If you are going to make your own anime, you have to be able to animate.   One of the tools of choice is non-other than Flash, now called Adobe Animate or something of that nature.  I wanted to post this step by step guide for some of your newer guys just trying to collect information on how to animate.

Flash is where I started and I still have it on my hard drive today.  It is easy to use and was just what I originally started using as well as many Animators out there.

Adobe Animate is now available for around $20 bucks a month.  But if you cannot afford it there are tons of cool, free animation tools.

Here is the same creator above using FREE Tools.

 

The tutorials above are by Jesse Jones.  I ran into his work when several artists were animating an entire episode of Dragoball.  It was a fun project.

Follow the link below to check it out.

 

Here is one of the latest Anime’s.

You can do this too.  This would be great for a comedy style anime.  Less drawings, with a lot of detail.

This is just another example to help inspire you to try different things and tell stories more simply.

 

I wanted to share this method with you.  This is for folks who cannot draw as well.   Even if you cannot draw you can possible trace.  That is where rotoscoping can be a god send for you.

Rotoscoping is basically tracing video.   Who can’t trace?

You can get really natural motions and it is a lot of fun.

You have seen rotoscoping in old school Disney films, Ralph Bakshi films and in many action old school 80s cartoons like He-Man.

Here is an idea of what you can do.

Here is how they did it.  This will give you the basic idea.  I know it is not anime but again the concept is still the same.

I think Ralph Bashki’s work has to some degree stood the test of time at least in a cult following type of way.  It has a look to it that is all his own and yet for many is still watchable. The cool thing about today is that you can do the same thing but have that crisp, digital look as well.  It can look pretty slick.

Here are a few examples.

Is it possible to do something like this?  Could you rotoscope your animation especially if you may not be as good at drawing as you’d like?  It worked for Disney plenty of times.

rotoscopesnowwhite

 

Disney used a lot of live action reference and almost copied straight from the video.

Oataking777 has made some really cool modern day looking animations using Rotoscoping.

Here is one where he recored himself dancing funky and made a funny quick animation.

In the below video he shows you a method of rotoscoping using 3d reference.

I hope some of you run with this idea.  Rotoscoping can be tiring but remember in Anime they animate on 4s, 8s and 12s.  In other words you can do some parts with only 4 frames per 2nd, 8 frames per second or 12.

So what are you waiting for?  Get your friends dressed up as your characters in cosplay style, go out and film the scenes in live action and then start tracing away.

Money is always a challenge.

You need money to live.  To make money you need to spend time working.  To work you lose time to create.

If you are a writer and not really a visual artist you may need money to hire artists to bring your vision to life.     Money is not everything but having it is.   If you had a ton of money making anime, cartoons, series,  comics, etc would be a lot easier.

If I had 2 million dollars to spend I’d just go to the Korean outsourcers Japan uses and have them make my 13 part epic anime series.  But I don’t and chances are neither do you.

This has been a big challenge for me.  It goes hand in hand with my personal talent.  I don’t feel I have the talent to model 3d characters.  There are also tools I want that make things go by faster and there are a ton of other reasons I would like an actual budget for telling stories.

Now there are some new ways to find money.  I am talking about Crowdfunding.  The big boys out there are Kickstarter and Indiegogo.    That is an option open to anyone.  I will tell you truthfully though that it is a lot of work.  I ran my own campaign twice and failed twice.    You have to almost become a full time marketer.  That takes a lot of time and money.

So you have to ask yourself how much do you really need that money?

Coming up with a basic budget, being realistic and balanced can go a long way.   Plus we live in an age where there are more and more free tools that you can use.  Yes the technology to create your own anime is free.   For every high dollar piece of software there is a poor man’s open source free version.

Maya = Blender

Zbrush = Sculptris

Toonboom = Synfig

Below is an animated short created with Synfig and Blender.  All free software.

There are also cheaper alternatives.  I will tell you thought given budget constraints you can get a little more creative.

Also many software packages are allowing a monthly subscription.  The entire Adobe package is about 50 bucks a month.  I’m sure more people can swing that.

I also wanted to mention that if you have a little budget aside you can find artists for cheaper prices.  I have found great modelers on sites like Fiverr.com and Deviantart.com for pennies on the dollar.    If you can afford a Playstation, Xbox or a computer you can get a lot of artwork at that price.

Below is some artwork from a great artist I found on Deviantart.com.  I am not going to tell you the price but it was a really good deal.  It was affordable on my paycheck.

fiverilovekaiju

Here are some bullet points in regards to money.

*Determine your wants and needs

*Use free alternatives if you cannot afford the

 pro level tools-in many cases the free versions are just as good.  

*Be more thrifty- can you make your coffee at home for 10 cents on the cup vs $5

 for that latte mocha.  

*Find little quick ways to earn money to sink into your project.  

I’m selling my comic books and figurines I have collected over the years.  

*Try crowdfunding, it worked for me…errr….well it has worked for a lot of other people.

*Outsource if you must. 

There are plenty of starving artists out there who just need a little pizza money or

 even a few followers who you can convince to believe in you. 

*DIY- Do it yourself. If you cannot afford something do it yourself.  You can work for free.