1. Introduction
Hello! I'm Staviraa, formerly known as “V21e”.
I will show you how to create animations from scratch using some functions available in Clip Studio Paint, such as “draft” layer properties and brush customization. On the other hand, I will also show how to animate images that were not previously planned for animation, taking advantage of the program's functions like “Automatic Interpolation”.
I will explain how I animate and my logic when working within the program.
I hope you like it!
2. Animation
Animation is a rapid burst of images that gives inanimate objects the illusion of movement. It is, in short, an optical illusion.
Animation is adding the time factor to the medium of expression. A photograph with a time factor? It's a video strip. A real-life sculpture simulating movement in a sequence of photos? That's the “stop-motion” animation style. Drawings with movement over time? Traditional or 2D animation.
The “time” dimension given to the work can be in different ways.
According to Richard Williams in his book “The Animator's Survival Kit” (2001), humans have managed to create the dimension of time to tell small animated stories before the invention of animated films. With the invention of the Thaumatrope (“wonderturner” in English), the Praxinoscope and the Flick book... to name a few.
✧ Objects for simulating time in images: thaumatrope (1.), praxinoscope (2.) and flick book (3.).
✧ How the thaumatrope works. It consists of a disc with two different images on both sides and a piece of string on each side of the disc. In the animation above, the image of a bird and a cage is shown at different speeds. When the thaumatrope is spun at high speed (Left), it appears as if the bird is inside the cage. At a lower speed (Right), the thaumatrope's rotation can be distinguished, without creating an optical illusion.
After the invention of animated films, animation has now become a more accessible medium for everyone. This facilitation is due to the greater accessibility of electronic devices capable of projecting images at high speed - cinema projectors, television screens, computers and cell phones - and the creation of software that allows the creation of animations compatible with these media, such as Clip Studio Paint.
Let's start exploring how to give the dimension of “time” to our illustrations in Clip Studio Paint!
✨It has been observed that the minimum projection speed required for an animation to deceive human perception of movement is the exposure of 24 images per second. This measure of exposure is known as “Frame Per Second” or “Frame rate” (English). Its translation into Spanish would be “Fotogramas por segundo” and “Velocidad de fotogramas”, respectively. Its abbreviation is “FPS” and its symbol is “f\/s”.
The following FPS values are commonly used for animation: 8FPS, 12 FPS, 24FPS, 30FPS, 60FPS… up to 120FPS!
The more FPS required for animation, the smoother the animation will look… however, it means using more drawings to complete one second. Be careful not to exaggerate too much the number of FPS you use for animation! Especially if it's 2D animation… [laughs]
3. Introduction to Animation Tools
While in this article I will highlight the most important tools and functions according to my criteria for the animation process, it is necessary to have basic knowledge of the Clip Studio Paint interface in its animation mode.
I suggest reading the following articles, especially if this is your first time in the world of animation within Clip Studio Paint. If you are more experienced with the program or come from other animation interfaces, you may not need to read them to navigate this tutorial fluently. Even so, I suggest a quick read if you have any doubts.
I hope my explanations are useful for your learning process!
》Article focused on explaining in detail the Clip Studio Paint animation interface.
It shows everything from setting up a new document for animation to basic explanations of animation concepts such as “frames per second”
》Specialized section for freehand animations and how to easily animate moving backgrounds. It consists of several parts, ideal for familiarizing yourself with the interface.
If you want to see what can be achieved in animations in Clip Studio Paint, I recommend checking out KevinFarias's work right here on Clip Studio Paint TIPS!
He has very complete and clear explanations, especially because he documents each of his creations step by step not only in his written article but also with video. Don't hesitate to take a look and get inspired!
4. Animation Interface
4.1 Timeline
To animate, you need to add the “Time” dimension to Clip Studio Paint. This is achieved with a timeline. To access the timeline in Clip Studio Paint on a computer, there are two ways.
First method: You can access this function by going to the bottom left of the canvas, where the [zoom in\/out slider] is located. You will then see the “⯭”(1) figure. Click on the icon to display the timeline (2).
Image of Clip Studio Paint program showing “⯭” (top) | Timeline display (bottom)
You can change the display size of the timeline on the screen by moving the cursor near the top edge of the timeline until the cursor changes to “↕”
To hide the timeline, click “⯯”.
