Forums » Smalltalk » What's Worrying Me

As many of you may know, I'm a huge otaku. That means I'm into anime, manga, and anything of the sort. Now not as many of you may know that I'm a writer. Not like an author who makes money off of writing, I do it for fun. My computer is literally filled to the brim with stories that my brothers and I have written. My dream in life, ever since I got into anime, is to make at least one of my stories into an anime.

But more than that, my ultimate dream is to create an anime opening. For those of you who don't know what that is (which is probably very few of you), an anime opening is the intro song you see before the episode starts. The theme song, if you would. In anime, it usually features a Japanese song, usually in the rock genre if the anime is action packed. Sometimes, there are openings that have both Japanese and English lyrics in them, like in Naruto. Anyway, my point is that I've always wanted to make an anime opening.

Right now, I'm listening to a really good anime opening song, but it's only making me want to cry, to be honest. I find myself thinking "Damn! Why did they have to use this song before I could?!"

Yeah yeah, I know. If they never used this song, then I couldn't have found it. By the way, if you're curious about the song, I'm listening to opening 2 of Black Butler. Never seen the anime before, just happened to hear the song and fell in love.

Here's where my problem starts. I'm not an animator. I don't know how to draw or make frame by frame animations. My brothers don't know how to do that stuff either. Thinking about that kills me. How would you feel if you had a dream, but knew that you couldn't achieve it? Anyway, so now I'm listening to this song on a loop for what? To torture myself? I guess so. But I'm not going to stop listening to my favorite songs just because they remind me of what I'm not capable of and make me feel frustrated. Everyone's good at something, and I just happened to be good at writing. And video games. But animation is not something I'm good at.

Sometimes I wish I never got into anime, then I wouldn't have tears streaming down my face like right now while I write this. It's kind of like if you saw a group of people playing a really cool game that you were interested in, but you were physically unable to play it. It'd be frustrating to see other people playing the game, and all you could do is watch more people join in. That's sort of how I feel, I guess. Maybe that was a bad example.

And the worst part of it is that while I'm listening to anime openings, especially those I like, I can imagine it. My own opening playing with the song. Can you imagine how much that kills me inside? To know that something like that can exist within my imagination, but not in reality? You can't write out an anime opening. You can only animate it. I can't deal with the frustration. It makes me want to scream out at the top of my lungs.

I know I'm probably going to get a bunch of replies like "Don't give up on your dreams!" or something like that, but I'm just not good at animation. I have ADHD, which means that I can't sit still at all for long periods of time. It's impossible to not be moving some part of my body at all times.Doing something like frame-by-frame animation is impossible for someone like me, because that sort of animation requires precision, and one mistake means that the animation looks sloppy, or bad.

I've found a better example. It's like if you fall in love with a person, but then they die one day. No matter how much you get better in hopes of being good enough for them, you'll never get them because they're now out of your reach. Imagine the pain, the frustration. It'd kill you, perhaps in more ways than one.

*Sigh* I'm sorry for spilling my guts like this. I just needed a place to vent, and I figure RPR might be a good place. The frustration was killing me, and I had to let it out somewhere. If you've gotten this far, then chances are you actually read the whole thing. So...thanks, for listening.

Hey there, Flash. Don't be so frustrated. I, too, have experienced the same thing. But don't worry. You're still young and you have a lot of time to make your dreams come true. All you have to do is work hard. Make an effort. If you really want to turn your stories into an anime, but cannot since neither of you and your brothers don't know how, you can either learn how to do it or collaborate with some friends who know how to and who are interested to help out. You can make a team.
Just be patient and with a lot of effort, you'll soon realize that you're getting closer to your goals.

Hibari, CHICKEN BLESS YOU!!!

And Flash, you won't learn right away, but you'll learn

First off, don't worry about them using the song before you could! There are millions of songs out there and new music is created worldwide everyday, there is so much to be discovered and introduced to the world and that alone holds so much potential. As for your animation problem, I myself know what it's like to feel as thought there is something you'd really like to do but you can't do it, however I also know that having that mindset and believing that you can not do it will only result in that outcome. Open up your mind to the infinite possibilities that lurk beside you. You are still so young, and though it seems otherwise, there is one thing you still have much of and that is time. Time will be your greatest friend during this process, for time will allow you to not only gain the skills you need but the patience as well. Even if animation truly is not your forte, there is so much that goes into the creation of these scenes than just the animator! There are hundreds, and hundreds of people who just have to imagine it, describe the scene and they hand it over to someone who can create it and it gets created! That is what script writers do, and I doubt it would be any different for an anime.

