Stylus RumbleThis is one of my favorite drawing exercises to help get more personality into my characters. I call it triple gestures, or triple drawings, though it doesn't always stay at 3 drawings, and sometimes it derails into random doodling . Either way, if you want more life in your posing and character design, this will definitely help!
A drawing exercise to help put personality in your Characters.Stylus Rumble2019-03-27 | This is one of my favorite drawing exercises to help get more personality into my characters. I call it triple gestures, or triple drawings, though it doesn't always stay at 3 drawings, and sometimes it derails into random doodling . Either way, if you want more life in your posing and character design, this will definitely help!
music: freesound.org/people/mickleness2Dfx water referenceStylus Rumble2021-10-22 | A collection of some splashes and water features I've done over the years.Smoke and Dust FX referenceStylus Rumble2021-10-21 | Here's a bunch of dust I've collected from various shows and classes I've taught over the years. Dust is my favourite thing to animate.Adjusting cycles and Revision tips.Stylus Rumble2021-09-01 | What do you do if you have to add animation to a cut-out cycle? How to tackle animation revisions after the scene is done.
These are two hurdles that I found difficult to get started with. Most of my problems were caused because I was being too timid with changes. Be bold, animator friends.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessHarmony Cutout Animation using Olive rigStylus Rumble2021-08-25 | I've been meaning to try out some of the gumroad harmony rigs for a while now. First up is the Olive rig that you can get for free here: kyubumlee.gumroad.com
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessLazy Counter-rotation in harmonyStylus Rumble2021-08-18 | This is what happens when you have to make a tonne of videos last minute- you make super specific videos about counter-rotating and the difference between the transformation limit and expression columns.... Here you go.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/mickleness2D Cutout tricks using the ballStylus Rumble2021-08-11 | The humble bouncing ball is THE best exercise for improving your fundamental skills. Even if you are doing cutout animation in harmony you can learn a tonne about deformers, timing, spacing, arcs, just using the ball. You learn way faster if you're not getting caught up in complected details.
Software is toonboom harmony premium2DFX, Tips for Efficient ReuseStylus Rumble2021-08-04 | for 2DFX and cutout animation the whole goal is to get stuff done fast, without sacrificing a lot of quality. By using this simple tip, you can save a lot of time repairing your complex contraptions when the directors make last minute changes. And then the client also makes changes.2DFX quick tip: Water ringsStylus Rumble2021-07-28 | How to set up your water rings to save the most time! in 2d animation we are always on a quick turn around, so creating ripples or water rings that are easy to reuse in lots of situations will save you time down the road.
Software is toonboom harmony premium Stay tuned for SR news on Twitter: twitter.com/StylusRumble
Check out my growing reference doc https://t.co/DGlt4c5sGM
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/mickleness2DFX Simplifying a Traditional SplashStylus Rumble2021-07-21 | A video for @OnionSkin Watch him try a splash with no structure here: youtube.com/watch?v=Nd8VrDmqrfk hilarious. So I finally got around to making this, showing how you can take a very complex concept like a traditional splash effect and break it down into simple stages. This lets you learn a lot without the brain cramp of starting with a final product in mind.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessAnimating a traditional walk cycle from reference.Stylus Rumble2021-07-14 | I wanted to have a bit of fun while practicing a walk cycle. I used the @kevinbparry 's amazing walk compilation for the reference. His channel has some of the best animation reference anywhere. just the roughs for about 8 frames.
Software is toonboom harmony premium Stay tuned for SR news on Twitter: twitter.com/StylusRumble
Check out my growing reference doc https://t.co/DGlt4c5sGM
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessQuick tips to make your animation fasterStylus Rumble2021-07-07 | Often junior animators here that there work is "floaty" or they're not getting the punch and impact they want. Here are some simple methods for making your work feel faster, and some fancier ones like smears and multiple limbs on a single frame.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessUpgrading your Simple 2DFX cyclesStylus Rumble2021-06-23 | Once you have a simple animation cycle you can add and subtract details to make more complex stuff in a straight forward way. You don't need to keep track of 100 arcs at a time, just build it up piece by piece until you love it, or you run out of time.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessSustainable Sketching: 10 year sketch dumpStylus Rumble2021-06-18 | A follow up to yesterday's video. Creativity and practice are totally different things to me. 10 years of art, and my suggestions on how to make art sustainable. Art is not a battle, it's a life style. It's a friend. It's fun!