Second method: You can access this function in [Window]→[Timeline]
(Image below).
4.2 Basic Animation Tools in the Timeline
When displaying the timeline, we can find different icons that will help us in our animation process.
In the timeline, there will be a small section where we can observe our animation cels (6) and their exposure duration weighted in frames per second.
We have an icon to play or stop our animation (1), add special folders to start animating (2), add cels to make new drawings for our animation (3), the use of the [onion skin] (4) and an icon to access [Automatic Interpolation].
In case your timeline looks empty - common in .clip documents that were not configured for animation from the start - we have the [New Timeline] icon (8.) to add the “time” dimension to our document.
✧ Steps to activate the timeline. Click on [New Timeline] (1). A pop-up window will appear with the timeline characteristics (2).
✧ In the timeline pop-up window, it is possible to customize the speed of the animation cels [FPS] and the total number of cels we want to start animating (3). If you are satisfied with these settings, click [OK] (4).
If you create a new file from the beginning specifying that it is for an animation, the “timeline activation” step is omitted.
Note: In Clip Studio Paint Pro, only 24 total frames can be worked with. In Clip Studio Paint EX, it is possible to work with more than 24 total frames. FPS are customizable in both versions.
✧ Done. Your timeline is active!
There is a correlation between the timeline and the display area of our layers. (Image below)
✧b. The correlation between animation folders in the layer display and the timeline is shown. This is marked with different colors. | a. The correlation between the layer display in the layer display and the timeline is shown.
4.3 Animation Folders, Frames, and Onion Skin
Layers within *animation folders* in the timeline are transformed into *Frames*. However, you work within them as if they were normal layers.
If you work on a layer outside of a timeline folder, you will not be able to animate.
To add a new [animation folder], simply click its icon.
The animation folder will be displayed in the timeline and in the layer display.
To add frames in the Timeline, there are two ways.
The first method is by clicking the icon to add a new frame.
This action will be reflected in the timeline and in the layer display.
The second method is to select the area of the timeline where you want to add the frame. The selection is represented by the red line on the timeline.
Then, [Right-click] → [New animation cel].
If you want to add another frame, simply repeat either of the two processes.
Added frames will be automatically named 1, 2, 3, […] ; when a frame is added between two keyframes, the frame number usually appears plus a letter. Example: 1a, 1b, 1c […] (Image below)
If you want to move the size of a frame, you can select the slot between frames on the timeline. It will turn red. Then, by dragging with the cursor, you will move the frame wherever you want.
You can also move multiple frames at the same time if you select them!
If you want to delete a frame, simply [right-click] on the frame → [Delete]
The [onion skin] allows you to see some of the previous and subsequent drawings of the selected frame. This allows you to animate the intermediate frame with better consistency. It is activated and deactivated by clicking its icon, as shown in the following animation.
4.4 Automatic Interpolation
Interpolation allows you to easily animate static images or complete animations. The existence of this tool significantly speeds up the workflow.
For example, if we have a complete animation of a butterfly flapping its wings, we can animate its trajectory in the air without having to redraw the butterfly animation.
Automatic interpolation is not limited to moving an object or animation; you can also animate scale (1), object axis rotation (2), and opacity (3.)! (see image below)
It is possible to animate all these characteristics in a single animation or image. With a little creativity, anything is possible! I suggest that if you plan to use this function, it should be in the final stage of your animation.
To activate this function, you need to be in the folder where you want to enable keyframes to perform automatic interpolation. Then, go to the [timeline] bar → [Enable keyframes for this layer] (image below).
In the timeline, in the folder you want to animate, small triangular figures will appear at the base, indicating that the timeline is ready to insert animation keyframes. In the layer display, a pencil icon and a lock will appear in the folder you selected to animate.
