Don't underestimate this part for your indie projects

I talk about the importance of this non artistic skill.
=Full Official Video Courses=
The Complete Introduction to 2D Animation
Buy the complete introduction to 2D animation tutorial/video package:
gum.co/Introto...
===My mini classes on skillshare===
www.skillshare...
www.skillshare...
www.skillshare...
www.skillshare...
www.skillshare...
==My Photoshop actions for auto-matte and toning==
gumroad.com/l/...
Main Website: www.tonikopant...
Twitter: / tonikopantoja
Instagram: / tonikopantoja
Online Store/Tutorials: gumroad.com/st...
Patreon Account: / stringbing
Kofi donations: ko-fi.com/toni...
Equipment I use:
Drawing Tablet: Wacom Cintiq 22HD: www.wacom.com/...
Software I use:
Storyboading - Storyboard Pro, Adobe Animate, Photoshop
Animation - TVPAINT, Adobe Flash/Animate CC, ToonBoom, Blender
Compositing - After Effects
Painting and Illustration - Photoshop, Clip Studio
Video Editing - Premiere
3D - BLENDER

[@CrownePrince]

I can't operate without a shot log, a big excel sheet with every shot and its progress + any notes. (This is your bookkeeping section. 11:37)

[@alpha8here]

I remember seeing someone here on KZbin talking about using an Excel sheet for tracking animation work. Do you please have a template that we can use?

[@MageBurger]

Thanks for the time stamp Crowne. I’ll use it whenever I return to this video.

[@AwkwardPain]

Another thing that I always made at the beginning was a 'credits' document where I recorded any assets (music, sfx, artists, etc) that I was using in my project. Having to figure it out all at the end made me pull my hair out!

[@thinthle]

Smart

[@corruptedteka]

that's very clever !

[@oofiefooflie1648]

your channel really is a goldmine of great animation and art advice! really pumped to put these tips to practice!

[@nonbinarybastard]

Ralsei

[@alex.g7317]

I feel like a canary in a goldmine!

[@quantumblur_3145]

​@@alex.g7317... Whoa, never seen that corruption of the phrase before

[@joelmayerprods]

This is not a paid post but i will genuinely say that Milanote made me so much more organized because i can have an organised chaos with it :D

[@Kayleska]

Never heard of it, looked it up. Can you share some of your experience with it? Did you use the free version and find it adequate or have you opted for a paid tier? Just curious because I know nothing about it and I tend to be a bit all over the place with my projects. Seems like a good tool.

[@seandorama5932]

I tried it but I was a bit disappointed when I learned you could only have a couple images unless you paid for premium

[@ender0998]

​@@seandorama5932this is the reason why I switched over to notion.

[@qwertyuoqwertyuo6508]

@@seandorama5932 I have milanote, and there is no premium version… the app on the app store doesn’t even list it as having in-app purchases

[@qwertyuoqwertyuo6508]

@@Kayleska It’s really great, I’m upset that i didn’t find it sooner. no in-app purchases, very easy to use and good UI

[@0ia]

My thoughts, inspired by Conway's law: Whatever way one chooses to organize will cause the result to feel like it was structured after the project's organization because of how it pushes us to work. An obvious example is if shots per scene are labeled A-Z, someone may not have scenes with more than 26 shots but rather break it up into another "scene" with continuity, but then maintaining continuity becomes complex and so scenes may feel discontinuous. When everything is unorganized as "Copy of copy of Scene 1" as the video mentions, the difficulty in locating scenes may make it harder to go from having an idea to putting it on paper, so the project may have less ideas in it. But, because continuity is not necessary with this organization, it's also * highly * flexible for change. You can decide to make a shot into a flashback or change the chronology whenever *with little resistance.*

[@Amelia_PC]

Reminds me of... ME, naming a project file "Final". Then I have "Final_01", "Final_02"... XD

[@Two_Teapod]

Now that i wached this video, I don't underestimate this part of my indie projects anymore

[@KatiKnittArt]

I... I am shook by the chaos of the initial naming convention

[@MageBurger]

I was recently in a rut for animation, and it was literally planning and organising that I’ve found was the problem. You are the 2nd artist this week that given me absolutely incredible advice for fixing exactly this, the 1st having given me the motive to do an Excel sheet and then you for showing me how I could do it. Seriously, it’s scaring me a little how perfect this timing is, but I ain’t complaining, I AM SET SAILING ON THE ANIMATION HYPE TRAIN TODAY WOOHOO-

[@tiobridge841]

How's your project going?

[@MageBurger]

@@tiobridge841 I’ve managed to work out some story beats, but they’re nowhere near one cohesive project yet. So… a lot of good stuff written and sketched out, but not quite the phase of having a storyboard and needing an Excel sheet yet. Also I started a bit of a side project since this comment, which also has sketches and some animation (one of which is on my channel).

[@AmbroseReed]

Such good advice, and applies to all kinds of work. I finally learned to be this organized a couple years ago in my freelance design work because even "simple" jobs like a one page pdf sometimes end up having 10+ versions

[@TheOfficialKingIdea]

Thank you for posting this! I actually am working on an animation project that is a lengthy fight scene and I am pretty organized, but this definitely will help me not make the file naming mistakes and me be a little more mindful on how folder organizations will be and how I will name my shots. Thanks 😄, you are definitely a great animator!

