All Hours

One thing I've learned about animation is it's an all hours kinda thing. Not only because I've been working on this week's assignment all hours of the day and night, but also because even when I'm not animating I'm thinking about animating!

One could take this to be a bad thing. There are many activities and endeavors you would not want to think about all the time, like taking out the garbage...once you've done it you don't want it back in your thoughts until next week. Animation is different. It's so complex, yet fascinating, once you start thinking and living like an animator you begin to observe nearly every little detail of life in a certain way. So even when you aren't sitting at you desk animating you might be looking at a thing and wondering, how many frames was that movement? how much does it weigh? how could that be made more entertaining? An animator does this in any given situation and then files notes away in mind or draws a quick sketch or three, and files it all away to refer to later. Sometimes we do this quietly in a way no one would notice, and other times--like if it's something we're really excited about--not so quiet. We become hyper-observant of the nuances of things in motion in our every day lives. And this goes on all hours of the day or night...if we're conscious, we're likely observing and taking quick notes.

Before I started classes at AM I already had oddball hours. Since my parents don't require much care once they've gone to bed, night time is the best time for me to get anything done of my own. I'd often ended up working on projects through the night. And then I'd have to take frequent, short naps whenever I could find time, and I was always tired. Now that time is often spent doing animation homework. Luckily my mom's health has improved slightly this week, which has freed up a lot of time during the day as well. I'm better rested, and the few extra hours spent animating aren't going to hurt my grade any.