To add a new keyframe to animate with automatic interpolation, [Right-click] → [Insert keyframe]. The keyframe will appear at the indicated frame (red line on the timeline). A diamond will appear over the frame. (Image below)
To edit the position of our folder, go to [Tools] → [Sub Tool Operation] → [Object]
With the [Object] sub tool, it is very easy to edit the position, opacity, and rotation of objects within the folder, as the image transformation controller appears. (image below)
You can see the measurements and characteristics to animate reflected in [Tool Properties] -below the sub tool window-. They appear active because they have a diamond inside a square next to the name of the characteristic to animate. If you want to add a keyframe to a function that has not been considered for animation within [Tool Properties], simply click its corresponding square. (Image below)
If you want to Delete, Cut, Copy, or Paste any keyframe with its information, you must position yourself over the keyframe on the timeline → [Right-click] → [Delete\/Cut\/Copy\/Paste].(image below)
If you use [Insert frame…] or [Delete frames…] within the pop-up window, you will delete or add frames to the timeline, not to the automatic interpolation keyframes.
You can also delete automatic interpolation keyframes by positioning the timeline pointer (red line) over the keyframe you want to delete (1). Then click [Delete keyframe] (2.)(Image below)
Do you want to edit the content within the animation folder again? You can deactivate the automatic interpolation keyframes by clicking [Enable keyframes for this layer] or you can click [Edit layers with keyframes enabled](image below.), Whichever you prefer is fine.
✨- I have several animation layers: one for line art, another for base coloring, another for lights and shadows. How do you animate them all together with automatic interpolation?
-It is necessary to put all the animation layers inside a normal folder within the layer viewer. Once you have that normal folder, make sure it is selected and click [Enable keyframes for this layer]. The normal layer will be ready to animate both in the timeline and in the layer display. The last step is to insert keyframes in the normal folder within the timeline… and voilà! you have everything to work with multiple animation folders at once.
See section “7.7 Special Effects” to see it step by step with images.
4.5 Configuring Shortcuts for Animation
Keyboard shortcuts are very useful for speeding up work on a computer or phone. There are very famous keyboard shortcuts like “Ctrl+Z” to revert to a previous action or “Ctrl+C” to copy something selected. Knowing how to configure or use keyboard shortcuts is important to customize and make our experience more enjoyable when using Clip Studio Paint.
For the animation process, I suggest programming 2 new keyboard shortcuts: Previous keyframe and Next keyframe.
This will avoid setbacks and the feeling of immobility that comes from not being able to have dynamic control when moving between keyframes on the timeline.
To configure our custom keyboard shortcuts, you can access this function in [File]→[Shortcut Settings]. (Image below).
Next, a pop-up window will appear. Within this window, there are categories and subcategories that can be customized for a keyboard shortcut in Clip Studio Paint.
To customize the [Previous Keyframe] and [Next Keyframe] actions, you will need to go to [Animation]→[Move Frame] within this window. In this subcategory, you will find [Previous Keyframe] and [Next Keyframe].
I suggest assigning easy-to-remember, infrequently used, and consecutive keyboard shortcuts to [Previous Keyframe] and [Next Keyframe]. I use the “.” key for [Previous Keyframe] and “-” for [Next Keyframe], which are next to the arrow keys and easy to remember.
4.6 Tips for Getting Familiar with Animation Mode
At this point, with everything we've covered, I suggest opening a new document and playing around with the program, trying to animate something simple… It can literally be a scribble! The important thing is to familiarize yourself with the tools and see how you work most comfortably within the program.
Take your notes, take your time… after that, we're ready to animate!
5. Animation Production Process
I have written this section to inform about the animation process and what exactly I will cover and work on in this article.
The animation process within the industry can vary quite a bit from the sequence of steps taken to make a school project animation or an individual animation for fun.
In my words, the differences between each process depend on the intention behind the project's creation -entertainment in the industry, school final project, presentation for a contest, personal project-, the level of organization needed to make the project efficient with available resources -workers, salary, deadlines, training in different animation programs- and the final result -personal satisfaction, quality, monetary compensation, etc.-.
The general steps for making an animation are as follows:
-Planning: Choosing the concept or idea, designing characters, knowing the audience.
-Design: Creating a script, Storyboard, Layout, Character and background design.
-Animation: References for animating, creating keyframes, in-betweens, coloring, lighting.
-Post-production: Editing, Special effects, touch-ups, and audio.
For this article, I will only briefly cover the planning area and the animation part itself to achieve a mini-animation… The other steps are superfluous! It's not necessary to have a storyboard for a 3-second animation or character sheets when the characters are immobile… that's better used in a longer animation project.