Keep your chin up, you will get there!

Flash. I know exactly what you mean. Truth is, I have the same dream. I want everyone to experience my stories as I do. It's never too late to learn, I should know i'm 26. All you need to do is keep your head up and strive to better yourself every single day. Take those lessons that the main characters learn in most animes. Patience, Hard work, Determination, Passion, Practice. All of these things are important to make your dream a reality. Like Wishi said, there are millions of songs out there and new bands that are made up of Otaku as well. There is always a way to make your dream happen, it starts with you. Don't sit back and resign yourself to "I can't". Take hold of your dream with your own hands and make it a reality. You have people behind you already with your bros as well as people here that i'm sure are willing to help you with development. PM me sometime if you want to brainstorm, I'm good in fantasy and Anime. Keep driving forward Flashwolf and you will achieve your dream!

If you want to be an animator, the main thing you need is patience. If you can make yourself be patient, then all the rest can be learned. No one is born with amazing skills - everyone has to learn. Granted, some people pick up certain skills faster than others, but that most certainly doesn't mean that others can't or are inherently less good. Actually, having seemingly natural skills is frequently a problem, because those with them have less of a change to learn how to work hard and, thus, frequently give up more easily.

Bury yourself in your dream. Live and breathe it. Learn what you can now, so that later you can decide if you want to pour money into a more formal education for it. Or, if you're able to develop fast enough and make the right connections, you could skip right into a job.

There's no sense in giving up on something at only 14. I understand it may not feel that way, and am very familiar myself with resigning myself to nothingness. I did it. But now, more than a decade later, I'm getting closer to what I want all the time, because there's always more to consider.

Hey man you are only 14 its a bit early to start thinking that and besides animation isn't necessarily THAT hard just practice your drawing on paper for now, my drawing used to be absolute trash (still probably is but I feel like I'm getting better)

Nothing about it is necessarily tough even if you make mistakes in the drawing and it doesn't have to be frame by frame (although given enough time and work it looks real nice) there are programs where you can animate stuff by just setting keyframes and making different poses and angles of the models.

One thing I reckon would be good is like I said practice drawing maybe even study body structures ect (it helps trust me) and don't be afraid to use other pictures as a reference. When you feel like you are good enough try and get Photoshop and possibly Adobe After Effects along with a drawing tablet (most likely wont be cheap so I would save up)

Take it from someone studying animation.

Start by storyboarding. You'll need a storyboard for almost any serious animation project anway, and it's a much more attainable goal. Not easy by any means, but easier than a full frame by frame project.

Okay, firstly, breathe. No one is expecting you to do a full animation opening by yourself first.

Secondly, like Heimdall said, you need to try storyboarding first. It's a simpler and important start. You're not going to be great when you begin but it's somewhere. Just get the main parts out, don't bother about the smaller animations first.

Third, learn to manage your ADHD, I don't mean going cold turkey, cause that's rubbish. If you wanna succeed with your ADHD you need to learn to harness it and control it, rather than letting it control you. If you're determined enough, you'll find a way. Now I'm no expert in art or ADHD but when it comes to managing ADHD, I definitely can advise you on some things.

Here's some tips on how I manage it.

A) Cycle between different projects requiring different things, i.e. practice your storyboarding skills, then drawing skills, then do your homework or some maths. It keeps your hands busy along with your mind. Now I have the same trouble too at times in keeping my mind on one thing for hours. In fact, everyone does to a degree. You just learn to cycle in between them.

B ) Now I can't sit still either for long hours, heck even an hour is problematic. I have a swivel chair which I turn around while I do work. Desk pedals work as well, just google them up. If you have money or a christmas wishlist I suppose you can ask for one. So my legs are moving while I sit at my desk to do work that requires me to sit down.

C) Know how your ADHD works. I cannot stress how important that is. I can provide tips but they may not work for you as they have worked for me, but you can build ideas along them to help yourself.

D) Keep different objects with different textures around you. If you're the kind who'd need to touch different things, you can touch and hold them while doing work to realign your focus/settle down.

E) Get used to walking with a clipboard and doodling along a corridor. I don't know but I was the only one who was pacing up and down my college dorm's corridor with a 5 kilo textbook to study, because I just couldn't sit still. It's nigh impossible, so I just walked and memorised what I needed. But if you need to draw, try picking a place which is even, where you don't have to worry about colliding that much or tripping. Just be mindful it can happen.

Your venting is the biggest thing on my notifications right now.