Okay I haven’t yet started to talk about software and actual HOW-To but there is some great software out there that could really help you out. Right now I’m not talking about that just yet but Crazy Talk Animator gave me an idea of creating animation more quickly and giving you a certain style.
Of course you can also use Smith Micro’s Anime Studio, Adobe Flash, Toon Boom and Synfig (freeware).
Crazy Talk and all the others allow for a 2d puppet like animation. It is pretty popular on shows created for Adult Swim. Titmouse uses it alot. I think they use Flash for their work.
But cutout animation can work for comedy style anime. There are so many tools including 3d packages that can do the cutout animation style. With a little creativity you can create some cool work. You can even include motion capture.
Here are some shows that may give you an idea of what you can do with cutout style animation.
You can use a combination of tweening and puppet style animation to get things done more quickly.
I hope to get my hands on Crazy Talk animator because it has some sweet shortcuts I could really use in combination with After Effects. You can do a 360 of the character in 2d and apply motion capture.
If you are not a great artist you can send the template to an artist you find on Deviantart.com or Fiverr.com and have them create all the angles for you with the template. Easy as that.
All you have to do is add a little imagination.
I noticed that cutout, skeletal rig looks be be used on the below animated video game. It is called Broken Age. While it is not an anime per se the concept is still the same and can be applied to any style. Notice earlier I mentioned the cutout and tweening can be used very well on a comedy style anime but with a little imagination and a lot of story it can also tell more serious tales like Broken Age. I personally think it is a thing of beauty.
Your anime can be funny or even a thing of beauty using this style and animation!
So far I’m trying to give you several ideas on where you can go in making your anime. All these methods can help with Time, Money and Ability. I hope this is helping you to think outside the box and not simply try to tackle a frame by frame animation which would be really hard especially if you are not the greatest drawer.
This can give you an option to farm out your work to someone with a better skill set than you. I guarantee if I looked in my usual places I could find someone who can create all the parts you need for the template used by Crazy Talk. I’m even thinking within $45 USD per character at a quality rivaling Broken Age. The cool thing is when you have a rigged asset character you can use it over and over again.
Check out www.Deviantart.com and www.fiverr.com to find artists on a smaller budget. You could collab but that is a whole other subject which I have a serious negative take on it but I think I may help you find collabers. Maybe in the next couple of articles.
