The Power of Social Learning
Over the course of the last couple months, the motion graphics and animation world has seen a giant influx of new tools for our eager hands and creative minds. Tools such as Cinema 4D R13, the Newton Physics Engine, the ease of stereoscopic 3D with CS5.5, Video Copilot’s Element plug in is on the horizon and that is not including all of the new toys that are sure to come out later this year as well. With all of these tools at our disposal, it can at times be overwhelming as to what tools you need to learn and what you think you need to know to keep your skills sharp. However, we have transitioned to the age of social learning and it is time to engage in the conversation.
Years ago when one wanted to learn new software they had a few options, but when compared to todays methods they are less than desirable. One of the options would have been to go to a bookstore and purchase an expensive book that would be out of date after the next software update. Now don’t get me wrong, I have several reference books at my work desk and my home desk, but there are many books available that are poorly written leaving the good books as hard to find as a needle in the haystack. Before the days of purchasing used books online, new software books could quickly add up in expenses over the course of a year or two.
One of my favorite techniques into learning new software was to just dive right in. The downside of this method, is the ease of quickly developing bad habits. Whether it is 3D modeling, Photoshop or After Effects, once bad habits are formed they can become hard to correct. The worst part about it, is it may take you a long time to realize that they are a bad habit or you may get burned by your own mistakes and pay the cost of long hours for an easy solution.
Over the last few years, there have been a steady growth in tutorial sites both free and subscription based. Tutorials, like books, go at the pace of the teacher and not the student. These sites can be very overwhelming if you are not around the same level of understanding of the software as the teacher. This dilemma alone can add more anxiety to the user trying to learn the software.
Enter the social learning world, an entity that has offered users the broadest range of knowledge ever. Conferences and user groups are great ways to learn software and creative processes. The presenters at these outlets can provide valuable insight on their learning experiences, key settings, possible pitfalls, and also more efficient work flows. These events also provide attendees the chance to talk shop afterwords and also build their network and learn of potentially new jobs or career paths. These types of events can prove to be very useful in a young artists career, and maybe help a seasoned veteran turn over a new leaf.
If user groups are unavailable in your area, another method to learning software is to learn with a friend. You can both learn the same software or each choose a different piece of software. By choosing the same software, you can discuss each of your own ways to do things, settings you find and also potential pitfalls. If you each choose different software, after getting a good grasp of that software you can then start to learn things of the other persons chosen software. Again this provides the opportunity to share workflow, settings and potential pitfalls.
However, not everyone has access to these creative sessions. Everyone may not have an industry counter-part that they can learn software together. So are you out of luck on learning socially? Of course not. Everyday these learning experiences are readily available at a multitude of different social platforms. The key to these platforms is clear communication.
Message boards have been around since the dawn of the internet, and they have evolved into communities where people can learn from one another and share their work and get feedback. I personally hang out on message boards when I can and help give back to artists as much as I can. I receive help for work in C4D but I try to help out the AE users. Message boards provide you the chance to learn from many different sources at once. The pitfall of this method however, is someone can’t come to your computer and check out what you have going on. So you have to be very clear with your issue and potentially post some screenshots or working files. If you are unclear about your issue, you may not receive any help.
Facebook and twitter allow users a unique blend of social learning. With their popularity, facebook and twitter may surpass message boards. Facebook allows people to create their own pages where they can post tutorials, tutorials they find useful, start discussions, chat and don’t require you to create a login identity. Facebook also allows you to get updates on your home screen.
Twitter provides unique abilities compared to the other networks, and I also think may be the most under utilized. Twitter is more like a hybrid between message boards and facebook. Users are allowed to get updates, and tweet problems that they may be having. The downfall is the 140 character limit, this clearly puts a restraint on how clear you can be with your issues. Twitter seems to be more of a notification center, allowing community leaders to post links to their tutorials and followers to re-tweet them. This also applies to inspirational works and new product releases.
This may seem like a ton of information, and you may feel the urge to sign up for several message board accounts and multiple social media platforms. However, I would recommend finding the way that fits your learning style and then expanding on that. With the motion industry continuing to expand, we will constantly have new things to learn and add to our arsenal. If you decide to pick up a new piece of software and learn, make sure you commit to it. Set aside a consistent amount of time to learn, and share this knowledge with others, as in most cases they will do the same.
There is no need to make learning software hard, have fun with it and use learning new software as an excuse to meet new artists and to expand your network.
Chris Biewer is the lead motion graphics artist at Minneapolis based sports design studio Sportsdigita. In his free time he works on mobile app art and motion comics. Follow him on twitter @chrisreanimated
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