[an orange tabby cat lays on a sketchpad]

Tips On How to Make Better Warrior Cat Animations by Riverspirit

Riverspirit shares some tips and tricks on making better animations for Warriors.

[an orange tabby cat lays on a sketchpad]
Photo posted by monsterultrablue on r/OneOrangeBraincell (Reddit)
[an orange tabby cat lays on a sketchpad]

Hey y’all! Riv here, and today, I’ve come to chat with all the animators out there! If you’re not an animator, or you’re looking to become one, this article is still great to check out.

A quick note before we begin: Remember that not everyone is on the same level, and that’s okay. If you try to rush you skill, it won’t work out for you. Animation takes patience and an open mind because you may end up learning more things through your journey than you expected.

Tip #1:
If you’re looking for a good animation platform that free, I suggest FlipaClip! It is more of a beginner platform, but even some experts use it because of it’s usefulness as far as animation controls. If you’re willing to pay a little bit of money, I definitely direct you towards Procreate, which has Animation Assist within it’s drawing facilities. I believe it costs $13 (The price went up from $10) in American dollars, however I don’t know it’s European price. I use Procreate and I find it quite effective and useful as I can use all of my favorite drawing brushes to animate. To add on to that, if your looking for a complex and advanced animating platform, go to Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint. The downsides to both of these things is that they can be extremely difficult to figure out, and can cost over $100 per year. If you’re truly willing to pay that much and go through the torture of trying to learn all of the controls, I would say that it’s worth it and you can make the best quality animations on here.

Tip #2:
If you aren’t confident in your character’s designs, start with basic shapes when animating. You can add as many layers as you’d like after doing this simple step. Shapes can help you see exactly where your character and their features are in a single shot. Circles are commonly used, however, triangles and squares can also come in handy when trying to figure out where some smaller joints are.

Tip #3:
Take your time. I can’t tell you how much rushed animations make me cringe. You can usually tell because the shading and lighting may be sloppy, or the lineart out of wack. Taking the time to make every little detail really pays off, and when you finish your animation, you will surely see that too.

Tip #4:
Don’t make your shading and lighting super complicated if it doesn’t need to be. Simply imagine where the shadows may be on you character and roll with it. Usually, 30-60% opacity is appropriate for shadows and lighting, however if you’re involved in a Multi Animator Project go with what is instructed for a certain character. Just remember, shading does not need to be applied for every tuft of fur that a character has. That’s just asking for stress.

Tip #5:
When animating cats, go with the flow. Literally. Cats are bendy little things that are constantly in movement, and when animating them, you need to portray that! Add a tail curve, running motion, or outstretched legs! If you will, go to YouTube and look up videos of cats. Just observe them and take not of how flexible they are, and how they move.

Tip #6:
In-betweens and keyframes are your best friends. When animating first start with keyframes, or the major positions of the scene. Then slowly start adding frames that help it become smoother, even if one includes the littlest movement. I recommend animating at 12 frames per second for a high action scene, and 7 frames per second when animating a slower scene.

So that’s all for today! I hope you enjoyed, and feel free to ask any other questions in the comments! Should I do Part 2 but with drawing Warrior Cats in general?

Riv out!

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