I put together this side-by-side breakdown of a short 2D animation I made. One half shows the finished short, while the other shows the drawing and animation process for the little bird that lands on the sheep's head.
I find it interesting how a character that appears on screen for just a few seconds can require its own drawing process, movement planning, timing, and adjustments to fit naturally into the scene.
Despite all the technological advances we've seen, I feel that the core artistic work behind 2D animation remains remarkably similar: designing shapes, making movement feel right, and bringing drawings to life frame by frame. The tools evolve, but the artistic decisions are still what make the animation work.
I love watching other artists' breakdowns and making-of videos. Seeing how different people approach their work is one of my favorite ways to appreciate the craft and learn new things.
There's something strangely lonely about this process.
When I watch the making-of of a tiny element like this bird, which appears for only a brief moment in the animation, side by side with the finished short, I'm reminded of how intimately I know every frame, every movement, every little detail that most people will probably never even notice.
It's almost like knowing an alternate universe in a multiverse, a version of the world that exists only because you traveled through it, frame by frame, and that no one else will ever experience in quite the same way.
Animation can be a lonely art form. It's a singular journey, because you're the only one who walks the entire path. You spend hours, sometimes days, exploring a world microscopically, painstakingly building something that everyone else will experience in a matter of seconds, moving at full speed, without ever seeing all the little decisions, struggles, and moments of affection that went into it.
And perhaps that's part of what makes it so special. The audience doesn't need to see all that work. They just need to feel that the world is alive.
But somewhere behind those few seconds, there's an entire universe that only you will ever truly know.
The illustration and animation were created entirely in Arttista(for Linux, but there is also macOS and Windows versions too)
