How To Design Incredible Animation Characters
Animation has become a part of the new world where companies are trying to market their products and services in the best way possible. This has opened doors of improvement in the advertising industry. If you look at the animations of today, they include cartoons. Yes, you heard that right. Tom & jerry used to be the best cartoon ever animated. It all started from there and continued till we started making movies.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of our favorites that got all the love and limelight for the fantastic animation. Firms used the 2d character creator to bring cartoon characters and objects to life. This was done to give the animated world a story to revolve around.
Soon we saw a shift in the company’s plans as they started using it for marketing purposes. Though advertising was doing good, people needed more attractive ways to use the products and services more often. This led to a revolution as technological development increased. All the ads that you see today are the perfect depiction of modern animation. If we look at the 3d animation, the forecast show its usage will earn $39 billion till 2028.
Not to forget, it can be of any kind. But before we dive deeper into its making, let’s understand what it is actually.
What is animation?
Many describe animation as a challenging yet successful strategy to make customers take action. Here the animators use still figures and manipulate them in ways that give them an illusion of movement. Though this may sound easy, it is a tricky process that professionals can only handle. Thus, firms hire a 3d or 2d animation company to plan, design, create and implement it.
It all starts with making a drawing or sketching different characters on a transparent sheet, often known as celluloid. This helps in taking pictures and filming them. Not to forget, every picture drawn on the sheet or frame is slightly different from the previous one, so it looks like the drawing is moving when moved fast.
At first, all of this was done manually where designers use to sketch, draw and paint them by hand to be put together one after the other, but with the introduction to computers and the latest technologies, it is being done by them. But this isn’t it; one needs to choose the right colors, designs, layout, and formats to make it look attractive enough that people are captivated by it. All this leads to an interactive picture or movie. However, one thing that becomes critical for its success is making a storyline around which the whole movie revolves. If you think this is one of the easiest tasks, then we are sorry to disappoint you as this stage decides a company’s future.
If the characters are good with the right tone and layout, but the storyline created to convey a brand’s message isn’t right, there is a 90% chance that it will fail. Therefore, a 2d character creator needs the involvement of humans to design a story and work accordingly to put it into action.
Steps to Animate
- Brainstorm
The first and foremost thing that comes to mind when creating a varoom or movie is what to make and what message to convey to the audience. This is a very puzzling scenario as no one has an idea of how to go about the process of informing customers about a newly launched product or service. So they sit together and start jotting down various ideas on paper until they find a specific one they can choose. Once they decide on one, they can move on to the next stage of creative animation. Here they need to select from the different types of animations and choose one to start with the process.
- Sketch
The next step involves sketching. It can only be done when the animator has selected a popular animated character and has shaped it according to the brand story. Here they use software to sketch the characters’ expressions to increase the emotional factor among them. This even allows one to play around with multiple photos of friends or objects and try to create a unique character.
The best part about animation here is there is no limit to imagination. People can let their imagination run wild and design a funky character that might be one of a kind to tell a strong brand story. We have many examples of such characters and stories that changed how users viewed the company.
The next thing to do is fit the character into the story for a positive impact. One can even ask people for feedback and make changes accordingly. If the idea fails, the animators need to start all over again, and this time they come up with an even better idea.
- Add poses
Moving on, the designers and animators should work together to deal with all the cartoon characters. This is necessary because, in every phase of the story, the characters serve a different part which needs different poses and expressions. Even if designing an 8-minute story, one needs to focus on different attitudes and actions, which often becomes difficult to handle. However, they draw them with various emotions and bring them to life to serve the purpose.
- Animate you character
The last thing to do is animate all the characters, especially the main one. The 2d animation company performs various tests on them, like motion tests, to see if everything fits together. Observing the character’s walk, talk, and expression, one can learn a lot about animation. Forms even make use of advanced tools to make them more effective. Once done, they put them together to entertain users worldwide.
Conclusion
Animation is not a kid’s game, especially when it comes to telling a brand story to people in today’s world. It needs to be perfect in order to drive the correct action. This means it should convey the brand’s message appropriately. Though there are different types of animation, including 2d, 3d, motion graphics, etc., how companies use them for what purposes entirely depends on a firm’s demand. One can use it for cartoons, movies, or just to market a product or service. If you are a company looking for an effective 2d animation strategy, feel free to contact us, and we will guide you further.