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At 6/12/14 03:48 AM, dylan wrote:

At 6/11/14 03:42 PM, JedJeddnJeddy wrote: Firstly, is it realistic to think I could create a good-looking 10-20 minute Cartoon where most of the frames are hand-drawn?

given enough time, sure. why not? But 10-20 minutes will be quite a process. I'd really suggest not making that your goal, you'll burn out on it.

Secondly, how time consuming is the process? Obviously very time consuming but if somebody has actually done this or can be more specific?

'Very' is about as good an answer as any. It all depends on how complex your drawings are, how many frames per second you'll be drawing, how quickly you work, and how good you are at the process in general. No one can say how long it will take you, but 'very' is an accurate guess.

Thirdly, would it be a matter of drawing the key-frames onto paper, using the Lightbox and all, then scanning each one through and piecing the actual animation together in Flash or another program?

Animate everything on paper, then make yourself a makeshift down-shooter with a dslr, some lights, a tripod, and software like dragonframe. Color, if you want it, can be done in photoshop, and you can comp it all pretty easily in After Effects. Sure, you could scan, but that would be waiting for a scanner to scan somewhere between 7,200 and 14,400 drawings for your 10-20 minute piece. Assuming only one piece of paper per frame. And 12fps. Fun stuff.

Thanks for the answers! It's good to finally be clear on everything involved. The dslr down-shooter never crossed my mind but it definitely seems like a good shout so thanks, my brother will be getting a very expensive, high quality Canon Camera which I'm sure he won't mind lending me.

And you're right 10-20 minutes isn't a realistic duration to strive for, for a first project, it's certainly a goal but not until quite a way down the line.

Haven't actually heard of Dragonframe before too, seems very professional and all but with that I'm gonna guess it's got a hefty price-tag, could be a problem but not everything's free :)

So basically, I haven't done a lot of animation and what I have done (Hasn't been published) has been hand-drawn, and this seems to be my, I guess, thing.

I've done a fair bit of research into methods and tools needed to really give hand-drawn animation a go and so far this has amounted to me buying a Lightbox (Basically a drawing board with an intense bulb underneath to create what is basically the onion-skin effect in Flash)

Some of the questions I have:
Firstly, is it realistic to think I could create a good-looking 10-20 minute Cartoon where most of the frames are hand-drawn?

Secondly, how time consuming is the process? Obviously very time consuming but if somebody has actually done this or can be more specific?

Thirdly, would it be a matter of drawing the key-frames onto paper, using the Lightbox and all, then scanning each one through and piecing the actual animation together in Flash or another program?

Thanks for reading, advice and answers would be great, I really don't do well drawing straight into Flash or using the Drawing Tablet I currently have, it'd be much easier and better for me if I could create my cartoons by hand.