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You've got a really nice art style going on here! Good job. It's very appealing, and clearly you have a great handle on your color choosing and illustrative skills. At the moment as far as the ANIMATION goes, it works, but it leaves something to be desired in places. It feels very stiff even though you have enough frames to make it not-so-stiff. I think that may be because you're lacking a lot of anticipation, follow through, and overlap. The places you've sprinkled squash and stretch work very nicely, but it isn't throughout, so sometimes the main character feels very fluid and "real" but other times it's got more of a paper-cut-out kind of a feeling, and he loses his dimensionality. For limited style animation, it works, I just think with a few more principals applied it could be even better. :)

Congrats on completing your degree!

At 8/25/14 11:29 PM, TheSin wrote: I think you don't understand what Animation means.

Thanks for the long response, Sin. :) I myself do understand what you mean, the article is just for an open discussion on Anime being a more limited form of animation, and how some people don't consider it legit. I am not of that opinion, I'm just collecting thoughts on the discussion itself. I have been a professional animator for over 10 years myself, and a very dedicated study to the artform. Hope that clears it up! :)

At 8/26/14 02:40 AM, Celshaded wrote:
Ralph Bakshi said that (and I'm really paraphrasing here) that anybody can do amazing animation when you give them 3 and a half months to work on a single sequence and they have time to do hundreds of tests; but that the real talent is in television animation, where you have to produce the best animation possible within an extremely limited amount of time and budget.

Now that's very interesting! I haven't heard that quote (paraphrased) before. Do you know where you heard/read it? I'd love to make note of the full quote in the article!

On a personal opinion side, I think I understand what he's saying but I also think he isn't entirely correct. I also used to think that with enough time anyone could produce amazing animation, but the deeper I go into producing feature-quality 2D myself the more I see how it isn't really a time issue so much as a skill issue. The truth is you can get away with so, so much more in limited style animation, because the way the human brain works the audience's eye fills in the gaps for you. It's why you can produce something on 3s and 4s and still have it look good (much anime is like this, as well as films like Ernest and Celestine). My opinion on that changed recently. Feature quality 2D, really smooth and appealing, is monstrously difficult! There's no wiggle room, and the audience notices every glaring flaw. :)

Really good advice from CelShaded above, I agree and second all that.

Also the best thing you can do for YOURSELF is not go too fast. It can be tempting to rush off to "the fun stuff" and produce huge animated shorts that really lack quality. Your best bet is to NOT do that. Or at least, if you do, complement that with learning the principals of real, honest animation. Flash and limited style has made things a lot easier for us, but you still want to know the art of movement and the core of actual animation. That means learning the principals (here's a video of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHfDEsNLg34 ) and really working on your fundamentals (like the bouncing ball and others: http://www.animation51.com/ ). If you do that, you'll really build a strong base to catapult you to greatness. If you skip it, which sadly many "animators" do these days, you will always wonder why your work just doesn't have quite the charm and appeal that some others do. So it's worth your time and energy to master the basics! Scout's honor!

Above all, have fun and put your heart and soul into it. Animation is entertainment, never forget that. :) Good luck!

Hey all! I'm putting together an article discussing Anime and the great debate of its objective animation quality. Details here: http://www.animatorisland.com/is-anime-a-legitimate-form-of-animation/

If you've got an opinion to share on the topic, I'd love to hear it and add it to the discussion! :)

At 6/18/14 02:41 PM, Feegert wrote: Hello I'm new to animation (haven't even started) and I was wondering if by "ToonBoom" do you mean the $149 version (ToonBoom Studio 8) or are you talking about the $699 version (Animate Pro)?

I really want to begin animating but I'm not sure if I want to drop that much money on a program for something that I know I'm not good at yet. I guess what I'm really trying to figure out is whether or not ToonBoom Studio 8 ($149) is something that I can grow into and eventually make decent cartoons with.

Thanks for all of the replies, this thread is really helpful for me.

