<P>Lovely Dynafx..</P>
<P>Nice thread to start of..</P>
<P>Education, the issue which has by far affected the entire youth in some way or the other has definitely creeped into this more professional area of Animation. Ask any experienced professional animator to suggest some good institutes that teach animation in India and trust me .. you will get none.</P>
<P>What the Training Institutes offer in the name of so called animation courses is actually just the basic knowledge of the different kinds of tools available.. But the real art of animation.. the skills involved are hardly touched.. It's like just like handing over a hammer and chisel to a novice and asking him to carve a masterpiece out of a piece of stone without even teaching him how to chisel through hard rock..</P>
<P>What i would like to suggest the newcomers dreaming to make it big in the field of animation is to BE PATIENT.. HASTE HAS NEVER HELPED ANYONE.</P>
<P>The skills of animation are such that they can only be mastered through regular practice ans proper guidance of some senior animator..Learn whatever tools u want.. But the basic FUNDAS of animation...will always remain the same.. MAKE YOUR BASICS STRONG..and u will surely succeed.</P>
<P>Help in this direction will definitely be provided by the senior artists over here at cgTantra. Besides this, aprt frm what the training institutes are offering I think the following points if one goes through , one can surely step in the proper direction in being an animator..</P>
<P>1. <strong>Observation</strong> : Observe any movement happening around you. Let it be any non-living object falling down or any living being in any form of motion.This will help you instill in you the basics of POSING, FLOW and TIMING.</P>
<P>2.<strong>Sketching :</strong> However far CG might go, there is no form of animation better than the good old for of traditional drawn 2D animation. The heart speaks out directly through the animators pencil bringing the most unimaginable and inanimatable objects into life. So, try drawing and sketching atleast the basic poses you feel your character is going to go through while animating. Even it makes sense just to you ..fine great ..no problem.</P>
<P>3.<strong>Anatomy Study :</strong> Study the antomy and bone structure of various animals and the human body so as to understand how to initiate any form of motion.</P>
<P>4.<strong>Motion study : </strong>Study the variations in the motions from person to person because of his her weight, height,mood or maybe even situtaion. Also study how a guy interacts with the objects around him in diiferent kinds of emotion and situations.</P>
<P>5.<strong>Acting in front of a MIRROR :</strong> No animation can be more perfect than the one that you have acted out yourself. Acting is no big deadl. All of us do it daily in some form or the other. It's just a matter of watching yourself under various forms of actions and then implementing them unto your work.</P>
<P> Well there are lots more and even to implement the above in your, I accept takes years of practice and sincere commitment. But, i bet it is gonna help.</P>
<P>LASTLY, just 2 books.. Nothing else is needed.. Covers A to Z of animation :</P>
<UL>
<LI><strong>Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams</strong></LI>
<LI><strong>Disney's Illusion of Life</strong></LI></UL>
<P>Phew...!! Well i never knew i had written so much.. Anyways.. Hope these tips will help.</P>
<P>Chow.</P>