Sketch-like animation

[ShellyMtz]

Hello, I've been trying to figure out what do I need to make a sketch like animation in flash, can you help me out?

An example is the red bull commercials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cJYI-QOudI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cJYI-QOudI)

Can it be only done with traditional animation or is there a way to do it in flash?

Thanks.

P.S. Silly question, how can I emulate a pencil trace in flash? Not the pencil, but the texture.

[Phenex]

Draw it. Scan it.

[danielthelion]

well actually, you can try to achieve this effect in flash by using it in conjunction with aftereffects. the concept is that you would export out a line file sequence in flash, bring it into after effects, and then apply a filter to just that line file. as to the type of filter or altercation, this would be up to the artist to get the desired look.

[Pasquale]

^ absolutely. However IMO, I reckon using good old traditional animation is the best way to go, because you get that authentic feel from the line work.(it's Kick butttt. )

[ronnie]

These guys ^ have the best answers (They're real animators). Here's another idea that's not the best way to do it but it might get you what you're after.
Draw it with the pencil tool in Flash. Creat the animation frame-by-frame using the nion skin feature at give you a reference to where you are in the sequence. For places where there is a hold, you might want to trace the same frame rather than just holding on that frame.
For that R.O.Blechman (sp) style, you can use the squiggly line setting of the pen tool. It's not a great choice if you're bandwidth conscious, but for this type of animation, it fits the bill.
To enhance the hand drawn feel even more, do all of your line work layers separate from your coloring. I'd use the brush tool to color the animation and keep the coloring very very loose.
If you want, I'll pu t together an example of what I've described here. But I'm sure you can work it out on your own.

hth

[Pasquale]

As ronnie said, the shimmer effect it created by cycling a number of subtly different drawings - 3+ is a good number, to stop any strange strobing.

I was actually going to be producing my first television gig in a style of animation like that, but the budget turned out to be ridiculously low.

Usually, the animation is hand drawn, and line tested with a rough setting when it gets vectored. Though the frame data will be a bit heavy, the broken lines really liven up the shimmer of the line.