Yep, the cheaper one should be just fine for you starting out. Better to learn the basics in a cheap way before you go all Pro and buy the expensive stuff. :)

Good luck! The early going is hard as heck, but really fun too. Enjoy it!

At 6/16/14 04:20 PM, dylan wrote:
If anything the difference between Flash and Toonboom is more akin to the difference between the standard yellow #2 and a proper set of pencils made for the purpose of drawing. One of those options is clearly more suited for animating with, but you can still get nearly all the results you could want from that yellow #2.

I just disagree. 10 years of Flash experience and I don't see the drawing tool difference as being pencil vs. pencil. Flash handcuffs you with its drawing tools and "smoothing" even on the lowest "leave-my-lines-alone-please" settings. Can a great artist still make great work with it? Sure, but again, why set yourself behind from the start?

If you wanted to talk drawing tools, I'd say they more compare to a pencil vs. a wax crayon. Can you do nice art with a crayon? Yes. Is it harder to get fine detail than with a pencil? Also yes. Doesn't mean you can't, just means if you're shooting for the best art you can create, a pencil is probably your better choice in 99% of situations, especially if you're trying to do a pencil drawing because a pencil was DESIGNED for that. Much like Toon Boom (or TV Paint, or Pencil, or any other true animation program) was designed for animation.

As always, you make reasonable points. :)

At 6/8/14 06:56 PM, untitled01 wrote:

How am I wrong? What features of Toon Boom are better equipped for animation?

For one (a big one) drawing tools. The tools for drawing are ridiculously better than Flash. Still no Photoshop or TVPaint, but leagues better than the terrible Flash tools.

Otherwise it's just in general a program designed for animation, which Flash isn't. So if you want to focus on animation, it makes sense to use a program designed to do that. Could you draw a comic strip with a bottle of ketchup? Sure, but you could use a pencil which is designed for drawing and it makes a whole lot more sense.

At 5/6/14 06:28 AM, TheUnseriousguy wrote: hello, i am an animator and i was wandering what the best 2d animation software is. i currently use adobe flash and i was just wandering if there is some better software out there, especially for frame by frame animation. thanks.

Honestly nearly any for-animation program is better for animation than Flash. Flash was never engineered or designed for animation, people just ended up using it for that because there was nothing better at the time. Now there's a ton better, including Toon Boom Studio, Toon Boom Animate, Pencil, TV Paint, and even Digicel Flipbook (though I don't recommend that buggy piece of software).

Download the demos to Toon Boom and TV Paint, and give them a whirl. You'll find the drawing tools for frame by frame is infinitely better than Flash in every single way. It's a night and day difference, and you won't want to go back. Good luck with it!

Really good start there! The timing needs a little work. Right now it feels a bit robotic, and that stems from lack of contrast. You want some parts to be a little quicker and some parts to be a little slower. It's a really nice beginning point, though, so you could definitely polish it up into a very nice shot.

At 4/24/14 03:13 PM, TomFulp wrote:
Then if we can just get un-blocked from the Google Ad exchange, we would really be kicking butt...

Good freaking luck with that one. I have never, in my life, been more frustrated with a company than with Google and their insane banning from Adsense response team. Ever. They are the most unhelpful, awful group of customer service operators in the world. They think form letters are the best solution for everything, and "if we ignore the problem surely it will go away." Which is does, I guess, because you can only argue at brick walls for so long.

All the best as you try to fight them on that one. Hope it goes better for you.

At 4/24/14 01:29 AM, ReNaeNae wrote:
Anyway... @JKR, thanks for the link to that site. Unfortunately the course times don't fit with my schedule :(

Btw, I checked the link in your sig. Those are the types of things I always thought would make good 'monthly challenge' threads. Someone needs to make that happen *wink*

The scheduling thing is indeed tough. I had to rearrange things for my upcoming Life Drawing class because it's Saturdays and generally I am super busy Saturdays, but for 10 weeks I guess that time will be spent on drawing! :)

Those would make good monthly challenges. I'm not sure I'm the one to do it, but I'll also toss a "wink" in there and hopefully someone will jump on it. And actually a bunch of animators have started all 51 of the exercises here: http://www.animation51.com/ Except instead of monthly, they're doing them REALLY fast! (Too fast sometimes, I think, but alas, I understand wanting to rush through the early tough ones and get to the more fun ones, ha ha.)

