How I Make My Animations

Here is a step by step of my approach to each scene in my animation.

I like to work chronologically. Therefore I always have my storyboard and animatic with me when I begin to animate. Once I have a clear idea of what I need to do for this particular scene, I get my camera and do some reference filming. References are very important. Whether as an artist or animator, I always have reference.

A screenshots of reference footage for the scene where Farahilde pulls open the cell door:

 I do all the actions myself so I can get a feel of where all the weight transfers, pressure and tension in the body are. After that, I then plan out really roughly of what happens in each frame on paper. Sorry for the bad photo quality, I did it in a rush for documentation's sake.

After that, I use Photoshop to draw the background and also sketch out the rough outlines of each key frame. This is the pencil test. I use different colours for each frame so I can differentiate between each frame. It is also at this step where I decide to add more frames to the animation, or delete ones I think are redundant.

When I am happy with the overall animation, I line each frame with a small hard round brush.

Then I colour each frame. I am aware of adding overlapping action for the hair, and also adding blinks for the character. The sliding of the door is synced with Farahilde's movements here. I make sure the timing is correct.

Lastly, I render the animation out in .mov file. And it's done!