Animation for Beginners

What is Animation?
Animation is the art of bringing life to an otherwise inanimate objects, or illustrated / 3D
generated characters.

It is created by projecting sequenced images quickly, one after another, to create the
illusion of life.

But that's not really the first thing you imagine when you hear the word Animation,
isn't it?

That's just technical stuff...

You're probably thinking of Disney, Pixar, or Ghibli. We'll get there...

The most important part of all of that is the word life. Bringing life is the true essence of
the animator's job. And there are many ways of doing that.

It could be by drawing.

It could be by moving character rigs on a 3D software.

It could be with puppets, cut-out characters, or lego figures.

Animation Vocabulary
Now that we covered the basic idea of what animation is, it's important to understand
the vocabulary and specialized terms used in the animation and filmmaking industry.

These terms will come up often, so let's take a few minutes to go over them:

Timeline
The timeline is the part of the animation software that represents the animation's
progress over time.
Depending on the software, we might use the timeline to make changes to the timing of
the animation, as well as the position of the elements.

Frame Rate
The frame rate of an animation is the number of individual images (or frames) that are
being displayed over the span of one second. It is a setting you can adjust in the animation
software.

Animation is usually done in 24 frames per second (FPS).

Working on One's & Two's

Working on One's or Two's is a term used in hand drawn animation.

Working on one's would mean doing a new drawing over every single frame of the
animation.

Working on twos means holding each drawing for two frames, so one second of
animation at 24 frames per second would only be 12 drawings, not 24.

In 2D animation working on two's looks fine in most instances, and there are even cases
where drawings can be held longer. In 3D, though, working on one's is the standard.

Shots & Scenes

Normally in live action filmmaking, the term 'shot' refers to the images between camera
edits, while a scene is all the shots and dialogue that take place at a particular location for
a continuous block of time.

In animation, however, we often use the term 'scene' and 'shot' interchangeably. When we
talk about a scene/shot, we often refer to one specific continuous piece of animation in
between camera cuts.

Keyframes | Breakdowns | Inbetweens

Key frames, breakdowns and in-betweens are important terms, but they mean slightly
different things depending on the type of animation.

In hand drawn animation, keyframes (or just keys) are the major important poses that
define the scene. Breakdowns come between keys and define what the motion from key
to key will be. In-betweens are all the frames that come in between to smooth out the
motion.

In 3D, a keyframe is any position on the timeline where the animator has defined the
position of the character. In-betweens are all the frames that the computer interprets or
automatically generates to move the character from key to key.

KEYFRAMES

BREAKDOWNS

IN-BETWEENS

Images taken from The Animator's Survival Kit / Richard Williams

Timing | Spacing | Easing

Timing, spacing and easing are closely related terms.
Timing means the total number of frames that will be used for a movement. Spacing is the
amount of change that comes between each frame. Decreasing the spacing, makes an
object slower, while increasing the spacing makes it look faster.

In digital animation, easing is how spacing is controlled, usually through a motion graph
on the timeline.

Onion Skinning
When animating, it's very useful to be able to see more than one frame at a time.

In paper animation this is done by having multiple drawings on a light table, but in
modern animation programs there's often a feature called onion skinning. It lets you see
semi-transparent representations of the frames behind or ahead of the current frame
you're working on.

Compositing
Compositing is the process of putting all the individual pieces of a scene together to create
the final visual output.

You might have a background, multiple characters, and some scenery all being developed
separately. Compositing is how all those pieces get put together into a single scene.
 The 12 Principles of Animation
The foundation of any animation education is the 12 principles of animation.

The 12 principles were a set of core concepts that were developed in the 1930's by
animators at Walt Disney Studios as they were transitioning from doing shorts to feature
films. It was a gradual process of discovery and refinement as the animators tried to push
their work to a new higher standard.

These 12 principles were first compiled by the legendary animators Frank

Thomas and Ollie Johnston in 1981 in their book The Illusion of Life.

Creating the illusion of life is what the principles are all about. They help us create
characters that look like they have weight, personality, and exist in a real world with real
physics at work.

