How to make animations

Step-by-Step : How to Make an Animated Movie

In this in-depth article, Pratik Gulati walks us through the many stages involved in creating an animated movie from scratch, whether it be the next Hollywood blockbuster or the shortest of short films. So if you’re thinking about trying it yourself and want to know how it’s done, or even if you’re just curious about the process, this article is one you don’t want to miss.

If you find yourself needing extra footage or effects for your movie, check Envato Market, where you can find motion graphics, stock footage, music, sound effects, and more.

The production pipeline of a typical animated short or a movie can be divided into three stages : pre-production, production and post-production. In this article we will be discussing these three key stages in detail.

Pre-Production

The first process in the animation pipeline, and also one of the most important, is pre-production. It begins with the main concepts which are initially turned into a full story, and then, once the story has been finalized, other things such as the script, shot sequence and camera angles are worked on.

Some major components of pre production are Story Boarding, Layouts, Model Sheets and Animatics.

. they also provide a visual reminder of the original plan; something that can be referred back to throughout the production.

Story Boarding

The Storyboard helps to finalize the development of the storyline, and is an essential stage of the animation process. It is made up of drawings in the form of a comic strip, and is used to both help visualise the animation and to communicate ideas clearly. It details the scene and changes in the animation, often accompanied by text notes describing things occurring within the scene itself, such as camera movements.

Not only can storyboards be especially useful when working in group environments (something quite common in the animation industry,) but they also provide a visual reminder of the original plan; something that can be referred back to throughout the production.

Layouts

Once the storyboards have been approved, they are sent to the layout department which then works closely with the director to design the locations and costumes. With this done they begin to stage the scenes, showing the various characters’ positions throughout the course of each shot.

Model Sheets

Model sheets are precisely drawn groups of pictures that show all of the possible expressions that a character can make, and all of the many different poses that they could adopt. These sheets are created in order to both accurately maintain character detail and to keep the designs of the characters uniform whilst different animators are working on them across several shots.

During this stage the character designs are finalized so that when production starts their blueprints can be sent to the modeling department who are responsible for creating the final character models.

Animatics

In order to give a better idea of the motion and timing of complex animation sequences and VFX-heavy scenes, the pre-visualization department within the VFX studio creates simplified mock-ups called “Animatics” shortly after the storyboarding process.

These help the Director plan how they will go about staging the above sequences, as well as how visual effects will be integrated into the final shot.

Production

Now that the storyboard has been approved the project enters the production phase. It’s here that the actual work can start, based on the guidelines established during preproduction. Some major parts are layout, modeling, texturing, lighting, rigging and animation.

[layout artists] produce the 3D version of what storyboard artists had previously drawn on paper.

Layout

Using lo-res models or blocks of geometry in the place of the final set and characters, the Layout Artist is responsible for composing the shot and delivering rough animation to the animators as a guide. What they produce is the 3D version of what the storyboard artists had previously drawn on paper.

During this stage the Director approves camera moves, depth of field and the composition of the models making up the set and set dressing. It is then the responsibility of the Modeling department to deliver these approved set, prop and character models in the final layout stages.

Modelling

Modelers are usually split into two or more departments. Whilst organic modelers tend to have a sculpture background and specialise in building the characters and other freeform surfaces, hard-surface modelers often have a more industrial design or architectural background, and as such they model the vehicles, weapons, props and buildings.

Working closely with the Art Directors, Visual Effects Supervisors and Animation Supervisors, modelers turn the 2D concept art and traditionally sculpted maquettes into high detail, topologically sound 3D models. They then assist the Technical Animator and Enveloper as the model has a skeleton put in place and the skin is developed. Following this, the model may be handed back to the Modeler, who will proceed to sculpt facial expressions and any specific muscle tension/jiggle shapes that may be required.

Texturing

Whether creating a texture from scratch or through editing an existing image, Texturing Artists are responsible for writing shaders and painting textures as per the scene requirements.

Working hand-in-hand with the surfacing and shading departments, textures are painted to match the approved concept art and designs which were delivered by the art department. These textures are created in the form of maps which are then assigned to the model.

