Hand-drawn animation process question July 30, 2023

Miscellaneous
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Hello. It’s been a while since I’ve been on this forum. I am about to ask about drawing layers in regards to hand-drawn animation.

When such movies are made, as I understand it, the cartoon characters would be designed first using geometric shapes for their heads, torsos, arms, legs, etc…

But when it comes to the layout and rough animation stage, are the characters usually drawn as geometric shapes first?

I know this depends greatly on animators’ opinions about the animation process, but I would probably assume that most animators who work on commission at animation studios would draw the characters in geometric shapes before details, such as facial features, hair, clothing, etc. are added in accordance to model sheets to guide them.

Even if geometric shapes are drawn first by most studios, are they on sheets of paper as single frames and then redrawn on other sheets of paper with details?

I suppose it would mean the characters would have to be drawn four times in the following order: rough geometric animation frames, rough detailed animation frames, clean-up, and ink-and-paint.

But this is where it gets more complicated…

Prior to computers, there were only up to five levels of animation, excluding the background, meaning there would only be up to five cels photographed on each frame of the film. The reason why the animation levels are limited to a maximum of five is to reduce light diffusion and color darkening between cels. So, let’s say there are the maximum of five levels used for each frame of animation. That would mean that all of the characters and objects on each level would have to be drawn four times translating to twenty drawings per frame of film. Of course, the fifteen “construction” drawings during production would be discarded in the final product. It is common knowledge that there are twenty-four frames in each second of film. So, this would mean there would be a total of four hundred and eighty drawings made for each second of animation. Of course, the three hundred and sixty “construction” drawings during production would be discarded in the final product. The final product will only include one hundred and twenty drawings in each frame of the film, which would be five levels on each frame times twenty four frames per second. That’s a lot of work!

Anyway, I hope someone could answer my questions because if I were to draw one cartoon character on only one level, meaning that I should create four layers within the timeline, one for the geometric shapes, another for the rough details, another for the clean-up and lastly for the ink-and-paint. I think it’s a good idea to draw the geometric shapes first because it would be easier to draw the character in each slight change of movement prior to adding the details. This would also prevent me from making mistakes that could cost me a great time and work.

I did cover this topic a long time ago, but I feel it’s best that I remake the post. Have a good day!

Happy animating!

Jacob

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But when it comes to the layout and rough animation stage, are the characters usually drawn as geometric shapes first?

This really depends on how you draw, but often yes. Drawing the geometric shapes is just a basic drawing technique and really has nothing to do with animation per se.

Also, these aren’t really a separate drawing per se but guides.

Even if geometric shapes are drawn first by most studios, are they on sheets of paper as single frames and then redrawn on other sheets of paper with details?

The geometric shapes are guides. These geometric shapes are actually very faintly drawn, almost invisible, only in tutorials are these shapes well defined. There are even artist who just keep these guides in their heads, i.e. not draw these geometric shapes.

With digital, you can separate the two in their own layers and is actually better if you do that as it gives you more flexibility and control.

I suppose it would mean the characters would have to be drawn four times in the following order: rough geometric animation frames, rough detailed animation frames, clean-up, and ink-and-paint.

These are actually the same steps you do when creating any illustration. First the guides, then the rough drawing, which you would then clean up, then color in. This isn’t specific to animation but in illustration in general.

another for the clean-up and lastly for the ink-and-paint.

These are just one thing. The “clean-up” is the ink in “ink-and-paint.”

Though, in digital, the lines and the colors are in separate layers just for the sake of flexibility and control. Not the animation layers like in Pencil 2D but compositing layers like in Photoshop. Pencil 2d doesn’t support compositing layers though.

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Thank you for giving me your reply.

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Interesting to read about the professional workflow. Digital workflow should make things easier, not harder.

I would say, that professional animators would need a new layer, where they can draw their rough figures and movement lines. This layer should never be included in the output movie.

Guides layer: just thin lines and only 3 colors.

FraFra

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I agree. Digital hand-drawn animation IS easier than traditional hand-drawn animation.

Colors like red, green and blue. But what would each color represent? Is it something like this:

Red = extremes, green = breakdowns and blue = inbetweens?

I’m only guessing. Thank you for your reply by the way.

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I am not having enough overview on the professional way of drawing to be able to decide anything about it. 3 colors was just my guessing. I had blue in mind, for normal lines, brown for anything else and black for writing notes. But the colors are not important, the magic comes from the layer, and from the workflow. (Always in the background, never in the output video)

My idea would be to use the guide-layer only for the extremes as a guide for the proportions and the rough timeline. You can draw the inbetweens later directly on the output bitmap layer.

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thank you for your reply.

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Here is an example:

springloaded_Guide
springloaded_Guide865×820 208 KB

It is already possible to use a normal bitmap layer as a guide layer. This layer has to be muted before you render your movie.

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