You could chalk this up to nostalgia, but it also comes down to the classic techniques in animation that simply aren’t used anymore in commercial films.

The most famous of these classic techniques is known as cel animation.

Despite being the mainstay of the animation industry for decades, cel animation has fallen out of favor for a number of reasons, though many still hold a soft spot for this classic style.

Just what exactly is cel animation and how does it differ from how films are made today? Is it possible to make your own? And, will there ever be a cel animation resurgence? Read on to find out.

How Does Cel Animation Work?

Despite what it may sound like, cel animation is not something you might watch in a science class. Rather, cel animation is a classic animation technique that is known for its distinctive colorful and hand-drawn look, as well as its painstaking and patient testing process.

The foundation of cel animation is the cel itself. Short for celluloid, these clear sheets are where an animator paints, frame by frame, the characters and objects that comprise an animation.

The great benefit of using clear cels is the ability to layer multiple animated elements with a static background, saving drawing time and increasing consistency in animation.

These efficiencies are part of why cel animation was so prominent in the early animation industry.

Once a scene is completed, animation cels are layered on top of each other and photographed in succession using a special top-down rig.

These photos would then be transferred to a film strip where the animated scene can come to life. A feature-length film created using cel animation can easily have hundreds of thousands of individual animation cels, making the whole process extremely time-consuming.

In essence, the process of cel animation is very similar to modern techniques used in 2D animation but done with analog tools rather than digital inking and painting.

The History and Evolution of Cel Animation

The invention of cel animation is commonly attributed to Earl Hurd and John Bray, who patented the process in 1914. Though prior animation techniques existed, they were less consistent and unsuited to longer more complex films.

The invention of cel animation would go on to revolutionize the animated film industry and became the standard process in what became known as the Golden Age of animation and beyond. In this period, animation reached never before seen heights, both in short films and features – nearly all of which were made using cel animation.

Despite its popularity, cel animation wasn’t without its issues. For one, it still required thousands of frames to be hand-drawn, necessitating dozens of talented animators per film. There was also the need to store and keep organized these thousands of frames.

And, most critically, the initial material used in creating cels also happened to be highly flammable, which could be a problem under the hot lights of a film studio. Though these issues were manageable, there was a lot of room for improvement.

Like so many industries, animation was forever changed by the advent of modern computers. Not only did computers make 2D animation easier and more efficient, but they also opened up a whole new world of 3d animation. With clear benefits over cel animation and computers becoming more accessible, the old technique’s days were numbered.

By the early 1990s, the first 2D feature films created entirely with computers were released, and in 1995 Pixar’s hugely popular Toy Story cemented 3D animation as a major contender to traditional animation.

Cel animation existed alongside 3d animation for a number of years, but over time it has all but disappeared from commercial film productions.

That being said, cel animation isn’t entirely forgotten today. For one, the era of cel animation created some of the most beloved and endearing animated characters of all time that continue to delight audiences today. In addition, it cemented the fundamentals of 2D animation that are still being used, albeit with digital tools.

The classic look of cel animation is still being emulated as well, with 3D techniques like cel-shaded animation, as well as throwback animation as seen in works like Cuphead. Finally, the thousands of cels produced for animated films have become hot collector’s items.

Fans of classic films today can literally own a piece of their favorite films in the form of a cel, and cels from famous films have fetched tens of thousands at auction, showing the clear affection that many still hold for this style.

Though some hobbyist animators continue to try their hand at cel animation, it is unlikely that major studios will revive the style, mostly due to high costs. But who knows? In a world where vinyl record sales are up and retro-style video games are all the rage, there may still be hope for a cel animation renaissance!

Specialty Tools Used in Cel Animation

There are a number of specialty tools used in cel animation, and each is crucial to the final product.

Firstly, there are the cels themselves. These sheets are clear so animation assets can easily be stacked on a background. Animation cels also have punched holes along some edges to help line them up when painting and photographing.

Next, you have the paint used to actually create the animation. In the traditional method, a specific type of vinyl paint was used because it would bond well with the cels and prevent flaking, however, even basic paint will work in a DIY approach.

One of the most important tools in cel animation is the one you don’t actually see in the final product: the camera. A cel animation camera rig, also known as a multiplane camera, is generally mounted looking down upon the frame.

Underneath is a single surface or a series of transparent surfaces where multiple cels can be layered. This entire rig helps to keep the camera in place and all the frames lined up to create a consistent product.

Another useful tool in cel animation is the dope sheet. This sheet help animators keep track of the many different elements in a scene so they can keep their thousands of cels organized and make photographing more efficient.

What It Takes To Become A Cel Animator

Just like today, animators in the cel era were highly skilled artists who often had to undergo much training in order to create the best possible work. The first and most important thing you need to be a cel animator is obviously strong animation skills.

You also need to be a competent painter who is able to recreate characters accurately hundreds of times. A cel animator should also have an in-depth understanding of the abilities and limitations of the medium in order to make the most of it. For example, scenes and even individual characters in a cel animation may be made up of multiple layers.

Animators need to understand how to draw in a way that makes everything line up right in the end.

How to Start Making Cel Animations

Cel animation is a bit of a lost art and the traditional tools can be hard to come by these days. However, with a DIY spirit, you can certainly still make cel animations today.

If you can’t find true animation cells, transparency sheets like the ones used for presentations will do the trick, and these can be found at most office supply stores. Paint too is easy enough to find. Almost any camera will do, as long as it can be securely mounted above your frame. Alternatively, some animators choose to scan their cels and composite them digitally.

The traditional process can be a very long and intensive process., so you may want to attempt it only if you are very confident in your animation skills.

If you love the cel animation look but don’t care for the classic process, you could also fake it digitally. Any 2D animation software can come close to the cel animation look, but you can even take it a step further. Consider using hand-painted backgrounds, frame-by-frame animation, limited layers, and maybe a film grain effect if you really want to replicate the classic look.

Films Created Using Cel Animation

Almost all 2D animation produced from the 1920s to the 1990s used cel animation. In fact, a large number of the great films you may study as an aspiring animator were probably made using this technique.

The most famous examples of cel animation are probably the works of Walt Disney, who worked to push the medium to new levels in the early years. Films such as Cinderella, Fantasia, and Alice in Wonderland are still high water marks for the style.

Other prolific American studios included Warner Bros (of Looney Tunes fame), Hanna-Barbera (The Flintstones, Spiderman), Paramount (Popeye, Felix the Cat), and countless others.

Japanese studios also have produced many famous works using cel animation, such as Astro Boy, Akira, the early works of Studio Ghibli, and more.

Online Resources, Tutorials, and Videos

• Cel Animation Process (DIY)
• Making a Cel Animation (Tutorial)
• Making Cel Cartoons
• Cel Animation for the Digital Era
• Inking & Painting Cel Animation

What Makes a Great Animator?

Though every animated film relies on a team of talented artists and technicians, few people have as much influence over the final project as a film’s director. Most animation directors begin as animators themselves, but eventually, take on a larger role in overseeing every part of the project.

The job of an animation director is multifaceted and their influence is felt in every aspect of their films. For this reason, directors end up being the most famous and influential animators of them all.

Before we can decide who makes the list of the top animators of all time, we need to clear up just what makes someone the best in their field.

The ranking of animators on this list is determined by the following factors:

• Each animator has multiple completed works over their career.
• Their works are not only commercially successful but also received appreciation from both critics and fans.
• These animators have all had a significant impact on animation and culture as a whole.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s start with number 10!

Max Fleischer

Max Fleischer was an animator and director who played an innovative role in the U.S. animation industry in the early 1900s. His work in the field helped not only develop animation from an artistic perspective but also helped to develop new methods for animation.

Fleisher was most prominent in the years from about 1918 – 1960 and produced many films that are now considered classic animated works. Fleischer began producing his first films during the silent film era with characters such as Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, and the animated incarnation of Popeye the Sailor.

Max Fleischer often used a unique animated style that came from his patented rotoscope technique. While many early animated works moved in halting and unnatural ways, the rotoscope allowed for smooth and lifelike movement.

The rotoscope allowed an animator to project film onto a drawing board to be traced, allowing live-action film to be converted to animation. Though the classic rotoscope rig may have fallen out of use, to this day rotoscope-style animation still appears in films, television, and music videos.

Matt Groening

Animation is known not just for feature films, but also for its place on television, and Matt Groening is surely one of the greats of animated television.

After all, Groening’s The Simpsons is not only the longest-running animated television series of all time but also the longest-running American sitcom.

With its satirical take on everyday American life, the series has become a beloved show for multiple generations of Americans, and continues to be produced to this day.

In addition to The Simpsons, Groening is also known for Futurama, a show that has gained less of a widespread audience than the Simpsons, yet still has a committed following. So beloved is Futurama that the show has been revived from cancellation – Twice! Next year, a new season is set to premiere more than 20 years after the show first began.

Along with The Simpsons and Futurama, Groening’s recently created a new show, Disenchantment, meaning he currently has no less than three animated series under his directorship.

Brad Bird

Brad Bird is one of the most influential figures at Pixar Animation Studios and is responsible for directing some of their most beloved films.

Before joining Pixar, Bird spent his early years as an animator at Disney working on films like The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron. After his success in his early years, he went on to direct The Iron Giant as his directorial debut.

Later, Bird joined Pixar where he went on to write and direct The Incredibles and its sequel, as well as Ratatouille (this author’s all-time favorite film!). Besides these features, Bird has worked on a number of shorts at Pixar and has had a less direct role in almost all of their films as part of the senior creative team.

These days, Bird has branched out into live-action films, but still, his legacy persists through his help in building one of animation’s most legendary studios.

William Hanna and Joseph Barbera

It may seem unfair to include two people in one entry, but these two animators and their careers are so intrinsically linked as to justify their joint inclusion. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera are best known as the founders and leaders of the incredibly prolific Hanna-Barbera animation studios.

