To Get Serious Work Done, Do You Have To Be In Your Studio?

[Gochris1]

For all of the users of portable Cintiq – Galaxy Note – or any other tablet:
I have this fantasy that if I get a Cintiq or a tablet, that I’ll be able to animate in public places, like libraries, coffee houses, and even outside.

But is this really possible? Of those of us who have a portable tablet, how much animation and drawing do you actually do away from home? Can you actually get serious work done outside of your studio? Is it realistic to think I could make an entire film while sitting at a diner?

Your reactions will help me to decide whether it makes sense to get a portable Cintiq, and may also influence some life decisions as well. (No pressure, though!)

Thanks!

[neonnoodle]

I actually do even better work outside the house. I prefer to go to coffeeshops and the like, because the background noise and bustle of people coming and going is helpful.

I recently purchased a small tablet (the Asus VivoTab Note 8 ) for this reason, and have found it a wonderful option when I'm getting stir-crazy.

[slowtiger]

It highly depends on your style. I couldn't do my current projects in a café because there's too much other stuff involved, using different programs etc, for which my home station is much better equipped.

But I used to animate in cafés in the 80's: on A6 paper, with 2 holes from an ordinary office punch, had a pegbar for this. About 250 sheets of paper plus the peg bar fit into one 10x15 cardboard box, plus a pen. I could work on the smallest of tables. Ms style was simple in those days, example:


So I'd say it's possible, and maybe one day I'll do it again, this time with a Cintiq and TVP. I'm only cautious about ergonomy, coffeehouse tables and chairs are not really suited for this and will me give cramps after a while, and the bad lighting may prevent working in many spaces anyway.

(Side note: I'll visit my father this weekend, and he asked me to show him TVP, he's interested to buy a license. He's 81 now, will this count as the oldest user of TVP?)

[schwarzgrau]

I really would love to have a Cintiq Companion, but I guess I just want to have it and wouldn't use it that much. I bet it's pretty nice for doing rough animation and it's always nice to change your environment. But I can't imagine doing "real work" in a park or café, even if it looks great in the commercials.
I'm sure it's a good idea if you only need 13" and already considered to buy a small cintiq or if you travel a lot.

By the way I tried a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet and it was REALLY laggy and even with Wacom Digitizer the pressure sensitivity was a nightmare. It seemed to me like some tablets still need a bit more power even for simple tasks like drawing.

[slowtiger]

I'll be riding trains this weekend for many hours, and expect to have a lot of ideas while doing that. So I'll write down a lot and do scribbles, but all on paper. I'd do the same digitally, I suppose. (Several of my films started that way.)

Doing real animation would be possible in a café, but maybe no clean-ups.

[Paul Fierlinger]

I've felt for years that our work is more comparable to that of novelists and book authors in general and much less to that of filmmakers. Many books have been devised on travels, in hotels and cafes, but all serious and lasting works of individual accomplishments have been created in the tortuous seclusion of homes, even remote country homes or hotel rooms during off season periods. It's about the loneliness of the long distance runner when deep introspection sets in that the creative mind is willing to face the truth, and there is no discipline more preoccupied with the truth than the arts.

[Gochris1]

Thanks for all of the responses.

Neon Noodle and Shwarzgrau - thanks for the tips on the new tablets.

Slow Tiger - great to see some early work. Lots of lively fun in the kangaroo animation!

Paul - The analogy between a novelist and animator is one I use all of the time! I tell my friends who are set on live action film making that an animator can make a movie anytime, anywhere. I can animate in my underwear at 3 in the morning. No need to call a crew, set up a location, then hope to make art.

Also Paul - Yes, indeedy, creating art is a search for the truth. Since the truth comes from within one's soul, I guess one could find it anywhere,
even in a cafe.

As it is, like a romantic novelist I would use my tablet and animate in cheap hotel rooms, out of town libraries, bars... and occasionally from the back seat of a police squad car.

Actually, my holy grail would be an 18" or 20" portable Cintiq. By portable, I mean battery powered. I would imagine they will make one someday. I think I will wait until then.

[Paul Fierlinger]

Paul - The analogy between a novelist and animator is one I use all of the time! I tell my friends who are set on live action film making that an animator can make a movie anytime, anywhere. I can animate in my underwear at 3 in the morning. No need to call a crew, set up a location, then hope to make art.

The analogy doesn't stop just there... every time we start a new scene (and often even in between) we are facing the proverbial blank page, which I for one, deal better with in solitude.

Also Paul - Yes, indeedy, creating art is a search for the truth. Since the truth comes from within one's soul, I guess one could find it anywhere,
even in a cafe.

but as Maya Angelou tweeted for the last time, you could go one step further when alone:

"Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God."

[Gochris1]

Indeed.

If while animating, I actually encounter God, do you think I could get him to do a few in-betweens?

[Paul Fierlinger]

Not likely but there's a chance you would feel great about inbetweening.

[D.T. Nethery]

Paul - The analogy between a novelist and animator is one I use all of the time! I tell my friends who are set on live action film making that an animator can make a movie anytime, anywhere. I can animate in my underwear at 3 in the morning. No need to call a crew, set up a location, then hope to make art.

The analogy doesn't stop just there... every time we start a new scene (and often even in between) we are facing the proverbial blank page, which I for one, deal better with in solitude.

I am in agreement with Paul : I do my most focused work in silence/solitude . I will sometimes work at a coffee shop or on a plane with my Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet to do quick draw-overs/corrections on student work or to do relatively mechanical tasks like click-and-fill coloring or sometimes just for some casual doodlling/sketching , but for "real work" I prefer the solitude of my office , where I have multiple monitors set up to spread out the TVPaint tools .