So I as an individual have a very low attention span (so unless it’s something that interests me I have a hard time learning it) and caffeine, energy drinks, etc., don’t work on me at all. They don’t phase me and I retain the same energy (I haven’t tried five hour energy though).
With that being said if I sit in the same position for hours doing the same thing (which animation requires me to do) I get tired. And lack of motivation sets in and I move away from animating and just start playing some Minecraft instead.
Any recommendations to keep me energized and motivated?
I don’t know if I can help at all, but how long would you say you sit and animate for without getting up?
How long from sitting down (assuming you’re feeling motivated when you start), do you start to feel distracted or unable to focus?
What I’m getting at is that people usually can focus quite well for about an hour, some people a li’l less and some people a bit more, but usually at around an hour, people start to lose focus on something they’ve been trying to concentrate on.
I’d advise that if you notice you’ve been working for around an hour, get up, maybe pace around, do a short burst of exercise or even just get a glass of water.
Try to set an amount of time that you’d consider an acceptable break… something between 5 to 15 minutes (I’d say).
Maybe just before you start again, look up a random short animation on youtube and consider what you like/dislike about it and whether you can observe something you wish to work towards or to avoid.
I read that the pomodoro technique could help in this case and I actually use this too. Essentially you get a timer set it to say 30 minutes or more and work in that time. Stop after the timer sets of then set it again to a shorter time (like 10 minutes) and take a break. And repeat. There are even apps of it.