From the 1950s until the early 2000s, Hanna-Barbera produced hundreds of television series and films and at one time was the largest TV animation studio in the industry. The studio once produced almost two-thirds of all animated series on the air and went on to define the look of animated television for years.

Notable creations of Hanna-Barbera include Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, and more. Of the many series created by the studio, some are still being made today in modern incarnations, not to mention the many films, video games, and toys released through the years.

In 2001, after the death of William Hanna, the studio was dissolved into Warner Bros studios, which maintain their IPs to this day.

Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi is best known as an animator and director who went against the grain of most animated films of his day. Animation today is as much for adults as it is for kids, with productions like South Park, Family Guy, and King of the Hill ushering in an age of adult animation in the early 2000s.

Despite the seemingly recent origins of the genre, Bakshi made a name for himself by creating more mature and adult-oriented animated features all the way back in the 1970s.

His first film, Fritz the Cat, based on the comic strip by R. Crumb was the first-ever X-rated animated film to be released. The film received major criticism upon its first release but helped Bakshi to find success.

Over the next 20 years, he directed numerous more films in his gritty style such as Heavy Traffic and Cool World, Wizards, and an animated adaptation of the Lord of the Rings.

In his later years, Bakshi has semi-retired from animation but has continued to be involved in smaller projects, taken positions teaching animation and art, and explored his passion for painting.

Don Bluth

Don Bluth is an American animator famous for his animated feature films and video games from the 80s and 90s. In his early years, Bluth worked at Disney on the animation teams for projects like Snow White, Robin Hood, The Rescuers, and The Fox and the Hound.

Later, he left Disney to found his own studio. Once independent, Bluth began directing his own feature films which found great success with moviegoers. His works in this era include The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven.

Bluth was also an early innovator in video games, directing Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace, two games that combined traditional animation with choose-your-own-adventure style gameplay.

Though his output has naturally slowed in his later years, Bluth recently announced his plans to create a new animation studio in an attempt to revive the traditional animation styles that made him famous.

John Lasseter

John Lasseter is probably one of the most influential figures in modern animation, particularly in the world of 3D animation.

Through his executive roles at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Lasseter had a role in the production of many of the most successful animated films in the last 30 years, including the groundbreaking Toy Story series.

Lasseter began as an animator at Disney but quickly ran afoul of his superiors by promoting new computer-generated animation techniques. After his firing from Disney, Lasseter worked to perfect computerized animation and became a founding employee of Pixar.

In a turn of fate, Pixar would go on to partner with Disney to release Toy Story, the first full 3D film ever made. Its huge success catapulted Pixar and its technology into the world stage, with Lasseter to thank.

Lasseter worked on all 4 Toy Story movies as well as A Bug’s Life, Cars, and numerous shorts as either director or writer.

Almost 20 years after being fired Lasseter returned to Disney, now as the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios. In this role, Lasseter served as executive producer of over 30 films, including massively successful projects like Frozen, Zootopia, and Moana.

Unfortunately, Lasseter left Disney after allegations of sexual misconduct arose in 2017 adding a level of infamy to his fame. Though he left the industry on bad terms, his influence and legacy are undeniable.

Tex Avery

Tex Avery was another of the greats of the golden age of animation who helped to create some of the most famous animated characters in history.

Among the characters helped to create are famous icons like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and others from the Looney Tunes series.

Avery began his career in the early days of animation when short films were the primary style being produced. After falsely claiming to be an experienced director Avery managed to land a job at Warner Bros. where he went on to work on the early Looney Tunes shorts.

Avery’s personal style of direction made Looney Tunes famous for its fast-paced action and over-the-top gags. Under his leadership, Warner Bros grew to rival industry leader Walt Disney as a top short film producer.

Thousands of Looney Tunes short films, feature movies, and other spin-offs have been made over the years, and the series’ popularity endures even today.

The films also served as a major inspiration for a whole generation of animated projects like Ren and Stimpy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and The Animaniacs. Avery passed away in 1980 at 72 years old.

Hayao Miyazaki

In the world of animation, two countries have made a larger impact than any, the U.S. and Japan. While most of the names on this list are American, there are just as many amazingly talented animation directors overseas, though their western fame may not be quite the same.

Hayao Miyazaki however is one of the only Japanese animators to break through and become a household name worldwide, and for good reason.

Miyazaki began his career during the 1960s at Toei animation studios. While he honed his skill at animation and worked up to bigger and bigger roles, Miyazaki was also crafting his own worlds in the manga he was drawing.

After the success of films, he directed such as The Castle of Cagliostro and an adaption of his manga Nausicaa, Miyazaki, and his colleagues founded Studio Ghibli in 1985.

After growing its reputation in Japan, the studio gained worldwide exposure with a string of critically acclaimed films directed by Miyazaki: Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle. Spirited Away went on to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and became the highest-grossing film in Japan for 20 years.

Miyazaki has succeeded in creating films in a more traditional hand-drawn style, even as other features moved towards 3d animation. His films are famous for their colorful and intricate animation, and his fantastical worlds full of wondrous elements.

In 2013 Miyazaki announced his retirement from feature film production but has since returned to work on new projects. Studio Ghibli continues to produce films with a range of directors, including Miyazaki’s own son, Goro, who has followed in his father’s footsteps and directed animated films of his own.

Walt Disney

Any list of the most famous animators would be incomplete without mention of the greatest name in animation: Walt Disney. While you could argue for many other names to be put on this list, Disney is perhaps the only one that unquestionably must appear, and for that reason alone his placement is justified.

Walt Disney got his start in animation in the 1920s at just 18. After recognizing the potential of the new cel animation technique, he and his brother Roy formed what would become the Walt Disney Company to work on producing animated shorts starring their signature character Mickey Mouse.

Disney’s films continued to grow in popularity and became increasingly complex in their techniques. In 1935 Walt Disney released the first-ever feature animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

For the next three decades, Walt Disney and his company produced dozens of the most successful animated films of all time.

Over the course of his career, Walt Disney was nominated for 59 academy awards, 22 of which he won, giving him the record for most academy awards (and nominations) of anyone in history.

Disney also oversaw his company’s expansion beyond animation and into television, live-action film, and their famous amusement parks.

Walt Disney passed away in 1966 but his legacy was far from over. Despite a few years of declining profits, the company turned its fate in the 1980s and would go on to become a media empire that today is the largest media corporation in the world.

The company now is more successful than ever and is still producing projects based on the original creations of its founder, almost a hundred years later.

A concept artist is a designer who takes the design team’s ideas and turns them into an artwork guide for making the sets, 3D models, or VFX.

In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about this fascinating career, as well as the steps to becoming a concept artist yourself.

What Is Concept Art?

Concept art is any piece of art that is used as a reference to create assets for a game or movie. Pictures can convey a lot more than words when it comes to explaining what you want something to look like. So concept art is used to give the design team a muse, or visual representation of what they’re going to create.

Concept artists have some freedom to put a lot of their personality and creativity into their work but have to make sure the concept art is tonally consistent with the rest of the design team’s vision.

If a film is set in a bleak dystopian world, the concept art should show the set designers, VFX artists, and the lighting department how that should look when their job is done.

If a game has a colorful, cartoonish art direction, then the concept art for every item, character, building, article of clothing, and vehicle should reflect this tone.

In other words, good concept art not only helps make a film or movie more vibrant and creative but makes sure everyone is on the same page during production.

Concept art is the foundation upon which the world of a game is built.

The Different Types of Concept Art

Concept artists may specialize in different types of concept art. While one artist may be great at designing architecture and buildings, another might specialize in drawing characters or items.

In fact, having a unique style and signature techniques are what set the most famous concept artists apart.

Eyvinde Earl for example is a legendary concept artist who worked on several Disney classics such as Peter Pan and Sleeping Beauty. His concept art featured highly stylized tree and plant life and became a staple of the design of those early films.

Jason Chan, on the other hand, a prolific concept artist in the games industry, is most known for his character designs, which have contributed to works such as League of Legends and Mass Effect.

In fact, most of the character models in Mass Effect 3 were created as concept art by Jason Chan.

In other words, depending on the needs of the project, different artists can flourish. Creature design, character design, tech design, asset design, and environment design are all different categories that require a concept artist.

An extremely talented artist can build their entire portfolio based around just one of these categories if their work is notable enough, although most concept artists have to be able to handle a variety of these categories to make sure their work is steady, even if they have a particular specialty.

Either way, the personal style of an artist’s work will play a big role in the sort of projects they can get hired for, and it’s ok for them to do better in some areas than in others.

Concept art for Halo Infinite will look vastly different from concept art from Genshin Impact after all.

Why Become A Concept Artist?

For many artists, the dream of seeing their work used in a film or video game is very enticing. It’s more than just a career, but a chance to contribute creatively to an industry you love.

A concept artist can point at vivid landscapes, sci-fi machines, inhuman monsters, and powerful weapons and say “I created that.”

What they draw is the foundation the rest of the team uses to make the film or game, and so while they do have limitations, the impact that concept artists can have on a project is tremendous.

On top of that, concept artists make an average salary of $69,000 a year, with the most veteran artists making up to $90,000.

What Does A Concept Artist Do?

When making a video game, for example, the team might have cool ideas for the magic axe that the main character will wield throughout the game.

But no matter how much they talk about it, everyone will have a slightly different idea of what that axe will look like in their head.

That’s where the concept artist comes in.

They’ll listen to everyone’s ideas, be given a written brief by the art director with detailed instructions on what the team wants, and use it to sketch some basic designs for the axe so everyone can see if they’re on the same page.

Even then, most concept artists will build up a visual library of art, materials, textures, and photographs to help them create their work. That’s right–concept artists use visual references to create visual references.

This means that after getting a feel for the tone of the project, they may have to do some research to find the best reference images to suit their needs.

