Animation : What is your Workflow? by Daniel Husbands

Here’s my process, and what I teach:

thumbnails

beat boards

refined storyboards

animatic

scratch audio

layout

motion maps

keyframes

in-betweens (rough pass)

clean-up / line art

backgrounds

color

compositing

editing

sound editing

mixing

Thanks Mike Boas Which step would you say is the most crucial? Or are they all equally important?

That’s funny. In a way it’s like saying what’s most important in a car, the steering wheel, the engine, or the tires.

I suppose I could make a movie without a plan (storyboards), and without sound, and without editing. So I definitely need animation. You could even do it without keys and in-betweens, which is called straight ahead animation.

But I don’t do that because the planning and keyframing keep you from getting into trouble later. Especially if you’re communicating with a team.

You make a good point Mike Boas they all have very important functions that together contribute to a quality finished production.

Excellent discussion. Thank you for the insightful detail, Mike Boas!

Here’s something I did years ago, trying out an animation app on my phone. Total stream of consciousness, no planning. Big chunky lines, the best I could draw with my finger on a small screen. But it’s like improv, morphing from one idea to another. Music was added at the end from the YouTube library.

https://youtu.be/ydaoPB57c8k?si=zEWD-zy8PnJQwPpf

This is a fairly standard process for many animators. As has been pointed out, there are many alternative processes. The end result is all that matters.