Good to see you around here! Brings back fond memories of the 5 Shades days. :)

At 4/23/14 12:28 PM, SuperBastard wrote: Show us a bouncing ball.

That's the first thing they would have you do if you went to school for animation. It's easy to critique since it's very basic and it shows where you're at with the most important principles of animation.

Good advice. That's the fastest way we'll be able to help, because it's simple and to the point. :)

At 4/23/14 12:23 AM, TheGhostOfMarz wrote:

At 4/23/14 12:17 AM, JKR wrote:

At 4/23/14 12:03 AM, TheGhostOfMarz wrote: Stuff

Okey dokey. To each their own.

Holy shit man....that was most mature thing I've seen on the bbs since...for ever...

In the end, the important thing is we do great animation and bring that great animation to the world. If you find a better way for you to work, that's terrific! Onion skinning doesn't have the same fluidity for my work, and that's okay too. Let's get back out there and do some incredible work that inspires generations of animators to take up the pencil (or stylus) and give this wonderful medium a shot. :)

At 4/23/14 12:03 AM, TheGhostOfMarz wrote: Stuff

Okey dokey. To each their own.

Good luck with the fundraising! Didn't you guys get sponsors in previous years to handle this kind of stuff? Hopefully if you don't reach your goal on Indigo you'll still have those to fall back on. I hadn't heard of NATA before, but I'd sure like to try and join in the fun if possible. :)

At 4/22/14 01:33 AM, TheGhostOfMarz wrote:
second onion skinning will get better results because it's accurate and allows for a more accurate animation in general....

We'll have to agree to disagree then, because I know the reverse is true. Flipping will get you infinitely better results than onion skinning ever could. You can ask any experienced traditional animator. Most of the best of the best 2D guys don't even turn on a lightbox while working (which is what onion skinning is, a digital lightbox).

I'd highly suggest everyone try it, because in practice you'll find that it's just more accurate. You don't have to take my word for it at all, in spite of my experience. Grab some paper and give it a whirl: Start by turning on the light box (or if digital, onion skin) and do some animating. It will probably seem pretty accurate. But then flip (cycle) the drawings one vs. another and you'll see all the jittery lines and errors. Because it's only when you superimpose the images in the minds eye by flipping (seeing movement) that you can see accurately where errors are. Otherwise when onion skinning the layer covers the other which doesn't allow you to see mistakes, so it FEELS accurate but isn't.

Give it a shot, nothing to lose. And if you still feel onion skinning is the better way to go, no problem, it's certainly an option.

Here's a great little tutorial video from the director of Randy Cunningham (on Nickelodeon) about onion skinning vs. flipping. And it's very true.
http://youtu.be/U2H6tTLEITA?t=2m4s

"Animation is based on movement, and you're not really seeing anything move when you do onion skinning."

At 4/21/14 10:16 PM, Otto wrote:
Thankyou loads for the crit! People cite your blog a lot on my degree so it's pretty amazing to get one haha. I see very much what you mean; I foolishly stopped using my flag-pole frame underneath when I was animating, and let it shrink a lot where it's attached (oops!).

Easy to have happen, especially with traditional animation! Somehow it seems just fine when we're drawing, and then suddenly "How did it grow/shrink that much?!" It's probably my biggest problem while animating personally. Consistency is so dang hard... Ah well, the good news is the motion is really nice so a few alterations to and you'll be set. :)

At 4/21/14 10:44 AM, ikramah09 wrote: This is a test for an animated series I'm going to be making : http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/3d9655ee5889ac36dcb26eb4a0fab3f7

Follow up, attached is a photo of some quick thumbnails of what I mean, and here is a link to a very, very quick (and really pretty ugly, sorry) animation that explains the movement. http://www.fredthemonkey.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/handtwist.swf

