Please tell me where I can find tutorials or tips for 2D, frame-by-frame animations. It has to be very basic stuff, but detailed (for newbies).
Please note: I'm interested only in the real thing, not cutout animation, bones-assisted animation or animation done only with rotate/scale/move tools.
Thank you.
Question on Frame by Frame animation
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Paul Mesken
- Posts: 64
- Joined: Sat May 08, 2010 11:13 am
- Location: Netherlands
Re: Question on Frame by Frame animation
Well, the "real thing" is drawn by hand (whether it be with a pencil or some piece of software as a tool). Assuming you can draw, there's of course Richard Williams' book "The Animator Survival Kit". John Kricfalusi's site (that's the guy from Ren and Stimpy) has quite some stuff about animation as well (it's a brilliant site, updated each day with new gems of knowledge and random ramblings about the animation industry).
If you search on youtube for "Don Bluth" you'll find some lessons of him. And you can, of course, study the good animations of yesteryear (Tom and Jerry, Silly Symphonies, etc.) all on youtube.
If you search on youtube for "Don Bluth" you'll find some lessons of him. And you can, of course, study the good animations of yesteryear (Tom and Jerry, Silly Symphonies, etc.) all on youtube.
These lessons aren't what I was looking for. They are more about the drawing process, creating realistic poses and cartoony movement than the animation process.
What I'm looking for is a step-by-step, detailed tutorial of how to create a frame-by-frame animation the old-fashioned way, answering these questions:
1) Does the background have to be a separate layer/object?
2) Do all the characters have to be on the same layer?
3) Which character components have to be put on their own layer (to minimize re-drawing)?
4) Details about the old, transparent-sheets technique and how, on what, and when was it used.
So what I don't understand is the technical side.
P.S. Even if my questions are answered directly, I'd still like a link to a tutorial/video on these subjects - I couldn't find even one.
What I'm looking for is a step-by-step, detailed tutorial of how to create a frame-by-frame animation the old-fashioned way, answering these questions:
1) Does the background have to be a separate layer/object?
2) Do all the characters have to be on the same layer?
3) Which character components have to be put on their own layer (to minimize re-drawing)?
4) Details about the old, transparent-sheets technique and how, on what, and when was it used.
So what I don't understand is the technical side.
P.S. Even if my questions are answered directly, I'd still like a link to a tutorial/video on these subjects - I couldn't find even one.
Good drawings are the basis for good animation. I don't know what you mean by 'realistic poses', but you want your poses to have good silhouettes so the audience can read the action easily and quickly [which is necessary if you are having the characters go from action to action].
1) No, the bg does not have to be a separate layer. however it makes it easier if it is. Cel acetate animation was invented specifically for the reason of keeping the characters [typically the moving objects] separate from the backgrounds [typically non-moving, more detailed drawings \ paintings]. If you want you can re-draw the backgrounds with every frame like Gerty The Dinosaur, but that will increase your workload significantly.
2) It's up to you. If you are doing frame by frame hand drawn, you could animate two characters, for instance, on the same layer. For e.g. 2 characters having a fight. But an advantage of having separate layers for characters is that, if you had one character doing an action, and the other is standing still [or in a moving hold], you wont have to redraw the non-moving character over and over.
3) Hey hey hey, hold up there Betsy! I thought you wanted 'the real thing'? This is a technique of limited animation which borrows heavily from 'cut-out' animation. Hanna Babara used it a lot. But if you intend on using it, the simple answer is, treat the non-moving parts like a background. Give anything moving it's own layer [or one layer for all moving parts, one for non-moving].
4) The transparent sheets are Cel Acetate and give the name to the type of animation known as Cel animation. The typical technique would be to animate with a pencil on thin paper sheets which allowed you to see previous drawings [especially easier with a a light-box]. This stage gives name to 'pencil-tests' which is now commonly used to described the animation drafting stage. Once these pencil animations were cleaned up [if needed], they were placed underneath a sheet of acetate. There they were traced with an ink pen. The acetate will then be flipped to it's reverse side and special 'Cel paint' will be applied to the appropriate areas where the block of colour is needed. Not quite in the same way as traditional painting, you would apply blobs of paint, then 'push that around with the brush. This will avoid streaking and give a solid block, which was the desired effect. This two processes gave the name 'Ink & Paint', or 'Trace & Paint'.
The advantages with computers is that using multiple layers cost no more than using single layers [which traditionally meant more acetate, which equalled more cost]. So if you want to use more layers, go for it, or less layers, do that. You wont be punished by any authority for going in either direction. You will, however, find you prefer more or less, depending on your own personal preference, and the type of project you are working on.
1) No, the bg does not have to be a separate layer. however it makes it easier if it is. Cel acetate animation was invented specifically for the reason of keeping the characters [typically the moving objects] separate from the backgrounds [typically non-moving, more detailed drawings \ paintings]. If you want you can re-draw the backgrounds with every frame like Gerty The Dinosaur, but that will increase your workload significantly.
2) It's up to you. If you are doing frame by frame hand drawn, you could animate two characters, for instance, on the same layer. For e.g. 2 characters having a fight. But an advantage of having separate layers for characters is that, if you had one character doing an action, and the other is standing still [or in a moving hold], you wont have to redraw the non-moving character over and over.
