Hamster Cage
by Joanna Priestley
A former student came by my studio to show me the tiny amount of work he had done in the past four months. He is incredibly talented and the work had a fresh, unique style. He said he was not able to get much done, even though he has lots of time to animate. After chatting with him for an hour, he told me that this has been a problem since childhood. Every time he starts making something, he feels like it is never good enough, so he stops working.
Sometime our minds repeat negative thoughts. This can be likened to to a hamster spinning on a wheel inside a cage. Over and over and over we hear thoughts like “That’s not good enough!”, “You have no talent!”, “You’ll never succeed!”, “That won’t work!” There are endless variations to the meaningless, negative thoughts that repeat in our minds.
I had a bad case of this for many years, but one day I realized that the thoughts were always the same, no matter how good or bad the work was. That day, I simply stopped listening to them. It that thought popped up, I would say (in my mind or out loud): I am not paying attention to this anymore. It took a few years to completely ignore them, but finally I was able to experiment wildly or do something truly ugly and shaky without hearing the sharp little voice in my head that said “That doesn’t work! That’s awful. That is a failure!”​
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How to Make Your First Animated Short Film
Think of a good, solid idea for a film. Run it by two or three trusted friends or family members who love films. REfine your idea a few times and then sketch out some rough ideas of what the film will look like. Now work on it everyday. Even if it is just for a 15 minutes! Or try for several days a week, every week. It's important to develop the habit of working. If you enjoy it, you may continue. If you don’t enjoy it, figure out what you enjoy most and do that. Work discipline can be inherited from observing a parent, friend or mentor. It can also be developed by working everyday or as often as you can. Do not give yourself a hard time about not meeting your goals. Reset your goals to an attainable level, enjoy the process and keep working. Keep it simple and do your best!
Make Misteaks and Enjoy the process!
One final tip is to make lots of mistakes. I stop and pay close attention whenever a mistake happens when I am animating. I almost always use my mistakes because they frequently lead to something more interesting than what I had in mind. Be flexible and open to inspiration, change and new ideas. Pay attention to where you heart is taking you. Learn to enjoy and love the process. You are building a new world!
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Live Fully, Imperfectly and Wildly!
Anne Lamott's manifesto on perfectionism: "It is the voice of the oppressor. It will keep you very scared and restless your entire life if you do not awaken, and fight back, and if you're an artist, it will destroy you…" I love Lamott's motto: "I get to live fully, wildly, imperfectly. That's why I'm alive." Ignore the inhibitory thoughts. Be simply yourself. Experiment! Love every moment of your extraordinary creativity! It is a joy and a gift, to ourselves and to our community, that we can spend time making things with our hearts, minds and hands.