Drawing the drawing in an animation

[NicotineNG]

Okay, as I see, there is these 2 ways to draw the drawings in an animation, but I dunno, what one is the "correct" one.

1) Drawing it irl with pencils etc. Then afterwards make the drawing from the piece of a paper to the computer (like scanning it via a printer?). And then proceed to paint it on the computer and animate it. <----- This option though sounds like, it would have taken a hell of a time.

2) Drawing the character in flash... yea.

Which one do most animators here on NG use, if not all use one of them?
Which one do you use?
Am I completely wrong, and is there a third option?

[Plokster]

I would imagine there's no "correct" way, but instead, easier ways than others.

The whole scan a drawing and then put it into an animation sounds a little tedious (if you're going frame by frame, anyway.) If you're drawing something very intricate (and static), though, that would be an easy way of doing it (for me, anyway).

It's a safe assumption that most animators in Newgrounds just draw in their animating program.

[KhanhCPham]

It depends of what works for you but I would say to try to find a way to animate efficiently. I cant tell you how because no one thinks the same way. As the above poster say, scanning a drawing for animation is really tedious and you may end up retracing the scanned image another program. If your really new, I'd say practice several methods until a style works for you. I usually start off with a storyboard so I can figure out the composition and I import it into flash to roughly animate objects.

[royce011]

I agree easier way there is something like that but correct way i think there is no way like day.

[Akle]

Either method can be done... but the thing is that with drawing in real life takes more time as you have to digitize it with the pen tool or what ever tool you desire. But it is cheap. All you need is a pencil.... or some stick which can mark on paper.

Drawing directly to flash is quicker and I use it when I am really pressed for time or I am constantly sending samples to the client. This would be much easier if you have a graphics tablet but if you are not pressed for time either will suffice.

Also, there are those who work with pens and markers and scan their image, increase the contrast and clarity and use Illustrator to change it to vector using path and fill recognition tools. This may be considered as a more tailored and custom approach.

In the end, it is vital to brainstorm when creating characters or concepts and that can be done much more efficiently with a paper (this is in my case at least). Some people find it easier having a physical medium as ideas flow nicely.

Every person has a different mindset and every person adopts his own workflow. Even in the video production industry there is a multitude of standard methods where producers grab a couple and adapt them to their resources, time, production style and experience.