Two Useful Websites. All Right, Not Two.

Let’s start at the very beginning. When I just started thinking about creatin my own aniations I came across 2danimator.ru. There are a few 3d projects were but, as you can see from the title, the forum is dedicated to 2d animation.

You will find here not only professional work, but also animations created by amateurs. And when you see other people’s progress it makes you work harder. At least it works for me.

I should say youtube.com – is a real goldmine of information for an aspiring animator. There you will find shor cartoons, animatics to famous animated features, video-lessons and master-classes. 

I’m sure that every animator should have “The Animator’s Survival Kit” by Richard Williams. For me right now it is what the book “The Word Alive and Dead” by Nora Gal, a famous Russian translator. At the time when my own translations were absolutely terrible I couldn’t read the book, which demonstrated how far I am from the ideal. It got better with time. There is a site where you can watch episodes from a master-class by Richard Williams done by the book. You can also buy the full recording on DVDs or an eBook with some videos included. theanimatorssurvivalkit.com

And one more. It’s impossible to become an animator if you can’t draw. And one particular site if didn’t exactly teach me how to draw, at least gave me lots of self-confidence. The trick was not to start in the middle but to go from the very first exercises: drawspace.com/lessons/