/art/ - Art & Creative

>>1337

i cry

>>1340
please elaborate...

You're not really animating IMO, more just doing tweens and stuff to move things forward. The video looks like something the animation software developer would do to demonstrate features.

The story isn't interesting or funny, so that doesn't really save it either.

However, seeing this is your first time in every aspect, that's sort of expected. But I wouldn't ask for critique on the animation I did while getting my feet wet and learning the ropes.

What kind of animation are you going for? Frame by frame (anime, disney), or Motion tween (MLP, flash-like cartoons)? It's hard to give advice because they're very different techniques with different workflows.

The easiest way to improve this particular animation would be to add a background scene. (mountains, sea, city, forest, etc)
For cartoon clouds, you shouldn't try to mimic the shape of real clouds, go for something poofy and round instead.
I'd think there was a way to add a gradient for the sky, the blocky colors you have are a bit weird.

>>1356
wow thanks! This is exactly what I was looking for! Im going for frame by frame animation. And what do you mean by backdrop scenes? Is it like pre rendered scenes or something

>>1358
wow... That makes sense! Thanks man! :D For my next animation im working on right now ill definitely do that! The truth about the frame by frame part is that I dont have my drawing tablet yet, but ill have it by next month. So right now what im doing for my next video is that ill be copying and pasting then editing frames for now until next month, then I can finally get dirty. And I havent had a good constructive criticism until now, once again thank you, I appreciate your help.

>>1358
adding to this, to do frame by frame is a hell of a lot of work. You're basically going to need to be a jack of all trades, master of some kind of guy.

First learn to draw. Learn gesture, anatomy, construction, perspective, and some light color theory. You wont be messing to much with light and color, but some basic knowledge of both wouldn't hurt.

After that you're going to need to practice the actual animation of everything... we're talking pages filled with moving actions. Making an arm move up, thinking about how fast it is moving which will directly affect how it stops and if it will have a bounce or blur. It's a hell of a lot of work. Take some years, learn to draw, lightly study animation in the background. I myself have spent about 3 years on traditional animation, and 4 on regular art foundations... and I only do puppet/cut out/tween animation due to the amount of work a single man animation can take(though the animation skills you have learned will carry over so you don't end up with something like Johnny Test).

Read and watch the animators survival kit a few times. Study how people move, and try your damndest not to over animate things... but I wouldn't think to much about any of this until you have learned to properly draw and design. It takes a shit ton of work, but there is nothing like bringing a character to life.

>>1375
good design, animation, and understanding of the fundamentals in all aspects will make your animations stick out simply because most animators do not have these things. I would take a couple of years to get grounded in traditional art before going to far if you want your work to truly stick out. It's really not as much a digital thing, as it is a matter of skill. I like to draw on paper myself, but all my skills transfer to every other medium. The only thing that you really need to master digitally are the shortcuts and knowing what software is good for what.
Read this
http://www.floobynooby.com/pdfs/gesturedrawingforanimation.pdf
watch or read the Animators Survival Guide(I've done both multiple times, it's very good once you have your foundations)

another good thing is to simply learn to hold a pencil correctly. You have a LOOOOOONG road ahead of you, as all animators do, but it will be well worth it. I wish I could impart all the knowledge I have, but I suppose everyone comes about the knowledge differently.

As for the Johnny test thing, from designs, to lifeless animation, pretty much everything with that show is completely wrong. Sometimes it looks like a MSPaint picture. Strive to never be as bad as that horrible joke of animation.

Above all else, practice, practice, practice. Draw from life, do it a lot. No highschool art teacher will ever tell you why it is important, but you need to understand life to be able to stylize it and make it what you want. It's all about pencil mileage, and for animation you need a LOT of that. So draw, draw, and draw some more.

>>1377
thanks anon, Im taking all of this advice and I will use it. And I definitely hope one day you can see my improvements :). And thanks also for that link, iv skimmed through some of it and it is very detailed and I will definitely read all of it. And yes practicing is the best thing one can do. I was extremely proud of my animation, I thought it was well done for a first timer, but there is still sooooooo much room to improve its not even funny and your advice will definitely help, once again thanks and good luck to you in whatever you do