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessLearning to draw, the emotional roller coaster.Stylus Rumble2021-06-16 | This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately, in my efforts to improve some of my fundamental drawing skills. Everyone goes through these periods of inspiration and frustration while learning. Don't let the discouragement stop you from your goals. do the thing!Perspective and scale for 2DFXStylus Rumble2021-06-09 | Just an aimless ramble about perspective and scale while animating 2D FX, some tips on character animation when fx will be involved. A mess. Also- sorry for the obvious fan noise- it was 35C when I recorded this and we don't have AC lol Stay tuned for SR news on Twitter: twitter.com/StylusRumble
Check out my growing reference doc https://t.co/DGlt4c5sGM
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessHow drawing organic forms help your 2DFXStylus Rumble2021-06-02 | Organic drawing is a great way to boost your drawing skills in a way that's particularly helpful in 2DFX animation.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/mickleness2DFX animation : Dissipation and dustStylus Rumble2021-05-26 | Dissipation is my favorite thing about traditional / tradigital 2d fx animation. There are countless ways smoke, fire, magic, and other elements can be animated to disappear from the screen. IMHO small directional dust is the easiest and funnest way to practice a variety of ways in a relatively short amount of time.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/mickleness2DFX Animating what isnt thereStylus Rumble2021-05-19 | One of the best techniques for 2Dfx animation is to animate the negative shapes, as well as the positive shapes. We see this all the time in game fx, as well as fire cycles, and many other places.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessAnimating on the surface of FormsStylus Rumble2021-05-12 | The next animation exercise for any person interested in traditional / tradigital animation. If you don't know perspective your 2DFX are going to tell on you.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/mickleness2DFX Cycle fun. Think about ArcsStylus Rumble2021-05-05 | A rambley talk about using arcs to animate 2DFX in a fun casual way. Traditional animation is all about arcs, timing, spacing. All the fundamentals are valuable.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessSimple 2D animation cyclesStylus Rumble2021-04-28 | It used to take me forever to loop up a cycle. Nobody told me there were ways to simplify it! Here's 2 ways to animate traditional animation cycles. Great for 2DFX, you could easily take this and animate a fire cycle, or smoke cycle with a lot less stress!
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessBeginner 2DFX Animation ExercisesStylus Rumble2021-04-21 | Want to learn traditional animation, or fx animation and have no idea where to start? it's the bouncing ball!! it's always the bouncing ball. But some other stuff too. So if you're a beginner animator, or you're just kind of lost. Here are 3 fun exercises to practice the basics. Check out my reference collection here: https://t.co/DGlt4c5sGM?amp=1
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessPortfolio and Demo reel tips for animation jobsStylus Rumble2020-09-04 | I recorded this 8 million years ago but I'm just getting around to uploading it! These are my tips for animation portfolio or demo reels for people trying to get into the animation industry.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessCharacter Perspective TipsStylus Rumble2020-08-19 | All that perspective x stuff from last week is going to come in handy when we start applying those fundamentals to actual character animation using my rig in toonboom harmony premium. Also good for all your drawing and 2D animation scenarios!
Get a copy of my character rig used in this video here:
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessEasy Perspective - using the XStylus Rumble2020-08-12 | This is one of the most useful little tools for figuring out linear perspective problems. It's great for figuring out distances and spacing, rotating things and keeping proportions. Tonnes of utility for a little drawing hack.
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessSparkle Magic with Particles in Toon Boom HarmonyStylus Rumble2020-08-05 | Playing around with some sparkle falls and using toon boom harmony's particle emitter. This is one of the things it's best at. It will save you from drawing thousands of tiny pixie dust dots and ravaging your lower arm!
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessSketchy 2D fx for Animatics - and stuffStylus Rumble2020-07-29 | I haven't been getting much sleep lately- so this went right off the rails. There might be some info in there about simple 2D fx in toonboom harmony. sparkles, speed lines, light beams, oh my!
Get a copy of my character rigging template free: gum.co/xUQCJ
Then, try to follow along as I rig a simple character at break neck speed! It's so fast that I made a slower version and uploaded that too haha. Rigging in toon boom harmony with a template makes things ten times faster. Have your cutters ready, don't name a million things and start animating faster.
