Being a student of animation... at home?

[Taedet Vita]

So, this is my current predicament:

I would desperately want to get some proper, academic education about animation. ALAS, not only there is no school for that miles around where I live, but those that are kinda-sorta-relatively close, cost a fortune that I don't have.

That being said, does anyone know or can offer some insights into certain books, online courses or more professional tutorials/sites that can give me the push that I need? I've been looking all over, but most of the things I found are the tutorials for drawing certain things you might have a problem with, animation tuts for people who already are well into it and such.

I wish to start, but you I figured that even if you can draw, you can't simply start animating without some proper schooling. I know there are animators that never went to school, but I'd still love to know, at the very least, the basics of what proper students of it are studying.

If you happen to be a student attending some sort of course, I wouldn't mind if you shared notes, either.

Please help! Would be eternally grateful!

[gurotaku]

The Animator's Survival Kit I've seen people say is a must-read.

[TuckyX]

For 3D animation, Animation Mentor is an online school that's really good and fairly priced. The full course is roughly $15,000, while most schools costs more than twice that much.

For traditional animation, you don't really have much. If your focus is character animation, I suggest you just do a lot of figure drawing, with emphasis on line. Drawing Force is a good book for going over the animator's approach to figure drawing.

Animators are also actors, so studying that art form is also a must. Dance class can also help you understand how a body moves.

Animators are also story tellers, so learning how to tell a story through your pictures is a good thing to study. While it's focus is comics, Understanding Comics is one of the best books on sequential art.


As said above, The Animator's Survival Kit , is a must own for any student animator.

[Eizoryu]

Maybe Glen Keane's ([former] Disney animator) lectures can be of service.

I don't know a lot about animating, but I am an animation enthusiast. I love the art form. Good luck in your endeavors! blaugh

[Taedet Vita]

Thank you all, you're a great help!

[[XblackfireX]]

I go on this site a lot for animation tips. It's pretty good.

I've also been reading this blog lately and they have some great tips for layout and such.

[Wasteland-xx]

The Animator's Survival Guide is the first book my school shoved in my face when I started animation.
The Book of Life, I think it's called, it has all the stuff about Disney Animation.
The Animator's Workbook
The Animation Book by Kit Laybourne
And for inspirtation, Animation Sketchbooks