Uploaded September 2019 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Learn more at 2danimation101.com
Check this lesson at 2danimation101.com/cartoon-animator-tutorials/11-8-step-process-to-make-your-animations-look-organic.html
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Hi Mark Diaz here for 2DAnimation101.com
In this lesson I am going to put everything we have learned so far from previous lessons, to create animations that look organic.
And by organic, I mean, animation that don’t look Fake, Weird, Robot-like.
So, everything we have covered so far can be summarized in 8 steps.
Visualization: Storyboard
Production: Re-Draw each panel of the storyboard in the final quality
Sound Production: Tell your story with audio, as if it was to be played in a Podcast.
Animatic: Put together Sound, Music, Voices, etc.
Rigging: Rig Characters for each Panel
Animation: Create an Animation for Each Panel (separately)
Render: Render each file separately
Editing: Put together the full animation in an editing software.
Each one of those is very important.
Some take very little time, and some take a lot of time.
In a previous lesson I shared with you the Project Report of The Hunters. So you can check it out.
If you haven’t you can go to:
2d101.com/huntersreport
Now, in that report,
Visualization took 25 minutes
Production took 30:47 hrs
Sound production took 3:16 hrs
The Animatic (because it included sound and voice production) took 5 min
The Rigging and prepararion of the characters took 24:54:22 hrs
The Animation took 9:12 hrs
Putting it together took 15:41 mins
In percentage, this is how our time was distribuited:
The heaviest, most expensive in terms of time and energy, are:
Production and Preparation of the Characters.
Let me talk really quick about each one. Starting with…
1. VISUALIZATION
The visualization, takes less than 1% of your energy and time, but it tells you how you are going to use the remaining 99% of your time and energy.
Really.
It’s THAT IMPORTANT!
Storyboarding is a whole topic on its own.
A crappy storyboard delivers a crappy animation.
Now, by crappy I am not talking about the quality of your drawings.
No.
Your drawings can be very crappy sketches, what you need to do in the storyboard phase is to VISUALIZE each scene.
Tell your story with PICTURES. That is what you ultimately want to do anyway, right?
The images I did for the original storyboard of the Hunters, are super crappy, but they served me to visualize what I needed to see for my animation.
----
Now, if you are thinking…
“Ugh… the storyboard… can’t I just skip it?”
Ok. If you are thinking that… then, don’t do any animation.
Quit. Right now. Go work for Uber. Animation is not for you.
The STORYBOARD IS EVERYTHING!
Is only 1% of your time and energy, but it determines the next 99% you are going to put in.
Without a storyboard, you won’t have a good animation.
Remember, with the STORYBOARD, you can get the perfect number of drawings you need to have the best emotional expressions from your characters.
That is the key.
Emotional expressions.
Without drawing more than needed, or less than needed, just the perfect amount of work you need to have it at it’s best version possible.
Remember, your storyboard has 3 objectives to help you create a smooth animation:
Get the correct body language
Correct Facial expressions
Correct mood of the scene.
Ok. So that is the Storyboard.
Next.
2. PRODUCTION
The production is when you take each of the panels of your storyboard, and start producing the final HIGH QUALITY images that will be used in the animation.
The high quality backgrounds, the high quality characters, and most importantly, the final look of the
body language
facial expressions and
mood of the scene
This stage is one of the biggest in terms of time and energy.
Remember, production for the hunters took 44%
If you have no drawing skills, this stage is going to be a nightmare.
To save you the trouble, you can get a quote from us to have us do ONLY THIS part of the process for you.
You can do step 1, then we handle step 2, the production.
And then you keep doing everything else!
This will save you a lot of energy, time, and our production service will be much cheaper since we are only handling one single job, the production.
In any case, if you enjoy drawing, this is going to be paradise for you.
As I often recommend, this is a moment you can use to draw while:
Listening to music
Having your favorite movie playing in the background
Listening to a podcast, or, my favorite
Listening to an audiobook
---
CONCLUSION
So, to finish this lesson, I want to stretch out the importance of following these steps for doing smooth animation.
The 2 most important ideas I want you to get from this are:
Start with a storyboard, and…
Use video references. That is… when you have everything ready for your animation, don’t start just yet… record yourself to get the perfect timing for your animation.
And that’s it.
Do that and you will be able to create organic animations.
