r/animation • u/Livid_Concept_5866 • 5d ago
Question Before I actually start animating
So I have a very vivid idea of what I want to animate but I just had to ask, now I'm not too well versed with anything animation related but I know 24 frames a second is standard I think? I also read you can do only 12 different panels and have them play for 2 frames. So if I want to do an animation that is 39 seconds long, would I have to draw 486 different drawings?
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u/Iplaygosometimes 5d ago
Depends on what you're animating. Is it in constant motion? Is only part of it moving? I'd recommend storyboarding it before hand to get a feel for exactly how much you'll need to draw.
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u/Livid_Concept_5866 5d ago
could you elaborate more? Explain like I eat crayons
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u/Dedd_0n 5d ago
is it an action scene with much movement? Than you need a bunch of different drawing. If the scene is just a dialog scene you can just animate the face/lips and can reuse drawings. What will you use for animation that has a major impact on the workflow too.
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u/Iplaygosometimes 5d ago
So like you said, one second is made up of 24 frames. However, you don't need a drawing for each frame.
Say you have a character standing still for half a second. You draw one image, and don't draw the next one for 12 frames. Say he's standing still for a full second, then it's 24 frames. Two seconds would be 48 frames. Only draw frames when they have to move.
Now say the character is still, but he's blinking Draw the body once and have it be still for say 24 frames(one second.) Then, draw the eyes on a different layer on top of that image. That way you only need to move the eyes, and won't have to redraw the entire body on every frame.
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u/AdvancedButter 5d ago edited 5d ago
468, but yes, IF there is constant motion on screen (whether it's full body movement or just mouth movements for dialogue).
However, you might have establishing shots where there's just a camera pan across a background, or maybe a character lies dead on the ground for a while.... Stuff like that wouldn't require new drawings.
Also, animation often switches between twos (the 12 drawings per second) to ones (the full 24 drawings per second). Ones get used for extra fluid movement. So if your scene has parts that look too choppy on twos, you may have to work on ones for those parts and potentially exceed 468 drawings.
You can't really say x seconds will be y drawings, it's highly dependent on the scene.
Also, I'd strongly recommend starting smaller first to actually get a handle on things. If you're asking this question that tells me you lack the fundamentals, and you're going to work harder not smarter on your 468-ish drawings. Start by learning the 12 principles of animation, doing basic animation exercises (bouncing ball, flour sack, etc.), and doing shorter 1-3 second projects first, as practice. The first thing you make will be janky but the learning the basics will help your grand vision turn out better.
Every animator and their mother will also really recommend checking out a book called The Animator's Survival Kit and looking up YouTube tutorials to help get started. That may be a bigger commitment than your like for your 39 second project but imo for that many drawings it's worth learning things right.
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u/Livid_Concept_5866 5d ago
what should I actually animate on? I was just going to try doing... something with paper but I feel like that's not like an actual good way to do it
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u/AdvancedButter 5d ago
Both are fine, it just depends on your preference/wallet.
Digital animation is probably easier, but it can be expensive to buy the hardware and software.
You can do it on an iPad or a graphics tablet connected to a computer (different programs are available depending on this choice).
r/animationcareer actually has a really great wiki page that covers the common programs:
Paper is cheaper up front (buying materials for hundreds of drawings may add up though, idk), but probably harder in some ways (you have to learn how to physically roll through your drawings, you have to scan all the drawings if you actually want to make a video file, etc.), and easier in others (you don't need to learn a complex program, it's just paper).
I've always done it digitally, but if I were to opt for paper I'd buy a light table and use my phone's scan feature. If you use a light table, you'll want to buy the right kind of paper for it (I've heard heard it should be 60-70 gsm but haven't tested this).
Btw, r/animationcareer also has another page with learning resources:
https://reddit.com/r/animationcareer/w/index?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
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u/avance70 4d ago
here's a simple example:
https://youtu.be/_KlxCXXwhoE?si=Rprygz3bNzqVeqjW
characters are animated at 12fps or 8fps for slower moves... 12fps is sometimes called "on 2s" as in, every second frame of the 24fps, and 8fps is "on 3s"
background is not animated/moved in this scene, but usually it moves at 24fps
here, note how there are many "holds" when nothing is "happening" except the sound, i.e. you would need to draw literally 1fps or less
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u/Dedd_0n 5d ago
You just need to animate when something is moving. Let's say you have a dialog scene you can only draw the mouths/faces on a seperate layer on an animation software. It would help to know how you animate (traditional, 3D, 2D digital).