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Lzyboost In reply to Ronan-X [2018-11-18 21:57:00 +0000 UTC]

Thank you!
Through experimenting, looking how other animators do it and looking at high speed videos. Think how high speed looks like if you record it from moving train, it goes all smeary, and what happens when object reaches certain speed, there is sonic boom and there are videos how that looks like (also added the red flash like if the ground melted). By using contrast I added more speed to this without actually adding it; you see it's not top speed right at the start, but starts speeding up, so there is contrast with less speed and top speed, like contrasting shapes. So yeah, speedlines are good, but you can also add and do much more, imagination is the limit!   Oh and I use 24fps for my animation, it's  industry standard, but I use mix of 1s, 2s and 3s (sometimes 4s), explanation of this here: link  and more here: link2  
I think you should do more rougher animations and not clean things up and add coloring, you probably have limited free time so it's good to use it efficiently. You can export those as gifs if animation doesn't include vcam (my guess is you are also using Flash), remember to not use hd sizes when using gifs, since file size will be huge and it will load badly haha. You can also use gif as your preview images to your animations as long as it's small enough, 149px wide preview images seems to work (you can try if deviantart allows bigger ones), if file size is too big, choose less colors when you export.

And, if you are allowed, make twitter account and post your animations also there, way more active animation people, you might even get hired when you get good enough, and there also is this thing called #animonthly each month (27th) which you can participate, prefer gifs since twitter lessens the quality of mp4's, of course if sound is important part, use mp4  To export swf files to mp4, use Swivel, get it here: link  There are still time to particiate #Anivember , it's like inktober, but with animation, each day have theme and you make animation from it, list here: link

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Ronan-X In reply to Lzyboost [2018-11-18 22:54:07 +0000 UTC]

Ohhhh that makes sense! I should start sketching more often... do you have any other good animators I could use for a reference?  Thank you so much for the detailed response!

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Lzyboost In reply to Ronan-X [2018-11-19 01:02:48 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, glad it was useful to you!
Make it as a habbit,  like if you are jogging everyday. Think what is lacking and take one step at a time, remember to look at reference if you don't know how some things move "you don't know what you don't know" haha. As important as practising animation is, it's as important to be good at with your fundamentals, anatomy and perspective especially. And try to learn how to simplify the human body something like mannequin or Body-Kun: link   , you have simple designed characters which I think might help you, I'll give you couple of examples how other animators do it: video1   video2  video3   video4   There might have been more rougher sketch underneath, but these are experienced animators so I guess they did these right away. From these roughs they do one or two passes when they add the details.

Okay, so, how you practice these, well I can't say for sure what is the best way, but the way I do it; I draw from real life photos and try to simplify it, trying to see the the simpler forms, like cube for rib cage, cylinders for arms etc. and at the side, I use another reference of how other artists simplify and try to add theirs shapes to my sketch, sometimes drawing completely their models and trying understand their thought process. Then trying to do my own poses and see how much I've understood. This is where your knowledge of perspective will come real handy haha. For starters you can try to draw from other artists simplified human bodies so you get feeling for it, try not just go blindly copy it, really try feel and understand how the shapes go. One great artist to take reference from and works I've studied (and still do) is Krenz Cushart: link to google search   I hear many pros saying doing timed drawings known as croquis help also, you should google it to get better understanding what it excactly trains, I've done some, but not nearly enough to say anything about it haha. To get more detailed anatomy analysis, go Proko's youtube channel, I'll link one of their playlist of anatomy: link

And couple of studies from other artists:
twitter.com/toubun14/status/97…
twitter.com/toubun14/status/10…

You asked for animator and I suggest Guzzu's youtube channel (a fantastic animator and you'll see why haha), he have some great timelapses and recorded livestreams how he animates:  link and he uses Flash. For more animators, I suggest the video series "Sakuga: The Animation of Anime (2013 presentation)" what I like to call the "sakuga crash course" haha:  link (hopefully the part1 is not blocket there like it's here),  that video series combined with Sakugabooru ( link ), where you can look for the names which are discussed, is best combination for the fans of japanese animation  

Lastly I say this: being able to look honestly and critiqally at your work and see what you do right and where you need to improve helps a ton when making plans to improve. And have clear goal(s), wanting make your own series have it's own things to learn compared to working for a studio  

Sorry in advance if this information is overwhelming, I kinda dumped all here, and I still feel might have forgotten some, just remember to look this stuff out yourself, some what works for me might not work for you, okay I think here is enough for one message haha

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Ronan-X In reply to Lzyboost [2018-11-19 01:57:27 +0000 UTC]

This is perfect!!! Thanks, dude, you're awesome! Definitely gonna start using this to practice lol

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Lzyboost In reply to Ronan-X [2018-11-19 10:28:11 +0000 UTC]

No problem! If you ever feel there is no time, you can always cut time from gaming and surffing the internet; like, you can practice 5-6 days a week then use last 1-2 days relaxing/playing, and feel good about it since you've earned it! And most important of all: have fun!   

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Lzyboost In reply to Just-An-Artist97 [2018-11-01 12:41:28 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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