. lighting TDs combine the latest version of the animation, the effects, the camera moves, the shaders and textures, and render out an updated version every day.

Lighting

Not only does a Lighting Artist have to think lighting the individual scenes, they also have to consider how to bring together all of the elements that have been created by the other departments. In most companies, lighting TDs combine the latest version of the animation, the effects, the camera moves, the shaders and textures into the final scenes, and render out an updated version every day.

Lighters have a broad range of responsibilities, including placing lights, defining light properties, defining how light interacts with different types of materials, the qualities and complexities of the realistic textures involved, how the position and intensity of lights affect mood and believability, as well as color theory and harmony. They are required to establish direct and reflected lighting and shadows for each assigned shot, ensuring that each shot fits within the continuity of a sequence, all the while aiming to fulfill the vision of the Directors, Production Designers, Art Directors and VFX Supervisors.

Rigging

Rigging is the process of adding bones to a character or defining the movement of a mechanical object, and it’s central to the animation process. A character TD will make test animations showing how a creature or character appears when deformed into different poses, and based on the results corrective adjustments are often made.

The rigging department is also involved in developing cloth simulation – so as well as making a character able to clench their fist or rotate their arm, the rigging and cloth department is responsible for making their costume move in a believable manner.

. planning a character’s performance frame by frame uses the same basic principles first developed for 2D animation.

Animation

In modern production companies, the practice of meticulously planning a character’s performance frame by frame is applied in 3D graphics using the same basic principles and aesthetic judgments that were first developed for 2D and stop-motion animation. If motion capture is used at the studio to digitize the motion of real actors, then a great deal of an animator’s time will also be spent cleaning up the motion captured performance and completing the portions of the motion (such as the eyes and hands) that may not have been digitized during the process.

The effects team also produce elements such as smoke, dust, water and explosions, although development on these aspects does not start until the final animation/lighting has been approved as they are integral to the final shot and often computationally heavy.

Post-Production

Post-production is the third and final step in film creation, and it refers to the tasks that must be completed or executed after the filming or shooting ends. These include the editing of raw footage to cut scenes together, inserting transitional effects, working with voice and sound actors and dubbing to name just a few of the many post-production tasks.

Overall, however, the three main phases of post-production are compositing, sound editing and video editing.

Compositing

The compositing department brings together all of the 3D elements produced by the previous departments in the pipeline, to create the final rendered image ready for film! Compositors take rendered images from lighters and sometimes also start with compositing scripts that TDs develope in order to initially comp together their dailies (working versions of the shot.)

General compositing tasks include rendering the different passes delivered by a lighting department to form the final shot, paint fixes and rotoscoping (although compositors sometimes rely on mattes created by a dedicated rotoscoping department), as well as the compositing of fx elements and general color grading.

Sound Editing

This department is responsible for selecting and assembling the sound recordings in preparation for the final sound mix, ensuring lip sync and adding all of the sound effects required for the final film.

Video Editing

Video editing is the process of manipulating and rearranging shots to create a seamless final product, and it is at this stage that any unwanted footage and scenes are removed. Editing is a crucial step in making sure the video flows in a way which achieves the initial goal. Other tasks include titling and adding any effects to the final video and text.

Conclusion

The production pipeline detailed above is broadly common in most studios, however each studio is likely to have a custom pipeline determined by the type of project they are currently undertaking. A 2D production pipeline starts with workbook and goes all the way through final checking, composting and film output, whilst the 3D CGI production process emphasizes the design, modeling and rigging and animation stages. Moreover, animation production is a very coordinated process where different teams of artists work together while utilizing optimum resources and achieving the initial goal in the time available.

How to Make an Animation With 7 Steps

Shanoon Cox

Jul 21, 2022• Proven solutions

Did you see a cool flash animation on YouTube and wished if you could use it for your site as well? Does the very thought of making such professional animation that can cost you a bomb, pulls you back from your thoughts? Just forget all your worries because now you can do it yourself and it is a matter of just some time.

Part 1: Preparation

1. Script is the Essence

If you wish to understand the nuances of how to make an animation, the first step you should know is scripting.