In this article, all that's required is a bit of creativity, clarity about what you want to work on… and of course, knowing how to use Clip Studio Paint!
Speaking of clarity, let's talk about…
6. Methods, Suggestions, and Important Points for Planning Animation
What do you want to animate? How do you plan to do it? With the tools we know, what can we do to make our animation simpler? With this section of the article, I hope to help you find answers to these questions.
Here, your personal experience in using drawing programs, video editing software, making animations, and post-production programs to add special effects will be very useful, especially due to your experience in organizing a project.
✧Descriptive image of how an animation or drawing project is visualized in the artist's mind.
When one is new to drawing in digital programs, it is normal to draw everything on the same layer. However, over time, with experience and a bit of technique-seeking, our workflow becomes more refined. The background is worked on one layer, the main characters on another; coloring and line art are worked on separately, and details are added at the end. This workflow may seem logical, but at first, when we were just discovering the world of digital drawing, it could be complicated to streamline our work. The same applies to knowing how to animate. That's why your experience animating, drawing, or editing is important here!
Animation folders have the same properties as a normal layer, so it is possible to divide drawings into animation folders and work on parts separately.
Some things possible with Clip Studio Paint's animation tools are as follows:
You can animate frame by frame (1) and add automatic interpolation (2) to that animation. This can be very helpful for walk cycles or flying beings like ghosts. You can present a still image and animate over it frame by frame in an animation folder (3). This is quite useful if you want to animate hair blown by the wind or light clothing. If you want to animate with the least possible effort, you can animate a still image with automatic interpolation (4). You can achieve very nice results with this simple function, such as a girl waving. You can also make two animations at different times (5). This allows you to create a loop animation that is very visually appealing despite being so simple.
These are just a few examples… knowing how to organize your animation folders and how to handle Clip Studio Paint tools will allow you to unleash your creativity to the fullest.
Can you identify or imagine how I made the following animation?
7. Anime-Style Animation Process
In this section, I will share my animation process from beginning to end. I will tell you my personal tips for animating - such as using guide lines to define lights and shadows- as well as some Clip Studio Paint brush settings to make our coloring process clearer and simpler.
As an extra note, I have created a white sheet that simulates the punched sheets used in animation. This image is only for aesthetic purposes. I am attaching the link for anyone who wishes to use it. It is free on Clip Studio Paint ASSETS.
Without further ado, I hope you like it!
7.1 Idea to Animate
In this stage of the animation process, I define the idea I want to animate.
In my case, I want to animate something very simple: an approximately 2-second animation of a handsome young man who transitions from one pose to another, where he removes some ribbons he has on him. (Representation in Image below)
Usually, for a very short animation - lasting mere seconds - it is possible to overlook some preliminary preparations before animating (such as creating character sheets, scripts, storyboards, etc.). Gauge your project and whether it's relevant to have prior data. In my case for this project, simply knowing the character's clothing color and the movement they would perform was sufficient.
7.2 Preparing the Workspace
It consists of having our necessary references nearby, our workspace clean, and any extra elements that help us in our work. It's up to each person how to do this step!
In my case, I prepared a color palette for the animation, a glass of water, and my headphones to work inspired and happy.
7.3 Keyframe Draft
This step consists of drawing and defining our keyframes.
I created two separate animations in my animation document. I made one animation folder for the hand animation and another animation folder for the boy's animation.
✧Animation with its timeline. Purple animation folder: hand animation. Blue animation folder: boy's animation.
For the keyframe draft, I used Clip Studio Paint's default tools like the G-pen (size 5.0) along with the pencil and mechanical pencil to make the animation draft (size 5.0). These drawings are just a draft, so the edges and some sections of the animation are unpolished. However, I tried to define the outline as cleanly as possible.
I indicated the light areas with a red outline and a yellow fill for the area, while I indicated the shadows with a blue outline and a slightly darker fill for the area. The areas that are white (without fill in the animation) I indicated with a large red “x”.
7.4 Keyframes
This step consists of making a clean line art in your animation drawings.
By clean, I mean a line art where our brush has no edge softening and is as homogeneous as possible in terms of line thickness.
✧My animation with clean line art. I have also animated the in-between frames between the keyframes. Lined with G-pen size 2.0.
To achieve this finish, I slightly altered the tool properties of the G-pen and the harder eraser. It's a simple process to do.