After seeing the basic outlines the concept artist presents, the team may change their mind about exactly what they want. Maybe the team decides the skull on the axe’s handle doesn’t look as impressive as they thought it would, or they have a better idea for its shape.

The concept artist will create detailed artwork of the axe using either 2D or 3D art software such as ZBrush or Photoshop, but can often expect to make revisions until the final design is agreed upon.

Once it’s all finished, the other teams will take the concept art and use it to create textures and 3D models to render it into the game.

Depending on the scale of the project, both films and movies could either have a single concept artist or a handful working on different things.

How to Become a Concept Artist

So now that we’ve covered what a concept artist is, and why it’s definitely a career worth pursuing, what does it take to actually become a concept artist? Here are five steps to landing yourself a career in this competitive art field.

Education

Technically speaking, you don’t need a formal education to become a concept artist. The artwork you are able to produce and add to your portfolio is more important for getting hired as a concept artist than a college or university degree. And experience is the most valuable asset an artist can have. With that said, most concept artists do enter the field after obtaining a degree.

Unless you’re a prodigy, it’s difficult to become an artist at a professional level without first having an understanding of the fundamentals; form, composition, perspective, anatomy, lighting, and color.

Having a familiarity with Zbrush, Maya, and Photoshop is also a must, as this software is widely used across the industry.

So while getting a degree isn’t mandatory, attending an art school could be a crucial step to learning the skills you need to succeed as a concept artist. Your best bet is to go for a degree in graphic design or fine arts, as these courses will typically help you build up a compelling art portfolio by the end of the course.

But if you want a cheaper way to learn the ins and outs of concept art and design, you’re in luck! There are a number of free tutorials and lessons in drawing concept art made by professionals in the industry. These can be found on websites such as Artstation.com and clipstudio.net.

These tutorials are made by artists, for artists, and give you a step-by-step guide to anything you need to know when it comes to creating concept art. The lessons can be on broad subjects, such as color theory, composition, and lighting.

But there are also more specific lessons on offer here; like how to design realistic metal engravings, cityscapes, or silhouettes. The tutorials may not be the equivalent of four years of art school, but they can give you a firm foundation in the world of concept art.

Creating A Concept Art Portfolio

For a professional artist in any industry, having a compelling portfolio of your work is much more important than even a well-written resume. When it comes to getting a job in the arts, concept artists are certainly no exception to this. An artist’s portfolio is a collection of their best work, showcasing the artist’s abilities and skills in a visual way.

The only problem is, a concept artist may have created art in a number of different styles. So how do you choose what to add to your portfolio and what to leave out if you’re designing everything from vehicles to characters?

Even expert artists are known to update their portfolios every now and then, as their work grows more advanced and their tastes change. So if your portfolio isn’t looking up to par just yet, then consider doing some concept art commissions and small one-off art jobs.

It’s a lot different than working in a studio for a big film or game company, but you may be able to buff up your portfolio with impressive, professional art and make some money doing it until your portfolio is ready.

Picking Your Best Work

This may go without saying, but many art graduates make the mistake of filling their portfolio with work that isn’t up to par with where their skills truly are.

It’s very tempting to want to fill up the empty space of your portfolio with whatever you happen to have, but if only two out of ten concept art pieces on display are of a professional quality, then what the employer sees is an artist whose work will miss the mark eight out of ten times.

While quantity can be important, as it can show the artist has a number of projects under the belt, it can’t be emphasized enough that quality is what’s really important in a concept artist’s portfolio. For newcomers trying to break into the industry, showing off two or three great pieces of art is much, much better than showing off even a hundred mediocre ones.

With that said, if you do have a variety of professional-grade concept art to add to your portfolio, that’s great news! In that case, the only thing you have to choose is what sort of concept artist you really want to be. Does creature design inspire you the most? Then make sure the highlights of the portfolio are the wild and epic creatures you’ve created, and that these drawings are the bulk of your portfolio as opposed to, say, landscapes or tech.

Having some variety is good, but a portfolio isn’t just showing off an artist’s work, but the artist’s personality. If the spotlight is on the wrong art pieces, you may find yourself hired, but stuck doing projects that aren’t really what inspires you and creates your best work.

Finally, it can be very useful to show off the creation process of the work in your portfolio. Remember, studios are not going to hire artists exclusively for their finished work, but how they get there.

Showing your best work, as well as the sketches, notes, and changes needed to get there will give a lot of insight into how you work. All of this needs to be considered while making your portfolio.

In summary, while picking your best work may sound like a simple process, there are actually a lot of variables that can make or break it. But portfolios can be changed, and even if a potential employer says no once, that doesn’t mean you can’t upgrade your portfolio and try again later.

Create a Website For Your Portfolio

The days of making prints of your work, sticking it in a binder, and mailing it to prospective employers are all but over. These days having a professional website to show off your concept art portfolio is a must.

Veteran concept artists such as Gilles Beloeil of Assassin’s Creed fame, and Tuomas Korpi, who has drawn concept art for movies, games, and the Moomin Valley series, both have impressive portfolios websites that show off their work.

But if you’re not too tech-savvy, how do you make a website to promote yourself?

Websites such as Portfoliobox and Squarespace.com offer plenty of pre-built themes and templates to quickly and simply make a website of your own, albeit with a monthly or annual subscription fee.

Crevado is also a decent free-to-use option, but it does add a Crevado footer to the bottom of your website unless you upgrade to a pro membership. And of course, there is Artstation.

Artstation is in many ways, the Facebook of artist portfolios. Not only do they offer to give you your own custom domain, with multiple themes and templates, they automatically fill your portfolio as you upload more work.

But the best feature of Artstation is that you become part of their rich community. You can see what work other artists are doing, as well as comment and ask questions.

You can easily find novice to master-level tutorials on creating concept art. It’s partly a blog, partly a social media platform, and partly a portfolio builder, making it the hottest platform of choice at the moment, though it does come with a subscription fee.

Still, no matter which you choose, these websites are a great way to launch your very own custom domain, without the hassle of learning how to code one yourself.

But what does it take to make a website that stands out? After all, if you want to show off your skills as a concept artist, how you design your portfolio will say a lot about you as a potential designer.

The best advice is to make your website easy to navigate and to emphasize your best work wherever possible. Adding a bunch of fancy filters and getting too creative with the website yourself might make it frustrating to navigate, rather than showcasing your talent.

A concept artist doesn’t have to be a professional website graphic designer; just presenting your work directly to clients who are interested in you is enough. That said, whatever colors and graphics you choose should help to emphasize the sort of artist you are.

If you’re known for creating peaceful-looking characters and creatures, use a soft, gentle color scheme for your website, etc. Your own personality and creativity are what will sell you as an artist in the end.

Concept Art Jobs

Once you’ve got an impressive portfolio, and a custom domain to showcase it, you’re finally ready to start looking for work as a concept artist. But how do you land that job?

Most artists begin by looking for entry-level concept art work. Even if what you really want to do is concept art for movies or games, it’s important not to limit yourself to only these studios as you search.

Toys, board games, television shows, card games, fashion, and book illustrations are all products that use concept artists. By broadening your search, you may be able to land your first job in the most unexpected of places.

Whatever you do, don’t wait for employers to find your portfolio page.

Even well-established concept artists have to make sure their names are considered by applying for jobs. Any concept art job you can do will give you some experience working in the field, and you may unlock more opportunities for yourself in the future.

If you’re struggling to find jobs to apply to, attend as many networking events as possible. You can take part in art contests on Artstation, Character design references, and Atomhawk. Even if you don’t win the contests themselves, that’s not the point. These are a great way to get your work noticed, and give clients a reason to browse your portfolio.

The Concept Art Association is an organization that hosts a number of networking and mentorship opportunities for new concept artists every year and is definitely worth checking out.

Finally, many of the biggest game companies, such as Blizzard and Riot Games offer internships for new concept artists. These are highly sought-after positions, so act quickly and have your portfolio ready to go.

It’s a competitive market, and to land that dream job you’ll have to sell yourself, as well as your art to be noticed.

Ready to Start Your Art Journey?

Concept art is an amazing career path where an artist truly gets a chance to affect a project. Their drawings become the goal post for the rest of the designers to try and achieve.

In this way, concept artists shape the media that we see every day from the conceptual level onwards. And by following these five steps, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a professional concept artist.

Illustrators get to inspire imagination with the images they create and act as a storyteller to influence their favorite games, movies, books, and shows.

So what makes this such an appealing job for artists, and how do you become one?

What is Digital Illustration?

First of all, what is digital illustration anyway? In the most basic of terms, digital illustration is any image created using software instead of, say, paint and canvas. Although some artists prefer to create art by hand and then finish editing them with software.

Using drawing tablets and a mouse as opposed to stencils has its advantages, digital illustrations can be created much more quickly, and in a number of different styles. But this is just the most baseline use of the term digital illustration.

In practical terms, what it really means is to use software to create images that tell a story, either by focusing on a character or environment.

These images are then used to help sell a product–such as the art that goes onto playing cards or book covers; or to inspire the tone and look of a dramatic scene in a game or movie.

It should be noted that while there is a bit of crossover between concept art and digital illustration, they are slightly different. Concept art is used to give the viewer the general idea of what something looks like, while digital illustration uses images to tell more of a story.

It portrays a feeling and a mood and is generally a more complete-looking image. But both have their place in the production of games, films, book covers, advertisements, and more.

Digital illustration is also not quite the same thing as graphic art, which tends to be used more in advertisements to portray a simple idea using shapes and lines, as opposed to a narrative using hand-drawn images. If you’re looking to use software to tell a story through an image, it’s digital illustration.

The Two Types of Digital Illustration

There are actually two specific types of digital illustration, Bitmap, and Vector. Both require different software and are used to create different styles of illustration. Most professional illustrators are well versed in using both, though some choose to specialize in either one or the other. Here is a brief explanation of the differences between these two types.

