting one up.  It’s free, and if you follow the right folks, it is just an endless flow of great and useful information right to your computer / phone.  Some of my favorites to follow are…

Our Executive Producer at SolidLine Media, I’m not naming any names, has a favorite saying when we first set out to tackle our post production tasks on a video.  “Don’t forget to hit that pimp button!”  Honestly.  That’s what he says.  Really, what he is trying to say is, “For this video, try and do something new and amazing that’s better than all of the other videos that we have done!”   Which is great.  We need a coach to keep us motivated.  But video after video, you start to feel stale.  Almost like you are repeating things that you have done before.  When this happens, it’s a good idea to step away from the project for a moment and seek out inspiration…  Let’s start with the internet.

My favorite motion graphics site to visit is Motionographer.  They weed out the garbage and provide you with only the latest and greatest happening in the world of Motion Graphics.  I like to see what my peers are doing.  Watch some reels.  Watch some commercials and title sequences.  You get the creative juices flowing.  Usually I can come up with something after about ten minutes flipping through this site.  They also have great interviews with creative teams, breaking down their process and work flow.  You will probably pick up something here to help your work flow, so go ahead and read those too.

A lot like the inspiration, sometimes it’s just hard to get going on a project.  If it’s tedious or boring or you feel like you have done it a hundred times, it can be difficult to keep yourself motivated and excited about the project.  Step away for a while.  Cruise around the internet.  Have lunch.  Talk to that other graphics person sitting behind you about something you have seen recently or want to try out.  You’d be surprised how refreshed you feel when you return to the project, ready to tackle those graphics.