Watch anime and learn to animate at the same time
You will not expect that it is so easy to learn animation, not through institutes or complex "courses", but in a fun way that you will not get bored of as long as you live. It is watching anime, a method that helped me learn anime since childhood.
Passion for Japanese anime
Once, not long ago, I was infected with “art block” and could not hold the pen and draw, so I decided to turn off the device, and watch the anime “Attack on Titan” for the first time, and when I sat down and started watching the first episode, the “art block” disappeared, And I regained my passion for drawing.
Before I finished the whole first episode, I stopped the series, turned on the computer, and started stirring with enthusiasm.
Yes, it's the magic of the anime, as soon as I watched the half-episode, I got more excited to be animated, even though I was lazy minutes ago.
Understand the secrets
You will not find animation lessons that give you all the secrets that Japanese studios follow in animation.
For example, but not limited to, if you want to animate a scene in which the character is walking, you may find lessons about that on the Internet, but by using the anime scenes in which the characters are walking, you gain the opportunity to learn how to move, the shooting angles, and how many frames were used in movement etc.
There are several techniques of the Japanese studios in moving the movement of walking, and through them I discovered:
Animation of the entire character, from head to toe as he walks
Move the character's feet only "so that the animator does not tire of drawing the entire body"
Focus on the hand only and show it moving left and right
Show the upper part of the body "head and even the shoulders" and make the character rise and fall in order to appear as walking
Drawing the entire character in black while walking, "one of the methods used when moving a flock of people."
Choosing the shooting angle “such as placing the camera at the top, where the head appears, or placing the camera from behind, where the back of the character is ours.”
Study and analysis of scenes
When I watch anime scenes, whether it's a sad or happy clip, or a normal dialogue scene, I predict the next movement, and sometimes I know how the camera will move.
From there, you can study the anime scenes, and how the directors direct those clips, so each clip is a complete lesson.
When you see a group of people in a particular shot, see how the engine moved, did it move all at once, or did it move only one character, or did it only move the lips, while they remained still?
When the hero fights with the villain, how did the fight go? Did the director rely on camera movement all the time? Or is a character animated in every shot? Or both together? Were the effects used in order to give an aesthetic to the scene and hide some of the animation defects?
When you move a character, does it move the whole body, or only a part that appears to the camera? In order to reduce the burden of moving it completely
Less animation and more reliance on the camera
It is known that the anime's frames are less than the cartoon's, as the cartoon characters move as long as they speak, unlike the anime, which defines the necessary movements in the shot. "I tend to this method personally."
For example:
The shots in which the characters speak, are stationary and do not move, but what is moved is the mouth and the camera
When the character is in the scene, the camera moves from bottom to top slowly
When a person suddenly appears, the camera moves from the bottom up quickly, as an expression of shock
When several characters appear in the scene, they are all moved, one movement, for example from standing up to sit, or turning around, and they remain in this state throughout the shot.
Repetition and redo
It is one of the most important factors that reduce effort and fatigue, and at the same time, provide the viewer with a longer period, including:
Repeating the movement all the time, such as the character jumping up and down, and repeating the movement, with dialogue if necessary, producing a complete shot
Replay a previously used movement, but in a new scene, and the audience won't realize it
Draw only two frames, such as the character waving to open the hands, and then closing the hands directly, without an interfacing frame, meaning that the movement is very fast, and the movement is repeated throughout the shot "famous in comic scenes or Chibi."
Extras
Sometimes the director focuses the camera on the library, while the hero is eating, so they don't have to move him while he's eating, only the sounds of spoons can be added, so the viewer understands what's going on
Often a group of people is moved, we can do this with less fatigue, by moving them quickly, without details, and adding fog or trees so that the viewer does not notice the errors
It is necessary to study the most important scenes, in every anime, and all studios use almost the same basics, it is not difficult at all to learn from them, and this was the main reason that taught me animation, so I did not enter institutes, because there are no institutes in our region, and I did not register in "Courses" because I do not like someone to teach me what he wants, but rather to learn what I want by myself.
When I found it difficult to move the eyes, I went directly to watch a clip from any anime, I slow down the clip, and when I understand how it happened, I go back to my program to animate my style without copying.
I taught myself myself, and I'm still learning every day, every anime is a complete lesson in itself, every shot, every scene, every dialogue, is an educational course, and even more, watching all anime is useful, it is a treasure for everyone who wants to learn to animate anime