Even though they were developed by 2D animators, they still apply to 3D and any
other type of animation.
1. Squash & Stretch

Squash and stretch describe how an object changes shape in response to forces acting on
it.

Squash is when the object is compressed by an impact of an opposing force. Stretch is

when an object is distended by something pulling on it, or by moving quickly.
2. Anticipation

Anticipation is a smaller movement that comes before a major one, and signals that the
major movement is about to happen.
 3. Staging

Staging is the presentation of a shot in a way that makes the content of the shot as clear as
possible, and the narrative function of the shot as strong as possible.
4. Straight ahead vs. Pose-to-pose

Straight-ahead and pose-to-pose are different approaches to animating.

Straight-ahead means creating each new frame in sequence from beginning to end. Pose-
to-pose means creating the key poses for each action first, and then filling in the in-
between poses.
5. Follow Through & Overlapping Action

Follow-through and overlapping action refers to the tendency of different parts of a body
to move at different speeds.

This includes the concept of drag, which is when one part of the body lags behind when a
motion starts.
 6. Slow in & Slow out

Slow-in and slow-out refer to the tendency of objects to gradually accelerate (and
then decelerate) when moving from one position to another.

These are sometimes referred to as ease-in and ease-out, or simply easing.

7. Arcs

The principle of arcs come from the observation that living things don't move in straight
lines, but rather in curved motions.

Creating graceful, clear arcs often elevates the animation and reveals the experience level
of the animator.
8. Secondary Action

Secondary action refers to smaller movements (or gestures) that support the primary
actions of a character.
These actions make the shot clearer by emphasizing the attitude or motivation behind
the movement.
9. Timing

Timing is controlling the speed of an action through the number of frames used to
represent it.

It is one of the most fundamental of the 12 principles and takes years to master.
10. Exaggeration

Exaggeration means representing a subject in a heightened or more extreme way, rather

than strictly realistic, in order to push your animation further.
11. Solid Drawing

Solid drawing means posing characters in a way that creates a sense

of volume, weight and balance.
Drawing for animation requires being able to draw the characters from any angle or pose,
with three-dimensionality in mind.
12. Appeal

Appeal is a broad term for any qualities of a character's design that makes them
inherently compelling to watch.

This includes the design of the character, as well as how the character is animated.

Types of Animation
There are many different types of animation, some of which you're probably already
familiar with, so let's do a quick rundown of the different types of animation and what
the differences and similarities are.

3D

Hand Drawn

Vector

Stop Motion

Motion Graphics
 3D Animation

TOY STORY 4 | PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS

3D, also referred to as CGI (computer generated imagery), is the most popular type of
animation for feature films currently, and it's become common in TV and short films as
well.

This is also the same type of animation used to create digital characters for live-
action films and animation for video games.

An animator uses a digital puppet (called a character rig) to position the character, and
then use a system of motion paths (or splines) to define the movement of the character
between those poses.

The computer proceeds to interpolate the frames of the animation in between the key
frames. The animator then refines these frames until they are satisfied with the animation.

3D animation is a technically intensive process, which often involves many separate

specialists to model the character, rig it with bones and controls, animate it, and then
texture and light it for the final output.
 2D Hand-Drawn Animation

THE JUNGLE BOOK | WALT DISNEY PRODUCTION

The first type of 2D animation might be called traditional animation or cel animation. I
prefer the term hand-drawn animation because that define its most important aspect - the
fact that it is drawn by hand.

This is the classic type of animation you're probably most familiar with. In the old days,
animators drew characters frame by frame, and then those drawings were transferred
onto clear acetate sheets called cels for painting. That's where the term cel
animation comes from.

Through the 1990s almost all animation studios stopped using cels and started scanning
drawings into the computer for digital coloring, and now many hand-drawn animators
skip paper altogether and draw directly into the computer using a tablet or Wacom Cintiq
monitors.