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessSimple rigging in Harmony PremiumStylus Rumble2020-07-22 | Beginner friendly rig step by step in real time. I did a bit of a demo for my last video when I announced that you can get a copy of my character rigging template on gumroad! gum.co/xUQCJ . During that video I did a demo of rigging in harmony, but even I thought it was too fast! So here is me rigging this very simple character in harmony premium in real time. This is a good exercise for beginners.
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessOnionSkin Straight Ahead Animation Challenge!!Stylus Rumble2020-07-21 | Our friend Onionskin threw out the #straightAheadChallenge and I had to try it. Check out his video youtu.be/J9-gT5Ao4Lc !! This isn't my "weekly" video, but he was having so much fun I had to join in. Animated in harmony premium 16 over about 25 minutes. Almost entirely straight ahead- I did do a little bit of back and fourth, but no inbetweens. (which makes that early part a bit ehhhh) Do the challenge!How to Practice Overlap and Follow ThroughStylus Rumble2020-07-15 | This is part 2 of my overlap and follow through tutorial videos. I am animating in Toon Boom Harmony 16 but this animation exercise will work for any software, or on paper. It's also good for learning to keep track of arcs, general timing, all the fundamental principles of animation we keep on about.
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessFollow through and overlapping action: part 1Stylus Rumble2020-07-08 | In this video I talk about the important things to think about while animating follow through and overlapping action in 2D. I'm using Toonboom harmony premium 16, but this works in any animation program. This is the Overlapping action part off the video, since I never really got into follow through, and it turned into a tangent about animating dangly extra bits in general
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessOffset cycles, Toonboom animationStylus Rumble2020-07-01 | One way to make your animation faster and easier is to make one cycle then offset the keyframes and modify them later. Once you have your cycle done it's easy to adjust the timing or inbetweens and get a variety of personality in your character, or object. For the colour changes I use 3 nodes from the node library, I checked the toonboom help menu and these are the best search terms for them. Colour-override Colour-scale Hue-saturation
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessAnimating a jump vs a bounce in toonboom HarmonyStylus Rumble2020-06-24 | Just a simple animation exercise to get back into the swing of things. often jr animators will have their ball bounce look a lot like a ball jump. I talk about spacing, timing, which is kind of the same thing, and just some of the things to think about while animating a character or simple object.
music: freesound.org/people/mickleness2D FX animator AMAStylus Rumble2019-06-26 | To celebrate 5k subs I asked you folks to send me your questions about harmony animation, special effects, or art in general. I talk about my favorite effects to animate, what nodes I do- or don't use for fx, creative kids, and how toon boom technology has changed over the years. Q&A
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessMotion graphics text animation in toonboomStylus Rumble2019-06-19 | Hey folks! I wanted to celebrate 5k subscribers by doing some text animation in toon boom harmony. I utilize the apply-peg transformation for some pro shadows, and take advantage of some cheap animation hacks that can make something look like it took a lot more time and thought than it does. Also, I'm going to record an AMA next week so leave your questions about fx animation, harmony, or how I grew up to be an animator below! Even if I don't get to it next week, I can do more FAQ later. Because I have no plan.
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessAnimator pity party. I dont have harmony 17Stylus Rumble2019-06-12 | Guess who has harmony 17?? I donno, it's not me lol. I was just starting to get into the details of 16 when Toon Boom went and updated the whole thing again! They have been working overtime to get a new version out so quick. They're trying to be skype or something? Anyway, I did show how to export a GIF, and I had a chance to take my Jammy 2.0 with the new Master Controllers out for a spin. If you want to play with this rig grab it from gumroad from the link below, and tag me so I can cheer myself up with adorable grape flavored animation.
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessHarmony 16 Master Controler WizardStylus Rumble2019-06-05 | I found a great way to procrastinate in making my fairy rig- and that's to update my Jammy rig!! Jammy now has mouth charts for all your lip-sync needs, hooked up to some fancy sliders, as well as a full posing master controller and some constraint handles. This makes the rig much more animation friendly than mucking around in the network looking for constraint pegs.