Playing with the words in your mind and weaving them on paper makes a big difference. So, penning a story helps you to recognize the loopholes, the pace, and the character development in your story.

The script gives a person an idea of where your story is based, how does it look or at which time of the day are you talking about, who is talking to whom, and most importantly, the dialogues, what are your story characters say to one another. The script is the essence of creating animation and without it, you cannot resume the process of animation.

2. Storyboarding

What is storyboarding? It is a sequence of images or pre-visualization of movie shots to understand how exactly the story will unveil, the feel, the look, the camera angles, everything is described like a flowchart.

Storyboarding can be of various types. It may be colorful, it may just an outline, or black and white or something with complete detail. A storyboard must give a complete and close image of what the movie would look like.

The images must be captioned, the movement of the camera must be shown with arrows, and the object and characters must be differentiated from the background with colors.

3. Voiceover

If you want to make your animation more vivid and interesting, remember to add voiceover. Would you like to see an animated movie without a voice? It is a vital part of any movie recording.

When you ask how to make an animation, you also need to know how to record a voiceover. The animation is influenced by voice performance for focus and timing of a scene. The animated scene and the voiceover must be in sync perfectly in order to retain the attention of the viewers.

In the earlier days, a recording studio used to be rented and a sound engineer and voiceover artist was hired for it. But, today the auditions for VO are done online and the best one with professional recording tools is hired.

Part 2：Production

4. Animation

Once the preparation stages are over with script, storyboard, and voiceover in place, the animation part can be started. The length of the VO and the story are the deciding factors for the time required for animation. So, pick up a 2D animation software to animate your characters. The process includes importing images, adding it to the timelines.

5. Audio Mix

In this step, it is important to select and assemble the recorded sounds and start preparing the final mix of the sound in order to ensure proper lip sync and other sound effects needed for the final animation film.

Any heavy unwanted sounds are removed and significant spot sounds are added while mixing the pre-determined soundtrack.

Part 3: Edit and Export

6. Final Editing

Often the scenes for the animation film are randomly shot. There are a number of scenes that are shot just as a back up so that later while editing it can be checked and the best shot from many can be picked to include in the movie. All such things are finally checked in the final editing. It is the process of rearranging the clips so that the end product is flawless. Other editing task includes the addition of effects in the clips or text used in titling, etc.

7. Export

Exporting the animated movie is the last step in creating an animation. How to make an animation is no more a big reason for headache. If you want, you may also share it directly on the social media platforms with your friends and viewers.

Conclusion

Now, as you know how to make an animation and the steps involved in it, you must also be aware of one of the best software for editing.

Here we recommend using FilmoraPro. You can use it to make animation video by adding keyframes, so the animation will be smooth and natural. You just need to build a white plane to easily start making animation. Besides, color correction and audio mixer will raise up your animation video to a new level. Download it to have a try (Free)!

Make an animaion easy online!

Step 1

Upload pictures or photos

Upload your photos and other pictures (jpg, png, bmp, gif & other) to use them as animation frames. To start uploading drag-n-drop your files to Upload button or select them manually, by clicking «Upload button».
Upload early created GIF animation to edit it.

Step 2

Click make animation to start making.

draw, text, order

Improve your animation. Double click on uploaded pictures to add text and draw over uploaded pictures! Drag’n’drop order icon to change animation order.

animation options

General options (default for each frame) of your animation. Change them if necessary.

There are probably no users on the internet who have never seen a gif animation. They are so wide-spread that one can find gif animations on every site on various topics, different forums, social networks etc. Sometimes people are using animations for their personal entertainment, for example they are sending animations to each other while chatting on social networks. Animated images are often the embodiment of humoristic elements. Sometimes they can help during the studying, for example they can depict the sequence of the movement while using software, or playing a musical instrument. All of this, by all means, can be displayed in a form of screenshots, pictures or videos. But animation has a great number of advantages. And making cartoons is truly a fun pastime, no doubt about it.

How to make an animation and what is gif animation?