So hand-drawn animation could be done entirely analog or entirely digitally, or some mix
of the two. The important thing is that hand drawn animators still create their
animation frame by frame using the same techniques and principles as in those old days
of paper and cels.
 2D Vector Animation

RICK AND MORTY | ADULT SWIM

Nowadays there are new ways to create 2D animation using a 2D digital puppet. These
are 2D characters which are built with a system of bones and controls that can be
manipulated in a way similar to a 3D character rig.

The difference between 2D rigged characters and hand-drawn characters can get a bit
blurry. Programs like Toon Boom Harmony and Adobe Animate CC let you seamlessly
mix and match hand-drawn animation with 2D puppet techniques, sometimes even within
the same character.

A character could have bones that let the animator pose it, but also have other parts that
are animated by hand.
 Stop Motion Animation

KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS | LAIKA

Stop motion has several variants, but they all involve manipulating real world objects.
These objects are moved slightly, and photographed one frame at a time. When shown in
sequence, these frames create the illusion of movement.

In higher-end stop motion, like the ones created by Laika (Coraline, Kubu and the Two
Strings), a specially rigged puppet is shot on a miniature stage.

Claymation is a similar technique. In it, malleable characters are used, though they're
generally made out of a substance called plasticine, not actual clay.

You can also do stop motion with regular figurines, and objects, like all those great Lego
animations you can find on YouTube.

Another variation of stop motion is paper cut-out animation. In this style, characters are
built out of paper shapes. They might be pinned together at the joints to make a posable
figure, or pieces might be set in place so that they can be swapped out. They are
then moved and photographed frame by frame, just like a stop motion puppet. That's
how South Park was originally animated.

Another rare type of stop motion is called pixelation. In pixelation, real people are used
instead of puppets.

All of these types of stop motion share an important characteristic:

They all have to be shot straight-ahead, which means starting at frame one and shooting
each frame one after another, all the way through the end of the scene.

If a mistake is made on one frame, it's very difficult to fix it without having to start all over
again. You can't just redraw that frame like you can in 2D animation. This makes this type
of animation particularly intense and it requires a lot of patience.
 Motion Graphics Animation

MOTION GRAPHICS

The last big category of animation is motion graphics. Motion graphics focuses on
making dynamic and interesting presentations of moving text logos and basic
illustrations.

Motion graphics can be both 2D and 3D, and you'll find them everywhere in commercials,
explainer videos, sporting events, the news and other TV productions.

Proper character animation is generally outside the scope of motion graphics, but many of
the core animation principles apply to motion graphics too.

The Process of Animation

Now that we understand the basic concepts of what animation is, lets go over
the workflow of creating animation.

First, I'll go cover the basic steps of the animation filmmaking pipeline (all the moving
parts it takes to create an animated movie), and then I'll breakdown the process of
actually animating a shot from start to finish.

So what are the steps of making an animated film?

1. Story
The first (and probably the most important) part of making any film is a good story.
If you don’t get your story right from the start, then no matter how great your film
looks, people will not enjoy watching it. Story comes first. make sure it’s good and that
it works before you move on.

In animation, the story often evolves and changes during production, since you're not
restricted to whatever shots you got on set, so the more work you put into developing
your story, the more you reduce wasted time during production.

2. Script
Once the idea for the story is ready to put into words, the next step is writing the script.

It’s important to transfer the idea into words as soon as you can, so that we can spot
any issues with the story before getting into production.

3. Concept Art
Once the script is ready, concept art is often created to establish the visual style of the
film.

That’s a really fun step, and is the first chance we get to see parts of the film come to life on
paper. It’s all about exploring and trying things out.

4. Storyboard
Next is creating a storyboard, which is probably one of the most important steps in
figuring out the film.

Storyboarding allows you to look at your film as a whole and spot story and pacing
issues. Making one also provides you with something you can show other people for
feedback. Most people react better to a storyboard than a script.

Once we're happy with the boards, we move on to creating an animatic.

5. Animatic
An animatic is the movie version of your storyboard.

If storyboard is like a comic book, then an animatic is like a movie.

