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If you’re like me, you probably have a lot of personal passion projects that are in your mental queue. Time goes by without you ever seeming to execute these ambitions. The reason why is because they consist of more than one step. When you consider investing your spare time toward these creative ventures, the sheer volume of work needed to reach your goals dissuades you from beginning and you opt to start it another time.

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If you’ve read books like “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” by David Allen… you know,  the road to achievement is by defining long term goals comprised of short term goals.

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I recently researched a variety of Task Management Software for OSX, my operating system of choice - and I like “Things“. It’s simple and intuitive and does the job that’s needed to bridge the gap between idea and execution. It gives you the opportunity to create a project, then slice it up into individual tasks. Tasks that you can complete in a 2-4 hours period, like say… an evening.keyline2.jpg

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We use a very detailed and effective process at my work - why not employ the same strategy to my personal projects?

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I’ll give you an example of why I’m so pumped about this software.

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My original talent is that of an illustrator. I felt like quite the protege and thought of myself as one of the top of my class at a school world-renowned for it’s illustration program. However with my career in full swing, interactive, motion graphics design and 3d - very rarely do I spend any time drawing or painting anymore.

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For a few years now I’ve been meaning to tap into my talents to compose an animated, illustrated narrative. Some cool, motion graphics piece with an intense storyline that creates an emotional reaction because of the compelling idea and execution. I feel like I’m part of a small majority that can write it, illustrate, design and animate it front to back myself and compete at the highest level. Yet year after year… I don’t.

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Once I downloaded and installed Things, the first project I put together was this Illustrated Narrative that’s been circling around in the back of my mind for a while - and I very quickly got the satisfaction of discovering exactly why I haven’t begun it, even though it’s been calling my name for so long - which was a lack of process - I wasn’t sure where to start and how long it would take.

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Design and Animate an Illustrated Narrative

  • Seek Inspiration - Find a magazine article or a news topic that speaks to you. Use it as your idea source and build a concept around that.
  • Write a Script -

    Create a context by writing some sort of storyline. Make decisions around whether you want it to be more dramatic or humorous.

  • Define a Style - Research and find illustration and design styles you’d like to emulate, log and refer to them.
  • Find Reference Material - Find a photo shoot with the right kind of images to use as reference, or if possible take the pictures yourself.
  • Sketch Your Characters - Start drawing out a style and lead characters to focus on. Take your time and get this down.
  • Build a Storyboard - Draw out your animation loosely on paper so that you can plan the flow and vibe. Complete the story through images.
  • Sketch Detailed Screens - Draw each screen. Do as many drawing as needed to get each screen right.
  • Create the Screens in Photoshop - Paint / Design the screens that need to be imported from Photoshop into After Effects. Do them one at a time.
  • Animate in After Effects - Import your screens and build the narrative through animation.
  • Publish and Post - Render out the animation and post in your portfolio. Perhaps submit to some film festival.

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Above is what my project looks like. I broke the beginning stage down into very detailed steps that I could accomplish in an evening or more. Now I can march my way through this task at my leisure, with the fulfillment of knowing where I’m at in the process, which I think was the missing link.

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