How I Animate Frame by Frame: Animate + After Effects Workflow

If the YouTube membership isn't available in your country,

Equipment used (Huion Kamvas 16 pro 2.5k):

In this video, I'll walk you through my frame by frame animation process.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:22 - Research
08:15 - Study the design
13:41 - Rough animation
24:58 - Tie downs
29:48 - Clean up
34:36 - Shading
40:30 - After Effects
48:13 - Conclusion

My actual references for the samurai slash:

Resources:

Support us on Patreon (Get access to project files):

========Udemy classes========

Recommended books for animators:

[adamtembo]

Excellent. I am fired up! Despite my age, approaching 70, I will pursue animations! 😂
You're such a wonderful instructor!

[yan_dj]

Saving this for any time I want to animate XD

[EchoJ]

*For the novices of animation history:*
The caveat to tracing live-action movement is if you 1) purchased the copyright of the footage so you own it or 2) filmed it yourself (e.g. recording a friend or yourself performing the desired movements). That’s what _rotoscoping_ technique is, and has been done legally in animation for over 100yrs (pioneered by the Fleischer Bros in the 1920s, and regularly used by Disney animators)

[TomVanDeusen]

Extremely well-made tutorial that doesn't get bogged down in software minutiae. Thank you so much for making this!

[brad]

It's a really good show of character to not only try to understand where everyone is coming from, but to also recognize your own personal flaws and how they help you to relate to a situation. Not enough people are willing to do that, so kudos to you. Edit: This comment was supposed to be sent to a different video but YouTube is so broken that it ended up here instead. This video is great regardless lol

[evaknk]

this is the most important tutorial I've even watched on the technical side of digital 2d animation, thank you so much for posting it

[TGC]

I don't animate myself personally but this is the best start to finish workflow I've seen yet, thankyou :) and perhaps I might try animation now! <3

[khahoanhai]

Thank you so much!! I am in my first year of animation school, the lecturers are all 3D-based, so 2D work is largely self-directed. I have been looking for a video like this for a while, really looking forward to using this tutorial for my next project!

[boundlissmedia]

This was just great - you packed this with so much useful information. Really well done. I love what you said about "the longest way being the fastest", it is so true, and it also seems to produce a much better result, in particular, because of how free you can be when rough sketching. I have also tried skipping the process and have gone right to starting with polished frames and I have been so focused on making them perfect, that the result becomes very rigid and void of personality. Terrific video, Marvin 👍

[mennaayman]

Finally a tutorial I can actually follow. Thank you for taking the time to explain every step in detail.❤

[annaxferrer]

This was super worth the watch! I really appreciate the in depth explanations. I hope to achieve your loose to clean build up method in my own work but it's a struggle haha 😬 Thank you for sharing!

[voticiano]

"The longest road is usually the fastest". very wise words, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience for free, excellent video. Liked and subscribed! 😀

[The_Renrick]

it is not illegal, there is no copyright if you draw a video, it's fair use.

[genezis]

OMG THIS IS SO I would've shaded everything the long way but this made everything so much easier thank youuu!!!

[dadflyy]

If you wanted to texture the shadows (assuming the colour is flat) you can duplicate the layer and use an extract to essentially solo that colour then add on like a blur and a noise alpha to get a sort of grainy look.

[SunAndMirror]

i dont animate at all
used to do stickfigure flipbook animations on post it notes...lol
i remember Wacom tablets didnt have any screens!
its amazing how far technology has come
this tutorial really hits the ramp when you start adding shading and FX.
great vid man.

[K-dramahub-qq]

i finded someone who really teach animation 😊

[shenglongisback]

As a Former Animator.
Reference real life is a must cos
Thats what animation is the animating of life.
Even if it exaggerated, an object it still needs too feel lifelike.

[motivationunleashed]

best video i found on precise animation i just needed it

[rjohny]

this is awesome! I think another way to go frame by frame watching a youtube video is to go backwards 1 frame, type the coma (, ) and to go forward 1 frame, type the period (.)