Sometimes we get stuck on a project, not knowing where to begin.
Sometimes we just need that little extra nudge in the right direction to get our creative juices flowing.
So to help out, I’ve listed below my favourite websites to visit when I don’t know where to get started with motion graphics.
Top Five Sources for Motion Graphics and Design Inspiration
Motionographer
Probably my most visited site in the list. Motionographer is likely to be one of the very best curated websites for all things motion graphics.
In their words “Motionographer shares inspiring work and important news for the motion design, animation and visual effects communities”.
If you want to have a take a glimpse into the hottest trends and the crème de la crème of motion design, this is your place to go!
Vimeo
Not to be overlooked, Vimeo can be a great source of inspiration when you’re in need. Though you may have to look harder for quality work compared to other sources, Vimeo is full of really brilliant stuff.
There will be a lot of live action stuff so one of the quickest ways to navigate to quality content is to go to the ‘watch’ tab at the top of the page. Then click on ‘staff picks’.
You can also navigate through people collections; work people have curated into a folder for themselves.
Don’t forget to create your own!
Art of the Title
I only recently discovered this goldmine. Though the content it publishes is very niche (title sequence) you can’t help but be in awe of all of the fantastic work.
Apart from all the stunning work on the website, one of my favourite aspects to Art of the Title is the deep dive into the thought process with the creators of the work.
From concepts, they had that didn’t make the cut to pre-vis for the ones that did. The only downside of this website is that it’s too easy to get lost, there’s so much great stuff.
If you want ideas fast Pinterest is your place to go.
Personally, I use it when I’ve got a rough idea, and I want to create a mood board for potential style frames.
For example, I’m trying to sell in the idea of a 2D noise-textured animation. I’ll go onto Pinterest to search for what I think I want, screenshot all the bits I like, and then put them into a PowerPoint, whilst ‘pinning’ them for later reference.
CG Society
CG Society is very different from all the other entries on this list.
It’s mainly filled with very high-end work from film production and tv shows. Though it may not seem very helpful at first, there is some very active forums and very good content.
When looking into it whilst writing the article the first thing I found was a tool (PSDto3D) for sending photoshop art files to Autodesk’s Maya for both 2.5D and full 3D results.
Whilst it won’t be the resource you will visit most often, it’s definitely a great one to have on standby, especially for when a project may call on it.
Stash
If you want a place where you can find interviews, breakdowns and more from the industries top designers, Stash is your place to go. They have a news section which is always kept up to date on the latest trends and events.
The only downside of Stash is that if you want to get full access you have to join the paid subscription. However, there is a 30-day free trial, so go sign up and see if it’s for you!
Conclusion
Try not to get disheartened when you’re in need of some inspiration, we all hit barriers sometimes.
There are countless resources online for when you feel like you need a little booster, this is just a few of my personal favourites. I hope you’ve found them useful, and that I’ve named some you hadn’t heard of before.
If there are others you like to use, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
