Learning 2D animation for the Kuna Realm story

The Kuna Realm continues to evolve and the more I create the more ambition I am getting to make more out of it. 

If you haven't yet, check out the video on how I conceptualised the origins of these characters and how they have evolved so far here: Origin Story of the Kuna Realm.

These characters would be so cool in an adventurous story, so I started writing it. Behind the scenes, I asked my friend Corey who knows his fantasy characters to help me develop the "evil" characters as I have a tendency to see only the happy stuff. This was so much fun brainstorming and bouncing up ideas to each other until they made sense.

Fast forward, now I have a few characters, some story but to truly make the characters come to life, I want to learn how to animate them!

Animation is a whole world in itself, there is so much to learn and I am still only exploring all avenues. The main types of animation are Cel or Traditional animation, 2D animation and 3D animation. 

• Cel/Traditional animation is done on paper and all drawings are by hand for each frame. A frame is a snapshot. Videos or animations are shown in frames per rate (FPR). So if a video has a 24 FPR it means you will see 24 frames in 1 second. So imagine how many drawings are needed to create an animation. Think about old school cartoons from Mickey Mouse or flip books.
• 2D animation is what I am using in the examples below. This technique uses drawing and technology. I draw on my iPad the whole scene on each frame and technology helps me set the animation in motion instead of having to flip a book. Because the drawing is digital, it can be easier to modify, duplicate or erase a part of the drawing at any point in time in comparison to cel animation. An Irish 2D animation movie is Wolfwalkers from Cartoon Saloon.
• 3D animation is the most technical version of animation and the process requires less repetition. In simple terms, in 3D animation you create a character in 3D format and assign it physical attributes. These attributes tell the computer how the character interacts with the world. This might sound simple but it is very technical as it is sort of recreating a human being but digitally. Once all that is done, the animator defines the start and end position of the character and based on all the variables associated the computer can create the animation. An example is Encanto from Disney.

They all have their pros and cons. For now, I am learning 2D animation and here are some examples of what I have created:

Lemon Drop

If you are keen to try animation, this is the tutorial I followed from Illustrateria.

 

Bouncing Ball

A cute red ball on an adventure. I used the squash and stretch animation technique to make the bouncing more realistic. Also I had to add music and sound effects to evoke the emotions of playfulness.

 

Worm and Cherry

The name of this animation was at first purely descriptive until I realise it rhymed with the classic cartoon Tom and Jerry. After that realisation, I mimicked the title screen. I hope you like this cute worm with his cherry.

 

I am excited to see what else I'll be creating and how many of you get curious about learning to animate!