Can somebody help me out a little bit here?

[denisa_costin]

hi, so I was wondering about how animation works out but it still looks a bit bleak for me....like I don't understand how they make the characters move so fluidly on computer, and the drawing is done on paper like in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdwByOaft3o I mean what kind of software are they using? i know the drawing are dome by hand but how do they incorporate that into the computer?thank you

[Alice Herring]

hi, so I was wondering about how animation works out but it still looks a bit bleak for me....like I don't understand how they make the characters move so fluidly on computer, and the drawing is done on paper like in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdwByOaft3o I mean what kind of software are they using? i know the drawing are dome by hand but how do they incorporate that into the computer?thank you

actually, a lot of programs can put together animation. (some are more clunky than others, though.) Your question seems to betray some confusion about animation - it's not the program that makes it fluid, that has to do with the animation principles. (arcs, antics, spacing, squash and stretch, so on)

If you want to explore animating on your own, I'd suggest starting with something simple like a ball bounce. It's pretty much /the/ classic first assignment. It's pretty simple - as the ball drops towards the ground it speeds up - this means the spacing between the drawings gets bigger. It'll hit the ground and squash (but not lose volume!) then as it rebounds back up, the ball will slow down - meaning the space between the drawings will start to decrease. Make sense?


For tools you can get a basic set from http://www.lightfootltd.com/, at least for drawing. At minimum you should get a peg-bar so your drawings are 'registered'. The cheap plastic one is fine - that's the one I used all through school! They even have one that's for a standard three hole punch, so you don't have to buy special paper. Printer/copy paper is totally fine.

To get the images onto the computer there are two ways - using a cheap webcam to 'downshoot', or a scanner. Keep in mind in both instances you should still use the pegbar to keep the drawings registered.

There ARE a few free programs you can use - monkeyjam (http://monkeyjam.org/) is the only one I know off the top of my head. For most traditional animation, unless you are doing a super-fast action, you'll actually animate on two's. What that means is each drawing is exposed for two frames. (based on a 24fps speed)

Does that help?

[denisa_costin]

oh god thank you very much alice, you have been of great help, you see the reason I asked this is because i want to become an animator, though I am not in an art school but i do study and make sketches every day. Were I live there are not many opportunities to study in this field, thanks again, if I have some problems can I get back to you?

[Alice Herring]

oh god thank you very much alice, you have been of great help, you see the reason I asked this is because i want to become an animator, though I am not in an art school but i do study and make sketches every day. Were I live there are not many opportunities to study in this field, thanks again, if I have some problems can I get back to you?

Just post here. There are also a few sites you might want to check out:

http://animationpodcast.com/
http://andreasdeja.blogspot.com/
http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/


Some good animation books that might interest you are:

Timing for Animation
Cartoon Animation
Character Animation Crash Course (fair warning, it's not meant for beginners)
And of course the classic Illusion of Life

A lot of individuals will recommend Survival Kit for Animators, but it's not one I would suggest for a beginner - the point is to understand the principles and to be able to use them, vs. following a pre-existing template. Just be prepared for the animation to not quite work over, and over, and over again; not only is that normal, but it happens in the professional world too. Creating animation artwork is a process - so don't feel bad if it's hard.

[FightingSeraph]

Here's another animation supply store that I discovered from John K:
http://www.cartooncolor.com/index.php
As for books, you should consider looking into Preston Blair's book on animating.

[Alice Herring]

Here's another animation supply store that I discovered from John K:
http://www.cartooncolor.com/index.php
As for books, you should consider looking into Preston Blair's book on animating.

Cartoon Color is great! I got my animation paper from them. :) I even showed up at their store once which, as it turns out, isn't actually a store but a warehouse. But they were nice and let me buy the paper from them direclty anyway. :) They aren't as student friendly last I checked, though. (That's not a slight, it's just not a market they are catering to.)

As for Preston Blair's book - that would be Cartoon Animation, which I listed.