Why I am in Animation?

In my first animation class today, we went around the class introducing ourselves and explaining why we are in animation. At first this seemed like a little bit of a ridiculous exercise because I know nearly everyone in the class, and I’ve heard this stuff all before. But of course it proved enlightening.

What I noticed was that the majority of the class had got into animation for the underlying reason that they simply love drawing. They did it as a kid and have never stopped, thus animation is the perfect extension of that as they get to draw a lot. But I didn’t get into animation because of the drawing.

Now we make a quick jump back in time to last week. I got to see Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, at a question and answer session here at our university. I did a bunch of research into his life before attending and watched this video.

Steve Wozniak

He is a very interesting person and I found a great parallel with him. He got into electronics because as a kid he taught himself to build his own computer. At a young age he was designing circuits, reading chip manuals and figuring out the workings of computers. It really is incredible. And he decided to be a computer engineer so that he could do that for the rest of his life.

This relates to me because I taught myself how to make 3d graphics. I was interested and figured it out all by myself. I figured it out because I really, truly was interested in it. I simply needed to know how it worked. Seeing this parallel with Steve Wozniak was a great reinforcement that I am in the right field.

But to get back to the reason I am in animation, it is not because I draw, it is because I love the technical aspects of it. I love learning how cameras work, learning how programs work, learning how computers work. I would consider animation to be the art form that has the greatest latitude of technological influence. You can use mechanical systems like a camera, projector, flip book, but you can also look into the most advanced forms of computer simulation. It covers the entire gamut.

But further than that, animation delves into a deeper understanding of the mechanics that lie in the brain that allow us to perceive everything that we do. And when I think about video games, I see them as truly a medium which requires an understanding of how we think.

So a little question at the beginning of class actually caused me a big revelation.

I must say, I sure am excited about this year.

Kyler