Hi everyone! 👋
I’m completely new to the world of animation and 3D art. I have a big dream: I want to create my own cartoon series one day. 🌟
But right now, I’m totally overwhelmed. There are thousands of tutorials on YouTube, TikTok, and so many other platforms. Every time I search for a topic, I find 1000+ videos — and I don’t know where to begin, what to trust, or what’s the right path for me.
I’ve already wasted a lot of time jumping between videos and apps without a clear roadmap. 😞
If there is anyone here who has been in a similar situation, please guide me. What’s the best way to start learning animation for storytelling and cartoon creation?
I’m ready to work hard and stay patient — I just need direction. I’ll be forever grateful for any guidance you can offer.
Thank you for your time
Hello. Yes sure, in CG Cookie the courses have a sense of direction to them, as in start here, continue here, then here, this one after that, etc. First up is The Blender Basics, a swift intro to Blender:
https://cgcookie.com/courses/blender-basics-an-introduction-to-blender-3d-4-5-lts
Then it's CORE, where you go into the meat and bones of this thing:
That will take a while, so once you're done chewing you can come back and say ok I'm done with my food. What's for dessert?
This person created Funny Legs, which is super cool. Maybe it can give you inspiration:
Hi,
This is a great place to learn, is organized pretty well, and has a good community to answer your questions. I would take a two prong a approach for this. Do the intro modeling series and the animation at the same time. This way as you get frustrated with one you can take a break and switch to the other. The other advantage is that since your end goal is animation you will feel like you are getting somewhere. As a warning to create a cartoon series is very complicated, look at all the people in the credits. After you've learned some animation and have a simple character, then I'd learn rigging. Then you of course need to learn about cameras, compositing, lighting, etc. Along the way periodically try to do a short animation with what you create of a couple seconds so you feel like you are getting somewhere. I don't mean to sound like it is a long slog, because is is incredibly fun to watch something you create move across the screen. And again this is a good place to lean with an active community to answer your questions and encourage you. Good luck and have fun.
It is all fun and it is great, but as Tanya says, it is not easy. So don't get discouraged and remember, progress is real, but when it arrives, you'll barely notice it. But you will be getting better even if you feel you're at the same spot. It is always a good idea to start saving your starting work so you can have a better chance at seeing the difference as you go.
Hi! I am Yana, I am a 3D animator and I currently work on my own Funny Legs animation show. I am super excited for you, you have a great journey ahead.
First, I would start with Pixar in a Box -- https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/pixar -- it's free and it's gonna give you a great introduction to the animation world from one of the best studios on the planet.
Next: https://creatureartteacher.com/ by Aaron Blaise (another animation legend). Great online resourse, not expensive. I took a storyboard class there that is very important for any film\series production: https://creatureartteacher.com/product/storyboarding-for-tv-animation-with-tim-hodge/
Now, animation. There are so many ways to animate, but my personal weapon of choice is Blender. It's very user friendly and free.
https://www.toanimate.ca/ - this is a great resourse. I usually just watch their YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@BrianKouhi , cause I had animation background by the time I switched to Blender, but as far as I can see, ToAnimate is a great place to learn.
I also highly recommend the courses by Pierrick Picaut. He has both animation and rigging courses. I only took his rigging class, but I am sure the animation course is just as good. : https://www.p2design-academy.com/
I know some people might say that you can study all by yourself using just YouTube. And I am sure some people do that and have good results. However, it might really slow you down: tutorials are fine for small tasks, but you have to learn some very important lessons at the beginning of your animation journey and that requires some proper guidance.
Let me know if you have questions, I am happy to help. And good luck to you! :)