Hopefully you guys can offer me some advice. Here’s my situation…
I’ve been using Flash since the day it came out, and started using AS when it first appeared. I got pretty good at it back in the day, by just figuring out how to do what I wanted it to do. But now it’s gotten to the point where the complexity of AS has far exceeded my skill level. Most of my work comes to me because of my design background, not my AS skills. But the limited knowledge that I do have of AS does help me with some of my work and I really enjoy what little I can do with it.
I’ve noticed what a big market there has been for a while now for designers that are also good with AS, and also owing to the fact that I generally enjoy the more technical aspect of my projects more than the creative aspects, I want to delve more deeply into Actionscript, get really good at it, and get work based on my AS skills, with my design skills there as an added bonus.
I have been trying to get better at AS for a while by just applying it to work that I am doing, and trying out new things (which is the way that I have developed a lot of other skills). But this is not really working for me. It is too cumbersome to try and really learn AS and tackle a project at the same time, and really just ends up slowing me down to the point of frustration.
I guess this is a long way of asking if you guys have any recommendations for me on what to do to learn it properly, considering the approach I’ve been taking hasn’t really been working for me. I was thinking about online courses, training videos…? I’ve tried a book or two, but just found it hard to really absorb the concepts from a text, even when combined with practical application. I just always find myself asking Why? Why, do I do it like that? Why does that work?
There are so many resources out there. Are there any specific resources (courses, videos, even books, etc…) that have stood out for you, that you guys can recommend, or any other approaches that have been helpful to anyone else in a similar situation to me? (BTW, Another thing I don’t even know is if I should be learning AS2, or AS3…)
I don’t mind making a financial investment, or even taking some time of (maybe a month?) to really focus on this, as I know the investment will more than come back to me by expanding my skills. And I will be doing more what I really enjoy doing, and have been wanting to get more into for a while (the technical side).
Thanks in advance for any feedback at all!!!
Elliott