In point of fact it is simply a file, that consists of several images, that are moving one after the other. The concept of gif animation is very close to the roots of animation. Way before the first films were created, animation already existed, and it gave the possibility to create animated images. It can be created, by a well-known method from childhood, of drawing in the corners of our notebook. And then when you were flipping the pages quickly these pictures that were drawn with a little difference were coming to life. The smaller a difference between each picture is the slower will be the movement of animated images. So this is the core of every modern document in a standard gif format. Thanks to this we can even create a cartoon.

Animation tightly cooperates with cinematography. The difference between these two spheres is enormous. Cinematograph deals with real actors and objects, shooting their movements with camera. Animation on the other hands uses inanimate objects, such as cartoon characters or plasticine`s dolls. The combination of the first and second gives the possibility to create a realistic depiction of completely imaginative things. How to make an animation more realistic? Set the smallest change of a great number of frames, and due to smoothness the effect that your dragon is flying or a person is clapping his hands will be created.

In the world of Internet the animation appeared with the development of Flash technology, but here she significantly differs from making cartoons. What is the main difference between video and gif animation? The first differs in a huge size, and, as it follows, can overload the page and causes problems with playback. Besides, the noise that appears out of the blue can scare a visitor of the site. Animations, on the other hands, loads easily, causes no problems with playback and above all it is a pleasant addition to every site. Banner advertisement, that usually uses gif format technologies, will always attract attention due to animated images, while a plain banner will not be noticed at all. If you want to make your guest genuinely interested in your site all you have to do is to create a cartoon. It doe not have to be too intricate, but it have to be dynamic.

How to create a cartoon?

How to make a cartoon, using your own pictures, without overloading your computer and not wasting a lot of time? At first, it should be mentioned that with the help of our service you can create an animation either from your computer or a mobile phone. At first you should upload all the necessary pictures on the site. We are working with jpeg, tiff, png, bmp, and even gif, in other words, almost with all possible formats, that you know about. How to create a gif animation from scratch? make-animation.com allows you to upload images in different ways:

Usability and functionality of make-animation.com

On this site there are plenty of ways for you to make an animation for fun and interesting. In order to do so, you will have to open the edit tab. Here you can write lines on your future animation or even draw anything you want on it etc. Besides you can edit the whole animations, for example, you can change the frame rate, size of the animation, way of scaling downloaded images, or probably, to make a smooth transition between frames. When you have finished editing, you can simple push the right button and in a few seconds you will be able to enjoy your animation. Just a few easy click and you have managed to make a cartoon. It is truly amazing! Animated images can help not just designers and web- programmers, but also an ordinary people, who are interested in animated art. In order for to actualize any of your ideas you do not even need an animation software. Because with make-animation.com to create an animation easier and more convenient.

How to make a gif animation?

Our animation tool was made for creating a gif animation. So to create an animation with the help of our gif animation software is extremely easy. To make an animation gif online you should follow these 3 easy steps:

How to create an animation?

The process of creating animation will differ just a little but from creating an ordinary gif. It is possible to create an animation from photos that you can upload from:

You can learn more about the process of creating animations in a relevant memo how to create an animation without installing any animation software.

How to create a cartoon?

A cartoon is a sequence of frames that are changing one after the other. So that is why in our animation software for creating cartoons we prepared the functionality that will help to create the decent sequence of frames in the cartoon.

About other peculiarities on how to make a cartoon, you can read in a memo about making cartoons.

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• animation software • How to make cartoon • animation program • animated gifs •

How to make CSS Animations

Animations on the internet are not new. They have been used to achieve many goals, including making something more interesting to watch or even more appealing. Sometimes that is what makes a website stand out among the competition! Animations can make UI elements resemble the real world, making them smoothly change while giving the feeling of continuity, action and progress, instead of changing in a blink of an eye.

Even when applied to small elements, animations can help the user remember whether an action was executed or not. In fact, the user is more likely to remember what he/she just did after perceiving something changing little by little, instead of all at once. A simple animation for a loading screen tells more than just waiting with a white page. It’s the difference between knowing something is still happening and wondering if the page is broken.

Table of Contents

What are CSS animations?