Bitmap/Raster

Bitmap illustrations sometimes referred to as Raster is made out of pixels, tiny dots that together form the image. This allows you to have a lot of color graduation and gives you a ton of choices for what tools the software has that you can create your art with.

But unfortunately, it also means that when you resize the image there is always some loss in quality.

Illustrators tend to prefer this software when they don’t care about as much about the clean lines that vector software offers and instead want to give their drawings more of a watercolor or hand-drawn, painted or even charcoal look.

This software also allows you to add and edit photographs, allowing for very realistic illustrations.

Vector

Vector images on the other hand are made up of lines and shapes. Mathematical formulas in the software tell the computer where these lines are placed as well as their size, making the lines incredibly clean. Much more so certainly than you could do by hand.

One of the biggest advantages of this is it means you can resize an image much more easily without any loss in quality, but it tends to be better suited to 2D images and simpler art styles. That’s because the lines of vector art tend towards being very angular and straight, as it’s all calculated by the software, as opposed to the hand-drawn or watercolor look that’s possible using bitmap.

For those reasons, Graphic artists tend to prefer vector design software, though it’s not uncommon for illustrators to use it as well, even in big productions. It’s often seen in advertisements, book covers, and pop art.

Digital Illustration Tools, Software, and Apps

Generally, digital illustrators will use a graphics tablet to do their work. Graphics tablets allow the artist to draw images by hand in a similar way to drawing on paper or painting on a canvas. But using a graphics tablet, they are aided by the different digital brushes, paints, and techniques that their choice of software allows.

As far as this software goes, Adobe Photoshop is the most commonly used by digital illustrators today. In fact, having proficiency with photoshop is practically a must for this career but Pixlr is sometimes preferred by illustrators who like to use Raster Graphics.

For those who want to specialize in Vector graphics, Inkscape is the most commonly used piece of software, with Vector and Carbon being close seconds.

What Is A Digital Illustrator?

One part artist, and one part storyteller, a digital illustrator uses software to create images that inspire. You can see their work everywhere. An illustrator might make the cover of a book that manages to catch your eye even in a library. They might make the box art of a videogame, toy, or film. Sometimes they create film posters or the images you see on card games like Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh!.

Here are a few famous digital illustrators, as well as some familiar works:

Joey Chou is a prolific digital illustrator who typically uses Vector in his art, creating breathtaking work with fairly simple shapes. He’s managed to make a successful career by leaning into this unique and memorable art style.

So much so in fact that he’s contributed work for Disney, Dreamworks, Bethesda, and much more, in addition to selling his own line of prints. Recently his work has been used as reference material for Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse.

Dean Macadam, on the other hand, has a zany art style, perfect for caricatures of famous figures and children’s books. He’s contributed well-known political art to many of the Washington Examiner’s covers.

In other words, the scope of jobs available to a digital illustrator is very wide. They can work on any number of projects, and their own personal style is what will make the illustrator stand out from the crowd. Whatever makes your work unique is more important as an illustrator than anything else.

What Does A Digital Illustrator Do?

First, a digital illustrator is given a brief by their client. This is a document that tells the illustrator what their client is looking for, with notes from the editors and marketers if possible. It should give the illustrator what they need to know about the project, the project’s audience, the client themselves, the general vision they have for the illustration, a due date, and what the illustrator can expect in compensation.

Sometimes these briefs come with visuals and may be given during an actual meeting with the client. Either way, the idea is to give the digital illustrator some guidelines to work within, without strangling their creativity.

The digital illustrator will then spend some time researching and gathering reference materials. This is a big part of the process, as even a creative person can struggle to create, say, an image full of alien technology, without some idea of what the materials might look like, the tone and lighting, etc. Having some reference images that inspire them can make the process go much more smoothly.

With reference materials gathered, the illustrator will begin to create the illustration. This will be their attempt at creating exactly what the client asked for, but it is actually the first draft.

One of the advantages of digital illustration is that the software allows the artist to make changes without tossing away the entire piece and starting from scratch. They can finish this first draft, send it to their client, receive notes and suggestions, and revise the work until the vision of the project is met and completed.

How Do You Become A Digital Illustrator?

To become a digital illustrator, really all you need is the equipment, such as a Wacom Tablet, the software, such as Adobe Photoshop, and plenty of practice. A strong portfolio filled with gorgeous illustration work is the most important factor in finding a job. But there are some other factors which can help.

Learn the Fundamentals of Art and Design

Most post-secondary art schools have courses that cover digital illustration, and how to use the software you’ll need. Getting a bachelor’s degree or a master’s can certainly give you a huge boost when it comes to finding an illustration job, but more importantly, you’ll be learning the skills required of you in the industry and building up a digital art portfolio.

Many schools even offer internship programs with employers and usually host their own networking events for their students. In other words, just because you don’t need a bachelor’s degree to become a digital illustrator, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get one.

The best courses to go for are the fine arts, visual arts, or especially digital media courses. These will give you a firm grounding in the fundamentals of art and design, as well as experience with the software digital illustrators, use every day.

Where to Find Digital Illustrator Tutorials

Besides getting a post-secondary education, there are a number of guides and tutorials that can start you on your journey to becoming a digital illustrator.

Youtube Channels

These days, you can learn just about anything on youtube, and digital illustration is no exception. Emma Jane Lefebvre for example has a four-part video series on the fundamentals of illustration, as well as a youtube channel that’s regularly updated with art tutorials of all sorts.

But you could also start with the two-part digital art guide by Nadiaxel. If you want something more technical, there are tutorials and guides on virtually any piece of illustration software, from Adobe Photoshop to Inkscape. Finding videos by content creators who can not only teach, but entertain you is a great way to start.

Books on Digital Illustration

If you want to learn how to be a digital illustrator, you’d be wise to pick up a couple of books on the subject. Industry professionals have gone out of their way to provide detailed lessons on these pages.

For example, in ‘How To Be An Illustrator’, you learn about the business side of digital illustration. It covers the best practices to follow to help get your art seen by the right people, how to nail an interview, and how the illustration business really works.

‘Digital Painting For The Complete Beginner’, on the other hand, is a great practical resource in the process of creating digital illustrations. There are lots of options out there, but these books are perfect for fresh artists looking to make their mark.

Digital Illustration Blogs

Following certain blogs can help you keep track of the goings-on in the world of digital illustration, as well as lessons you can use yourself.

Lines and Colors, for example, is a very regularly updated blog that talks about the techniques and practices used by artists around the world. Digital art is one of many categories of art that they talk about, but it’s certainly worth paying attention to.

Digital Art Teacher focuses, unsurprisingly, on being more educational. Either way, following these blogs, will give you some strong insight into how to be a successful illustrator.

Podcasts

It might seem a little bit odd, but yes there are podcasts that can teach you about digital illustration. One, in particular, can be an incredible resource.

3 Point Perspective is a podcast committed to discussing the ins and outs of illustration. Each episode covers a different concept, such as when to give up a project, should you copyright your work and pointillism. These episodes often feature professionals who work in the industry, and they broadcast a new episode every month.

Why is a Digital Illustration Portfolio Important?

A portfolio is a collection of an artist’s work, often showcased on a personal website, Artstation, or even as a physical document. It’s important because, for an artist, their portfolio IS their resume. If you try to find work as a digital illustrator, the first thing an employer will ask for is your portfolio.

It’s a display of your talent, work ethic, and experience in the field. For that reason, you definitely want to make sure your portfolio is of a high enough standard to land you that job. But what makes a great portfolio versus a disappointing one?

What Should Be In Your Digital Illustration Portfolio?

The first thing you should make absolutely sure of is that your portfolio only contains your very best work. Quality, not quantity, is the important part here. One jaw-droppingly beautiful illustration you created is worth a hundred mediocre ones.

If you’ve only made two or three illustrations that you think meet the industry standard, then you are better served to keep those three in your portfolio and leave out the rest.

The next thing you want to make sure of is that your portfolio emphasizes your skills as a digital illustrator. Many artists make the mistake of taking their best work but in a variety of art fields.

Showing you’re capable of working on a few different types of projects can be a good thing, but if what you really want is to be a digital illustrator, then most of your portfolio should be digital illustrations. If an employer sees a canvas painting, a comic strip, a piece of graphic art, and an illustration in your portfolio, how are they supposed to know that digital illustration is your specialty?

Finally, don’t be afraid to show your process. In fact, employers tend to love a portfolio that shows what it took to make your best work. This way, they don’t just know what you worked on, but how you work, which can give them great insight into whether you’d be a good fit for their needs. Even showing your notes can give them a good idea of what you were trying to do when you started, and what changed before the end.

To get started on a digital illustration portfolio, consider using Artstation. They can give you a personal domain, with a number of different templates to help make your work stand out, as well as access to an entire community of artists and employers in all fields. But if you want to know what a digital illustration portfolio should look like, here are some great examples:

Irina French: This artist has done a number of book covers, as well as work for magazines, always with a fantasy theme. Note how immediately on the homepage you are hit with one of her illustrations, and seeing the rest of her portfolio is a single click away.

Finnian MacManus: This is one incredibly impressive portfolio. Finnian specializes in architecture, with a particular focus on science fiction. Some of his illustrations have even been used in Star Wars, the Lion King, and Pacific Rim. Since he has had a prolific illustration career, his portfolio is a veritable wall of his work, separated into different projects he has worked on.

These examples should give you a great idea of what to aim for as you develop your portfolio. As you take on more digital illustration jobs, you can change and update your portfolio with your new work. Therefore, your portfolio is always getting better, as your own illustration work improves with practice.

Digital Illustrator Job Hunt

With your portfolio at the ready, what does the job hunt look like for a digital illustrator? Here is a brief rundown of what you can expect while looking to land one of these jobs in a highly competitive creative industry.

