Line art for animation

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miakia

Introduction

So this is a basic tutorial on how I like do line art for an anime styled animation.

I like to start with a large canvas, this is so I can do dynamic camera movements shots without sacrificing the quality. However, the standard 1920X1080 canvas will do if you're doing basic animation with no camera movements such as panning shots will be okay.

I also change the frame setting to 24fps, this is to make the maths easier because you usually animate on every 2nd cell, the time when you use 25 fps is when you plan on showcasing your animation on the big screens.

Raster VS Vector

Before we start the animation lets talk about the difference between Raster and Vector layers.

I mainly use Raster layer for rough drafts and colouring whilst Vector are specifically used for lining. It has a special feature where you can alter and change the line art without sacrificing the quality, furthermore you can effortlessly clean up stray lines. This will also save you a lot of time, especially when it comes to animation.

Interface

Lets look at the set up and interface, so I'm currently using Clip Studio's default set up. The main icons that we will be using is 'New Animation Folder', 'New Animation Cell' and 'Enable Onion Skin' which are these icons below.

Rough Draft

For this animation I decided to go for a simple turnaround animation.

I created 4 frames that show the rough movement of the animation, I like to call this the 'main frames' because this sets us up for the in between.

From there I create the 1st in between to make it smoother, I didn't think it was smooth enough so I create the 2nd in between which are extra cells between the main and 1st in between.

Once I'm happy with the animation I move on to the camera folder. This can be found in 'Animation' --> 'New Animation Layer' --> '2D Camera Folder'

I drag my Animation Folder into the Camera folder, when it is in this folder, you will not be able to edit it unless you press the pencil icon on the Timeline or you can drag it out of the Camera folder.

You can create Key Frames from the timeline and going into Object mode you will have a blue square where you can resize your view, this is what your camera will be seeing. On the Display mode, there are 2 options, this view and what the camera sees, both are useful to see the 'Final' product.

Finally Lining

So we want to create a folder with Vector layers to do the line work.

Pressing the 'New Animation Folder' we get a folder and inside it is a Raster layer, we don't want that so delete it and click on the Vector Layer icon to create it and from now on when you click 'New Animation Cell', it automatically becomes a vector layer.

I like to work in separate folders, one for the face and the other for the body and hair, this is to make the colouring stage easier.

So I'm going to be using this frame as a reference for all of the animation.

When I did the line art for the face, I thought it was too thick and because I created this from a Vector layer I can change the line width. By going into Object Mode and clicking the brush size I can change the width with the arrows or manually typing it in.

Now I move onto the rest of the line art.

I create a new Animation Folder with Vector layer and I name it 'line'. I then lower the opacity of the Face Folder and Rough Draft to make it easier to see.

On the left (image below) is the Sub tool to Correct Lines you can access this by pressing 'Y' on the keyboard or on the tool bar, there is a pencil icon right at the bottom which will bring up this setting. This setting can only be accessed by Vector Layers.

You can control points, connect lines, adjust specific line widths and many more. This after I adjusted the Line art to make it look more dynamic without putting in extra work by manually thickening or thinning the lines.

Coloured Lines

In work in progress animations, you'll most likely encounter these coloured lines, mainly red, blue, green or many other colors.

This is to tell the other artist working on the project what to color. Since this is a solo project, I'm using 2 colors.

Blue = Shade

Red = Highlight

Again I like to work in separate folders to make it easier.

So I start off with the eyes, I like to use the curve tool which can be found in the 'Figure' Sub tool, which is also a straight line. This is so that it is consistent and won't affect the colouring stage.

On the Image at top, on the right hand side you can change the layer properties so the only colours your lines produce will be the layer colour and sub color.

So in this, Black on your colour wheel will produce Blue and White on the colour wheel will produce Red.

Of course you can always change the colour by clicking the colour in the 'Layer Property' and choosing your own color.

Finally, create a new animation folder for the rest of the Highlights and Shadows of the line art.

This is how it looks from the camera view

This is how it looks outside the camera folder

Then you rinse and repeat for all of the frames.

In this case have 20 Frames for the line and 21 Face line frames. In total I had to draw 110 Frames and this took me around 9 hours in 3 days to complete a 3 second Animation.