CSS offers two different types of animations. The first one is the transition property, which is frequently used for hover effects and other user interactions. The second one is the animation property, which allows creating more continuous animations or, as we will see later, animations with more stages. Check the example of these two properties’ effects on the codepen below (if you don’t know what codepen is, check our article about this great tool for sharing code snippets):

Key elements of animations

To make simple or more complex CSS animations, it’s necessary to master two key elements: Animation Timing and Inner Components. An animation without time associated is the same as having no animation, as it will merely change instantly. Using inner components will make life easier as it is much more likely to need more than one element to enhance animations. Let’s check them:

Animation Timing

To create a smooth animation or transition, it’s essential to define time limits. On both transition and animation properties, we have duration, that says how much time it takes to go from start to finish, which is defined by the first time unit (seconds or milliseconds). Then, the delay, which determines how much time the element will wait before the animation starts, being defined by the second time unit.

Below, there are four examples that show the multiple effects that different values can create: two hover effects (one with a duration of 0sec and another 0.5sec), together with two loading effects (one with a delay of 0sec and another with 0.1sec, 0.2sec, and 0.3sec for each of the squares).

Inner Components

The second key factor and the secret for making more sophisticated animations is the use of inner components. If only one or two extra elements are needed, the :before and :after components can be used, just like in the sample below.

They can be styled as usual on your CSS file, but it won’t be necessary to define them on the HTML. It will automatically associate the extra elements with the main component, leaving the HTML intact. The only difference in the CSS is that you need to define the property content represented by a string. As an example, it’s like describing the text inside a div on the HTML. From the hover effect example, check below how the a:before component was styled and an empty string was used on the content property to only create that little corner.

In case the animation needs more than two extra elements,standard HTML components can be used. Change the HTML structure and incorporate unstyled components like spans, apply styling, and then apply the transition or animation. The use of multiple components is also useful if you have different types of movements once each component can only take one animation or transition at a time. The example below shows the loading effect: there is a div named container with four spans inside, and the container has one animation which makes it get bigger. Finally, each span has an animation that makes them rotate.

CSS transitions

So, how is a transition implemented? The first thing to do is define an initial and final style/state of the elements involved, including the :before and :after components. Then, using the transition property, it will inform those components how they will behave between the two states. This transition property is the composition of four other properties: transition-delay and transition-duration (which are time-related properties and we have already covered), transition-property and transition-timing-function.

Let’s check what these last two properties are and how do they work:

transition-property

This part of the transition allows to specify which properties are going to be affected. It can be set to “all”, so all properties that change from one style to another are selected. But it can also be a specific property or a set of them. This is very useful when setting different timings or behaviors between the element’s different properties. For example, if you want the background-color to change much faster than the text color, you would use:

transition-timing-function

The timing function defines the transition’s velocity and has a set of possible values:

Explore how these different values can affect an animation in the example below. Notice that the transition can keep track of itself. Moving the mouse quickly in and out of the animated component, the animation will not go all the way till the end: it will rollback.

CSS animations and keyframes

In contrast to the transition property, there’s no need to specify the element properties affected, nor even define an initial and last state on animation one. The animation property gives more freedom due to keyframes usage. Keyframes determine the different styling/states of the component, having a name that will be later used on the animation property. Having just two states, it can be used “from” and “to” to define the initial and final ones. But, in case of wanting more, it can be used percentages and specify something like the rotate animation on the loading effect.

Just like the transition property, the animation one is also the composition of other properties. They are: animation-duration, animation-delay and animation-timing-function, that work in the same way as the transition ones; animation-name, where the name of the keyframe appears; animation-iteration-count, to determine how many times the animation will run, which can be a specific number of “infinite”; animation-direction and animation-fill-mode.

animation-direction

This property tells in which direction the animation must render on the keyframe selected, allowing to choose one of the following values:

animation-fill-mode

Wondering what happens to the component after the animation finish? The animation-fill-mode property has the answer for it. This value tells how the component may behave outside the animation time, in other words, before and after the animation:

Check the result of each value below. Just click on any of the boxes where the animation has one second of delay and the differences will be clear.

See the Pen JjKbdeE by Patrícia Silva (@patsilva_tese) on CodePen.

What CSS properties can be animated?

