Hand-Drawn 2D Animation: Time-Saving Techniques With Just 3 Drawings

Have you ever jealousy stared at some beautiful hand drawn animated movie, sadly wishing you too could make something like that, but just simply don’t have the time?

They say that time is money. And if you are an animator, you know this to be very very true. Hand drawn animation, whether traditionally drawn or digitally created, is notoriously time consuming. In a world with inversely proportional rising desire for classic 2D with shrinking budgets and turnarounds, a 2D animator needs to know a thing or two about time management. 

But there is also a certain stigma in animation circles surrounding ‘limited animation’. Things like tweening, character rigging, puppeteering and the like tend to be looked down upon as inferior. And while I feel this is completely wrong and these are all valid techniques, they undeniably feel different from completely hand drawn animation.

This class is devoted to learning a few methods to approach your animations when both time and funds are short, but you want to maintain that raw hand drawn feel with as few drawings as possible. 

Throughout this class we will learn: 

• how to make a vibrant, alive animation with just 3 key drawings
• how to focus on a few key features of your characters to highlight and keep moving (such as hair, clothes and facial features)
• how to leverage the principles of animation to your advantage
• how to utilize digital software to automate certain things
• other useful strategies for creating entire scenes out of nothing

This class is recommended to the freelancer wanting to keep quality AND and schedule with their work, and for aspiring animators wanting to get some quality material to put themselves out there.

This class is perfectly suited to all learners of animation - the only prerequisite is that you have some basic drawing ability. If you’re a beginner and want to take this class, I recommend first familiarizing and/or refreshing yourself with the 12 Principles of Animation (linked in the Project Description below) before taking on this challenge.

I will be teaching this class in Adobe Animate (as well as some cross-over with After Effects) but while keyboard shortcuts and the like will be specific to that software, these techniques are universal and applicable in whatever software you use.

After this class you should realize that by being smart with your resources, you can get a lot out of what would otherwise just be a few key drawings WITHOUT sacrificing that hand crafted vibe.

Let’s get animating!