How do you practice aimating and find time to work a job or make money?

[goodjesse]

I was just looking for advice from my fellow animators about finance vs practice time.
I just don't seem to understand how I can really practice animating (by hand) and yet some how earn money from a job to pay rent and buy food etc.
I don't understand how people like Don Hertzfeldt, Bill Plimpton, Mike Judge and Dan Meth do it/did it!
I would imagine it would take me a full year of work to make a really good short animated film... I cant even seem to find the time to go beyond a five second film as things are now.

Anyhow, I'm just looking for ideas or advice from and for other people who are in the same boat.

Thanks!

[Kevin Smith]

Gotta really have some discipline. I work a 9 to 5 with lots of studying in the off hours in order to learn everything. What I do is sit down and work for an hour somewhere with no distractions and not thinking about anything else. Just drown out the world and go to work. You might get at most three seconds of animating done, but if you do it every day, in one year three seconds adds up to over one thousand seconds. That just might be enough to get you on the track to make your hobby your job.

[goodjesse]

thank you for the reply, that is a very good and straight forward piece of advice.

[Lenny Boudreau]

Steal time. Maybe lunch time at the day job could be 15 minutes of drawing practice frames in a sketchbook. The drive/train ride/bus ride to work could be time to work on the writing (notebook on the train/bus, voice recorder in the car). Animation magazine reading in the, ahem, porcelain office. Just sit down and start drawing for any length of time. Just getting something, anything done, will fire you up to continue. It's the getting started that I find difficult. Just do it.

[goodjesse]

Yes for sure, many of these ideas are things that I have allready been realising but just reinforcement from other animators is extremely helpful. My most immediate step is to reduce my work load from 50hrs a week down to 25-30. Also reducing my luxury spending and getting down to the bare neccesities like food and rent. A job that I can walk to is also a good idea for limiting gas.

[Vincent Veidt]

Get creative. How many minutes/hours each day do you spend checking voicemail, email, playing video games, commuting, etc? Try to manage that time and set it aside for practice, even if it's just a napkin sketch. Also, shake up your methods. Don't be afraid to draw on a napkin, or a cell phone pixel editor... I, for one, have been drawing on a Nintendo DS and it's made for great practice. Also, if you work a 9-5/5 days/week, relax one day, practice the other... it's like finding time for exercise; it's all just a matter of planning and attitude.

Sorry if this wasn't the most coherent post, I didn't sleep last night.

[goodjesse]

Any feedback is welcome and well appreciated. I am really greatful for this community of animators. I had no idea anything like this would ever exist which in itself brings me closer to making my dreams reality.