To change the edge smoothing of our brushes, it is necessary to go to [Toolbar]→[Pen (1.) \/Eraser]→select [sub tool: G-pen (2.)\/Harder Eraser]→[Tool Properties](3.)→[Anti-aliasing]→select [None] (4.). (Image below)
The edge smoothing property can be customized at 4 levels: None, weak, medium, and strong. The higher the smoothing level, the more blurred the brush edges will appear. Whereas, if we lower the smoothing level, the edge of our brushes will be more defined by its original shape.
If you want to restore the brush properties to their original state and don't remember how the brush was originally configured, you can simply click [Restore selected sub tool settings] in the [Tool Properties] window (image below)
I suggest this brush configuration to make our coloring work easier later on.
7.5 Guide Lines for Lights and Shadows
✧My animation with guide lines. The blue lines are to define shadows and the red lines are to define lights. It has color fill for didactic functions.
In this step, we will dedicate ourselves to drawing the guide lines for where our lights and shadows are located within the animation.
It is necessary to create a new animation layer exclusively to define our lights and shadows. We will position the layer for defining lights and shadows below our line art animation folder. (image below)
✧Layer position for animation. 1. Line art layer. 2. Limits layer for lights and shadows.
To make this line art, it is necessary to follow the brush configuration I suggested in the section “7.4 Keyframes”. It is necessary to take your time. Try not to make it as elaborate as I did [laughs]. Sometimes one can get excited with their projects.
Your final result should look like this:
7.6 Coloring
✧One of the fully colored frames of my animation.
In this stage of the animation process, is where we will see our work “come to life”. Working cleanly and organized will allow us to work simply in this part.
It is necessary to add a new animation folder between the line art animation folder and the guide lines animation folder for lights and shadows. This animation folder will be for coloring.
✧Illustrated layer order. Line art animation folder (red), Coloring animation folder (yellow) and Reference lines for lights and shadows animation folder (purple).
Since we have added the new animation folder for coloring, we go to [Toolbar] → [Fill] (1.) → Sub tool [Refer to other layers ] (2.) → [Tool Properties] (3.) → Deactivate [Area Scaling] (4.)
Layer scaling allows the fill tool to “overfill” an area.
It's a useful function when we are coloring a comic or an illustration. For this occasion, I suggest deactivating it since we have a very clean and fine line art. There is no need to use it… unless it is to your liking and preference in your workflow, of course.
I also suggest deactivating the [close gap] property of the fill tool. (image below)
This property allows for tolerance to the presence of gaps between lines. It can be a wide tolerance (image on the left) or it can be a very minimal tolerance (image on the right.).
For this occasion, I suggest deactivating it because it can interrupt the workflow… Although, to be honest, is this function useful to you? If yes, then use it! The important thing is that it serves you and works.
As a reminder, you can always reset your tools to their original state by clicking [Restore selected sub tool settings] (image below)
With these changes made, -in the animation layer for color- we begin to fill the base color areas of our character that are not affected by a light or a shadow.
I show you an example of a frame in my animation.
It might look a bit strange, but that's how it should look.
Once we have finished coloring the base color, we go to the layer viewer→[select the animation folder we used to define the lights and shadows] (1.) →Activate [Set as Draft Layer](2.). In your animation folder -along with your frames- a blue line will appear (3.), indicating that the draft function is active.
What is the purpose of setting a folder or layer as a draft property? Well, I only know two functions. Perhaps it has more, but these are the ones I can share.
The first function is not appearing in the final render. If you are drawing a comic, you can put your traditional scan\/draft on a draft layer and do the line art on another layer. If you export the image, the traditional scan\/draft will not appear in the final result.
The second function I know is that any layer or folder with the draft property is “invisible” or goes unnoticed by the program's tools, yet it still shows on screen.
What's the point of that? Well…
In the case of animation, it makes filling lights and shadows simple. (In fact, discovering this property and application motivated me to create this tutorial [laughs] )
If you have problems with very small unpainted areas the size of a pixel, in the same [Fill] tool (1.), there is the Sub tool [Paint unfilled area] (2.)
Its function is very simple. Pass the brush over the area you want to fill with your preferred color. Done! Problem solved.
From now on… patience and painting are required.