Both types of animations element properties can almost be changed, as long as they are represented by unit values. For instance, you’ll be able to see a smooth transition on colors, height and width values, margins and paddings, opacities, transform, etc. However, you won’t see that effect on borders style, position, float, background-img, font-family, etc.

Even though unit/numeric properties can be changed smoothly, not all of them impact the rendering process the same way; some can be slightly heavier than others. When a browser initiates a web page, it will go through some steps: the first is Layout, the second is Paint, and finally, the Composite. If we choose to animate a property that triggers Layout, like width, the browser will repeat the paint and composite. For that reason, the use of properties that only activate the composite step, like transform and opacity should be prioritize. You can check the full list of CSS properties and their triggers.

Transform property

As mentioned before, the transform property is one of the cheapest to animate. However, this does not mean it’s a limited property. In fact, it allows to do a lot of this to the element, including:

All the previous effects will be applied to the center of the element unless the property transform-origin value is changed. That value can be 1 or 2 percentages or even the following values: top, bottom, right, left and center.

If you tried to explore the code of some of the previous animations shown here, you may notice that we are not using the transform property all the time. However, that does not imply that you can not do the same animations using only transformations. To show that, we created both effects using the transform property. Check below all the alterations needed; you’ll be surprised by how easy it is to do the same effect without changing the HTML structure.

Performance of CSS Animations vs Javascript

Animations done through JavaScript are managed on the main thread of the browser where the layout and painting also happen. CSS animations, depending on the properties that are being changed, can occur in a separate thread called the compositor thread. If the browser takes more time on more demanding tasks, main thread animations will be compromised and interrupted, whereas compositor ones won’t be affected and will keep going smoothly. So, if you choose Javascript, you are more likely to have missing frames on your animations.

Conclusion

In sum, making animations using CSS and the transform property should be a priority. They are easy to do, especially for those who already get the hang of it and know precisely the goals to achieve. Nonetheless, it’s important to be careful regarding animation’s excessive use since it can lead to performance issues and cause an overwhelming situation for the user.

Found this article useful? You might like these ones too!

At Imaginary Cloud, we simplify complex systems, delivering interfaces that users love. If you’ve enjoyed this article, you will certainly enjoy our newsletter, which may be subscribed below. Take this chance to also check our latest work and, if there is any project that you think we can help with, feel free to reach us. We look forward to hearing from you!

Patrícia Silva

Web developer with a special love for front-end. Mother of cats. In my free time, I try to help to save the planet by sharing eco-friendly alternatives to a more sustainable life.

How to Create an Animated Short Film

10 minutes to read

My animated short film became a digital kid’s book through Storypanda — more on this story at the end. Follow these steps and you too will learn how to create animated videos!

The tools I use are:

Step 1: Figure Out What Story You Want to Tell

First, you need a story. A good story.

My story is based on the love my grandparents had for each other. After the passing of my grandmother, my grandfather died not long after due to a broken heart.

I wanted to tell a story close to my heart and dedicate my short animated film to my grandparents.

Once you figure out what you want to tell or show you can start to storyboard it.

You can write a script as well if you prefer a more definitive plan. But, if your story is still developing, start drawing and let your creativity dictate the direction of the film.

Step 2: Create the Characters

A good place to start is designing the characters for your animated video.

I developed my characters in a 3/4 rotation. This just means that your characters aren’t directly facing the viewer; they’re angled 3/4ths to the left or right (as you can see below): If you like, you can draw your characters from several viewpoints (such as facing towards the viewer and away from the viewer so that they can see the details).

Step 3: Create Your Storyboard

A storyboard does not need to be super realistic, but I do recommend that you draw all the key poses. It will make things a lot easier down the road.

Once you finish all the panels make sure to label them well for good organization.

After you are happy with the result you can scan them so that you can have them in digital format.

When you finish scanning in your panels, you can move them into an editing program.

I used Premiere Pro because it worked well with After Effects and Photoshop.

It will be a bit of work to separate all the panels and save them all as layers in your favorite graphics or video editor. The amount of work will depend on how many panels you drew.

Step 4: Create the Animatics

At this step, you’re at the fun part of making animatics.

