You guys remember that quote?  If you do you are probably 40.  :)

I’m not here to dig up the past nostalgia, I’m actually here to share more ideas on animation that might help you.

Going back to cut out animation.  I know some folks hate to think of doing a series or movie that way but really it can add style, be fast and be beautiful.

Check out what you can do.

Here is a great little tutorial that shows you what you can do.

The software used is called SPINE.  I think most animation software has some form of this type of animation but I really like how this one looks and moves.  It is made for this very specific task and it does it well.

Check out who uses this method.

They do stuff like this using this cutout method.

Go for it.   Cut out animation is not evil.

I heard that anime is really popular in France, probably even more so than the USA.  There has been some awesome stuff out of France that is for certain.     I wanted to share a great animated series and game which features some super awesome character design.

Just check out those awesome character designs below.  Here is a making of Wakfu.   The method is very similiar to what Jazza was teaching in the post below.

Sorry it was in French.

But I think you can get the breakdown.   Here is a character design.

So then apply what you learn from Jazza’s training below and you should be able to create something awesome.

Also you can hire an artist to make a puppet like this for you.   That way you can use them over and over again.

In case you missed it.

Here is the finished animation.

While Wakfu may seem like it is more complicated the basics are still there.  You can learn a lot from this tutorial.

 

I remember back in the day when I first realized you could make your own animations on the computer and then upload them for everyone to see.

I thought this was one of the most amazing things since it was something I wanted to do as a child.    I first discovered Newgrounds.    I remember back then in the late 90s and early 2000s that you had a lot of limitations.  We didn’t really have streaming back then as we do today.  Artists had to be clever and creative to keep the file size down.  Today those limitations are gone but I still have to remember some of the classics that were more than just a quick cartoon with a poop joke at the end.

Here are some of those early animations that inspired me to start doing online animation.

This was one of the early OGs of 2000.

Ninjai

Genryu’s Blade:  This one started many creating their own episodes.  I don’t know where this guy went.  He became a legend and disappeared.

Sadly I wish both these creators and groups would have kept their momentum and continued creating as they did before because with the invention of youtube these guys would have been the early innovators and would probably be a big company like Rooster Teeth is today creating content.  Timing is everything.

But thanks guys for the inspiration.