Job Description

The typical digital illustration job description is as follows: To create original artwork for digital publications and print, and to work closely with your client to ensure your vision meets their particular needs and standards. Most employers will use a variation of this description when looking for illustrators to join their team.

Depending on how big the client is and the nature of the project, you may have to work with editors and marketers, as digital illustration, when it’s not used just to inspire the look of a scene in a game or movie, is almost always used as advertising material.

Your creativity and skill are your best selling point, but even so, when working with clients, expect that you may have to make changes to the illustrations to more closely fit what they want.

Salary

The average salary of a digital illustrator is around $68,000 a year. With that said, it entirely depends on your experience, your clients, and the jobs. If you’re doing work as a freelance digital illustrator, you may start out making a few hundred dollars per illustration.

However, for illustrators whose work contributes to huge multi-million dollar films and video games, illustrators could make thousands of dollars per illustration.

In many ways, the quality, as well as output of your work will determine how successful you will be as a digital illustrator. Digital illustration is used in so many products that there’s certainly plenty of work out there, much of which will inspire you.

But it’s a very competitive job market, so to rake in the big bucks, your work will have to be at a level of quality the employers you want can’t ignore. Don’t be disheartened if you don’t get there right away. The more jobs you successfully do, the more practice you will have, and the better a portfolio you will be making.

Digital Illustrators also have the freedom to craft their own niche. If you like drawing characters in action scenes, there are jobs for that. If you prefer science fiction landscapes, there are jobs for that too. But how do you find them?

Finding Digital Illustration Jobs

There are a few different avenues you can take to find one of these jobs. One common approach is to try your hand at job sites such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and Upwork. The jobs on offer range in size, pay scale, and scope.

Many of these are freelance, one-time illustration jobs, but there’s plenty of long-term work on offer too. Don’t underestimate the job sites, as it’s not uncommon for huge companies like Ubisoft to make job postings looking for digital illustrators.

Another critical factor to landing your dream illustration job is networking. Employers won’t usually track down your portfolio out of nowhere, most of the time you have to go looking for them. Attending events such as Freelance Fandango and Society of Illustrators is a great way to meet other artists, professionals, and employers, as well as to attend workshops and lectures.

There are plenty of illustration events to be found every year, and they aren’t just for show. Potential clients are always scouring these events for new talent, and professionals in the industry want to share what they know with a new generation of artists.

What’s more, there are plenty of illustration competitions that can serve to show your work to a wide audience. You can often win prizes in these competitions, but even if you don’t win, the point is to get your portfolio out there for others to see. An illustration entry in a competition is a wonderful way to spark interest in the rest of your work.

Internships

Internships are a great way to get some experience working in a digital illustration career, and luckily there are plenty out there. Many of them can be found on the job sites mentioned earlier.

For example, Riot Games, makers of League of Legends, are currently offering internships. Disney also has an internship program, though it’s a very competitive process to get in. Still, internships can open doors to your future illustration career, so apply where you can! If you get accepted, it can be a huge opportunity.

Are You Ready To Share Your Story?

Digital illustrators are not just artists, but storytellers. Their work provides inspiration and excitement to our day-to-day lives. It may be a difficult job, but these artists have a lot of leeways to build up their own style of work and use it to add a little flavor to the media landscape we see every day.

With practice, imagination, and a little luck, you too can find success as a professional digital illustrator.

For beginners who have an interest in animation, but aren’t quite sure how to get started, this can become a huge roadblock. These are problems faced by all animators eventually. Gone are the days of Flash animation, you need new software that’s as good for professionals as it is for novices.

In this article, we’ll cover how Synfig Studio might just be the software you’ve been looking for. It can be an animator’s secret weapon, helping you with your creations while cutting down on the processes that cost you time and money.

What is Synfig Studio?

Synfig is an animation software designed to create film-quality animations using fewer people and resources. Perfect for independent animators, but versatile enough to be used by career professionals as well. The software uses both vector and bitmap artwork, which is impressive as most animation software only uses vectors.

Created in 2005 by Robert Quattlebaum and Adrian Bentley, originally as software for the now-defunct Varia project. It was given open-source status, and since then has been noticed and improved upon by a growing number of fans and developers in the community for its reliable tweening technology. To date, it is widely considered the best tweening software.

In 2020, it was finally given a stable release. It’s software that’s beginning to build a reputation among animators as a fast and reliable tool. In addition, it’s open-source and free to use. You won’t be paying a high upfront cost to use the software you may not like, and there are plenty of mods and help available from the Synfig Studio community.

Essentially, it has everything you need to help you create professional 2D animations. Now let’s go over some of the features.

Curved Gradients

Applying shading to every single frame of animation is tedious work, but Synfig studio can do the work for you. It uses a system for soft shading using curved gradients within a given area. This lets you apply shading to a layer once at the beginning of a gradient, and then again at the end, letting you easily change the shading between frames without having to do each one individually.

It may not be the flashiest sounding feature, but it will definitely be one you can come to rely on.

Bones

In animation terms, bones are a way of selecting what pieces of an animation movie, and how they move. Synfig Studios has an advanced system for creating bones and adding them to cutouts.

If you’re unfamiliar, then as an example in Synfig Studio if you were animating a moving leg, you would have the leg split into different cutouts on your bitmap.

Let’s say you want to animate the foot, lower leg, and upper leg to animate a walk cycle. Each of those would be a different part, and you would attach them together with bones, and then add joints to the bones to allow certain parts of the leg to move in specific ways. Those are the basics of bones in animation.

It’s a method broadly used for animating characters, and the Synfig Studio system is more than capable of using it. There’s even a skeletal distortion layer included if you want to make fancy distortions of the bones you have. All in all, a great feature of the system.

Layers and Filters

Layers allow you to blend multiple levels of animation into a single scene. Complex animations will have a ton of layers doing things at once.

Moving eyebrows, furrowing brows, eye movement, lip movement, a nose twitch, and the background image could all be different layers on a detailed animated face. Using layers you can create new animations for your keyframes, or even add animation on top of an existing one without removing it.

So what makes Synfig Studios special when it comes to layers? To start, it allows you to have over fifty active layers at the same time. There are also a number of different types to choose from, fractals, distortions, gradients, geometric, and transformations to name a few. Essentially, using the layers in Synfig Studios, a 2D animation of any complexity is possible.

Vector Tweening

One of the best features of Synfig Studios is its vector tweening capabilities. Tweening, short for “inbetweening”, is the process of generating images between keyframes.

When animating a simple movement, you may want to get from point A to point B, but if you have to draw out every single frame of animation by hand, it’s going to take a long time. The vector tweening software in Synfig Studios, as well as other modern animation software, allows you to avoid this by filling in the gaps of animation movement between two set points.

In other words, if you want an eyeball to move from left to right, you don’t need to draw the same eye over twenty times. Instead, you use the tweening system to tell the eye where you want it to start moving, and where you want it to go, and the system will automatically fill in those frames of animation for you. That’s the general concept of tweening.

Synfig Studios, despite having been around since 2005, currently has the most powerful and fastest tweening system in the world. But what Synfig Studios does that other systems cannot give you the ability to transform one vector shape into another.

Setting the key positions will calculate the frames automatically, so you only have to draw a few keyframes to give the program a sense of the motion you’re looking for. It will fill in the rest. This way you can do even more complex movements with the tweening system, and save yourself a lot of time and energy while still having fluid and complex animations. No manual tweening necessary.

Linking

Through a process called linking, you can reuse bits of data, as well as functions associated with them. That means you can take a working piece of animation, and reuse it, or its basic structure later. This can be a huge time saver when working on large productions.

Video Courses

The Synfig Studios website features a video course on the software. This course serves to teach you how to be comfortable with the nuances of the software and has a font of information on the basics of animation. It is a paid course, but they allow you to pay whatever you like, starting from as low as one dollar.

It’s definitely worth it if you’re new to animation software or unfamiliar with Synfig. The course covers all about making your first animation, rendering, walk cycles, linking files, creating a moving background, face and skeleton animation, and more.

How to Set up Synfig Studios

To get started with Synfig Studios, you’ll first have to download and install it. Don’t worry about the price selection screen, Synfig is free and open-sourced, but you can volunteer to contribute a little money to the development team if you so choose.

It should also be noted, there are two different available downloads. One is the stable version, and the other is a development version.

The development version features some attempted bug fixes, as well as some experimental, untested features that the stable version lacks, but it is less predictable and not recommended for commercial use at this time. Click the stable version, and it will bring you to a second page where you can click download.

As a quick note, clicking download will then bring up a small window asking for your email address and whether you would like to be updated through email about any changes, however, if you don’t wish to be, there’s a download anonymously button beneath the download button.

After hitting download, select the version that will work on your operating system. Currently, Synfig works for Windows, Windows Portable, Linux, and OSX, with 64 or 32-bit options. Pick the selection that best applies to you, and begin the installation as you would for any other program.

Using Synfig For Animation

Learning to use Synfig Studios can take a little bit of time, as the software was never fully completed before it was given a stable release. The best ways to learn how to animate with Synfig are the video course provided on the website, support from the community forums, or simply by playing around with it yourself.

If you want to try out the latter, here’s a quick explanation to help you get started.

Toolbar

Once you’ve got the program running, in the upper left corner you should see your toolbar. This should be fairly straightforward if you’re at all familiar with any artist software.

The top of the toolbar is filled with file options for creating a new project, saving your current project, etc. Underneath that, you will see a button for settings. This is useful when starting a new project. You can tweak features such as how many frames per second you intend to animate, gamma, resolutions, what sort of render engine you wish to use, etc.

Beneath that are a few of the basic tools at your disposal.

Brush Tool: Allows you to draw freehand over Raster Images.
Circle Tool: Allows you to create circular layers.
Draw Tool: A basic drawing tool, allows you to draw images on the Canvas Window.
Cutout Tool: Select a piece of the composition by adding a mask, separating it from the background.
Eyedrop Tool: Allows you to select colors.
Fill Tool: Changes the color of a geometry layer, filling it in completely.

