Creative Corner

I would say it depends on what kind of animation you're going for.

If you're going for frame by frame animation (Examples are Lion King, Aladdin, lot of Disney movies) then the one's I've used have been Adobe Flash and Photoshop.

Flash Pros -

Onion Skin feature

Easy to draw quickly and simply

Fill tool makes coloring fast

Can add audio with a sound wave that shows you where noises are for sync

previewing can be done with a keyboard shortcut

The Brush tool automatically smooths your stroke so drawing can be done intuitively

Flash Cons -

Interface is not easy to understand at first and requires practice

The smoothing feature of your brush can sometimes become irritating

Simple and quick is the primary focus, so detailed or Disney like animations are not easy to get

It can produce a "cartoony" feel, and requires time and patience to look close to any sketchiness

Brushes and Pens are limited

Layering system is a bit complicated at first



Photoshop Pros -

Is a photo editing program turned digital art program

Unlimited brushes available

Layering system is easy to see and use

Adding details and textures such as watercolor and sketch marks is very easy and can be done to the artists discretion

transparencies and layer settings are easy to find

Layout is easier to understand and is what many other art programs mimic

Photoshop Cons -

Where's the audio (it's there I think but where)

While there is a frame by frame window available, photoshop was not originally built for animation and it's a mule to wrangle sometimes

Your frames are layers, so if you don't use the frame window you have to build each layer individually and export all those layers into a sequence take into another program like AE and do a sequence there and export. Complicated sounding but not horrible. (I'm not smart enough to use the window but I recommend learning it).

Your files can become massive as you're working in a raster based program and will need to work on a canvas that's as big as your animation is going to be. Otherwise hello pixels.

While others might find it easy enough for quick practice I haven't learned animation in this program well enough to have an easy time



If you're going to do another kind of animation called Motion Graphic or some sort of "tweening" I believe, and you see it in a lot of promotional or educational videos. (shows that I've seen using this are disney's recent reboots like The Lion Guard and Tangled Before Every After).

This process is easier in some regards but you're more limited in what you can do. Instead of say 6 drawings for a walk cycle let's say you only draw 3 and then move each frame around more to fill in the blanks. It might sound cruddy but it can produce nice effects if done right.


The program I use for this is Adobe After Effects, and I only use this program.

AE Pros -

Can import vector shapes and enlarge or minimize the objects size without pixelation

moving object from one position via rotation, position, and scale is pretty easy

There are pre-built effects and animations if you're learning or need a quick animation

Has compositions feature (similar to groups) so the timeline or "layers" window can be kept tidy while having a lot going on under the surface. Compositions can also be opened in a separate window so you can focus on individual parts and animate there while seeing your results in the original window.

Sometimes less is more, and tweening can greatly reduce your work load while still producing realistic movement. Compare drawing the bouncing ball routine in frame by frame (say 15 frames min) to 1 min of work in Ae.

Has a blur feature to add realism to movement

Can do Frame by Frame (this is the sequencing I was talking about)

Can play audio in real time and the audio itself can be layered with everything else including the audio wave, so syncing is a piece of cake

Is an animation program built for animating. There are loads of tutorials out there that honestly taught me a lot more then the degree I have did.

AE Cons - There really isn't many animation cons so I'm gonna list mostly differences that could be tiring or problematic

While you can do frame by frame in the program itself (not sequencing from another program) it's a real chore to do and learn. I do not enjoy the brush tool in this program and would say draw it in photoshop first.

Is made mostly for Motion Graphic Designers. What I mean is this is a program that is used mostly for it's special effects and object motions, while you can do frame by frame it's not it's original purpose so you're not going not going to be doing as much disney like animation as you want.

It has a bit of a learning curve and can look intimidating. Do tutorials first, and not just how to use AE. Look up AE tutorials and find ones that teach you specific things like "How to make sweeping intro" or "How to create an audio wave". You'll learn simply by following along things that the simple tutorials won't think to mention.

As mentioned before the interface can be a bit intimidating and you're gonna get tired real fast having to open each layer to find your controls. Keyboard shortcuts for things like rotation and scaling are a must to learn.

Is a Pay to Use Program that I haven't had much luck finding a free alternative for.




As far as other programs I've heard Toon Boom is good I think maybe Studio Ghibli might have released their animating software for free. I'm not sure about either as I haven't looked into them, but in the end sometimes the best way to start is pencil and paper.

Try drawing the bouncing ball exercise first with pencil and paper and see how you like it. That is so essential in learning how to squish objects and learn how to mimic real life such as when a ball hangs in the air slightly after bouncing and you'll get a feel for animation.

I've heard once you start you can't really stop and I can vouch for that.