7.7 Special Effects
Here I dedicated myself to adding final details, such as animating with [automatic interpolation], adding makeup or extra lights.
✧Final result.
To add blush to the character, I created a new animation folder and hand-drew their makeup. I used a strong red for the blush and lips. Everything was done with the airbrush tool.
✧Screenshot of my work process.
Since the color was very strong, I decided to lower the opacity of the animation folder so that the makeup would look a bit more natural. If you change the opacity of the animation folder, that setting affects all the frames that are part of it. (Image below)
In this final stage of the process, I also wanted to add some light. I organized my animation folders that made up the boy's body -line art, coloring, blush- and grouped\/put them into a normal folder and named it “Boy”.(red folder) Then, I added a new animation layer for the light I wanted to add (yellow folder) and a new frame within it to work. I used an airbrush and a light yellow tone to add light to the areas where I wanted my character to be illuminated. (Image below)
Animation folders can be used as normal layers with their properties. The yellow I added could serve as light if I lowered its opacity, but I didn't like its effect.
To improve the color interaction mode with the other layers, I went to the layer viewer -with the animation folder selected- → [Blending Modes]
Once I found a lighting mode I liked, I lowered the opacity of the entire animation folder. This was my result.
✧Initial image. 0% opacity in the animation folder for lighting (right), final image. 18% opacity in the animation mask for lighting. Blending mode “Glow Dodge (brightness)” (left).
While I've achieved a nice result, I don't want the light to affect the background, only the character. I don't need to hand-draw my character's lighting. To easily and simply light up only my character, I go to the [Layer Viewer]. I make sure that my layer with all the boy's body animation set is below the lighting layer → select the lighting folder → [Clip to Layer Below] (image below)
What is the function of [Clip to Layer Below]? It consists of snapping to the pixels of the layer below. For example, if you have a character's silhouette on one layer and you add some brushstrokes on an upper layer, it will most likely look like this (image below)
✧Correlation between layers and strokes. Blue layer, background. Colorless layer, character silhouette. Purple folder, pink stroke.
If we activate [Clip to Layer Below] on our layer where our stroke is located, it will adhere to the shape of our character. When [Clip to Layer Below] is active on a layer, a red line is visible on it. (image below).
It's a very useful function. It works on layers and entire folders… also on animation folders and 3D documents!
I'll show you how the [Clip to Layer Below] function looks in my animation document.
To add details and lighting to the character's hands, I made separate animation layers exclusively for the character's arm.
As a final detail, I decided to add a slight movement to the character's entire arm (images below)
✧Original arm animation (Above).
✧Arm animation with automatic interpolation.
To move a complete piece of animation -such as the arm with all its components: line art, coloring, touch-ups, lights…- it is necessary to put all the animation folders into a normal folder that encompasses all the animations.
✧Screenshot of a part of my workspace. All the yellow animation layers are the parts that make up the boy's arm. The green folder is the folder that holds all the animation folders of my character's arm together.
As I explained in section “4.4 Automatic Interpolation” of this article, after doing this step, -while staying on the normal folder- we go to [Enable keyframes for this layer}. Small triangular figures will appear at the base of the folder in the timeline, indicating that the timeline is ready for animation keyframes to be inserted. In the layer display, a pencil icon and a lock will appear in the folder we selected to animate. (image below)
We position our pointer on the timeline, in the normal folder section (green), [right-click]→[Insert keyframe]. A blue diamond will appear on the timeline. (image below)
We edit the position of our animation with the [Object tool]. (image below)
In my case, I like the initial position of the arm. To add movement, I add another keyframe at the last frame of my animation. Then, I position the arm where I want its movement to end. (image below)
And that's it! Our character's arm has a slight automatic interpolation animation.
With some adjustments, small details, and fixes, it could be said that we have a finished and presentable animation.
7.8 Export
To export your animation to an .mp4 format, you need to go to [File] → [Export animation] → [Movie] (image below).
Name your file and where you want to save it. Click [Save].
Then a pop-up window will appear. You can customize the exported FPS speed (1).
Be careful because if you animated at 12 FPS and decide to export it at a higher speed -24 FPS, for example- your animation will look faster! This can negatively affect your work if it's not your intention for it to happen. I suggest exporting the animation at the same speed you animated it.
