I really just want to make cool compositions… Where do I start…?

[Walter Soyka]

[Nate Berry] “Hello I am wondering if there are any tutorials out there that will send me in the direction of making videos such as the following.”

This animation shows great art and sound direction, and a strong execution of the concept. While you could probably find tutorials on any one of the techniques used in this animation, they will only help you mimic what you’ve seen here.

Tutorials teach specific techniques. You can learn the mechanics of animation or motion graphics from tutorials, but you cannot learn design from them. Strong design skills come with study, intention, and practice — not anything you can get in 30 minutes of web video.

[Nate Berry] “I really just want to make cool compositions… Where do I start…?”

You have already started. Study this piece. Take it apart and try to understand what makes it work. Don’t just look at the mechanics of the animation (how the animator did it), but actually try to see how each element moves the story forward (why the animator did it). Study more pieces you admire and see how they use visuals to convey a feeling or message.

Next, practice. You will learn more by creating a project for yourself and really pushing yourself to execute it well than you will just watching tutorials. Check out Nick Campbell’s “Five Second Projects.” Nick suggests a theme every few weeks for a 5-second animation design challenge. Think of it as a mini creative brief to build your project around.

Finally, review your work with someone you respect and trust, who will give you honest feedback about what works well and what doesn’t. Listen, learn, and strive to make continual improvements.

On the technical side, if you’re new to After Effects, I’d recommend the following link, in which Adobe’s Todd Kopriva pulls together some important introductory materials:

https://blogs.adobe.com/toddkopriva/2010/01/getting-started-with-after-eff.html

I hope this is helpful. Good luck!

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Angie Taylor]

Very good reply with sage advice! It is very important to learn established principles of deisgn; Color, typography, animation etc. I found that several of the resources for learning After Effects were lacking in this area so I have written a book specifically to fill this gap. It’s called \”Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist\”. You can find out more about it here;

https://www.angietaylor.co.uk/design-essentials/

I hope this helps! 🙂

cheers,

Angie

Angie Taylor animation & illustration for television, film, web and devices

https://www.angietaylor.co.uk
Twitter: theangietaylor
Linkedin: theangietaylor
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angie-Taylor/118378194869002

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

You start with an idea. Think about what you want to do, the looks you want to achieve. Use PSD or AI to design stills that describe your look and then think about how you want to animate the transitions, what you want to highlight through animation. Create a storyboard for that using the stills you made and transition/animation ideas. Break the whole piece in scenes you are going to work on separately. Take each scene and determine which techniques you will use for it. Then you can search for tutorials that deal with those techniques.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Nate Berry]

Thank you all for your feedback… you guys seem as if your pretty knowledgable… May I ask for you all to post any recent public works you guys have worked on.. i would be grateful for all and any inspiration… THANKS YALL!!!!

[Hassan Wasswa]

Thanks for the great advice…
Nick’s site has a tutorial on this,
something to head you in the rite direction…

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Here you go.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist

[Walter Soyka]

Check out Stash [link] for the latest in advertising/broadcast animation, mograph, and VFX.

See design work life [link] for more graphic design inspiration.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events