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Gardner Pierce
Ms. Buchter
Senior Projects
3-10-2016
Study in Animation: A Look Into the Animation Creation Process
Animators are artists who specialize in the creation of animation. Animation is the
process of making the illusion of motion and change by means of the rapid display of a sequence
of static images that minimally differ from each other. The illusion as in motion pictures in
general is thought to rely on the Phi phenomenon, which is the optical illusion of motion, created
by viewing series of still images in a rapid succession.
Animation creation methods include the traditional animation creation method and those
involving stop motion animation of two and three-dimensional objects, paper cutouts, puppets
and clay figures. In recent years the development of digital animation, the use of a computer
program to help in the creation process, has brought it to the forefront of modern animation
creation. Images are displayed in a rapid succession, usually 24, 25, 30, or 60 frames per second.
Animation can be recorded with either analogue media, a flip book, motion picture film,
video tape, digital media, including formats with animated GIF, flash animation and digital
video. To display animation, a digital camera, computer, or projector are used along with new
technologies that are produced.
Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of motion into a still drawing can
be found in old cave paintings, where animals are often depicted with multiple legs in various
positions, as a clear attempt to convey the perception of motion. In ancient Chinese records

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contained several mentions of devices that were said to "give an impression of movement" to
human or animal figures,
In the 1900 the first animated film was created using the technique that later became to be
known as traditional animation. The film was called Fantasmagorie and was created by the artist
mile Cohl by drawing a frame on paper and then transferring it to negative film. It was simple
and consisted of a stick figuered man interacting with various objects that morph into others. For
more detailed hand-drawn animation, it required a team of animators drawing each frame
manually with detailed backgrounds and characters. Again in the early 1900s the animation
industry felt another rise in growth as the production of cartoons became its own industry.
Animation as an art and industry continues to thrive as of modern times, because well-made
animated projects can find audiences across borders and in all major demographics. Animated
feature-length films had the highest gross margins of all film genres within the years of 2004
2013

The process for animation is a long and grueling task. The first step is the creation of the
story. The source material must be transcribed or converted into an animation script format, form
the script the storyboard is drawn. The storyboard is visually similar to a comic with each panel
being a key frame in the sequence of events. The storyboard will tell all the transactions, camera
angles, and framing for each given seen. The storyboard allows the animation team to follow the
plot and flow of the film, as well as the imagery and composition. The storyboard artists will
have regular meetings with the director, and may have to redraw or "re-board" a sequence many
times before it meets final approval. Before any animation begins a "scratch track" is recorded. A
scratch track is a demo version if the soundtrack that will typically only contain the dialog some

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of the musical scores and if needed the musical songs that any of the characters sing. Given the
slow, methodical manner in which animation is produced, it is almost always easier to
synchronize animation to a pre-existing soundtrack than it is to synchronize a soundtrack to preexisting animation.
The next step would be to sync the storyboards with the scratch track, this makes it easier
to work out timing issues and any technical bugs that may cause problems down the line. Making
sure to edit at this stage is crucial because it prevents the animation of scenes that would be
edited out of the film; as animation is a very expensive and time-consuming process, creating
scenes that will eventually be edited out of the completed cartoon is strictly avoided.
The storyboards are sent to the design departments. Character designers prepare model
sheets for all important characters and props in the film. These model sheets will show how a
character or object looks from a variety of angles with a variety of poses and expressions, so that
all artists working on the project can deliver consistent work. In recent years with the
development of computer animation, the model sheets are sent over to the modellers. For 3D
animations, the modeler will build the characters and objects on the computer monitor and the
figures are rigged with a virtual skeleton, these models will be used by the animators as they
work. Likewise, in Stop Motion the model sheets are given to the creation department, where
they make all of the figures out of the desired material, typically puppets or Clay. The models
will typically have a metal frame, called an armature, inside them to hold them in a pose for
amounts of time. In some cases, if the model does not have movable facial features, the
individual expressions and mouth shapes will be created separately, and can be applied
interchangeably almost like a mask. Notable works that used the Puppet method are The
Nightmare Before Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Corpse Bride, and the animated

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TV series Robot Chicken. While design is going on, the director takes the story reel and analyzes
exactly what poses, drawings, and lip movements will be needed on what frames. An exposure
sheet is created; this is a printed table that breaks down the action, dialogue, and sound frameby-frame as a guide for the animators.
Finally the animation begins, There are many techniques for the creation of animation.
The plethora of styles can be grouped into three major categories traditional animation, stop
motion, and computer animation. The a widely used technique is Stop Motion animation. In Stop
Motion, real world objects are physically manipulated in small increments between and
individually photographed one frame at a time. Stop motion can be one of the most time
demanding forms of animation. Though not all stop motion requires figures or models; many
stop motion films can involve using humans, household appliances and other things for comedic
effect. Traditional animation, otherwise known as hand drawing or cel animation, was the
common process used for many animated films of the 20th century. The individual frames of a
traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, first drawn on paper. To create the
illusion of movement, each drawing differs slightly from the one before it. The animators'
drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets called cels. The cells are
given color and are then are photographed against a painted background onto film. In the early
21st Century, the traditional way of creating cel animation has been all but abandoned in favor of
using computer assisted programs. Probably the most expensive and newest forms of animation
is Computer animation. Computer animation spans many techniques with the only common
factor is that the animation is created digitally on the computer. Today's animators now rather
have their drawings scanned or drawn directly into the computer.

