Baked Animation

Does Marijuana improve ones animation skills or help an artist animate at all?

In my experiences I’ve found smoking a joint or two before or during animating in flash certainly helps me out by making things easier.  After ‘bout only an hour and a half into the daily work marathon my wrist gets cramps from all the drawing on the wacom tablet.  With pot being an analgesic – the cramps are barely noticeable and I can get a lot more work done.  It also makes animating itself more pleasurable as it does with just ‘bout everything else.  It’s no wonder to me why being baked makes drawing the same thing over for 3 hours amusing still.  Animations also can surprise you when your baked I find.  Short little 0.4 second bits of animations you make may become extremely funny – it’s a curse because you waste time laughing your ass off but, it’s a blessing because it keeps things interesting and alive.  Being under the influence of cannabis is known for making people think more philosophical and playful – I find that to be true and it makes you really think about what your animating and all the different ways you could animate something but, all while having fun with it.  Overall I’d say being baked when animating is great and a fun way to experiment with flash.  Their are some negatives however.

Short term memory loss is annoying especially when you find yourself stuck on the same thing for a solid hour just trying to screw around with it to remember what your plan was with the animation.  I heavily suggest getting sticky notes or something that works for you to keep yourself reminders in case you forget.

There is such a thing as being too baked to animate.  You’re probably not going to be that functional if you’ve spent the entire day hot boxing and hitting bongs. Though everyone’s different and animating super baked may work well for you.  My advice is to experiment with different levels and find your happy spot.  I did that for a good 2 months and it worked out great at the end – was fun and made good stories too.

Some things may be too distracting or amusing and you won’t be able to focus and end up just sitting there.  If that happens just accept ya either don’t feel like it or it just ain’t with the flow right now.  Save it for later and have a good time.  However if you’re a perfectionist then build up some self-discipline quick and conquer that animation!

I’ve been experimenting with baked animation for over a year now in flash and I think it’s a fun and great way to really enjoy a hobby of many on a different level.  I myself have never token an animation or even an art course really.  I’ve token a graphic arts course in grade nine long ago which introduced me to flash.  I’ve been animating with flash since November of 2006 and marijuana’s been added to the mix since august of 2007.  In that time I don’t think it’s really helped me improve my skills as an animator but, in “the Book of Derek” I guess, it for sure makes animating easier and fun.