We were lucky to catch up with Helen Ratner recently and have shared our conversation below.
Helen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
I didn’t have a straight path that took me to where I am now. I started as an Art Director in Advertising before discovering my love of animation. I still remember the moment when a former colleague introduced me to the magical program After Effects. The ease with which she could make smooth and seamless animations truly blew my mind and I knew I had to learn this how to do it.
I threw myself into After Effects and watched every tutorial I could find. I was making little progress however and would often feel frustrated and confused. Finally, after years of bumbling around making short animations that never felt polished enough I found the artist Sholim whose work I loved. He had posted some short tutorials of his process and something about it resonated with me.
I finally started making animations that I liked and quickly became addicted. Sadly, after a few months of heavy animating, my wrist began to hurt and I was told that I needed to spend less time on the computer in order for it to heal. But I needed to animate! I was finally having fun as a creative and nothing was going to stop me, not even a sore wrist.
A friend of mine had mentioned that using a stylus instead of a mouse had helped her wrist pain so I decided to try one myself. Enter the iPad. I found a few tutorials on hand drawn cel animation and rotoscoping and quickly fell in love.
Fast forward a few years and I still love to animate using real footage on After Effects and create hand drawn animations on my iPad.
In hindsight, I wish I had dedicated more time to enjoying the process when I initially started instead of stressing out about the finished piece. I found the greatest momentum and rhythm to my work when I set myself the goal of completing one animation a week to post online. Having this deadline caused me to churn out more work and focus less on perfection. I could try new techniques and find out faster if I loved or hated them. Most importantly, I was having fun and feeling creatively fulfilled while doing this.
Helen, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m a Brooklyn based artist with a quirky sense of humor. I have a background in advertising and specializes in animation, motion graphics, and art direction. Playing with techniques such as cel animation, rotoscoping, and collage, I create surreal videos that surprise and captivate viewers. I’ve had the pleasure of working on a wide range of projects from music videos with major artists such as Steve Aoki, El Alfa, Kanye, FKA Twigs, and more to creating animated shorts for television and brand films.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
Yes! I wish I had learned earlier about the fabulous community of animators and artist who put their work online. I’ve had the fortune of meeting so many talented folks who have shared their process and stories. I’m a bit of an introvert so it took me a long time before I felt comfortable enough to reach out to people I admired. Once I did, I learned a ton and began to really feel like a part of the community as well.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
While I do have some very specific goals and missions, these have changed as my career has unfolded. Overall, one goal of mine that I use as a North Star is to always enjoy the process as much as possible. I’m always striving to find enjoyment in the work I do and not get too focused or stressed about where trends are headed or what others are doing.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://helenratner.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helenratner/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helen-ratner-26939a93/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelenRatner
- Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user131339439
Image Credits
Helen Ratner @helenratner