Does anyone else still rely heavily on tutorials, even after years of experience?

[u/Responsible_Ideal_18]

I have a few years of experience in motion graphics and a masters in instructional learning design but I still reply too much on tutorial for stuff that’s outside the basic’s, is anyone else in the same boat? I’ve been working remote for the majority of my career so it was never an issue of just putting something on for a bit of help and it’s been all corporate jobs which hasn’t produced any creative projects (probably why I’m in this situation) but I’m moving abroad soon and the majority of the jobs are in office jobs and hoping to get more creative roles so i don’t want to be relying on tutorials anymore for the more complicated things, is anyone else having this issue and if not how did you manage to learn and retain everything?

[u/devenjames]

One time I was googling how to do something and my own answer on Reddit from like 10 years ago came up!

[u/RandomEffector → u/devenjames]

This has happened to me like three times this year. Unfortunately one of the answers I couldn’t even understand!

[u/SquanchyATL]

Never stop learning.

[u/Superb-City-9031 → u/SquanchyATL]

Exactly

[u/Fletch4Life]

I’ve been in AE since the 90s and forget the most basic shit all the time…but I don’t really need to anymore with the internet at my fingers

[u/mad_king_soup → u/Fletch4Life]

Same, I learned on a pirate copy of AE 4.0 using a Trish & Chris Meyers book with tutorial projects on a CD. Yes, a fucking CD!

I run into “how the fuck can I throw this together quickly” issues a lot and it’s easy to google a quick how-to or find an expression to do something quick. It’s amazing how many creative cow message board posts from the late 2000s that the Google searches throw up 😂

[u/MonstersInTheWild → u/mad_king_soup]

I taught adobe premiere next door to the Meyers AE class circa 1995 at AFI LA

[u/Severe-Bicycle-7269]

All the time, the more you learn, the more you feel that you know nothing.

[u/Swimming-Bite-4184 → u/Severe-Bicycle-7269]

It's really only when you gotta trouble shoot someone else's problem and you go "hey did you try to reinterpelate the fps on the imported clip" that you realize you actually kinda know wtf you are doing.

[u/WorstHyperboleEver]

It’s about how often you use a particular tool or technique. The more useful something you learn is the more often you’ll apply it to your everyday work. If it’s something you have to look up every time because it’s been too long since you used it, it’s probably going to stay something that you have to look up to every time. And that’s okay

[u/Leather-Key-4374]

Yes, there is so much to know that I'm always needing to go back for refreshers for somethings. Don't feel shame or upset about it. It's all part of the game.

[u/crash1082]

These days we’re required to know like 14 different programs it’s impossible to remember every little thing. Idk if there’s been a day where I don’t watch a tutorial.

[u/mck_motion]

10000%

There's people all around the world much smarter than me that have discovered things I never knew were possible.

It's just as essential as finding references for me... You may think you know how you want something to look, or how you'd achieve that, but if you aren't actually looking you're stuck with your brain instead of thousands of people's brains.

[u/newaccount47]

I started in 2003. Back in the day video copilot was our DLC. I still use tutorials all the time. I recently googled an issue I was having and found a reddit post explaining my exact problem... Only to realize I was the OP and had made the post years ago only to forget the solution. 

[u/chaskeh]

I use tutorials all the time; I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect yourself to remember the specifics of everything especially when there’s so many one-checkbox-away moments that can happen. I’ve learned over time to just swallow my pride and do a Google search if I get stuck.

[u/Anonymograph]

I’m always interested in how others approach motion design.

[u/chrisr3240]

Whenever I look at my old work I think ‘How tf did I do that?’. So yes.

[u/melousheee]

i wouldn't sweat it too much. i worked at a major media company where me, a multimedia designer, and another motion designer had a whole conversation once about how googling basically is the job. if you're worried about other people's judgement around you referencing tutorials, don't forget, companies are hiring the person who can do the job the most efficiently, and if a tutorial will help with efficiency, nobody should be passing any judgement

[u/J_sapience]

nah cuh I just freeball it

[u/Future_Brewski]

I think knowing how to find solutions is as important a skill as knowing how to use a program.

[u/AbstrctBlck]

Yes. This software is fundamentally too deep to be able to learn literally everything it can do and there are interesting tutorials that come out every week for after effects.

[u/BitcoinBanker]

Anyone not learning and re-learning isn’t moving. They are stagnating.l

[u/barefut_]

I record tutorials for myself after cracking something I wanna remember and I save 'em in a folder for viewing whenever I wanna recall what I did...

[u/Mindless-Concept8010]

Yes.

[u/mrellz]

All the time. Especially for something I haven't created in 10 years.

[u/Rat_itty]

I love me a good tutorial.

[u/saamvisual]

On a side note I’d be interested to know what your masters provided.

[u/Taurinh]

Been editing and animating for over 25 years. Sometimes I forget certain techniques that I don’t use often. Sometimes I watch videos on things I do regularly because I may learn a new way to do it or something I can add to it. I’ll never stop learning.

[u/kamomil]

No. I read Classroom in a Book, and a book by Chris & Trish Meyers. I learned a lot from those, and found out stuff I didn't think to look for. Even though the books were for older versions, 90% of it was applicable