We bring all the boards into an editing program and edit them with the correct timing, add
some temporary music and sound effects (just enough to convey the different story beats),
and when we're done we have the first version of our film ready to watch.

As great as a storyboard is, an animatic really gives us a first glimpse into what our film is
going to be like.
6. Creating Assets
At this point, depending on your animation medium of choice, we'll be creating the
different assets for our film.

For 3D animation we'll create the models for the characters, environments, sets, and the
props. We'll use the concept art and model sheets as our reference. These models will then
have to be rigged with a 3D skeleton with controls, so that we can animate them in our
scene.

For 2D animation we'll draw the background, finalize the character design sheets, and if
necessary - rig the characters in our 2D animation software.

For stop-motion animation we'll build our sets, our puppets, the props and different pieces
of clothing needed for the film.

7. Previs
Before we get into animating our scenes, there's another important step in making sure
the story works, and that is creating a previs (or pre-visualization).

A previs is the next incarnation of the animatic, this time using 3D models.

We set up our shots in the 3D program, with the final camera angles and motion, and
create very basic animation for the characters, just enough to convey the action they're
suppose to be doing.

We then bring all of these shots to the editing program, just like we did with the animatic,
and we now have a previz version of our film, with the correct 3D models and camera
motion.

because animation takes a very long time, this is the last chance we can have to make any
serious story changes in our film. It will be a huge waste if we had to make story changes
after the animation phase.

8. Animation
We're finally ready for animation!

This is where we finally bring life into the film. The characters start to move, and we can
see the soul of the film come to life in front of us.

It’s an amazing thing to see, but it also takes a long time. Done incorrectly, it can ruin our
movie. Bad animation is like bad acting: Even if the writing and story are solid, people
won’t notice if the delivery is all wrong.

We'll go deeper into the 6 steps of animation later on in this section.

9. Texturing | Lighting | Rendering
This step applies mostly to 3D animation, though 2D animation goes through similar post-
production steps similar to this, and stop-motion animation spends a long time doing
compositing and miscellaneous effects on top of their shots as well.

In 3D, models need to be textured, which means creating different materials assigned to
the different parts of the models. Some simulate metal, some plastic and even a few for
skin and hair.

We then light the shots with virtual lights, replicating as closely as we can how light works
in real life.

Then when our shots are textured and lit, we start the rendering process, which is the
computer calculating all of the data in our scenes, and creating still images from it.

We then take these images to a compositing program, like Nuke or After Effects, extract the
necessary data from the images, and combine them to create our final images.

10: Editing | Color correction

Once our images are composited and ready, we bring them back into our editing program
and replace our previs shots with our new composited shots, just like we replaced the
animatic shots with the previz.

We are now able to see our finished film on the editing timeline for the first time, but, it’s
not really finished yet. We need to do some color correction and grading.

Color correction is the process of manipulating the colors of each individual shot so that it
matches the one the comes before / after it. We also make sure each shot doesn’t have
parts that are too white or too black, basically working so that we get a consistent and
correct color all throughout the film.

Then we grade our film, which is the more fun and creative part, in which we try to create
a visual style for the whole film, and give it a distinct look.

11. Music | Sound design

Ideally, we've been working with a musician from day one of production, making sure the
music fits what we were trying to do with the film, and making sure the film works with
the music.

Music is not usually something we simply slap on at the end, and so I prefer to have it with
me throughout the production so it becomes an integral part of the story.

The sound designer then finalizes all the film’s sound effects like folly, ambiance and
voices, as well as mastering and mixing in the final audio of the film.
The 6 steps of animation

We've talked about the workflow of the animation filmmaking pipeline, now lets go into the actual
steps of character animation.

Here are the 6 steps of animation:

1. Shooting reference video

2. Key posing
3. Blocking
4. Splining
5. Smoothing
6. Adding life

Step 1: Shooting Reference video

This is a very important and overlooked step. It’s weird how people really think they know
what certain actions look like, and how long they take, but end up getting it wrong.

Physical actions are something you need to analyze before animating, especially if you’re a beginner.

