🎀 Introduction
Animating facial expressions can bring characters to life, adding emotion and personality. This tutorial will guide beginners through the essential tools in Clip Studio Paint (CSP) to create simple animations, such as blinking and smiling.
🎀 Setting Up Your Workspace
Before you start animating, you need to set up your workspace correctly.
🌸 Open Clip Studio Paint and create a new file.
🌸 Go to File > New, and select Animation. This ensures that the file is configured for frame-by-frame animation.
🌸 Choose an appropriate canvas size (e.g., 1920x1080 pixels) based on your project needs. Larger sizes allow for detailed work, while smaller sizes make simple animations quicker to render.
🌸 Set the frame rate (12 or 24 fps is common for smooth animation). Frame rate determines how many frames per second are displayed; a higher frame rate results in smoother motion.
🌸 Click OK to create your animation file, and you're ready to begin!
🎀 Understanding the Timeline
The Timeline is where all animation sequences are managed. It controls how frames appear over time, determining the movement and flow of your animation.
🌸 Open the Timeline window from Window > Timeline if it isn't already visible.
🌸 Click on New Timeline, and set the frame rate and playback range. The playback range defines how many frames will be included in the animation preview.
🌸 Add animation frames by clicking the New Animation Cel button in the Timeline. Each cel represents an individual frame, and new cels allow you to create movement between frames.
Here’s a short explanation of each button’s functionality:
1. Graph Editor – Opens the graph editor to fine-tune animation curves.
2. Edit Timeline – Allows modifications to the timeline settings.
3. New Timeline – Creates a new animation timeline.
4. Zoom Out – Decreases the timeline zoom level for a wider view.
5. Zoom In – Increases the timeline zoom level for a closer view.
6. Go To Start – Moves the playhead to the first frame.
7. Go To Previous Frame – Moves the playhead one frame backward.
8. Play/Stop Animation – Starts or stops animation playback.
9. Go To Next Frame – Moves the playhead one frame forward.
10. Go To End – Moves the playhead to the last frame.
11. Loop Play – Toggles loop playback for the animation.
12. New Animation Folder – Creates a new folder to organize animation layers.
13. New Animation Cel – Adds a new cel (frame) in the animation.
14. Assign Cel to Frame – Links a specific cel to a selected frame.
15. Remove Cel – Deletes a cel from the timeline.
16. Enable Onion Skin – Activates onion skinning to view previous and next frames faintly.
17. Add Keyframe – Inserts a keyframe at the selected position.
8. Delete Keyframe – Removes a keyframe from the timeline.
19. Enable Keyframes on this Layer – Activates keyframes for a specific layer.
20. Edit Layers With Active Keyframes – Enables editing of layers that have keyframes.
🎀 Important Concepts & How to Use Them
1. Keyframe
🔹 What is it?
A keyframe is a special frame in an animation where an important change happens, such as a character moving, an object changing color, or a scene switching.
🔹 What does it do?
Keyframes define the starting and ending points of an animation. The software automatically fills in the frames between them, creating smooth motion. This process is called tweening.
🔹 How to use it?
🌸 Select a frame on the timeline.
🌸 Click "Add Keyframe" (📌) to mark it.
🌸 Change something in your scene (like moving an object).
🌸 Move to another frame and add another keyframe.
🌸 Press play ▶️ to see the animation happen between keyframes!
Example:
Imagine animating a bouncing ball. You place one keyframe where the ball is at the top, and another where it touches the ground. The software fills in the motion, making the ball appear to bounce smoothly.
2. Cel
🔹 What is it?
A cel (short for "celluloid") is a single drawing frame used in animation. Traditional animators used transparent sheets to create animations by layering cels.
🔹 What does it do?
Each cel holds a piece of your animation, like a frame in a flipbook. Modern software mimics this by letting you add and manage cels digitally.
🔹 How to use it?
🌸 Create a new cel.
🌸 Draw something on it.
🌸 Assign it to a frame.
🌸 Repeat the process for movement.
Example:
Think of a cel as a page in a flipbook animation. If you draw a stick figure on different pages and flip them fast, it looks like the figure is moving!
3. Onion Skin
🔹 What is it?
Onion skinning lets you see a ghosted version of previous and next frames, helping you draw smooth transitions.
🔹 What does it do?
It overlays faded versions of your animation frames so you can track movement easily and keep things aligned.
🔹 How to use it?
🌸 Enable "Onion Skin" 🧅.
🌸 You will see faded versions of previous and next frames.
🌸 Draw the new frame while using the ghosted images as a reference.
🌸 Adjust the Onion Skin settings under Animation > Show Animation Cels > Onion Skin Settings if needed to customize the visibility of past and future frames.
Example:
Imagine animating a running person. You need to see where their legs were in the last frame to make the next frame flow naturally. Onion skinning helps by showing the previous positions faintly!
4. Tweening
🔹 What is it?
Tweening (short for in-betweening) is the automatic creation of frames between two keyframes to make motion look smooth.
🔹 What does it do?
Instead of drawing every single frame manually, the software fills in the gaps between keyframes, making animation much faster and smoother.
🔹 How to use it?
