hello everyone, im having a lot of free time this month so I thought " why not animate something?". after starting my animation which is a fight scene I wondered what made me choose this specific actions in the animation? why punch now and then kick ? what made me think of what's going to happen, and I realized I just make up things as I go. this thought made me interested in how do you other animators make your animations? do you just make up things like I do, maybe you make a panel scene idea and then animate it (like manga) or do you have a main scene you're trying to get to and everything in the animation just builds up until you get to that idea? I hope you understand the question I was trying to ask and im looking forward to hear but do you guys do!
I don't do fight scenes, nor do I use Flash, but I plan things out to a very high degree before I even start working on them. I want to be able to picture the entire video in my head before I start making it. For my first fight scene, which I'm working on now, I'll probably take a less planned out approach.
the process for me almost always starts with the music selection i'll listen until i have an idea of how to break up the song into scenes then i'll just fill the scenes with either whatever i can think of on the spot or things i see from other media/animators
I feel spechul C: Tho now I feel overrated :T It's more or less what Kvn says. Though, in the current animation program I use, I try to have a storyboard/idea of what the heck I want to do, cuz I can't exactly use sounds to plan out. There are times where I literally just wing it and go do drop sprites everywhere and hope for the best.
Mostly when I animate fight scenes they start off with basic punch combos. Then I build on the animation by thinking of interesting counterattacks or reactions, and go back and forth between who's winning whether they're on the offensive vs the defensive. Should this guy keep pummeling away, or does the other guy get an opening to dodge, block, or attack? I also try to animate different types of kicks/punches/attacks that you don't typically see because 1)they're hard to pull off with limited sprites or 2)I like to think outside the box and stand out. Looking forward to the animation, IIRC you were the earthbending guy. Good to see you again :)
The way I used to plan animations is pretty much the same as I do for any creative work I do: I first imagine the result I want, I used to play the animation in my mind and later make a reality; but often I had the problem in which certain parts don't look as good as It did in my mind and, because of my arrogance in the past, I just leaved it like that just to see things as I see in my mind, this happens to me with drawings too but now I just rethink them again in the case it doesn't look that good and try it to see if it looks better now. I also decided the background music I was going the use, I liked to make the animation go along a bit with the music. I'm kinda ashamed of how cliche my animations often used to be, but I where to do another sprite fight, I would start doing simple combos and later the other character would return them and then slowly make the fight more heated up, I would try to make it dynamic a possible without repeating much already done movements or powers and make it different to other already done fights.
I animate exactly like you guys! and yeah I was the bending guy youmean you listen to the song and then get like inspiration for each part of the song?
Honestly, if you know some little basic walking etc. of using symbols, you should try out MBR-ing animators with your level. I got better and all by MBR-ing people. pretty much its a good opportunity to gain experience with learning and such (Cncs). Also, when comes with fight animation, you can just focus on your flow + physics. OR you can try something new instead! Like music sync anim , lip syncing or skits!
The ideas used to come naturally, but now I have no fucking clue man, I'm staying away from fight animations... However, I realized that sharing ideas with other people can inspire me to do something different, the next step is to plan out EVERY movement/scene; if i don't do that; I'll feel like the animation looks uncreative and dull.
I just go with it,since i started rigging instead of using regular poses i make a rig and improvise from there..i'm just try to fit the attacks to the personality of the character, but still its without a specific order. i don't plan my combos they just come out, but thats only me. every style works for somebody else so try to see whats works out for ya
I'm always put a plan in and try to figur out what is work, what is not work. Something that work is good. But the thing that is not work need to be discard. I made an animation in my imagination and transit them into Flash. It's maybe not the best method because If it not work then I have to come up with another idea which could lead into stalemate pretty quick and the way to get out is to undo something and come up with another one. But I use it most of them time, Becasue I want to improve my imagination and I feel satisfied when I've create something exactly as I expected. Another method is "Whatever" or what people call "Throw some stuff on canvas, And try to make them works" sorce of thing. Just like try to build it from scratch, Which is work pretty well sometime. No plan is needed just hang along with your animation, Like you are role playing with it. Just don't expect it to end where you want them to be. Sometime I have a blast with it and went way too far that I don't want to stop.