You can see that this little arc and frame-by-frame attempt can inject a bit more life and visual interest into the shot than a single-drawing motion tween does. Little touches like this can take your limited-style animation to a whole new level. Just a suggestion, feel free to take it or leave it! :)

At 4/21/14 09:19 AM, Otto wrote: bit of traditional animation here from university

a flag wave

Nice! Always good to see some traditional stuff, it's such a joy to do. :)

One thing to look at with the flag wave is I believe you're losing volume when it is fully extended vs. when it's limp. At the moment it seems much longer while gravity has hold of it than when the wind is blowing it. But the motion is nice, and the box lift also has some nice feeling to it! Good job.

At 4/21/14 10:44 AM, ikramah09 wrote: This is a test for an animated series I'm going to be making : http://www.newgrounds.com/dump/item/3d9655ee5889ac36dcb26eb4a0fab3f7

I like the obscurity of it with the weird hand-furniture! Very interesting. Something that might help take it to the next level is if you have some change of shape on the hands, especially in the very first clip. It feels extremely stiff right now, but if you changed the hand shape when he moves it out away from his face (uncurl some fingers, maybe) and then animate it back to the starting position it would only probably take two or three extra drawings but add a LOT of life. Good luck with it!

At 4/19/14 05:26 PM, TheGhostOfMarz wrote: sure you CAN animate on paper but the issue is frame rate....

Not sure what you mean by that. Paper has a frame rate issue? You can animate at any frame rate on paper just as you would digitally...

going backwards is just going backwards digital will give you A LOT more possibilities and infinite resources...

Digital may give you more options, but more options is not always a GOOD thing. Sometimes having the magic of an undo button, for example, can actually hurt you by not allowing you to make big mistakes that guide you to be better. Likewise "flipping" animation will always get you a better result than a lightbox/onion skin, and yet flipping is harder to do digitally than on paper. So don't discount the "old fashion way" just because it's harder. Sometimes harder ends up benefiting you a lot more.

In the end, it's good to try many methods. Not just the easiest ones, and likewise not just the hard ones just because they're hard. All of them.

At 4/19/14 09:24 PM, DoctorStrongbad wrote:
Even if it was low, wouldn't every bit help?

I may be wrong, but I think their point is it is better to have just higher revenue elsewhere than lower revenue one place that takes away views from the other. So if there's only one place to share something (YouTube) all the links people tweet/post/etc will go there, but if it's ALSO on NG then possibly some links will be to the "lower revenue" place.

And it seems like your argument is "The NG views are in ADDITION, not taking away from" and that seems like a reasonable point of view as well. :)

Blah, the forum screwed up my example and took out all my spaces. Probably for some anti-spam measure. Boo. Oh well, here's an image instead that explains it:

So it looks like the best advice I can offer is that you seem to be working very "evenly" at the moment. What that means is everything is moving at the same rate. So, for example:

X X X X X X X X X X X

That's dull to look at, and you'll lose the audience pretty quickly. You want contrast in your movement, like the contrast of loud and soft in a great symphony. So have some parts closer together (faster) and some slower (farther apart). Such as:

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Try to shoot for more variety, and also loosen up and work less cleanly overall because that's sucking some life out of your work. On my drawing table I have printed out: "CLEAR not CLEAN." What that means is you want to draw so it is clear, but it doesn't have to be super clean. You can work rough and still have it look nice. So long as it's clear.

Above all, keep at it! Practice will work wonders, and nothing will improve you faster than continuing to work hard. All the best!

The great thing about animation is it doesn't have to be perfect, as long as the motion is smooth and appealing to look at. :)

At 3/22/14 07:39 PM, Rational-Delirium wrote: Here's my running cycle... http://rational-delirium.newgrounds.com/news/post/889941

Feel free to post as many flaws as you can see :P

It's a really nice start! One thing to keep in mind is there's very little up and down currently, so you don't feel much weight. It's as if he's in a harness being held up by a crane and just pumping his arms and legs. A good run cycle is going to have a nice weighty feel and that will come from more up and down on the body.