For more information on tools, see Synfig Studios Documentation on Synfig.org.

Canvas Window

This large window should be the first thing you notice. This is the Canvas Window and is the area where you will do most of the drawing and animating work. There is a button in the bottom right that will turn on animate mode. The animate mode will test run through your animation and indicates to the program that what you are working on is going to move.

Some features in the other panels, such as creating keyframes, will only work in this mode. In the upper left corner of the canvas, there is a canvas setting button. Click on this, and go to import if there are any images you would like to start animating.

If you are just starting out, it’s a great idea to upload your own image to test out how the canvas window and animate mode affect it. You can also change the properties of your image size from the settings.

Canvas Browser

In the upper right corner is the canvas browser. This small window shows you a zoomed-out version of the canvas window. The canvas window is pretty large. This essentially gives you a faster way to find the parts you’re looking for without having to scroll.

Layer Panel

On the bottom left, you’ll see the Layer Panel. This helps you to keep track of all of your layers and to group certain layers together. As your animation becomes more complex, many of these will be filled with different assets at once. In Synfig, you can have over fifty layers at once. This panel will help you manage them.

History Panel

Shows a list of your most recent actions, and allows you to undo or redo them. Useful for when something went wrong seven steps ago instead of two; you can still correct the mistake while keeping the things that work. You can even switch between several canvas panels through here. A very convenient tool.

Time Tracker

Finally, there is the time tracker below the Canvas Window. This tracker will help you monitor the time and frames you are at during your animation.

When you begin to animate you’ll be able to see how long it takes to transition from point A to point B, and how it looks in each individual moment. You can also use this area to create and manage your keyframes, an incredibly important part of the animation process, as Keyframes indicate the beginning and end of a movement.

Those are the basics of what you’ll see when you open up Synfig Studios for the first time. It won’t be enough information to become an expert, but it should be enough to give you an idea of what is possible, and what the various panels are for. Play around with it for a bit and you’ll never get lost in a maze of windows and layers again.

Conclusion

When it comes to 2D animation, Synfig Studios is a great choice that can save you a lot of time and work, and you’ll never have to pay a cent for it. Despite it never being officially completed, artists around the world have come to rely on it. A community of animators, developers, and fans have been improving it constantly over the years, bringing this project back from the dead.

Animation software comes and goes, yet this one has continued to thrive and develop even further for years. And there’s a reason. Synfig Studios is a versatile animation software that is easy to use once you’ve played with it a bit and is the best in the world at what it does the best tweening.

So don’t underestimate this humble little animation program. It can be just the secret weapon you need to bring your creations to life.

What makes them so great? Some may say it’s the drawing skills of the artists. Others say things like the top-notch voice acting plays a role. What if I were to tell you that it was none of the above? What if I told you it was tweening that made animation so iconic?

What Does Inbetweening Mean?

Inbetweening refers to the intermediate frames ‘in-between’ others to animate aspects of a scene. The frames that do the heavy lifting in terms of tweening are called keyframes. These keyframes, when properly utilized and implemented, give the impression of sleek, smooth movement.

Inbetweening Animation

Inbetweening, rightly so, has a long and celebrated history in animation. Any animation you see has tweening, whether it’s the Lion King or your favorite Internet cartoon.

Let’s look at some crucial aspects of inbetweening animation that make it one of the cornerstones of art.

Traditional Animation

Traditional, hand-drawn animation from the good old days had a pretty solid system in place to make animating a bit easier.

The key animators would draw these keyframes, then hand the finished frames off to someone else, called an ‘inbetweener.’ The inbetweener pulls everything together, cleaning up rough edges and animations, along with doing some revisions of their own.

This made the workflow as an animator smoother and less of a headache. Obviously, not every team or individual has the resources or manpower to have an inbetweener help them out.

Frame Frequency

Frame frequency refers to frame rate, or how often a number of frames appear. Something with a low frame rate is choppy, while something with high frame rates seems smoother. Therefore, having many keyframes in your animation makes it seem more fluid and gives the illusion of movement.

However, if you skimp on keyframes, your work will look janky and unrefined. It may even seem like it’s not even animation, to begin with.

Digital Animation

Digital animation is where the term ‘keyframes’ gets dropped, substituting for ‘tweens.’

The beauty of digital animation and innovation and greater capabilities from the artist is the automated or more straightforward process of creating tweens and implementing them.

Let’s take a look at how to create a solid tweening animation.

Steps to A Perfect Tweening Using Adobe Animate

If we were to use Adobe Animate (which any aspiring animator should be), the steps to create a sleek, seamless tweening animation is actually quite simple.

But hold on! You need to know just a few aspects like terminology and what specific functions do.

• The Timeline
  • This is where all of your animations are. It’s the overall timeline of your project.

• The Tween Span
  • The tween span is the period of time where objects within a scene change. For example, the tween span consists of frames in which a character’s legs move.

Step 1: Create

Once you have your two separate frames (without a keyframe), the next step is to create said keyframe. To do so in Adobe Animate, you simply click on the asset or graphic, right-click, then select Create Motion Tween.

Step 2: Edit

Once you have selected where you want to insert keyframes and what they are, you need to do a bit of surgery on the animation timeline.

Check the ‘stage,’ making sure that the desired duration of animation is correct, along with whatever object or graphic you are inserting.

Step 3: Check and Finalize

After you are done editing and deliberating, go ahead and check if the tweening animation worked out as you intended. You can do this with the ‘onion skin’ feature, which allows you to see several frames at once. This is perfect for ensuring your principal animation, along with keyframes, are in perfect sync.

Adobe Animate is only one of the options you have at your disposal. There are quite a few fantastic animation programs with similar modes of creating a tweening animation:

• Blender
• Pencil2D
• Krita
• Cinema 4D
• Synfig
• Toonz

Conclusion

There you have it. That’s why tweening animations are some of the most important aspects of any form of animated media.

Without them, you’d be watching a choppy, unintelligible mess. Bugs Bunny would be about to bite his carrot in one scene, with it being gone in the next. The lack of continuity would absolutely ruin animation.

Luckily for us, there are easy ways to engage in tweening animation to bring a little life to your work.

Here we’ll introduce you to some background info, features, and Pencil2D tutorials to get your 2D animator career started on the right path. But first thing’s first: what is Pencil2D.

What is Pencil2D?

Pencil2D is an open-source 2D animation program. For those of you not in the know, open-source means free. Pencil2D is the perfect resource for those who want to get into 2D animation without the financial commitment. Open-source art programs like GIMP and Pencil2D have made creating using simple tools a ton of fun.

Pencil2D software uses the GNU General Public License. This means that Pencil2D is completely open, free, and ripe for modifying. Developer Matthew Chang and his team took the source code from an earlier project called Pencil and created what is now Pencil2D.

For over 15 years, Pencil2D has evolved with the times, updating software and user interface and experience features to give amateur animators the ability to create impressive 2D animations. It’s cross-platform software you can get for nearly any operating system.

Features

Some notable features of Pencil2D are as follows:

• Animation
• Video support
• Open-source (FREE)
• Detailed Color Wheel
• Customizable Templates
• Dynamic Zoom In/Out
• Pop-up Colour Palette
• And other features are found in similar software, i.e., smudge, blur, various image effects.

Installing Pencil

Okay, so now that you know that Pencil2D is a pretty detailed and reliable animation tool for animators of any skill level, let’s get this thing installed, shall we?

The first thing to do is go to the official Pencil2D website. There will be a button on the top edge of the screen, where you’ll find ‘Download.’ Simply choose your operating system. In my case, I decided on Windows 64-bit.

As we said before, this program works for multiple operating systems like Linux, Ubuntu, Flatpak, and Homebrew Cask.

From there, you need to unzip the files in the downloaded folder. Follow the instructions from there, and you should be good.

They even have a handy troubleshooting section on the download page if you run into any trouble.

Right on the front page, they have a detailed guide for installing the program. This is fantastic, as sometimes installing programs (especially ones you aren’t familiar with) can be a hassle. The Pencil 2D team has taken all of the headaches out of the process.

Reviews

Okay, so Pencil2D has been around a while and has some helpful artistic features. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s perfect. So what are people saying about Pencil2D? Is it worth the download, practice, and use? The verdict so far is ‘absolutely.’

Artists consistently praise its fantastic user interface, ease of use, and its versatility.

Even those who weren’t as enthusiastic about it praised its ease of use. Check out more Pencil2D reviews at G2.

Pencil2D Tutorials

Now it’s time for tutorials. Sure, you can jump right in and learn the user interface and various tools on your own. However, that can be pretty frustrating. Let’s see what other people are doing to guide you through Pencil2D.

Pencil2D Official Site

It’s always a great idea to check out the official site for any software you download. You’ll find firsthand knowledge of a specific program or product and gain insight from the developers.

This site is jam-packed with resources and especially Pencil2D tutorials. There are specific Pencil2D tutorials for certain actions and more general videos to help get you familiarized with the entire user experience.

Pencil2D Tutorial from Same Animate

Sam Animate is a YouTuber who has put together a pretty solid video that nails all of the basics for starting your first Pencil2D project. After your particular Pencil2D download, click the link to Sam’s channel.

WikiHow to Animate with Pencil2D

Like Wikipedia, WikiHow is filled with useful, step by step instructions for doing nearly anything.

Want to know how to refill coolant in your car? How to milk a cow? What about CPR? It’s all there on this unique site.

That includes Pencil2D. WikiHow’s step by step guide with pictures is perfect for the visual learner.

Wrapping Up with Pencil2D

So is Pencil2D worth it? Absolutely.

If you are just beginning your animation journey, a Pencil2D download is exactly what you need. While everyone will have their personal favorite piece of animation software, Pencil2D is a solid starting point.