You have a shot of a guy throwing a baseball? Search YouTube for videos of pitchers throwing balls.

Don’t assume you know what an action looks like just because you’ve seen it before.

Looking at an action as an animator is completely different from looking at it as a viewer.

Step 2: Posing

After shooting a reference, it’s time to create the key poses of the shot.

These poses are called key poses because they are the most important poses of the shot. These are the
poses that convey the story of the shot. We need to make sure we get those poses right, because
we’re going to build on those for the rest of the process.

Step 3: Blocking

Once we’re happy with our key poses, we start breaking down the movement from each pose to the
next by adding ‘in betweens’ (also known as breakdown poses or passing poses). These are the poses
that connect the key poses.

We keep adding more poses until the movement looks as good as it could, while still staying
in stepped mode (stepped mode is when you don’t allow interpolation between poses, which results
in a very choppy/blocky motion).
Step 4: Splining

Splining is a 3D animation term. It’s the process in which you convert the interpolation of the keys
from stepped to spline.

In other words – you make the computer connect the movement between each of your poses, and
that makes the movement look smoother.

The problem is that the computer doesn’t do a very good job at interpolating. It only works with what
it has. That’s why the better the blocking is – the better the splined version is going to look.

Step 5: Refining & offset

Now that all of our keys are in spline mode, we need to work on them. We refined the animation
curves and make sure the movement looks smooth.

It’s also a good idea to offset some of the actions so it doesn’t look so ‘stop and start’, as if the
character is doing all the motion at once.

By the end of this step your shot should look pretty solid and almost finished.
Step 6: Adding life

This step is the a lot of fun.

We're already finished with the grunt work of animation, and it’s time to add small
imperfections that bring life to the character.

Maybe an extra blink or a mouth twitch here and there. The difference between the last 2 steps is
small but it could make the difference between good animation and great animation.
Animation Software
After "Where do I start", the topic I'm asked about the most is probably software. Everyone wants to
know about tools.

Is it Maya? After Effects? Flash?

Here is a break down our options when choosing an animation software based on the type of
animation:

3D Animation Software
This is a beginner's guide, so 3D software might be advanced for some of you, but I think it's
important to be familiar with what's out there so you know what the industry uses and what you
should consider pursuing if you plan to make this your career.

Having said all of that, Blender is a free program, so you're welcome to jump in and play around with
it (with the help of our Blender course), and Maya offers an educational license for free, so if you're
just learning you'll be able to get started without investing any money just yet.
Autodesk Maya
The industry standard for computer animation. If you want to do animation professionally, this is the
program you should focus on. 3D animation, modeling, simulation, and rendering software with an
integrated, powerful toolset. Use it for animation, environments, motion graphics, virtual reality, and
character creation.

Price: $195/Month | Free for students

Learn more…

Blender
A free, open-source, 3D program, Blender provides a broad spectrum of modeling, texturing, lighting,
animation and video post-processing functionality in one package. Through its open architecture,
Blender provides cross-platform interoperability, extensibility, an incredibly small footprint, and a
tightly integrated workflow.

Price: Free

Learn more…
Cinema 4D
Cinema 4D is a motion graphics artist’s best friend. It is a 3D program for the After Effects user.
Very intuitive, and works directly with After Effects without the need to render first. This would not
be my first choice for serious 3D film production, since it is designed from the ground up with motion
graphics in mind, but it is an amazing versatile program.

Price: $59.99/Month

Learn more…

2D Animation Software
2D animation is a great place to start your animation journey. Most of the programs below are
inexpensive and relatively easy to learn.

Animate CC and After Effects are great choices for playing around with 2D animation in both a hand-
drawn form or by creating puppets, while Character Animator doesn't require any drawing at all,
and uses your face as the driver for the animation. And if you wanna go pro, Toon Boom
Harmony and TVPaint will be your best options.
Animate CC (Formerly Flash)
Probably the most popular 2D animation software out there. Animate has a long lineage of
animation making, dating back to the early days of internet video publishing. Its intuitive interface and
relatively cheap price point make it a great pick for getting started with 2D animation.