🌸 Place two keyframes (one at the start, one at the end).
🌸 Apply tweening (if the software supports it).
🌸 Watch as the animation smoothly transitions between keyframes!
Example:
If you animate a car moving from left to right, you only need to set two keyframes:
🌸 Keyframe 1 (Car at the left side of the screen)
🌸 Keyframe 2 (Car at the right side of the screen)\
The software will generate the movement in between, making the car drive smoothly.
5. Loop Playback
🔹 What is it?
Loop playback repeats the animation continuously instead of stopping at the end.
🔹 What does it do?
It lets you watch animations over and over without pressing play again. Useful for testing smooth movements.
🔹 How to use it?
🌸 Click the Loop Play button 🔁.
🌸 Press play ▶️.
🌸 The animation will repeat from start to end automatically.
Example:
Think of a GIF – it plays in a loop without stopping! If you're animating a walking character, looping helps you check if the steps look natural.
🏵️ Step 1: Drawing the Base Frame
Your first frame sets the foundation for your animation.
🌸 Select a pencil or pen tool to draw. Choose a brush that offers smooth strokes for clean animation lines.
🌸 Sketch the character’s neutral face. This is the default expression that the animation will change from.
🌸 Keep the lines simple and avoid excessive details to make it easier to animate subtle facial movements.
You should end up with a clean lineart to work with (you can go for a sketchy base if that’s your style!).
🌸 In my case I’ll go with this simple drawing just for demonstration purposes. 🌸
Try to keep your layers separate, for example I separated the face from the body, hair and cloths, that way I have more freedom to move things around.
🏵️ Step 2: Animating a Blink
Blinking is one of the simplest ways to bring a character to life.
🌸 Duplicate the first frame and modify the eyelids slightly. Draw the eyelids slightly lowered compared to the previous frame.
🌸 Create additional frames where the eyelids gradually close and open, breaking the movement into small increments for a smooth transition. You can create the first, middle and last frames where the eyes are completely open, mid way closed and closed, then fill in-between the frames as you see fit.
🌸 Use Onion Skin to align each frame properly and ensure consistent eye shape throughout the motion.
🌸 Play the animation by pressing the Play button in the Timeline to check the smoothness of the blink. Adjust frames if needed.
Here’s a timelapse of how i draw in between frames to make it look natural.
And here’s an image for a step by step frame.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 🌸🌸 Tips 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
1. You don’t have to draw the illustration all over again on every frame, just copy paste it and change what you want.
2. Separating the layers will help you tremendously, if you just want to animate a specific part, keep that part on a separate layer, then create a group of the artwork and copy paste it to your animation frame.
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸 🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
Here’s another set of eyes and a slightly different animation with a sketch.
🌸 You don’t have to animate a full illustration, just have fun with simple things. 🌸
And here’s what the finished animation looks like.
🏵️ Step 3: Animating a Wink
Using the previous step as a foundation, we can now easily animate a wink.
🌸 Use the previous animation and start by modifying the 2nd frame.
🌸 Keep one eye static and slowly change the second eye to a closing one.
🌸Add some effects to exaggerate the wink, in my case i added a heart.
🌸You can use video reference if you’re unsure about something.
Change the frames to adjust the speed to your liking, you can make the middle drawing last for a few frames and the rest for only one frame. Play around with it.
🏵️ Step 4: Animating a Smile
Animating a smile involves gradual changes in the mouth and surrounding facial muscles.
🌸 Start with the neutral face as Frame 1.
🌸 Add a new frame and slightly lift the corners of the mouth, creating a subtle smile.
🌸 Continue adding frames, progressively curving the mouth and lifting the cheeks to emphasize the smile.
🌸 Enhance the realism by adding slight eye movements, such as a soft squint when smiling.
🌸 Play the animation to review and adjust the transition between frames for natural movement.
Since I feel like this artwork doesn’t do a good job showing the steps, here’s another simpler one!
Let’s add some more motion to it, to make it more believable!
Try smiling, you’ll feel your cheeks pushing your lower eyelids, and that’s exactly what’s happening in this one!
🎀 Adjusting Timing
Timing affects the expressiveness of your animation.
🌸 Modify frame exposure to adjust how long each frame stays on screen. Longer exposure makes a movement appear slower, while shorter exposure creates faster motion.
🌸 Experiment with frame delays in the Timeline. For example, holding a smile for a few extra frames before returning to neutral can make the expression feel more natural.
🌸 Use spacing techniques to add variety to your timing, such as making fast blinks or slow, deliberate smiles.
Different timing gives different animation effects.
By leaving some frames empty towards the end, you get to keep the smile a bit longer!
Here’s another one!
Experimentation is key to finding what works for you!
🎀 Exporting Your Animation
Once you're happy with your animation, it's time to save and share it.
🌸 Go to File > Export Animation and choose between Animated GIF (for short looping animations) or Movie (for high-quality video output).
🌸 Choose the appropriate settings, such as resolution and frame rate, based on your project needs.
🌸 Save your animation, and you're done!
💐 Conclusion
With these basics, you can experiment with more expressive animations and refine your technique. Try combining different expressions and using reference videos to improve your facial animations.
Happy animating!
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