How to Get Started With Animation

How do I animate? You use tools like Krita! Other than that, animation is the process of taking frames, stagnant pictures, and making the character or object move using different methods.

Before you start with programs like Krita, layers, paint, apps, and whatever else applies, you need to start with animation. How do you get there? Can you start making the next best-animated series?

There are a few ways.

We recommend checking out a few people on YouTube or online communities like Reddit.

Here are a few resources, tutorials, and more to get you started in your artistic journey.

Getting Started in art/animation from Jazza

In this comprehensive yet entirely simple video tutorial, YouTube user Jazza takes aspiring animators and shows them exactly what they need. Whether it’s a particular drawing tablet, paint application, this is the perfect tutorial for beginners.

12 Principles of Animation (Official Full Series) by AlanBeckerTutorials

This excellent video series compiles all the essential animation principles in one place. This is how to effectively illustrate, keep objects consistent, how to draw frames, and other significant steps involved in good animation.

About Krita

Okay, so what is Krita? Krita is a great little graphics editor. Artists and designers use Krita primarily for animation and 2D painting.

Developed over 15 years ago, it is open-source and available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, Chrome OS. It uses C++ and Qt as its programming languages.

Krita has several prominent tools, which we’ll get into later on.

How Good is Krita for 2D Animation?

Is Krita good for animation? Yes. It’s a fan favorite and is perfect for frame by frame animation techniques. Overall, it is an invaluable resource for any budding animators or 2D painters.

To introduce you to Krita before you download, let’s see some of the program’s most unique settings, aspects, and workflow.

Animation Curves

The animation curves docker in Krita allows for comprehensive edits in your work. This combines math, as Krita will recognize your animation as a variable or value. This is called Tweening.

Workflow

Let’s take a brief look at some great tools Krita offers for a workflow.

Timeline Docker

The timeline docker is the primary way that you measure the time of animation and drawing. This is where you tweak and edit your work. Want to add audio to your animation? This is the place to scrub through your work and insert other aspects.

Animation Docker

In the animation docker, you will see the playback of your project. Based on your settings, frames will start at 0 and will cycle to 10.

Depending on hotkeys and animation settings, the next few options may vary. Let’s look at the rest of Krita’s workflow.

Onion Skin Docker

The onion skin docker essentially shows the animation frames layered on top of one another. This allows for a valuable look at frames and how they connect with one another.

Your Questions Answered

What if I want to draw on a screen and see where I’m drawing?

It depends on the settings of your drawing tablet. For drawing tablets in general, you draw on the tablet, and you see your work on the screen. However, if you are using just a tablet (think of an iPad, etc.), you can see your pictures and art right on the screen. It also depends on the stylus, pencil, or other accessories.

So what if I can’t afford a Cintiq?

Okay, so Cintiqs can be rather expensive. If you are an amateur painter or animator, it might be a tall order.

Luckily for you, there are tons of great, cheaper tablet options. Great brands like Wacom and Huion develop fantastic budget tablets, along with more expensive options. If you can’t afford a Cintiq tablet, you can opt for any of these options by these companies.

What program should I use?

There are, luckily, many programs and settings that allow you to animate and draw. Krita is a great option, as it is open-source, relatively easy to use, and overall pretty decent.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to choose your program of choice. However, we highly recommend Krita, as it offers both digital drawing and animation.

How to Draw in Krita

Okay, enough delay! Let’s break down the basics of drawing in Krita.

Layers

You have heard of layers before. Whether it’s Adobe Photoshop or other art programs, layers allow you to pull your art together. Layers allow you to draw, animate, and otherwise create various aspects of art and combine them together into a cohesive piece.

Brush Tool

The many brush tools in Krita allow you to control the brushes’ size and opacity in your digital paintings. Want a heavy brush? Choose a larger size, opacity, and more.

Shape Tools

Krita’s shape tool is pretty impressive. This is perfect for vector graphics. You have a fantastic amount of control over the shapes and motions of your work.

Selection and Transform

Selection and transforming your art allows you to take something and increase, move, and decrease the size. Want to rotate objects? Want to crop? This is the option you are looking for.

Saving Your File

So, you’ve put a ton of work into your file. Now comes time to save. Simply click on ‘Save As,’ as with other files in nearly every major computer program. However, keep in mind that you need to save your Krita file in its native format, represented as ‘.kra.’

From there, you can export your objects and work to any file format, so don’t worry about compatibility issues.

How to Animate in Krita

Okay, now that you know more about drawing basic stuff in Krita, let’s start with animation.

Set-Up

Those familiar with the now discontinued Adobe Flash will recognize Krita’s user interface right away. It shares many similarities.

Right-click, create a new frame.

Right-click to add a new frame to your basic animation. Not much to it!

Your second frame

Once again, right-click to add your second frame. A helpful aspect Krita allows for is the ‘Auto Frame Mode.’ This automatically adds frames to an empty workspace.

Onion skinning
Remember onion skinning? The overall look of all the animation frames in one cohesive screen. This allows you to essentially see the bigger picture, both literally and figuratively. Think of it as a ‘bird’s eye view.’

Start animating

Now that you can use these fantastic tools to create, edit, and transform frames, get to work! The only limit is your own creativity.

Export your animation

Remember, save your animation with the ‘.kra’ file format. Then choose to export your animation in whichever file format you need. You can also export to the web.

Introduction to Animation: How to Make A Walk Cycle

A great exercise to start animation projects is learning how to create a walk cycle. A walk cycle, as you probably guessed, involves creating a character and making it walk.

There are critical points of walk cycle animations. Let’s take a look:

• Arcs
• Timing and Spacing
• Squash and Stretch
• Easing
• Overlapping Action
• Secondary Action
• Exaggeration
• Appeal

All of these principles of animation ensure that a walk cycle isn’t only realistic but convincing. Using things like the shape tools, you will need to manipulate the legs, arms, head, and torso to make the animation appear realistic. No matter how cartoonish your art design, you need a basic grasp of how movements work for it to really come together.

How Do I Add Audio to Krita Animation?

Once you nailed a few crucial animation techniques in Krita, what about audio. Sure, you can have a silent film, but let’s be realistic: you need good audio.

If you access the Krita documentation, you will see how simple it is to add audio to animation. First, you will want to decide which audio format fits in with your animation: WAV, MP3, or OGM.

You simply take an audio file, upload it to your animation, and put it in the animation timeline to your desired location. Simply press play to see how the audio links up with your frames.

Conclusion

There has never been a better time to dig into animation techniques, artistic resources, and other programs that help you create.

Krita can be an excellent program for beginners and even a stepping stone to more significant animation avenues in the future. Since it’s open-source* and free, there’s no downside to trying it out.

Since it’s free, maybe think of dropping the developers a few dollars to show your appreciation! Whatever the case, Krita will be a great animation and drawing resource for many years to come.

Image Source:

How to Animate in Krita Source

The Job of a 3D Animator

The job of a 3D animator and designer isn’t all glamour and creating Pixar movies. Well, some of it definitely is, but not without hard work. Let’s take a deep dive into 3D animator as a career choice, what you need to succeed, and how to land a job.

Should I Become a 3D Animator?

Yes! Well, if that’s what you are interested in. It is one of the more creative fields to join these days and can be extremely rewarding.

Is 3D animation a promising career? Yes, it can be gratifying and lucrative. However, there are a few aspects of becoming one of these talented designers.

You won’t be earning six figures right out of art school. However, if you put in enough hard work and use the right software, your work will definitely turn heads.

It can be fun and challenging, and ultimately, rewarding.

The Characteristics of a 3D Animator

The characteristics of an animator, while not universal, follow the same trends. For example, an animator can’t get by being lazy. Or a lousy team player.

What skills do you need to be a 3D animator? Patience, dedication, teamwork, and more. Collaborating within a group is crucial to success, as even big-time animation studios like Pixar have large groups working on important deadlines. We’ll explore this dynamic a bit more later on.

The Technical Skills of a 3D Animator

Okay, now that we know the characteristics of a 3D animator and designer, what technical skills do you need to be a 3d animator? Programming, model rendering, drawing, technology, and VFX. Of course, there are more skills depending on what programs you use and what you specifically animate.

Degree Level

The standard degree that animators need is usually a bachelor’s degree. Many have scored full-time, lucrative animating gigs with a traditional four-year degree. Here’s a list of what we believe to be the 71 best animation schools around the world and online.

Degree Field

Okay, so a four-year degree can usually swing it. But what do you major in? Usually, art students will major in specific fields like animation and design. Some schools have even more particular specializations to choose from to narrow it down and give you more specialized knowledge and skills.

Experience

Arguably one of the essential things an animator or designer needs and art school credentials is raw experience. This can be through various internships, work programs, or university initiatives that pair you with a mentor. You can also take any number of online art courses.

A significant part of these online courses is that many classes are small and intimate, often having under ten people attending. This gives you an excellent opportunity to form a bond with a professor, instructor, or mentor.

Or you can seek out an internship, the old tried and true method of gaining meaningful work experience. Either way, showing a hiring manager that you have raw expertise gives you an edge in an interview.

Getting There

Know Your Path

So how are you going to go about getting to your destination? Have any idea? There are multiple ways to do it, so don’t be afraid to experiment. Also, you need to know about what to animate.

Know Where to Start

One of the most difficult challenges of starting a career as a designer is finding a good place to start. Whether it’s a lack of motivation or finding a career path too daunting, you can easily get held up.

Know Where to Learn

A great way to break through the paralysis is by research. Research what university, community college, or art school you would like to attend. Do they offer a major in your particular area of interest? Can you get a scholarship? Get online and do some detailed searches.

Learn Body Mechanics

Learning how a body move is how you master animation. Without this crucial knowledge, you have no hope. Study animation techniques, ways in which physics influence movement, and more.

