■1. Introduction
□1-1. Let's Make an Animation!
Hello everyone!
This time, in Simple Mode, let's create an easy and cute animation that even beginners can make!
This time, we'll create a blinking motion, like the image above!
No hair sway, no clothes sway! But it will turn out really cute!
Animation might sound difficult, but... there's no need to worry! Let's get started!!
□1-2. What does it mean to animate a drawing?
This time, we'll be making the most basic animation: a blinking motion... But what exactly do you need to animate a drawing?
There are various methods, but the simplest approach would be...
Parts other than the eyes that don't move
Eyes × 3
Eyebrows × 3
I think that's about it!
That being said, there's no single correct way to animate. For example,
Blinking with 2 frames
Blinking with 3 frames
Comparing them looks like this.
This time, we'll primarily animate only the eyes, using 3 frames to keep it engaging!
■2. Let's Draw!
□2-1. Keep the parts to be animated separated!
Now, let's get straight to drawing... or rather, before that, there's one important point to note when animating.
That is, keep the layers of the parts you want to move separate!
This time, I wanted to animate:
The blinking of the eyes
The falling eyebrows that accompany it
So, the main part composition was as follows:
Eyebrows
Eyelashes
Eyes
White of the eye
Other
For "Other", you can separate it as much or as little as you like, it's OK!
Also, this time we are using cel shading (where line art and coloring are clearly separated), but if you just focus on separating the above parts, you can also draw with thick painting (where line art and coloring are integrated)!
□2-2. Let's Draw a Rough Sketch (Draft)
Now that we have a general idea of the part composition, let's start drawing!
This time, we'll be using a square size. Of course, you can create it in a different size too, that's perfectly fine!
By the way, when you're drawing, there are times you want reference materials, right?
Reference materials are essential for better drawings!
So, let's draw while displaying reference materials!
Tap the '...' button in the top right and you'll find the "Display Reference" tab. Tap on it!
Then, tap the reference window that appears and select any image...
You've successfully loaded the reference image!
Now it's easier to draw!
With the reference window and reference image, you can:
・Swipe the edge → Change reference window size
・Swipe the center → Change reference window position
・Swipe the center with two fingers → Adjust image size and position
Try it out!
□2-3. Let's Do the Line Art and Coloring!
Once you've finished your rough sketch and draft, let's move on to the final drawing! You can color it however you like!
To reiterate, this time we will be creating the following separated parts:
Eyebrows
Eyelashes
Eyes
White of the eye
Other
It's especially important to separate the face area meticulously, so let's draw while separating into layers and folders!
You can add folders from here!
Once you've finished coloring to your liking, the final drawing is complete!
Don't forget to prepare both the open eye parts and the closed eye parts!
■3. Let's Animate the Drawing!
□3-1. First, Separate into Folders!
Now that we've drawn the picture, let's animate it!
...But before that, let's do some preparations for animation!
For example, let's say the area around the face currently looks like this:
■Face Folder
・Eyebrows
・Eyelashes
・Eye Line Art
・Eye Fill
・White of the Eye Fill
If it's arranged like this, for example,
When you want to transform only the eyes
Or when you want to move the eyes (eyelashes + eye line art + eye fill) all together
It becomes inconvenient to change layers individually every time!
Therefore, let's group related items together!
There are two ways to group them:
Combine layers (eye line art + eye fill)
Separate into folders
Combining makes it lighter, but has the disadvantage of making fine adjustments and corrections difficult.
Folder separation makes adjustments easier, but since all layers remain separate, it tends to become heavy.
This time, we will use folder separation! The structure is as follows.
You can also transform items while they are in folders, which makes it much easier!
□3-2. Let's Start Animating!
Now that we've separated into folders, let's start animating the drawing!
At a minimum, the following parts are needed:
Normal eye parts
Closed eye parts
From here, let's transform the parts for blinking, for 3 frames!
Once that's done, tap the '...' button in the top right and select 'Create Animation'!
Then, the animation timeline will appear at the bottom!
Once the timeline is displayed, let's duplicate the drawing!
Tap the drawing you want to duplicate to reveal the "Duplicate" and "Delete" buttons. Tap the Duplicate button!
□3-3. Let's Use the Warp Tool!
The "Warp Tool" is super convenient for animation!
The Warp Tool doesn't have drawing functions. However, by moving it over your drawing... it's a special tool that can pull or distort that part!
This time, we'll use it to turn a normal eyelid into a partially closed eyelid!
Prepare the eyelash parts and make the Warp Tool size larger than the eyelashes.
Then, by moving the eyelashes downwards... it's done in no time!
Also, it's not just the upper eyelid that moves on a human!
The upper eyelid lowers
The lower eyelid also rises slightly
The eyebrow also lowers slightly
Keep these three movements in mind and animate them using the Warp Tool or Transform Tool!
□3-4. Let's Animate It!
Once you have duplicated the illustration and created the three frames:
Normal
Partially closed
Closed
Now, let's increase the number of these frames and animate them!
The preferred animation method varies from person to person, but here, if we set:
Normal → ①
Partially closed → ②
Closed → ③
Then, arranging them in the order of:
① 7 frames
② 2 frames
③ 5 frames
② 1 frame
① 5 frames
will result in the following motion! You can copy this exactly as it is, or of course, make fine adjustments from there, that's perfectly fine too!
The animation is complete! Yay!!!
★3-5. I Want to Animate It More Elaborately!
But! Some of you might not be satisfied yet! You might feel you can do more!
So, from here, it's the Advanced Section! Let's animate it more elaborately~!!
Previously, the motion was as follows...
In the advanced version, it will look like this!
The eyes will jiggle slightly...!
That being said, we're not doing anything complicated!
The trick to making animation look more realistic is...
Squeeze tightly, then release quickly!
So, we've added a movement where the eyes close tightly and then open quickly!
The following image illustrates this specifically!
In other words, for this elaborate version, you'll need:
①-1. Open eyes
①-2. More open eyes
②. Partially closed eyes
③-1. Closed eyes
③-2. More closed eyes
③-3. Even more closed eyes
That's a total of 6 frames!
Opening and closing are created using the Warp Tool, just like before!
Arranging these as follows:
①-1. 7 frames
②. 1 frame
③-1. 1 frame
③-2. 3 frames
③-3. 1 frame
②. 1 frame
①-2. 1 frame
①-1. 2 frames
③-1. 2 frames
①-1. 4 frames
will result in the motion shown earlier! It might look a bit complex, but if you add frames to bridge the gaps between ①, ②, and ③ from before, it will look like this. It might seem confusing, so it might be easier to understand by actually trying it out...!
■4. Conclusion
How was it?
Some of you might find animation difficult to hear about, but... you can actually animate with just 3 frames, or even 2!
And when a character moves, it breathes life into a two-dimensional world, a vitality that still images can't convey...!
This joy can truly only be experienced by trying to animate. I wanted more people to experience that, so this time I explained an easy yet lively animation! I hope it was helpful!
Thank you for reading this far! If you have any questions or unclear points, please leave them in the comments!
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