Hello!

 

I've written down some animation tips for creating emoticons using Clip Studio Paint.

 

Please follow along slowly with the explanations and photos!

 

Anyone can easily create emoticons!

 

 

 

 

1. New Animation Window

Go to Menu - File - New and click 'Animation'.

 

1) Set Size

 

2) Specify Desired Frame Rate

 

3) Set Frame Display Method (Choose the method you prefer.)

• Frame number (starting from 0): The first frame starts from 0.

• Frame number (starting from 1): The first frame starts from 1.

• Seconds + frame: Displays as seconds and frame number.

• Time code: Displays frames in time units.

 

4) Division line: The length of the interval dividing the timeline.

 

 

2. Turn On the Timeline Window

Menu - Window - Timeline

 

Turn on the timeline window to create animation.

3. Drawing Keyframes - Utilizing Onion Skin

1) Draw the First Keyframe

 

I will create an animation of my character (Mozzarella Cheese Cat) cheering and rising up.

Draw the character positioned low in the first cell.

2) Draw the Second Keyframe

 

Click 'New Animation Cell' to add a cell, then draw the second keyframe.

 

Please click 'Enable Onion Skin' which shows the previous and next cells.

Previous cells are displayed in purple, and next cells in light green.

 

Draw the second keyframe while viewing the onion skin.

This is the scene where the character rises highest and cheers.

3) Draw the Third Keyframe

After adding a new animation cell, draw the character sitting back down.

4. Drawing In-betweens

Add animation cells and draw in-betweens.

Play it back and draw the movements naturally.

 

At this point, because new cells are added between the keyframes (cells 1, 2, 3), their names are automatically assigned in a jumbled fashion, such as 1a, 1b, 1c...

 

To make this messy timeline easy to view at a glance, we will use the function 'Rename in timeline order'.

Please click according to the path below.

Tip! Organize Animation Cell Names All at Once

After clicking 'Rename in timeline order',

the cell names changed to match the order in the timeline,

and the names were also neatly updated in the Layer window.

5. Coloring

1) Create a 'New Animation Folder' for coloring

 

2) Add 'New Animation Cell'

It's convenient to add cells in advance to match the frames of the line art before starting the coloring process.

 

3) Color using the Paint Bucket tool

6-1. Saving (Animation GIF)

File - Export animation - Animation GIF

 

After specifying the file save location,

set the GIF options.

 

1) Export range: Set the range of the animation to be exported.

2) Frame rate: Enter the desired frame rate.

3) Loop count: You can specify the number of playback loops or set it to infinite.

6-2. Saving (Image sequence)

File - Export animation - Image sequence

 

1) Please specify the file name and path.

 

2) To export as a transparent image, close the eye icon for the layer background and select png in 'Advanced settings'.

 

3) In 'Frame Export', please set the frame range and frame rate.

These are the files exported as Animation GIF and Image Sequence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Review and Finalize

Check the movement with the Animation GIF and make corrections or finalize it.

 

I hope this animation tip is helpful.

If it was helpful, please 'like' and 'share' it!

 

Thank you for reading this long article.