Learn more at 2danimation101.com
Check this lesson at 2danimation101.com/cartoon-animator-tutorials/11-8-step-process-to-make-your-animations-look-organic.html
---
Hi Mark Diaz here for 2DAnimation101.com
In this lesson I am going to put everything we have learned so far from previous lessons, to create animations that look organic.
And by organic, I mean, animation that don’t look Fake, Weird, Robot-like.
So, everything we have covered so far can be summarized in 8 steps.
Visualization: Storyboard
Production: Re-Draw each panel of the storyboard in the final quality
Sound Production: Tell your story with audio, as if it was to be played in a Podcast.
Animatic: Put together Sound, Music, Voices, etc.
Rigging: Rig Characters for each Panel
Animation: Create an Animation for Each Panel (separately)
Render: Render each file separately
Editing: Put together the full animation in an editing software.
Each one of those is very important.
Some take very little time, and some take a lot of time.
In a previous lesson I shared with you the Project Report of The Hunters. So you can check it out.
If you haven’t you can go to:
2d101.com/huntersreport
Now, in that report,
Visualization took 25 minutes
Production took 30:47 hrs
Sound production took 3:16 hrs
The Animatic (because it included sound and voice production) took 5 min
The Rigging and prepararion of the characters took 24:54:22 hrs
The Animation took 9:12 hrs
Putting it together took 15:41 mins
In percentage, this is how our time was distribuited:
The heaviest, most expensive in terms of time and energy, are:
Production and Preparation of the Characters.
Let me talk really quick about each one. Starting with…
1. VISUALIZATION
The visualization, takes less than 1% of your energy and time, but it tells you how you are going to use the remaining 99% of your time and energy.
Really.
It’s THAT IMPORTANT!
Storyboarding is a whole topic on its own.
A crappy storyboard delivers a crappy animation.
Now, by crappy I am not talking about the quality of your drawings.
No.
Your drawings can be very crappy sketches, what you need to do in the storyboard phase is to VISUALIZE each scene.
Tell your story with PICTURES. That is what you ultimately want to do anyway, right?
The images I did for the original storyboard of the Hunters, are super crappy, but they served me to visualize what I needed to see for my animation.
----
Now, if you are thinking…
“Ugh… the storyboard… can’t I just skip it?”
Ok. If you are thinking that… then, don’t do any animation.
Quit. Right now. Go work for Uber. Animation is not for you.
The STORYBOARD IS EVERYTHING!
Is only 1% of your time and energy, but it determines the next 99% you are going to put in.
Without a storyboard, you won’t have a good animation.
Remember, with the STORYBOARD, you can get the perfect number of drawings you need to have the best emotional expressions from your characters.
That is the key.
Emotional expressions.
Without drawing more than needed, or less than needed, just the perfect amount of work you need to have it at it’s best version possible.
Remember, your storyboard has 3 objectives to help you create a smooth animation:
Get the correct body language
Correct Facial expressions
Correct mood of the scene.
Ok. So that is the Storyboard.
Next.
2. PRODUCTION
The production is when you take each of the panels of your storyboard, and start producing the final HIGH QUALITY images that will be used in the animation.
The high quality backgrounds, the high quality characters, and most importantly, the final look of the
body language
facial expressions and
mood of the scene
This stage is one of the biggest in terms of time and energy.
Remember, production for the hunters took 44%
If you have no drawing skills, this stage is going to be a nightmare.
To save you the trouble, you can get a quote from us to have us do ONLY THIS part of the process for you.
You can do step 1, then we handle step 2, the production.
And then you keep doing everything else!
This will save you a lot of energy, time, and our production service will be much cheaper since we are only handling one single job, the production.
In any case, if you enjoy drawing, this is going to be paradise for you.
As I often recommend, this is a moment you can use to draw while:
Listening to music
Having your favorite movie playing in the background
Listening to a podcast, or, my favorite
Listening to an audiobook
---
CONCLUSION
So, to finish this lesson, I want to stretch out the importance of following these steps for doing smooth animation.
The 2 most important ideas I want you to get from this are:
Start with a storyboard, and…
Use video references. That is… when you have everything ready for your animation, don’t start just yet… record yourself to get the perfect timing for your animation.
And that’s it.
Do that and you will be able to create organic animations.