[@breathlessblizzard]

Literally perfect timing - just started as producer for a 6-person student team. Thanks for all the info!

[@ProjectSebastiann]

Thank you so much for this video, I'm a teen who hasnt and will not be going to art school, and I'm starting an animated short film in my free time. This is insanely useful and motivating! :D

[@OtherwiseUknownMonkey]

im suprised you could finish dusk's flight with that kind of organization....

[@cedricadougba324]

Thanks, GOD bless you.

[@CushionSapp]

Thankfully, I'm usually prone to being tidy and organized.

[@Markeveli237]

Yours videos are always so educative and encouraging

[@aboxyguy]

im glad i started labeling my own projects with the char_context_version format, i dont do animations but knowing thats also how you label your things at least tells me im on the right track

[@Kavukamari]

wait a minute i know this guy 😳

[@aboxyguy]

@@Kavukamari ah hi hi!

[@CabblowStudios]

I am glad t you're talking about this! Please organising your animation production files is an art! I'm glad to say I do not have the problem of unorganized filing. My editing lecturer was a stickler for organized folders for all the shots we would collect when filming our university projects. You will never catch me with layers named "untitled 76". Everybody be kind to your future self and organize your files and folders 😂😂😂

[@valentinam3224]

I learned it with 3D, studying animation makes people ocd lol

[@BensMiniToons]

I lowed my expectations and actually made something. feels good. They suck but I posted them. Thank you for all your help.

[@Gwangle]

Hey man thanks for sharing, it means a lot. It's very kind of you to do this.

[@victorcobane6644]

I just stumbled across this video, and your animation is gorgeous! It's really cool how passionate you are about creativity as well. I am also a creative person, and like you have in the past, I am having a hard time finishing anything. I hope that I can grow like you have, and become someone who can finish projects in a timely manner. Either way, this is a cool video

[@wongvunyu8461]

it's funny that I have this kind of folder organization and yet I sometimes save outside of the folder it is supposed to be at I should really appreciate it more than I normally do.

[@PunkinPancakes]

okay, so i actually loove this part of the process. i love organizing my projects, each project is its own challenge, kinda like a puzzle. If i wanted to help other artists with this role, what is this position called? is it essentially a project manager?

[@Kipasaur]

I'm not far into your video, but going over that section of about doing parts at random, and even redoing them to make them more 'perfect,' really reminds me of The Thief and The Cobbler film. That ambition, perfectionism, and- well- the lack of organization is really what killed that project. So much went into it only for it to get entirely botched and pushed out two separate times as something different than whatever Williams intended. There's some good videos out there all ready about how much of a mess that movie was, but it'd be amazing to see an animator's perspective and what to avoid when taking on big projects like that.

[@-cj-]

I like to reverse my file names. That way, when they are sorted alphabetically, the version number is sorted first, followed by the section number. I don't do animation, but I have a variety of different kinds of files as a software dev. For code, it is generally a bad practice to keep multiple versions as different files. Instead I would use version control, so each set of changes is tracked, you can see who made the change, at what time, and undo specific changes if needed. I would be curious to know if animation studios have a variation of this

[@quantumblur_3145]

Oh my god, putting the version number first is so smart but so obvious, AUUUGH THANKS

[@firebundle]

I thought that head you placed on the shelf was a can of beans, but also yeah, you do in fact make good points and watching your videos always make me and hopefully others happy. Have a nice day and take care of yourself 😁

[@dj-um7el]

Great vid 👍 I appreciate a lotta forms of animation!!!

[@UliTroyo]

There is a huge parallel between this and my experience with software development. I've been working on a big solo project, and my lack of proper organization has had me restructuring it over and over just to keep track of what I'm working on next.

[@Cherryblossom-ink]

This was great advice u never disappoint😊

[@jellyface401]

The other burning dog is still alive.

[@RAFMnBgaming]

Maybe I should start appying git to my non-code projects for versioning there too.

[@bluesillybeard]

That's what I do. For me at least, it's easier to type "git push" in a command line than keep track of a bunch of different files with version names on them.

[@PerlaYesebu-ct7gm]

Dro next video 😮😮❤

[@WonderStorieProductions]

would anyone happen to know what the disc with the pegs are called? I'd love to create some cartoons of my own!

[@deezname6417]

lol, how do you know me so well? My file name is usually something like: final final final small size title-1, lolol

[@sculett69]

Toni, you and ethan becker are my BIBLE, i swear if you told me to join a cult i would do it in a heartbeat because somehow they’d be good for me. I swear every videos that I watch from you never misses. I love you and thank you for always giving us great advices!

[@quantumblur_3145]

Weirdchamp

[@Kavukamari]

i feel like numbering your shots is a good practice, but if you take a break from a project you might forget what each scene is, so i wonder if it would be useful to have a short name attached like "01Intro_30vistapan_A_v1" or "06Battle_12ValeEdgarClash_A_v3" or something so you can remember "oh yeah, scene 30 is vistapan" rather than being like "uhhh which one was the vista pan? 25? 22?"

[@MAKEAnima]

Hi

[@Redding128]

Ww

[@p-genesis1640]

First 🫰