Learn Good Communication Skills

Communicating, while a useful skill in life, is doubly helpful as an animator. You will likely work as part of a team working on strict deadlines. That means you need to be able to communicate thoughts and ideas effectively. If you can’t communicate with your team, your projects will be dead on arrival.

Practice

Once you land a job as an animator, you never stop improving. It’s not time to get complacent. Practicing your craft every day, no matter what it is, is a fantastic strategy to get better at it. Getting better at it opens up better opportunities. Pretty simple, right?

Push Yourself

Don’t be afraid to animate outside your comfort zone. It may feel safe to strictly animate what you know, but by challenging yourself and your expectations, you can end up surprising yourself and others.

Level Your Expectations and Exceed Everyone Else’s

Having high expectations of yourself is okay. However, if you fail to meet sky-high expectations, it could hurt your work. What are other people expecting of you? Focus on those expectations.

Steps to Become A 3D Animator

Build a Portfolio

It can’t be overstated. Building a cohesive and impressive portfolio is a direct way to get hired more easily. Working on your own projects, along with the prior experience of an internship or past position, can really make you stand out to recruiters.

Get Experience

You can’t succeed as an animator if you don’t have experience. Even if you miraculously landed a job right out of high school, you absolutely need that dynamic of earning experience to better prepare yourself for the future. Whether it’s learning teamwork strategies or knowing how to accept constructive criticism, those things can’t be learned in a classroom.

Continue Your Education

Your education doesn’t stop once you receive your diploma. Every day, you will learn something new. Whether it is from talented coworkers or your mistakes, education doesn’t stop merely because you stop taking classes.

Education & Training Requirements

Prospective 3D animators need to keep a few things in mind. You likely won’t be accepted into the art community without some serious credentials. I’m talking about art school, internships, and college courses.

Let’s go over the different challenges and hurdles you need to overcome to become a full-fledged 3D animator and designer.

Education

Possibly one of the most critical pieces of your future portfolio is where you got your art knowledge. During job interviews, hiring managers want to see that you put your time into developing your skills through art courses and more.

Now, these don’t need to be Ivy League schools by any measure. Many successful animators and designers land jobs with associate degrees from a community college or a high school diploma with relevant work experience.

This latter option is relatively rare. Either way, art school is a great way to test your skills for a future career.

Art Skills

Life drawings

Since 3D animators spend their entire time animating, they only make sense that they would need to know how things move.

To get a better idea of how figures and other objects move, would-be animators partake in life drawings. This is how artists and designers get a better feel for how a body moves. This is important if they aim to make a realistic animation between multiple characters.

Where Do 3D Animators Work?

3D animators can work in numerous places. You can usually find teams of 3D animators and designers at game companies, movie studios, or even their home office. It depends on what their workloads look like, their job titles, and what company they work for.

For designers and animators, there is no definitive work situation that applies to the job.

3D Animator Salary & Job Outlook

Now that you know more about a team of 3D animators’ daily responsibilities, let’s take a look at salaries and job outlooks for designers.

Salary
How much does a 3D animator make? The average salary for a 3D animator is $75,270 a year. More experienced animators can earn well over $100,000. Again, it entirely depends on your skill level, experience, degree, and company or team you work for.

How much do 3D animators make per hour? Around $36.19 per hour.

Job Outlook
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, multimedia artists and animators (which the role of 3D animator falls into) have solid futures. BLS estimates a 4% growth over the next decade. This is about as fast as expected.

This estimate will probably grow, seeing as the animation is becoming seemingly more popular by the day.

3D Software

Being a 3D animator is a job with a lot of tools at your disposal. These software tools, which we think are the best out there, will help you and a team put your skills to the test.

Autodesk Maya

Maya, and many other pieces of software from Autodesk, is a fantastic way to create things for a portfolio. It may have a steeper learning curve for those just beginning their animation journey, but nothing worth doing should be easy.

There are also quite a few online Autodesk courses you can explore for any number of its programs.

Autodesk Maya is an iconic piece of software, helping render models in games, movies, and TV shows.

Blender

Blender is a fantastic 3D art tool. The software is open-source, meaning completely free to use. This is a great way to practice and start your animation.

Blender allows users to create motion graphics, 3D models, different FX, virtual reality games, and applications.

Blender is the software you should start with.

Movies

Will you follow the tradition of great animation teams and have movies be your medium? Animated films are extremely popular and will likely trend that way. Where do your interests lie?

Games

Games are quickly catching up with movies if they haven’t already. Talented game designers and engineers use their animation knowledge and skills to create beautiful worlds populated with compelling and fun characters.

As the newer generation of consoles rolls out, it’s quickly becoming apparent that games give animated movies a run for their money.

Original Character Designs

While honing your skills (something you never truly stop doing), it’s essential to develop your own original work. These can be anything that springs from your mind.

These original character designs must be your OWN IDEAS. No plagiarizing! It’s a crappy thing to do, and people will always sniff it out, so don’t try it! Idea and vision are essential parts of a designer’s life: don’t make the mistake of stealing.

Other Original Work

Non-character work is also great. For example, you can use your skills to create something like a floating logo or website design. No matter the idea, you must put it into a portfolio to bring to a job interview.

Prop and Location Designs

While it’s easy to hyper-focus on character design, it’s one of the biggest priorities in an animator’s job. Knowing how an environment and various props fit in arguably as important.

Animators need to have the skills to create an entire scene. Moving trees, the wind through the grass, a waterfall: it’s all there. Along with important facets of the environment that tie a scene together, animators need to use their skills to create and animate props.

Conclusion

In the end, a lot of these decisions come down to you. Will you attend a world-famous art school? Or do you prefer to take online courses provided by your local university?

As long as you have an extensive and impressive portfolio to showcase your work, your knowledge and skill will pull you through towards a rewarding career. Most importantly, have fun in what you do.

Games like Hollow Knight, Cuphead, Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality, Escape from Tarkov, and Outer Wilds have defined what gaming is capable of.

So how does someone like you take advantage of what Unity has to offer, namely Unity animations?

Characters are the heart and focal point of any game, and good animation is key to a game’s success and level of fun. You can ensure fluid and realistic movements of characters by using the Unity Animator.

Let’s see just how to animate a character in Unity.

Animation

Animation in Unity is probably more straightforward than you might think. Let’s break down some of the critical concepts behind Unity animation to introduce you to the process.

Animation Clips

Animation clips are what make up the brunt of your Unity animation. These are internal or external files placed into Unity to create animation.

These animation clips are an easier way of pinning applicable animations together to create a cohesive whole. Once clips are imported or created within the engine, we move onto animation controllers, giving us better instructions to the engine as to what characters should do next.

Animation Controllers

Animation controllers are, you guessed it, tools that allow you to dictate movements for your character. Animation controllers do this by organizing your various animation clips and assigning them to different commands. Every time you press the ‘X’ key, you could have an animation cycle between crouching and standing up.

Unity makes animator controllers for you once you start inputting animation information, creating clips, and utilizing state machines to make all of this work.

Wait, State Machines?

State machines refer to the fact that in animation, objects or figures perform actions all the time. As such, they’re in a series of states. Characters can be in a state of running, walking, swimming, you name it.

State machines refer to the overall package of all of the aspects of states. The transition between actions, the actions themselves, and different variables make up a state machine.

For example, from an idle position, your character can’t perform a running jump. However, they can perform a regular jump. The state machine is a flowchart of sorts that shows you what is achievable from any given state. State machines are vital aspects of Unity animation.

How to Animate A Character in Unity

Now that we know a little more about the importance of Unity animation, let’s see what some beginning steps toward animating characters are.

Unity Animation

2D animation usually has characters that move from left to right on the screen. Think of all of the early Mario games as fantastic examples of 2D games. To bring a 2D model to life, you’ll first need a few things.

With Unity 3D animation, you need to be more mindful of your surroundings in-game, as characters move in three dimensions, rather than in two different directions.

What You Need to Start Unity Animation

Ideally, you’re going to want somewhat of a primer course on some animating techniques, along with some familiarity with Unity’s user interface. Knowing the user interface is arguably one of the best ways to succeed when using something like the Unity animator.

You should experiment around and create a character of your own. Once you have a character and a simple grasp of some animator mechanics, we can dig right into the animation process.

Sample Animations

Remaining Idle

Remaining idle is one of the most basic animations a character has. Although they may not be doing much during this state, nearly every other animation flows from the idle state. They’ll need a different state, like running, everything grows from the idle state to achieve a running jump.

Creating a subtle and effective idle animation, like breathing, is simply a matter of manipulating your character model’s rigging throughout a few frames. If you’re successful in your animation of the idle state, you will have created a convincing, living, breathing character.

Walking

The way your character primarily moves around needs to be animated well if you’re going to have a convincing animation project.

You’re going to need to create a new file dedicated to your walk animation. You need to record each different pose that a character makes when you manipulate their limbs—think of it as like stop motion animation.

Animators move pieces into place, stop, and take pictures and splice them all together to give the appearance of action. Although this animation is more complicated, it’s more or less relatively similar.

Make sure that your walking is convincing, as it’s easy to overlook something and have your walking animation show your character entirely off the ground by accident when walking.

Tutorials

Here are some fantastic tutorials to get you started with Unity animation.

Text

• Character Animation
• How To Animate A Human Character In Unity
• Unity Animator Tutorial – Comprehensive Guide – GameDev Academy

Videos/Youtube

• Unity 2D Animation
  • Unity 2D Animation Tutorial
  • 2D Animation (Unity Tutorial)!
  • ANIMATE 2D CHARACTERS in Unity
• Unity 3D Animation
  • How To Animate In Unity 3D
  • Animation Control For Characters – Unity 3D Tutorial + Mixamo Animations
  • Unity3D Animation for Beginners: Lesson 1

Conclusion

Hopefully, by now, you have a better grasp on the capabilities of Unity animation. With some extraordinarily informative tutorials, along with documentation, you can be well on your way to animating your character in your unique creative project.