Once you have finished selecting your settings, click OK.
Our animation is now ready!
8. Animating Finished Images
No matter how small an animation is, it always stands out. Animation gives our works a new dimension of life. It is also very satisfying to watch.
In this part of the article, I will show you how I animate a finished image. It's one of my favorite drawings. It's an old drawing. My drawing has no line art and has a coloring where I simulate brushstrokes of paint. It will be an interesting challenge.
I hope to inspire you to decorate your drawings with animations.
✧ “Just is” by Staviraa. 2021.
8.1 What do I want to animate?
“I want to animate my character's trench coat being waved by the beach wind. I also want to add sun glare on the sea and a seagull flying in the background. I'd like the animation to look rudimentary. I feel that all these elements together would look very good with the drawing style”
8.2 Image Preparation
To achieve this animation, it will be necessary to separate the layers into parts. In my case, I want to animate the bottom part of my character's trench coat. Therefore, it will be necessary to divide my image into the background, the bottom part of the trench coat, and my character with the railing and concrete.
✧ Image divided into different layers. 1. Background, 2. Trench coat. 3. Character.
To make animation possible, it will be necessary to fill in the incomplete parts of the background and the trench coat, because if I want to animate or make any movement on my canvas, the hollow parts of my image will be visible. (image below)
✧Movement on the trench coat layer with the [Liquify] tool.
To fill in the parts of my image, I did manual coloring.
If you have your original .clip document of the image you want to animate, you can make a copy of your document and easily separate your document into layers for animation.
✧ Example of my workflow in the incomplete areas of my document.
Now that I have finished filling the missing areas of my layers, my document looks like this:
✧ Image divided into different layers. 1. Background, 2. Trench coat. 3. Character.
8.3 Animation
As I explained in section “4. The Timeline”, I activate my timeline in my document.
Then I add an animation folder to animate the trench coat. I take the layer where the trench coat is (Yellow) and put it inside the corresponding animation folder (Orange). (Image below)
The trench coat is not visible even though the animation folder and the trench coat frame are visible. This is because the trench coat frame has not been added to the timeline.
To add the frame to the timeline, place the pointer where you want to add the animation → [Right-click]. The window for adding frames will appear. In the left section, you will see the name of your layer. Click it. (image below)
The left section of the pop-up window shows a list of your frame names. If you want to add a frame you have already drawn, right-click on the timeline and select the frame name to choose. This is quite useful in animations where sequences repeat over and over again.
To duplicate a layer, you can select the layer in the layer viewer → Copy and paste ([Ctrl+C],[Ctrl+V]). Since I am going to use the same image several times, I have copied and pasted my base trench coat layer 7 more times. Then I add the frames to the timeline as explained previously. (image below)
To animate, I decided to use the [Mesh Transformation] mode. It allows for greater control when transforming objects.
To access mesh transformation, it is necessary to select our section to edit. You can select your element with [Auto Select] - colloquially known as “Magic Wand” - or you can do it manually with the [Lasso] tool.. or simply make a rectangular selection [laughs].
The closer the selection is to our object, the better our editing will be with mesh transformation.
✧ Selection of my object with [Auto Select]
Next, we go to [Edit}→[Transform]→[Mesh Transformation].
Different controllers will appear over our selection. These will allow for greater control over the deformation of our selection (image below)
With this selection style, I dedicated myself to animating each frame of the trench coat's movement. I also made touch-ups with the brush on the edges or where I thought a fold would look good. The result is the following.
I added a new animation folder and hand-animated the sea. I changed the [layer setting mode] of the animation folder to “lighten,” as I showed in section “7.7 Special Effects”.
Finally, I added a new animation layer and made a simple animation of a seagull. I used automatic interpolation (as I explained in “4.4 Automatic Interpolation” or 7.7 “Special Effects”).
I animated the shine of the railing and the ice cream on a new animation layer.
This was my final result! 🌟
9. Acknowledgements and Farewell
Thank you very much for reading this tutorial; I had a lot of fun writing it. If you wish to see more of my content, you can visit the tutorials and the links to my social media on my Clip Studio Paint profile.
It was a pleasure and an honor to have somehow facilitated this training on your artistic journey.
That's all from me. Thank you!
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