How to Plan Your Animation

Future by Ian Chung

“Creators of short animated videos have to use the limited time frame of the video to convey the theme and meaning of the animation to the audience. This can be challenging but it encourages creators to be organized and expressive.” 

Ian Chung, Animator, Winner of iAniMagic 0217

Read Ian’s story.

Planning is an important part of animation production. Though it’s unlikely that you will use Animation Desk to create a long film, planing your animation is always helpful and time-saving.

Step 1.Research and Inspiration

What is your story about? What message do you want to present to your audience? Outline your ideas first. 

Step 2. Storyboard

Storyboards can help you refine your ideas and present your story to others. You can draw and export PDF storyboards or rough animatic storyboard with Animation Desk.  

Step 3. Keyframes 

Instead of starting from frame #1 all the way to the end of an animation sequence, draw the keyframe first. This will help you keep the actions fluent and have better control over the consistency  

Step 4. Inbetweens 

Connect the keyframes with inbetweens. You can preview the animation while you are drawing the frames. Don’t forget to enable the onion skin to view the frames. 

Step 5. Share and Publish

Share and publish your animations on social media! 

This is just a basic idea to get started with, we hope you find this post helpful.