Newer versions of harmony have a built in MC wizard, but if you have this version you can find the script I use here: scriptor.gumroad.com
You can download this rig from gum-road, free for any non-commercial purposes, just tag me in the comments, so I can enjoy the jammy magic! gumroad.com/l/iclDs
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessFree Harmony rig Jammy 2.0Stylus Rumble2019-06-05 | Here is a brief overview of the Jammy 2.0 character rig for harmony. It was set up in harmony 16 with the new master controller wizard, I have a video on how I set that up. Not sure if it will work in 15? and the further back you go the less likely it is to work. :/
Download Jammy 2.0 , free for any non-commercial purposes. Just tag me so I can see that Jammy magic!! gumroad.com/l/iclDs
music: freesound.org/people/mickleness Scriptor on gumroadHarmony Rigging : Fairy Rig part 6Stylus Rumble2019-05-29 | More toonboom harmony rigging a character stuff. It takes forever, so only 39090 hours to go! Then I can finally start doing some animation tests with this thing.
Stay tuned for SR news on Twitter: twitter.com/StylusRumble Check out my art on IG: instagram.com/stylusrumble music: freesound.org/people/micklenessHarmony Rigging : Fairy Rig part 5Stylus Rumble2019-05-22 | Finally got back to rigging this character in toonboom harmony, after about a year of neglect. We're up to version 16 and I started this in 14, so... oops? Rigging for 2D animation can be a quick thing or super elaborate, and this is looking like a more detailed rig... time will tell.
Stay tuned for SR news on Twitter: twitter.com/StylusRumble Check out my art on IG: instagram.com/stylusrumble music: freesound.org/people/micklenessJunior Animation Jumps Critique part 2Stylus Rumble2019-05-08 | This is the second 5/10 jumps that have been animated by some student animators at Academy of Art University in San Francisco. This is a text-book example of the type of problems baby animators have when they first start using toonboom or learn to animate.
Thanks to everyone for letting me critique your animations!
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessJunior Animation critique Jumps part 1Stylus Rumble2019-05-08 | Intro ramble ends at 4:15 This is the first 5/10 jumps that have been animated by some student animators at Academy of Art University in San Francisco. This is a text-book example of the type of problems baby animators have when they first start using toonboom or learn to animate.
Thanks to everyone for letting me critique your animations!
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessBudget FX: Recreating feature quality water FX Part 3Stylus Rumble2019-04-17 | My first plan was to do an animation breakdown of some feature quality effects animation, but once I started I decided I wanted to recreate the fx entirely. So this is part 2 of turning these beautiful water fx into a low-budget facsimile. Can you use cutout animation to imitate this masterpiece? Since a lot of this is busy work without a lot to talk about (unless I'm going to repeat myself a million times) I did a little talk about what looks good on an fx reel, what kind of questions are asked.
Check out my art on IG: instagram.com/stylusrumble music:Budget FX: Recreating feature quality water FX Part 2Stylus Rumble2019-04-10 | My first plan was to do an animation breakdown of some feature quality effects animation, but once I started I decided I wanted to recreate the fx entirely. So this is part 2 of turning these beautiful water fx into a low-budget facsimile. Can you use cutout animation to imitate this masterpiece? Why did I start this? It's taking forever! a lot of this is just fast-foward of me repeating an action 437times. sorryyyy. loveYou!
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessBudget FX: Recreating feature quality water FXStylus Rumble2019-04-03 | My first plan was to do an animation breakdown of some feature quality effects animation, but once I started I decided I wanted to recreate the fx entirely. So this is part 1 of turning these beautiful water fx into a low-budget facsimile. Can you use cutout animation to imitate this masterpiece? Maybe... kind of ? let's try!
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessGesture Drawing and Quick Sketching for animation and cartoonsStylus Rumble2019-03-20 | One of the best sketchbook exercises are just good old fashioned gestures. And box gestures, or contour gestures, or any kind of gestures! Weather you want to do 2D animation, 3D animation, or cartooning of any kind, this is going to be one of the most valuable things you can use to level up your drawing skills.
music: freesound.org/people/micklenessHow to use you sketchbook to improve your drawing.Stylus Rumble2019-03-13 | Hey you guys! I'm back! I wanted to start with a general concept of using your sketchbook to improve your drawing. Draw every day is great advice, but it's so vague. What does that actually look like? What are some ways you can use sketching to inform your studies and fundamental lessons? Imho, a sketchbook is THE best tool to improve your drawing.
I forgot to put the time overlay but the drawing is at 9.5x speed. Total time was just under 3 hours.