Hello everyone! In this tutorial, I will explain how to create an animated Halloween card.

I will utilize useful functions like 3D objects, special brushes, Blending modes & filters, animation keyframes, etc.

I´ll also take advantage of great materials from Clip studio Assets to save time & achieve a cool final result.

I Hope it helps!

Video Tutorial

Please check the video tutorial to see the whole process in action▼

 

 

1. Concept & sketching

I like to start my designs by gathering reference & inspiration, for this animation & draw inspiration from typical halloween & gothic themes, like ghost, vampires, spooky forest & graveyards, carved pumpkins, etc.

If you like, create a moodboard with different elements for reference, color palettes, textures & anything you may need later.

▼[1] Lets create a new canvas suited for a simple animation.

■[1.1] I decided to make it a 1080px square suited for social media.

■[1.2] For the animation part, i defined a timeline with 24fps & 8 seconds of length but we can change it later.

▼[2] I created a sketch around a coffin. i added Halloween elements such as carved pumpkins, a black cat, a grave & a ghost. To finalize the design i added a message using an old gothic-inspired font.

The idea is to animate separate details such as the pumpkin lights & the text reveal, also make the ghost float from inside the coffin. A simple animation with a painterly style.

2. 3D objects

▼[1] To make things easier i will take advantage of the 3d function in clip studio ex & the amazing assets from the community.

■[1.1] I drag the coffin 3d object into the scene & using the operation tool i tried to match the perspective & rotation of the sketch.

▼[2] With the coffin 3d layer selected Add another 3d object, this way they share the same space , camera & perspective.

I drag the grave & match the rotation & position based on the sketch.

▼[3] Some 3D materials such as the pumpkins I am using have multiple objects grouped together. these materials are really useful.

■[3.1]First I roughly position & match the sketch, then I bring up the 3d object sub tool palette to further edit the 3d material.

■[3.2]I Hide all the unnecessary pumpkins, then position the ones I want to create a custom composition.

▼ This is the final composition with the 3d objects.

The 3d objects materials i used.▼

3. Background

To create the background first i added a forest background material from clip studio assets. This gives me a good base for the overall ambience, color palette & details.

Then i created new layers on top, added some glowing particles & played with blending modes & colors (hue/saturation/luminosity) to achieve the base i wanted. To soften some of the details i used a blending brush & painted over the background with a textured brush.▼

Finally i added some foreground elements using the basic painterly style technique i will use on the rest of the piece.▼

First i paint the basic shape to define the edges, then i lock the transparent pixels of the layer & use a combination of brushes, sampling colors from the image & selection tools to create the volume & materials. Then i add highlights & carve out details like scratches.▼

4. Main objects

I rasterized the 3d layer & separate each element in its own layer.

I take advantage of the textures on the 3d objects since I'm using a painterly style, instead of tracing the object i paint over.

I repeat the same steps for the rest of the objects. I keep the glow on separate layers to animate it.

For the ghost i used a ribbon brush, i explain the process in my other tutorial

This is the final result with brush size & transparency ending.▼

Finally add the text using the same techniques as before & the mesh transform tool▼

5. Animation

For the animation, i used a combination of keyframes & frame by frame animation. Watch the video to understand it better

Final result

Thank you for reading!

I hope you learn some tricks from my video!

See you next time.