Le Tooniverse
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C’mon man, be real. You and I both know that what you said certainly didn’t count as constructive criticism; let’s not pretend that was a message sent in good faith.
Here’s something I can say, in all seriousness, that I hope can help you:
Right now is the easiest time in all of history to make your own animation. People used to have to do everything on paper, use film cameras to take photos of it, then wait a few days to see if it worked. Then do this for every background and colored cel and do it this way for years. Then they had to physically ship it to theaters and TV stations (more film, video, and shipping costs) and then had to market the thing like crazy! It would have to go through layers upon layers of executives and focus groups and all kinds of stuff because it all cost so much money and it took multiple years to make things. That’s also why there just wasn’t that much animation a couple decades ago compared to now.
Now? You can download animation software, make an entire short film at home, put it all on youtube, and build your own audience online with your own creative vision, not obligated to make anyone happy but yourself, all for free. This level of freedom wasn’t even available 10 years ago. There’s really no excuse anymore to not be making your own stuff, and to not be beholden to the whims of some other creator.
So go make something! You clearly have some strong opinions on art, which is helpful to have in a creator. If you’re really upset that the world isn’t making the stuff you want to see, then use your vision to create your own!
Here’s some animation programs to help get you started:
FREE:
- Pencil 2D https://www.pencil2d.org/
- Opentoonz https://opentoonz.github.io/e/
- Blender (3d) https://www.blender.org/
- DAZ studio (3D, part of what I first learned in high school and still use) https://www.daz3d.com/technology
- GIMP (what I first learned on) https://www.gimp.org/
MONEY:
- Photoshop and After Effects ($53 a month): https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html?single_app=photoshop
- Toonboom ($15-$73 a month or $375 perpetual license): https://www.toonboom.com/
- TV Paint ($616-$1539) https://www.tvpaint.com/
- Maya (3D, free for students, $1129 a year for professionals) https://www.autodesk.com/products/maya/overview
- 3DS Max (3D, $1129 a year for professionals) https://www.autodesk.com/products/3ds-max/overview
- Carrara (3D, $285, what I used in high school, bought by DAZ) https://www.daz3d.com/carrara-8-5-pro
Obviously if your general trajectory is to try and get into the industry at large, the pay programs are what everyone uses, so those would be good ones to learn. If you wanna do indie stuff though and be your own boss, then use whatever you want! Most of these programs are very similar to eachother, and skills you pick up in one program (free or otherwise) can usually translate to another program pretty easily.
I would also recommend taking a hard look at what you have already and working within your means. Some people get discouraged because they think they also need a wacom tablet or something, but that’s not true. If you think about what styles and techniques can look good that aren’t hand drawn, then you can start to go down the paths of pixel art, stop motion, CG, collage, special effects, etc. There are a lot of avenues to explore that don’t require drawing skills.
I hope this helps you in some way.
I personally don’t, I still struggle with clean up in flash. However Michafrar did this usper useful clean up guide a while ago and it is still a collection of the greatest tip I’ve ever gotten:
http://michafrar.com/post/132968611709/a-quick-guide-i-made-for-clean-up-artists-joining
A quick guide to the seven plot points in classic Hollywood-style story. A vast majority of films, both inside and outside Hollywood, can be broken down into these seven plot points. You can apply these to your own films as well!
Hook: Intro to the world and characters. Grabs the audience’s attention.
Inciting Incident: the catalyst that begins the main action/conflict
First Act Turning Point: the protagonist(s) get(s) involved in the conflict
Midpoint: a significant event spins/changes the main conflict (this is not in every film)
Second Act Turning Point: the low point, or a significant development that changes the direction of the story. The “all hope is lost” moment.
Climax: the final face-off between your protagonist and the opposition.
The Resolution: the fallout or result of the climax.
strongly agree | agree | neutral | disagree | strongly disagree
no!!!!
Well, given the positive response I got from the AoStH/SatAM fanzine idea, I’ve decided to go look for a printer and have found a couple of good leads. So now it’s time to find the artists!
If YOU want to celebrate The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, or ABC/Saturday Morning Sonic the Hedgehog, and wish to give a bit to help Milton Knight, AoStH Robotnik’s designer, out of a very bad spot, or just want to participate in a fanzine project. Then message me here with examples of your work, which show and an idea of what you’d like to do, and I’ll put you on the shortlist for a page in the fanzine!
General rules and guidelines are as follows:
1. Deadline is September 2018, of course if we get all the pieces done before then we can jump ahead and do the printing run.
2. No ‘not safe for work’ pages, this is fairly obvious given the subject matter, but just to make it clear. Cheesecake/Beefcake is questionable but if it toes the line then I’m open to it.
3. One page per artist, of course if there aren’t enough artists then this will be adjusted. Also if you’re seriously good (as in professional levels of skill) then I might make an exception.
4. Just because you’re on the shortlist doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to be in the final cut. Hopefully with 40 potential slots this shouldn’t be an issue, but if this does turn out to be really popular then I might have to drop a couple of people. Please don’t take it personally. Of course, if this whole thing turns out to be really really popular then I can try and bump it up to 50 or 60 artists! So keep spreading the word!
5. I am at liberty to drop you if it appears you will be unable to finish on time, are found to be copying/tracing/stealing other people’s work, or are just being generally unpleasant.
6. Crossover pages between the shows are acceptable, but will need to be clarified as to what category they’ll be in (AoStH or SatAM section).
7. No OCs or non Sonic characters, non-show Sonic characters are acceptable but should be discussed first.
8. Once you have shown that your page is making good progress to completion you will be moved to the ‘final’ list of artists.
9. New art only for your entry, though I may make an exception if it’s a AoStH/SatAM picture that you are already working on but haven’t finished.
10. The largest size the pages will be is A4 ( 210 × 297 mm / 8.3 × 11.7 inches Or at 300 DPI and 72 DPI respectively are: 2480 pixels x 3508 pixels, print resolution). PDF format. I’ve yet to determine what will be the best size for print but it’s easier to scale down than up.
11. The final product will be a 40 page fanzine with 20 pages dedicated to AoStH and 20 pages dedicated to SatAM. Method of purchase and price will be outlined here at a later time. Every artist gets a copy of the book!
Check back at this post for any future updates, I’ll keep a counter with the number of shortlisted artists for each show. Remember to spread the word around (and tell me if you want to buy a copy, it will help with determining how many copies I need to print!)! Do share this project in Twitter/DA/Myspace/whatever, as long as you link it back here!
Current artist shortlist (18/40):
The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: 8/20
Saturday Morning Sonic the Hedgehog: 8/20
Final Artist List (2/40):
The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog: 2/20
Saturday Morning Sonic the Hedgehog: 0/20
You can view the shortlist/final list here.
Keep checking back at this original post for updates:
Updated 10th May 2018
We’re making good progress so far! Nearly half the artist slots are taken and we’ve already got some works in progress! Keep spreading the word and soon I’ll have a go at seeing how many copies I need to print!
Lotsa great artists in this one! Check it out!
hello i am here today to not lose track of the art cheats i have discovered over the years. what i call art cheat is actually a cool filter/coloring style/way to shade/etc. that singlehandedly makes art like 20 times better
adding colors to grayscale paintings
foreshortening ( perspective )
clipping group (lines)
clipping group (colors)
that is all for today, do stay tuned as i am always hunting for cool shit like this