Expert: Andre Hickman - 9/8/2009

Question
HELLO SIR,
        I AM TARUN AND I AM IN 11TH.I AM INTERESTED IN TAKING ANIMATION AS MY CAREER IN FUTURE BECAUE I FEEL THAT I AM GOOD AT ART AND SKETCHING.I WANT TO KNOW WHAT SOFTWARES I CAN LEARN NOW,TO PREPARE WELL BEFORE GETTING INTO ANIMATION DESIGNING.CAN I TAKE ANY SPECIFIC TRAINING COURSES ? AS FOR NOW I HAVE STARTED LEARNING C++.

Answer
Hey Tarun,

It really depends on where you ultimately want to land in the development of your skills.  If you are going for the more traditional cell drawing (cartoons), then without a shadow of doubt you need to know Flash.  I am working next to the guys that do cartoons for Turner Studios (i.e. Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS, etc...) and the way that they do cell drawing now is on the wacom cintiq tablet screens.  They build libraries of facial expressions, arm and leg positions, etc. That they will be using over and over, and then sketch everything else in the program, and use keyframes to aid in motion, and interpolation.  

But not just Adobe Flash, understand the entire suite of ADOBE products, from Photoshop and Illustrator, to Premiere and After Effects.  If you are limited on resources, definitely start with Photoshop and Flash, and learn them like your life depends on it!

If you are trying to push into 3D animation, then let me know.  I am a self taught animator, and I use 3D Studio Max.  However, the industry leans toward Maya. But I would recommend starting with more novel programs that won't frustrate you starting out.  Poser is one of them. Feel free to ask anything.  That is what I make myself available for.

Cheers,
Andre