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. Lastly there is rotoscoping, the rotoscoping process is achieved by animators tracing

over live action scenes frame by frame.
In the traditional 2D animation process, animators will begin by drawing sequences of
animation on sheets of transparent paper perforated to fit the peg bars in their desks, often using
colored pencils, one picture or "frame" at a time. A peg bar is an animation tool that is used in
traditional animation to keep the drawings in place. The pins in the peg bar match the holes in
the paper. It is attached to the animation desk or light table depending on which is being used. A
key animator or lead animator will draw the key drawings in a scene, using the character layouts
as a guide. The key animator draws enough of the frames to get across the major points of the
action; in a sequence of a character jumping across a gap, the key animator may draw a frame of
the character as he is about to leap, two or more frames as the character is flying through the air,
and the frame for the character landing on the other side of the gap.
Timing is important for the animator's drawing these frames; each frame must match
exactly what is going on in the soundtrack at the moment the frame will appear, or else the
discrepancy between sound and visual will be distracting to the audience. For example, in highbudget productions, extensive effort is given in making sure a speaking character's mouth
matches in shape the sound that character's actor is producing as he or she speaks. There are two
types of 2D animation, the first is called full animation. Full animation is the process of creating
consistent high-quality animation, often using detailed drawings for each frame and fluid
believable motion, resulting in smooth high-quality animation. The next is limited animation, this
utilizes less detailed or stylized art as well as a more skippy movement. This technique is
commonly found in most animated television shows and in many eastern animated works.
Though it can also often be used as an artistic form of stylistic expression.

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While working on a scene, a key animator will usually prepare a pencil test of the scene.
A pencil test is a preliminary version of the final animated scene; the pencil drawings are quickly
photographed or scanned and synced with the necessary soundtracks. This allows the animation
to be reviewed and improved upon before passing the work on to his assistant animators, who
will go add details and some of the missing frames in the scene. The work of the assistant
animators is reviewed, pencil-tested, and corrected until the lead animator is ready to meet with
the director and have his scene reviewed. Once the key animation is approved, the lead animator
forwards the scene on to the clean-up department, made up of the clean-up animators and the
inbetweeners. The clean-up animators take the lead and assistant animators' drawings and trace
them onto a new sheet of paper, taking care in including all of the details present on the original
model sheets, so that it appears that one person animated the entire film. Finally the animators'
drawings are either scanned into a computer or drawn directly onto a computer monitor (such as
a Wacom Cintiq tablet), where they are colored and processed using one or more of a variety of
software. The resulting drawings are composited in the computer over their respective
backgrounds, which have also been scanned into the computer (if not digitally painted), and the
computer outputs the final film by exporting a digital video file.
Computer animation is essentially a digital successor to the stop motion techniques used
in traditional animation with 3D models and frame-by-frame animation of 2D illustrations.
Computer-generated animations are more controllable than other more physically based
processes, constructing miniatures for effects shots or hiring extras for crowd scenes, and
because it allows the creation of images that would not be feasible using any other method. It can
also allow a single graphic artist to produce such content without the use of actors, expensive set
pieces, or props. To create the illusion of movement, an image is displayed on the computer

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monitor and repeatedly replaced by a new image that is similar to it, but advanced slightly in
time . This technique is identical to how the illusion of movement is achieved in its physical
counterparts: traditional and stop motion. The differences in appearance between keyframes are
automatically calculated by the computer in a process known as tweening or morphing. Finally,
the animation is rendered.
Once all scenes are completed, the film is edited together into the final cut of the film and
are exported. Though Traditional 2D animation was the focal point of this essay, It serves as a
basis for all animation techniques. To break it down, animation is the illusion of movement
created by static images. Its a long process of telling a story through visuals starting with a
storyboard and ending with a fully animated sequence. Traditionally its drawn by hand on paper,
and stop motion is created with any physical object, with the most important frames created by
the key animator and the inbetween drawn by the rest of the team or done by computer.
Computer animation is the modern, digital version of the two being able to do both 2D and 3D.
In all it takes lots of time and work but to see it completed is really satisfying

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