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Animation production steps?

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Animation production steps?

I wanted to know what are the steps in animation production. I know it cost quite a bit of money but maybe you can help fill in some gaps.

1st: Screenplay/Script (Writing/Editing)

2nd: Voice recordings

3rd: Character and Prop Design, Storyboard, and Layout

4th: Animation

5th: syncing animation and voices together

6th: Then adding SFX and Music afterwards

7th: Finished?

BrioCyrain's picture
Animation writer who loves...Animation!

Animation writer who loves...Animation!

What about storyboard, layout, character and prop design, does that all fall under "animation" for you? Of course, there are about a million sub-categories, like script editing, casting, music, foley and so forth. What is your plan anyway? One person can't do all that alone. If you're just shooting for a self-made short you can pretty much come up with your own pipeline.

Thanks, and of course animation is a multi-person business. Obviously with those dozens of names in the credits. I am just trying to get a standard pipeline down.

Animation writer who loves...Animation!

I wanted to know what are the steps in animation production. I know it cost quite a bit of money but maybe you can help fill in some gaps.

You're looking for a detailed description of the animation production process ? (I'm assuming you are asking about Classical hand-drawn animation , right?) That's a lot to detail to go into on for a forum post. In the interest of saving some time and pointing you towards the best information available let me answer bibliographically:

Old School classical production techniques:

The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (describes in great detail how animation was made at the Disney studio from 1930's - thru - 1980's by two veteran animators who were there. Mainly about the development of the techniques of character animation, but also goes into detail on other steps in the production process, such as: voice recording, soundtracks, storyboarding, layout, backgrounds, effects animation, ink & paint, camera, ,etc. A classic book, really THE book on animation. If you are interested in working in animation and you don't have this book then get it. Right now. Don't wait. )

The Animated Raggedy Ann and Andy: An Intimate Look at the Art of Animation Its History, Techniques, and Artists by John Canemaker ( on the surface this is a book about the making-of an obscure 1970's children's animated feature which flopped big time, but it is in fact one of the most intelligently written, best documented examples of the actual production process involved in making a a hand-drawn animated film , in the techniques used from the 1930's - early 1980's. One of the few books which writes in detail about what inbetweeners do , or what is involved in cel-painting , etc. , and actually interviews the people doing those tasks on the film.)

Animation From Script to Screen by Shamus Culhane (describes standard production procedures in hand-drawn animation up to about 1990 . Barely touches on digital production techniques though the last chapter talks about the coming wave of CG )

Classical hand-drawn production process brought into the digital age:

Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator by Tony White . (takes the classical hand-drawn animation production process and shows how it is adapted for use with digital tools .)

Producing Independent 2D Character Animation by Mark Simon. (describes the production process on an animated film start to finish , touching upon many of the software packages available for augmenting traditional hand-drawn techniques. Out of Print.)