3) Hey hey hey, hold up there Betsy! I thought you wanted 'the real thing'? This is a technique of limited animation which borrows heavily from 'cut-out' animation. Hanna Babara used it a lot. But if you intend on using it, the simple answer is, treat the non-moving parts like a background. Give anything moving it's own layer [or one layer for all moving parts, one for non-moving].
4) The transparent sheets are Cel Acetate and give the name to the type of animation known as Cel animation. The typical technique would be to animate with a pencil on thin paper sheets which allowed you to see previous drawings [especially easier with a a light-box]. This stage gives name to 'pencil-tests' which is now commonly used to described the animation drafting stage. Once these pencil animations were cleaned up [if needed], they were placed underneath a sheet of acetate. There they were traced with an ink pen. The acetate will then be flipped to it's reverse side and special 'Cel paint' will be applied to the appropriate areas where the block of colour is needed. Not quite in the same way as traditional painting, you would apply blobs of paint, then 'push that around with the brush. This will avoid streaking and give a solid block, which was the desired effect. This two processes gave the name 'Ink & Paint', or 'Trace & Paint'.
The advantages with computers is that using multiple layers cost no more than using single layers [which traditionally meant more acetate, which equalled more cost]. So if you want to use more layers, go for it, or less layers, do that. You wont be punished by any authority for going in either direction. You will, however, find you prefer more or less, depending on your own personal preference, and the type of project you are working on.
Get this book:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Animated ... 705&sr=8-2
Tony White's website: http://blog.animaticus.com/
http://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Animated ... 705&sr=8-2
Tony White's website: http://blog.animaticus.com/
crsP wrote:I don't know what you mean by 'realistic poses'
To both quotes: I was, on the contrary, writing that realistic poses (like the Preserving the Volume animation principle) is everything those tutorials teach you, but that's not what I need.crsP wrote:3) Hey hey hey, hold up there Betsy! I thought you wanted 'the real thing'?
crsP wrote:1) If you want you can re-draw the backgrounds with every frame like Gerty The Dinosaur
crsP wrote:2) It's up to you
To the 3 quotes above: What I was asking is how did the big animation studios usually work. I want to know what were their ways of doing these things. The proven ways. I want to know how every animation show of the 60's, 70's and 80's had things organized, on which layers (acetate cels), how to tackle each corner case like scrolling BG's, transitions, all the tech details. Those I can't learn from watching cartoons.crsP wrote:4) So if you want to use more layers, go for it, or less layers, do that. You wont be punished by any authority for going in either direction.
I still haven't found even one youtube video showing the "workflow" of a frame-by-frame animation. Is there one?
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Paul Mesken
- Posts: 64
- Joined: Sat May 08, 2010 11:13 am
- Location: Netherlands
Techniques of Disney are well documented. Either in Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston's book "The Illusion of Life", there's also a special (multiple parts) or little clips Disney made to show the process, like the multiplane camera, or artists giving demonstrations. There's quite a lot out there.
The period you're naming (60s and onward) is known as "The Dark Age of Animation". The techniques developed in those days were meant to cut back on the work. But, for a large part, they were done by the same people who did the work in "The Golden Age of Animation".
Hanna and Barbera were named. Shows like the Flintstones, Top Cat, etc. were examples of early limited animation (Barbera, in an interview with Leonard Maltin, actually stated they invented it). But Hanna and Barbera are the same people who made Tom and Jerry. And when MGM closed its animation department, Hanna and Barbera hired about the entire staff who worked on Tom and Jerry to now work on shows like Scooby Doo.
The period you're naming (60s and onward) is known as "The Dark Age of Animation". The techniques developed in those days were meant to cut back on the work. But, for a large part, they were done by the same people who did the work in "The Golden Age of Animation".
Hanna and Barbera were named. Shows like the Flintstones, Top Cat, etc. were examples of early limited animation (Barbera, in an interview with Leonard Maltin, actually stated they invented it). But Hanna and Barbera are the same people who made Tom and Jerry. And when MGM closed its animation department, Hanna and Barbera hired about the entire staff who worked on Tom and Jerry to now work on shows like Scooby Doo.
Try looking at Disney's 'The Illusion of Life'.
It may not have exactly what you're looking for though. I think you'd do well to look at the AS tutorials - they go into detail about a scrolling backround, and possibly layers too. otherwise look at Toon Boom's user guide. It goes into detail about how best to separate a character up into parts and various methods and practices for doing so.
Very generally pure frame-by-frame, from what I understand and this is from memory, used to have one animator animating a character each, like in the black and white felix the cat shorts. Then animators started getting the characters together is Snow White and such, and all of that is drawn on each frame - you may have layers for background, character, possibly foreground, and really each scene is probably unique.
Digital cut-out animation, however, is a different story. There you may have lots of layers within a character group.
It may not have exactly what you're looking for though. I think you'd do well to look at the AS tutorials - they go into detail about a scrolling backround, and possibly layers too. otherwise look at Toon Boom's user guide. It goes into detail about how best to separate a character up into parts and various methods and practices for doing so.
Very generally pure frame-by-frame, from what I understand and this is from memory, used to have one animator animating a character each, like in the black and white felix the cat shorts. Then animators started getting the characters together is Snow White and such, and all of that is drawn on each frame - you may have layers for background, character, possibly foreground, and really each scene is probably unique.
Digital cut-out animation, however, is a different story. There you may have lots of layers within a character group.