Animation for Anime Studio Tutorials

[Yosemite Sam]

I have partnered with Chad Troftgruben of Incredible Tutorials. Here is a very short animation I did for the intro to our future videos. It's very basic. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks.

[lwaxana]

Nicely done! The walk and head turn are both convincing. It moves a bit too fast to see any of the details of what's happening, but you may not even want the viewer to see the details as much as to create an impression. I think the reflections and sound effects are really adding to a polished professional type of mood. If you are still working on this, I'd recommend redrawing the bucket with ellipses to look more 3 dimensional and fit in with the other elements more cohesively.

[AmigaMan]

My first impression was that the walk was a bit too fast but on further viewing it seemed okay. I suppose, as an intro, you want it to be snappy. I thought the painted character looked a bit stiff and a bit odd that both his hands slide to his waist before he gestures to the logo. It would have been nice to have had more hand poses for him too and a nicer pose to finish on maybe. The walking character is very good.

[Yosemite Sam]

Nicely done! The walk and head turn are both convincing. It moves a bit too fast to see any of the details of what's happening, but you may not even want the viewer to see the details as much as to create an impression. I think the reflections and sound effects are really adding to a polished professional type of mood. If you are still working on this, I'd recommend redrawing the bucket with ellipses to look more 3 dimensional and fit in with the other elements more cohesively.

Thanks, lwaxana.

I sped the walk up, to try and make it quicker, but I'm not sure what frame rate Youtube can handle. 24 fps will always give you that 'blur'. I don't like it either.

And what do you mean by "ellipses" for the bucket?

[Yosemite Sam]

My first impression was that the walk was a bit too fast but on further viewing it seemed okay. I suppose, as an intro, you want it to be snappy. I thought the painted character looked a bit stiff and a bit odd that both his hands slide to his waist before he gestures to the logo. It would have been nice to have had more hand poses for him too and a nicer pose to finish on maybe. The walking character is very good.

Thanks for all the tips, Dale.

You are right. As I mentioned above, I sped the walking animation up for times sake, but maybe I'll try going with the original speed. Either way, the details are blurred due to 24 fps. Not sure if I animated it at 30 fps that it would make a difference once converted and posted on YouTube. It's times like these I despise 24 fps.

I agree about the painted character. Any advice you have is welcome. He's supposed to seem stiff at first (as if he's being brought to life), but after that, I'm open to suggestions.

And I plan on revising this, even after it's posted. It can keep evolving.

[lwaxana]

When I suggested to draw the bucket with ellipses, I meant with circular ends so that it looks like a cylinder. The character is drawn in a style that suggests depth, so the bucket should follow the same rules for visual consistency. Just a small amount of curvature on the top and bottom of the bucket would do the trick. Try googling "ellipses in perspective drawing." There are a lot of good examples there.

[lwaxana]

Also, I don't think the walk looks blurry. It's just fast. The question is, does that support what you are trying to accomplish in the scene? The focus of the story here seems to be more about the painting and bringing the second character to life, so I actually think the walk serves its purpose and creates a good impression. The only shame is that the audience probably won't notice the head turn or details of the walk. But again, maybe that's not really the point?

[Yosemite Sam]

When I suggested to draw the bucket with ellipses, I meant with circular ends so that it looks like a cylinder. The character is drawn in a style that suggests depth, so the bucket should follow the same rules for visual consistency. Just a small amount of curvature on the top and bottom of the bucket would do the trick. Try googling "ellipses in perspective drawing." There are a lot of good examples there.

Okay cool, I thought that's what you were talking about. Yeah, I hate that bucket, lol. Will definitely fix it. Thanks.

And the walk was sped up because before it just seemed so slow for it's intended purpose. And it is a shame because it's a pretty decent head turn, but again, unless I use a very high frame rate that YouTube can support, it's going to be hard to see certain details when an object is in motion, moving across screen, at 24 fps.

[Danimal]

If I saw a tutorial start with that, I'd definitely want to keep watching. It's effective, and most importantly short and to the point. Looks great!

[Yosemite Sam]

If I saw a tutorial start with that, I'd definitely want to keep watching. It's effective, and most importantly short and to the point. Looks great!

Thanks Danimal. Appreciate it.