Frame-by-Frame animation is an animation style where each frame of animation is drawn individually to create the illusion of movement. Iconic Disney films of the 20th century such as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King, and Aladdin are all brought to life by the magic of Frame-by-Frame Animation. Also known as 2D traditional animation, this style of animation was inherently difficult and time-consuming to create and is not used widely for feature films anymore, but due to its stunning aesthetics, it is still used for animation projects with shorter length.
How is Frame-by-Frame Animation Created?
Creating frame-by-frame animation is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Imagine breaking down how a character moves in one second of time into 24 small segments and draw them individually on each page of a flipbook. Then turning the pages quickly to create the illusion of movement. This is technically what we refer to as frame-by-frame animation.
In animation projects, one second is usually divided into 24 frames, meaning for animating a second of animation, 24 individual images are required. Animators do not always draw 24 individual images for one second. Usually, 12 drawings are more than enough to create frame-by-frame animation. The more drawings there are in one second of animation, the smoother the final animation becomes.
Traditional vs. Digital Frame-by-Frame Animation
Traditional Frame-by-Frame Animation
Frame-by-frame animation was traditionally created using physical material. It was usually made either using pen and paper or drawn on transparent celluloid sheets. The term cel animation refers to the technique that animation production companies like Walt Disney used to produce frame-by-frame animations. They used static images on those transparent sheets, stacked them on top of each other to create complex scenes and new movements. Drawings were colored by ink meticulously and finally photographed by cameras to produce films.
Digital Frame-by-Frame Animation
Digital revolution and the advent of computers and graphics tablets heralded a new age of animation and transformed the way frame-by-frame animation is made. Although the core principle in creating this type of animation remains the same, physical materials and photographs in creating frame-by-frame animation are no longer used. In digital frame-by-frame animation, pen and pencils are replaced with graphics tablets, animation software has replaced papers and celluloid sheets with drawing canvases and techniques such as onion skinning, ink has been replaced by coloring features in graphics software and films are substituted with rendering software.
Is Frame-by-Frame Animation Still Produced Today?
While frame-by-frame animation is no longer popular for creating full-length animated films due to its production complexity, it is still a popular choice in many other areas such as advertisement, short films and video games. Frame-by-frame animation is usually known for its unique aesthetics, detailed characters with dynamic and stunning animations and nostalgic cartoony design, all of which are perfect to capture audience attention for 30-second advertisement video. Short films are also a great use case for employing frame-by-frame animation. Achieving those stunning visuals for 6-7 minutes justifies the cost of production indeed.
Read More: Frame by Frame 2D Animation Cost
Frame-by-frame Animation in Game Art
Another area where frame-by-frame animation is used extensively is video game art. 2D games usually have a main character that moves around the environment. These characters have a range of limited animated movements that require fluid and eye-catching animations to demonstrate the characters’ physical attributes like speed, agility, and combat mastery. Character turnarounds, run cycles, punches, kicks, and all sorts of in-game actions are more likely to create a pleasant interactive experience for the player if they are animated with dynamic frame-by-frame animation compared to other types of animation.
What Software Is Used to Create Frame-By-Frame Animation?
Creating digital frame-by-frame animation is facilitated by various animation software today. While Adobe Animate and Toon Boom Harmony are the industry-standard software to create 2D animation, there are many more options like Krita, Adobe After Effects and even Blender (Grease Pencil) for frame-by-frame animation. Graphics tablets connected to computers allow animators to draw and paint key poses on the selected frames and use timelines to animate them. Frame-by-Frame animation can also be made on standalone tablets like iPad and Android-based devices that come with a drawing pen. There are tools like ToonSquid and Procreate that help users create animations on these portable devices.
Why Creating Frame-by-Frame Animation Is Labor-Intensive?
Traditionally, lead animators used to draw key poses for an animated video and other animators would draw on the frames between them. This process was called in-betweening or tweening. The process required many skilled animators spending a lot of time drawing each character from new angles and new movements in every single frame. Furthermore, since every drawing was essentially a new one and not always drawn by the same person, achieving style consistency was very difficult. Today, computers have facilitated parts of this process including tweeing and coloring, but still the time-consuming task of drawing poses for each frame remains the same.
What Are the Steps for Creating a Frame-by-Frame animation?
Based on the script, every animation project usually starts with pre-production steps such as script writing, concept art, and storyboarding.
Scripts
While not obvious to everyone, scripts are probably the most pivotal element in an animation project. Scripts decide how characters and environments should be designed, how lengthy a project should be and even what art style the directors should aim for. It is based on the script that directors even decide to opt for a frame-by-frame 2D animation style or some other styles like cut-out animation. A powerful and intriguing script is key to an animation project’s success.
Concept Art
In animation, concept art is a visual artwork that develops ideas for characters, environments, creatures and so on. The main artistic look of a project is conveyed through concept art. Artists use concept art to guide the creation of the project based on the script and directors’ guidelines. Detailed concept art can help push the project forward by defining a clear art style every team member should aim for.
Storyboarding
Storyboards are visual organizers that help lay out the sequence of shots in a video. Storyboards are crucial in determining how each drawing in a frame-by-frame animation project should look. They specify the angle from which characters should be displayed, the environment in which they should be placed, the interactions they will have and so much more. Having a proper storyboard minimizes production costs by pinpointing exactly what should be created, thus reducing the cost of recreating shots.
After these steps, a frame-by-frame animation usually moves to the production stage. In this stage the actual animation is made, voiceovers are recorded.
Animation
This is the meat of a frame-by-frame animation project. It is in this stage that the animation studio start drawing and animating shots on individual frames and rely on animation software to render the videos. According to the scale of a project, one or more animators spend a lot of time carefully drawing characters in different poses that will be put together to create the final animation.
Voiceovers
Voiceovers are also a part of the production stage in an animation project. Dialogues between characters and sound effects are recorded in this stage and meticulously synced with characters’ facial and lip movements. The syncing process is also a time-consuming task in a frame-by-frame animation pipeline since drawing different mouth shapes for each distinct sound takes a lot of time.
After creating animations and recording voices, it is time for video editing and visual effects. These stages are part of the post-production stage that is the final step in producing frame-by-frame animation.
Video Editing and Visual Effects
In this step, animated clips and their corresponding sound are imported into video editing software like Adobe Premiere to create the movie sequence. Editing is not as time-consuming as the animation step, but it is where directors are the most active. Deciding on shot sequence and transition speed is not trivial. Visual effects are the final touch that affect the feel and harmony of an animation project. Adjusting lighting, compositing, and rotoscoping are visual effects that are very crucial post-processing steps.
Closing Words
Also known as traditional animation, frame-by-frame animation combines unique art style with artistic freedom to create eye-catching movements that are really hard to achieve with other types of 2D animation. Due to its complexity and labor-intensive nature, it is not approached as widely by animation production houses as before. However, it’s stunning visual and handcrafted feel, encourages many art directors to choose this style. This genuine look and feel of frame-by-frame animation appeals to many businesses who prefer an elegant animation style for their brand and modern 2D digital animation methods such as cutout animation do not satisfy their requirements.
