An Overview of my Animation Process (Feat. The Next Cartoon!) (Patreon)

Hello everyone!

Today, as per the poll's top option, I will be writing an overview of my animation process for all to see!! Hopefully this goes well, but here we go!

---Beginnings---

Like anything, it all begins with a simple idea. I keep a huge document full of potential cartoon ideas on my phone, so I can keep a list of anything I might want to fully produce. Many of these will never be made, and many ideas end up breathing life into other ideas. I rarely ever delete the entries, and only get rid of them once they've actually been made.

---The Storyboard/Animatic---

This is the part I've shown off here for many of the cartoons. Usually, this is where I figure out everything visual in its most basic, readable form from the descriptions on my phone. Most of the time I start sketching in Adobe Animate immediately, but in cases where I've used more complicated poses, I will sketch them out traditionally in a sketchbook, and then use that as reference in Animate.

----The Animation----

This will be the meatiest part of the production process.

I usually start by getting an entire character animated first, then moving on to the next one. In this case, I started with Murphy. This is what his typical rig will look like. 

It may seem overwhelming, but it really isn't. Simply clicking any individual element will take me to that layer, and I can move each piece accordingly.

Though these methods, I add each additional character, and adjust their movements and timing to feel more or less natural to each other.

---The Backgrounds---

Backgrounds are often the next step. I'll usually create a sketch of the background to work off of within each shot's Animate file.

Basic colors and shapes are blocked in first. Each element gets its own folder so I can easily edit and move things. It's really easier than it looks, backgrounds are therapeutic to make so long as I don't have to screw around with perspective, haha.

More details get added after the basic stuff is taken care of.

And finally, I add textures, color overlays, and other adjustment layers that are quick and easy to add some depth. I don't always use exactly 4, and they are not always the same colors or textures. Basically, I just add in some texture to help the characters stand out, and add some really cheap color variety without actually shading anything. Repeat the same steps for the other backgrounds, and they'll get done fast!

The last step is After Effects compositing. Nothing much to discuss about it, I just put everything together here and export. Not too complicated. Usually I'll up the brightness/contrast settings too, just to make colors pop more.

Welp, that's a basic overview of what I do nearly every week, haha! It's a lot to take in, but it really isn't terribly complicated. Hope you all look forward to seeing this cartoon this weekend!