Here's a nice one (the timing could use a bit of tweaking, but look at the up and down specifically and how it feels like there's a lot of weight) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIlHZkGh-_c

Good luck with it!

I have tried many digital mediums, and I must say I've never found one that truly mimics drawing on paper. Just, nothing can compare to that. There's a tactile feel and pressure sensitivity that nothing I've tried can match.

That said, some really nice tablets (like the Cintiq) are fantastic to use. Just don't expect to sit down at one and zoom away just like you would on paper. They all will take getting used to, as any new tool does.

For my money, nothing beats a nice sketchpad and pencil. I can't wait until digital catches up to the way people have been drawing for hundreds of years. :)

Tablets take a LOT of getting used to, don't worry. It isn't that you're doing anything wrong, it's just a learning curve. I'm sure when you started with a pencil you weren't making beautiful lines either, right? You learned to be proficient with that tool, and if you stick with your tablet you'll improve there as well. If you look at early work done by any great animator you'll see a lot more shaky lines and lack of precision. It's a practice thing, so keep at it!

At 4/17/14 03:26 PM, toushinu wrote:
On another note, because I am relatively new, I have just naturally gravitated towards Flash, but I have been looking at specifically Toon Boom as a "better" alternative. Is it really that much better than Flash? I would rather make this decision now while I'm not totally used to Flash just yet than wait 17 years and then make the switch anyway haha.

As someone who spent 10 years with Flash and then made the switch, I can't recommend ENOUGH that you just start with Toon Boom Studio or Animate instead. It is a program designed for animation, unlike Flash which was never intended for the sort of animation we force it to make, PLUS Adobe has no interest in helping animators by making the program useful to us. Now, people will tell you that there's nothing wrong with Flash, and maybe that's true. But if you're going to dedicate THIS MUCH time to your animation, doesn't it make sense to learn and excel at a program designed to do animation? Does to me. I just wish I had made the switch sooner! I have found nothing (ZERO) that Toon Boom doesn't do better than Flash did. Far and away better, in my opinion.

At 4/15/14 05:06 AM, PeterSatera wrote:
Yeah, completely agree! I think the same goes for software usage too. Many people are program elitists. With the ability to upload video here now, there's no excuse to be. You use what's best, for you. :)

Another that describes me well, I spent 10 years with Flash and now I can't stand it and do everything I can to steer people in other directions, ha ha. Ah, we humans are weird... (I still feel that the programs designed for animation are much improved over Flash, and especially useful to beginners, because if you're just learning you might as well start out with the better of the options! But yeah, if you've used Flash for a long time and it works for you, it's tough to transition to something else and relearn...)

At 4/15/14 05:51 AM, dylan wrote:
You're definitely right about that. I don't think I'll be able to convince you that fours are just as valid as twos any more than you'll convince me that fours have no place in professional animation. It's been fun though.

Yeah, I don't see myself getting to the "just as valid" stage, but if it's any consolation you certainly convinced me that some people can enjoy the look of 4s! I wouldn't have considered that as much before, so that's something.

At 4/14/14 04:49 PM, PeterSatera wrote:
Thanks, I'm just sick of these guys who talk like they're god of animation here after a few flash animations or read that book like it's a bible. Then tell almost dictate that you need to do it on 1's or you're not worth squat. People need to get off their high horse imo. Animation isn't about impressing through frame rates and putting it on 1's or 2's or whatever. It's about doing what works, and embracing the passion!

I understand. I'm guilty of that myself plenty of the time, and trying to work on it as I go. It can be easy to fall into the habit of thinking you know what you're talking about and then wanting to share that information. And then someone coming along and saying otherwise, and then having to defend what you've learned. And then it all snowballs and at some point you have to get out of the cycle or you'll end up in a screaming match, ha ha. Anyways, it's all good. The biggest thing is the passion, like you said. And, I hope, striving to do the very best job you can do and use the best tools and methods to achieve absolute masterpieces. The world needs more masterpieces, especially in animation (and especially in animation TODAY). :)