Read: Toon Boom Harmony vs. Flash (Animate)

Price: $20.99/Month

Learn more…
Toon Boom Harmony
Harmony is a more advanced 2D software ideal for both frame-by-frame animation and rig-based
animation. It has advanced rigging systems, effects and camera tools. It is vector based, but the more
advanced version also has the option for bitmap drawing.

Read: Toon Boom Harmony vs. Flash (Animate)

Price: $24/Month

Learn more…
TVPaint
A french animation software, TVPaint is the all-in-one 2D animation software you’ll ever need. It’s
definitely more robust and complex than Photoshop, but it’s also much pricier. This software is for
professional animators and studios.

Price: €500 (€250 for students)

Learn more…
Character Animator
A newer animation program with an interesting twist. Instead of animating the traditional way,
Character Animator uses you use your web-cam and microphone to automatically animate a pre-
built character in real-time, almost like motion-capture. This is a great option for beginners since it
requires the least amount of animation experience.

Price: $20.99/Month

Learn more…

After Effects
An interesting choice for 2D animation. After effects gives you great control when creating rigs for 2D
using the puppet tool and different expressions. It's a good choice if you’re already comfortable with
the Adobe environment.

Price: $20.99/Month

Learn more…
 Stop-Motion Software
Stop-motion is how many young aspiring animators get their first animation experience, using
action figure, legos, or even clay.

We listed 2 very different options here. One aimed at beginners who are trying animation for the first
time, and the other is a prodessional-grade animation software aimed at taking your work to the
next level.

Dragonframe
Dragonframe is the industry standard for stop-motion animation, and was used on films such as Kubo
and the Two Strings and Shaun the Sheep.

If you’re planning on making a professional stop motion video, Dragonframe is the best tool for the
job. Its comprehensive software can be used with many different attachments, such as a device that
controls the camera, lights and even pull focus.

Price: $295

Learn more…
Stop Motion Studio
Stop Motion Studio is an entry-level stop motion app for all devices and platforms that connect to any
digital camera, phone or tablet to create great stop-motion videos with simplicity and ease. This is a
great choice if you're just starting out.

Price: $4.99 (iOs/Android) | $9.99 (Mac/Windows)

Learn more…

Animation Hardware
Hardware is getting cheaper, and software is getting more efficient. You can run most animation
programs on most modern computers, and drawing tablets are getting very affordable.
Here is a short list of what we recommend for animators of all levels:
One by Wacom
The perfect choice for beginners.

This intro-level Wacom tablet is the cheapest way for you to get into using a tablet. This
allows you to do hand-drawn animation on a budget, and will benefit 3D animators as well,
as tablet is often easier to use than a mouse in a 3D program.

Price: $59-$69

Buy Now

Wacom Intuos Pro

Taking it to the next level.

If you need more drawing real-estate, or if you're using a tablet for 3D animation, this is
the best all-around choice for the job. You'll see these tablets at most production
studios, and it's a popular choice for animation students who want to do good work, but
can't afford the high-end Cintiq tablets. It comes in 3 sizes, with Medium being the most
popular one.

Price: $230-$479
Buy Now

Wacom Cintiq Pro

Going pro.

For high-end animation production, the Wacom Cintiq is the ultimate choice. It's basally a
giant monitor (13", 16", 24" or 32") that you can draw on directly. It makes precise
drawing much easier and more responsive than a regular tablet, but it comes at a much
higher cost.

Price: $649-$3299

Buy Now
Computer
The nice thing about using 2D programs like Animate CC or even Toon Boom, is that most
modern computers are capable of running them just fine.

When you get into 3D, things can get tricky, but they don't have to. If you're rendering
massive worlds with complicated lighting setups, you'll need a strong computer with
an expensive graphics card, but there are other options:

• You can do most of the compositing in Nuke like I did for LIFT UP.
• You can use a render farm like we did for Tasteful.

Reference:

https://www.bloopanimation.com/animation-for-beginners/#what-is-animation