I don't know how is this connected to the discussion but thanks for the comment :]. and thx for all the other comments, I got some ideas rom here...
Puush and Ethan? Wtf when... I honestly just do what i think would look cool and try to replicated it off of visuals, i often find that finding a way to do it yourself is part of why animation is fun to me
Explaining my workflow could take centuries lol but ideally I try to go through the general stages any professional filmmaker or animator goes through. 1. Pre-Production (Writing, Choreographing, Scene Preparation, Resource Gathering, Soundtrack Selection, etc.) If you're having trouble with choreography in particular, watch anime or movie fight scenes for inspiration. You don't need to imitate them, but it'll help you get a general idea of "what works" in terms of pacing and variety in fighting combos/moves. The most important thing however is to plan out everything out ahead of time, on paper or in your head. Storyboard some shots if necessary. Also keep in mind when using non-original music how long the scene will need to be to match the duration of your soundtrack. If you're clever though, you can edit certain songs to be longer or shorter to match your length seamlessly. 2. Production (Animating) Animate the scene step by step. Sometimes you'll take hours on certain parts and get stressed out, so if you find this tedious, you could just do what I call a "rough sketch" animation first, then polish it more the 2nd time. 3. Post-Production (Editing, Sound Design, Visual Effects, Coloring) This is normally when I start executing certain shots or camera angles after seeing the animation from a wide view, then I cut it up into segments on an editing program timeline. After finishing a final cut, color grading, and adding additional VFX, I do sound mixing and play around with different sound effects to match the environment and on-screen action. Once that's over, take a break and come back to watch the final product one last time before rendering/exporting. This is how most productions work, but keep in mind in sprite animation, the order of these steps may vary for different individuals and still turn out great. Some people like to add all the sound before animating and sync up the action later, which is a surprisingly effective route for some animators like Zack and Aquila, so experiment and do whatever you think works for you!
Inspiration is the key here. Listening to music is definitely a great way to start. Think of some of your favourite animation/film or fight scene. Listen to the music they use and imagine yourself animating that or something similar. I myself listen to a collection of cinematic tracks, but you may prefer electronic or some other genre.
And then you have some blurry images of scences that came up your mind and then what? How do decided what comes when?
When it came to battles or skillbashes, I usually began with one attacking the other in some way, and then just went to some way. If it seemed fitting to jumpkick the enemy's head, I'd do that. If a specific move or aftereffect seemed to flow into the combo well, I'd utilize it. At other times, I just went with a bunch of effects on the side and thought "How can I combine these with few attacks inbetween?".
This is when practice comes into play. You will need a sort of "muscle memory" when it comes to animating, and this is no exception. There is a layer of instinctive knowledge that you will need. Every suggestion and habit animation wise in this thread was backed up by experience in animation itself. Like you said, a lot of the animation is made up as we proceed; that is the muscle memory we have. Even pre-determined animations changes as time progress, or at least that's what happens to me. If you are out of ideas, try forming new muscle memories by trying new things. New moves, new poses, new abilities. This has always worked for me when I am finding things to animate. A slightly off track rant: Veteran animators and newbie animators alike have trouble finding ideas for their new animations. This, shouldn't be surprising. One large factor in a loss of inspiration that I seem to notice is that there is a lack of certain flexibility in ideas when it comes down to putting it on paper. Most people seem to either compromise or to cut it out completely when they are unable to perform it the way they want. Try not to do this if possible; try to "break down the barriers" (No, I am not a Hillary supporter) and change the idea a little without compromising in quality. By doing this, you will find yourself feeling more confident and more inspired to animate further. If you lack experience in a particular area, then I would recommend to try to replicate existing animations. Of course, I should stress that this should never be posted as your own work, or even posted at all and you should always ask permission to do so as courtesy. Off track rant end.
