Animation Techniques for Beginners

Animation has come very far since the cartoons of early 20th Century. But even then, a variety of techniques and Methods was being used, including stop-motion animation and cel animation. Currently, computers are frequently used to mimic those traditional animation techniques for beginners. Use the guide to get an overview of the most common animation techniques for beginners.

5 Animation Techniques for Beginners

1. Stop-Motion Animation

Stop-motion animation is the careful process of photographing a model, moving it a minuscule amount, then photographing it again. Finally, you string the photographs together, and the tiny movements appear to be action. Its form of animation is the simplest to use and is great for beginners.

The concept is easy to understand and perform, that does not mean stop-motion is not time-consuming.

In the hands of an artist, stop-motion animation can be very realistic, moving and stylistic. Films like by Tim Burton show that the stop-motion is not a genre, but a medium that allows artists to create whatever they imagine. Each character in the film has several versions of heads and bodies to capture the most human movements and expressions. The sets are also created with same attention to detail, creating a dark, beautiful world.

2. Cutout and Collage Animation

Simple animation used on TV is usually a combination of cutout and collage techniques. Cutout animation uses, literally, models or puppets that have been cut from drawing paper or craft paper, possibly drawn or painted on. The pieces are then arranged loosely, or connected by fasteners and then arranged. Each pose or move is captured, and then the model re-positioned, and shot again.

Collage animation uses the same process, except the pieces that are animated are cut from photos, books, magazines or clipart. Using collage can bring a variety of textures in the same frame.

The most well-known animated TV show that uses cutout and collage animation. The characters are cutout, and occasionally collage animation is used.

3. Rotoscoping

Rotoscoping is used to capture realistic human movement by drawing over film footage of the live actors. Perhaps this sounds like cheating, but adding an artist’s vision to the movements of a human actor can create the unique storytelling medium that is just as stylistic as any other form of animation.

4. Cel Animation

When someone says the word cartoon, what we see in our head is usually the cel animation. Cartoons today rarely use the pure cel animation of the past, instead of employing computers and digital technology to help streamline the process. Cartoons like The Simpsons and Adventure Time are made with the cel animation.

A cel is a sheet of transparent cellulose acetate used as a medium for the painting animation frames. It is transparent so that it can be laid over other cels and a painted background, then photographed.

Cel animation is incredibly time-consuming and needs incredible organization and attention to detail. It starts with creating the storyboard to communicate the story to the production team visually. Then an animatic is created, to see how the film timing works. Once the story and timing are approved, the artists go to work creating backgrounds and characters that fit “the look” they are going for. At this time, the actors record their lines and animators use the vocal track to synchronize lip movements of the characters. The director then uses the soundtrack and animatic to work out the timing of the movement, scenes and sounds. The director puts this information on a dope sheet.

Next, the art is passed from one artist to the, beginning with the rough sketches of the characters in action, ending with the action transferred to cels that have been painted.

Finally, the camera person photographs the cels with their coordination background cels. Each frame is photographed according to a dope sheet that was created at the beginning of the animation process.

Then the film is sent to a lab to become a video, depending on the medium that is required. However, if digital technology is employed, much of the cleaning up, painting and photographing of frames is done with computers.

Click on Below Link: Learn to Create the Cel Animation Style Paint Strokes in After Effects

5. Flash Animation

Flash animation is a way to create not just simple animations for websites but also for full-blown cartoons, some of which mimic cel animation very well.

Flash animation is created using Adobe Flash, or similar software program. The animations are made using vector-based drawings. If an animator doesn’t create enough frames or spend enough time on the animation, the characters’ movements can be jerky.

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