21: Frame-by-Frame 2D Animation for Beginners

 In this tutorial, we’ll elevate our bouncing ball by giving it emotions and character, transforming it from a simple, lifeless object into a lively, animated entity.

Our goal is to create the illusion of a smart, animated life form, rather than just a ball that bounces aimlessly. We want to develop a lifelike entity, similar to the red ball animation example above.

What is a Character?

First things first, let’s define what a character is. In animation, a character is an entity that possesses traits and skills, allowing it to move and behave like a real-life intelligent being.

Characters can range from simple to complex in appearance, but don’t be fooled by their looks; a character can have traits and skills that make it smart, wise, and sometimes even powerful within a story.

For insights into designing a character’s traits and skills, check out "Mastering the Art of Traits and Skills in Character Design: for Your Story, Novels, Comics, Animation, Movies, and Games." This book focuses on creating engaging and unique traits and skills, rather than just how to draw and illustrate.

Great characters need a great story, and you can find valuable tips in "Shock Your Readers: Tips & Tricks to Beat Writer's Block for Novels, Comics, Movies, and Games." The techniques in this eBook are sharp enough to slice through writer's block like butter.

You can also explore a short story based on Dayak folklore at this link.

 

Creating a Lifelike Red Ball Animation

Now, let’s get back to creating a lifelike red ball animation. We will learn how to add motion and movement to our character, giving it emotions and a sense of will.

Motion Initiation

Motion initiation refers to the preparation or anticipation of an action in animation. While anticipation is a related term, it’s not exactly synonymous with action preparation.

Figure 0

In Figure 0, taken from "FRAME-BY-FRAME 2D ANIMATION PRINCIPLES," you can see an example of motion initiation, also known in cartoon animation as anticipation.

For practice, start by drawing a simple ball like in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1

Next, you can animate it as shown in Figure 1A.

Figure 1A

Animating the Ball

To create the illusion of the ball as a character entity, you need to make it move on its own. Instead of just falling and stopping (as seen in Figure 2), the ball should exhibit a will to move back up again. Can you spot the difference between basic animation and giving a character lifelike qualities, as illustrated in Figure 1B?

Figure 1B

You can check out the sound effects version of Figure 1B at this link.

Another example of a simple red ball character can be found in the first animation of this article, where the ball moves from a static position to a specific direction, creating the illusion that it has its own will and strength in a cartoon motion style.

Drawing Sequence

To create your animation sequence, you can either draw as shown in Figure 1 or save each image from Figures 1 to 19.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

The ball will deform to take action preparation, gathering strength by squashing (as seen in Figures 3 to 8).

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

The ball jumps (Figure 9) after the action preparation motion from Figures 3 to 8.

 

Figure 10

In Figure 10, the ball deforms to stretch in a cartoon motion style, then returns to its original form in Figure 11.

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 12 shows the ball stretching again due to the pull of gravity and increased velocity.

Figure 13

In Figures 13 and 14, the ball touches the ground and deforms into a bean shape.

Figure 14

Figure 15

Figure 16

By Figure 16, the ball is back to a nearly original shape again.

 

Figure 17

Due to the previous force (Figure 17), the shape stretches slightly (Figure 18) before eventually returning to its original form in Figure 19.

Figure 18

Figure 19

Animation Sequence

To animate all these Cartoon Ball BW line art images into a sequence that can include sound, cast shadow effects, and be exported as a movie, refer to the "05: Frame-by-Frame 2D Animation for Beginners" tutorial for a step-by-step guide.

The animation results will look like what’s shown in Figure 20 below. You can also download the ball character in the BW sequence layer "21 Ball BW outline.PSD" to see a master example of this simple ball character animation and try exporting it into a movie yourself!

Figure 20

For our next tutorial, we will practice and create a simple Damped Harmonic Oscillator animation motion in physics, but in an easy-to-understand visual way. See you soon!

Thanks!