What are animatics? They are a simple mock-up of how the film will roughly look.

In our case, it could just be a video of our panels in sequence to give us an idea of how the story flows.

You can start timing how the elements work together as they move.

Step 5: Creating the Background Layout

Now that we have a solid story and the animatics look good, we can start the video production.

We can start with the background layout.

You can get started drawing them in the right field size based on your field guides.

Since you know what your backgrounds look like already, be sure you only draw what will be in the shot. For example, you don’t need to draw an entire room when you will only be using a piece of a table.

If you are re-using the background later in a different field size, draw a bigger-sized background so you can use it for both without losing any pixels.

Tip: If you decided on a close-up at the beginning, and later you change your mind to a mid-shot, you need to move the camera to get the shot you want. This is when cam keys come in handy. Cam keys show the field size you will use for each scene.

Step 6: Create Dope Sheets

Dope sheets/exposure sheets are very useful because timing is key in animation.

A well-prepared dope sheet will help you when you start animating. This is an example of a dope sheet I used for my animation:

Step 7: Create the Rough Animation

After timing the animation you can actually start animating. Start animating roughly. Keep the lines loose and push the poses.

Use the key poses you drew in the storyboards.

Write down on your dope sheet how many in-betweens you want after clean-up (more on these two processes later). Try to keep characters on separated layers.

Step 8: Clean-up

Once you are happy with your animation, you can start cleaning up the line art.

You’ll need to decide what type of line you would like to use. There are different types of line art you can choose from. Normal lines are all the same thickness while rough lines are not closed and make your animations look like they are dancing.

Cartoony lines are thick around the border with thin lines on the inside.

With my animation, I used a normal line because it worked best with the style I was going for.

Cleaning up rough animation can be tedious work, but when you do it right it will make inbetweening (which I will talk about in the next step) and coloring much easier.

Step 9: Inbetweening

In-betweens are vital for smooth animation. Keys lead the animation but the in-betweens smooth out the movements. This process is called inbetweening or tweening.

You don’t always need a ton of in-betweens.

When you animate an action shot, you can get away with a few keys and one or two in-betweens. For subtle animation, more in-betweens give you a smoother result.

I’ll give you an example of an in-between I made using the diagram below.

Step 10: Digital Inking and Painting of the Backgrounds

Background artwork will need to be added behind your characters using inking. You can ink it the old fashioned way with crayons or paint, or you can scan the artwork and paint it with a program like Photoshop.

My backgrounds are a mix of scanned crayons, water paints, and Photoshop.

It’s very important to label all your layers and keep them separate because the animation will be placed in between the layers to create depth.

Step 11: Digital Inking and Painting of the Characters

Once you get to this step, all your animation has been cleaned up, inbetweened and is ready for coloring.

When I made my short, I had the privilege of using a scanner specialized for scanning animation. I also used software called Toon Boom to ink all the characters. This program is very easy to use and it made coloring the characters much easier.

Now the hard work of clean-up that we did earlier really pays off.

With great line work and closed lines, coloring will be a walk in the park.

If you have lots of open lines, it will be harder to use the paint bucket tool to fill all animations fast and efficiently.

Step 12: Compositing

When all the artwork and characters are painted you can use Toon Boom to composite it.

Compositing is the process of combining all the elements into one scene.

You can also use any other program you like to work in.

Now you put the whole movie together and make it flow into one.

Making My Animation Short into a Digital Book

I want to just share my story of how I made the animation short film into a digital book. I hope this story will inspire you to pursue a career in animation or other creative fields.

After my animation short film gained some attention at various film festivals, I was contacted by a mobile publisher called Storypanda.

I worked with them to turn my short into an interactive kid’s book app.

For the book, I did not have to create any new animation. I did, however, have to separate all the animation from the composite I created when I made my short animation.

All layers were labeled and I used a field guide delivered by Storypanda to ensure none of the artwork was lost when you view the book on the iPad.

As an animator, I was thrilled to see my work move on the iPad.

I think digital is truly a new source of opportunity for the creative industry.

Here are some pages from the book:

Have fun creating your own animation!

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