Animators - what process do you go through?

[MikeDS]

Hi guys and girls!

One of the things I'm keen to learn is how to draw on a computer without it looking like it's been done by a 4 year old, so I was just wondering, for all you professional Photshop/Flash arty people, what process do you go through when creating a graphic or animation?

For example, do you draw something out by hand first and then scan it into a computer?
Do you use any extra hardware/software? Or is it all just a case of practising until you get really good at it?

[iLikePie]

... waits for darkmotion to come and mention his peg board.

it's always going to be about how well you understand animation and motion in life. A lot of people prefer to do things by hand or at least start out with hand-done sketches, but i also know a lot of 3d animators who don't.

don't animate in photoshop! flash is relatively good for 2d stuff. i hear ToonBoom being mentioned but i haven't looked into it. And for 3d you need to choose a 3d program that supports animation and practice!

but as i said at the start, if you don't learn the concepts behind animation and the techniques to achieve a natural rhythm in your work, it'll never be great.

the Animators Survival Kit is a book that has a lot of praise from animators working in all kinds of mediums.

[DDD]

IMO it depends on what you want to achieve. I do some animation here and there, more lately. And I have been using Solo and Opus. The book ILikePie recommended is honestly your best starting point. There are so many ways you can go about it. I kinda cheat as far as my stuff goes lately. I draw out a few cells (if it is sketch animation). Then inbetween in the software. The main thing I can stress is planning. If you google "animation software" you wil come up with lots of them (and there are some free ones). I recommend toon boom if you are just getting started.

[MikeDS]

Brilliant - thanks for your input guys, I'll definately have a look at this toon boom program.

I'm just really looking at creating some figures, you know just drawing characters and stuff, so I'll look at the program and try actually drawing my thoughts on paper and see how I get on!

Thanks again guys! :)

[poccer2]

you can also buy Poser, although this is a 3D program, you can import the file from flah (SWF)

[theflash]

It really depends... most of the time there will be reference drawings, concepts to help drawing in digital medium... For animation most of the time...

But some ppl for illustration draw rough/concept drawings directly on computer..

[Pasquale]

... waits for darkmotion to come and mention his peg board. Amen :)

Well first thing you want to do is story board and develop all your characters and styles :)

Then whip out ya lightdesk ( A MUST) and start roughing out some keys and things

Then clean up ya keys then start inbetweening and cleaning up a bit.

For the flash animation- keys will work fine- as inbetweening can all be done after you have some nice clean haddrawn frames scanned in.

I always do dialogue last- and then colour my frames up.

*EDIT oh yeah
GET THE ANIMATOR'S SURVIVAL KIT (by RICHARD WILLIAMS)
:)