Drawing Speed/Size?

I approach it with the mindset of sculpting. I know that sound strange but let me explain.

Like Larry said, start of with a plan. When you do/get a scene you should have a good idea of your footage, or the length of your particular assignment/project.

Then, I do my thumbnails. I make small sketches of the Key poses or actions required in that scene. I can then time those poses. Having a stopwatch is handy for getting a rough idea how long it takes to hold those poses and move from one to the other. If there's dialogue I'd put which parts of the dialogue underneath my thumbnail drawing that emphasize that particular dialogue. There are good examples of this in The Animator's Workbook by Tony White and also the Animator's Survival Kit from Richard Williams.

Once I get my timing I put that on my X-sheet. That way I have a first pass on my timing, numbering the sheet on odds all the way through the full exposure. I'll indicate key poses by circling the numbers where I'll definitely need keys. I'll also drop "X"s on the in the action column where I know I'll need to peg those keys. I think of that like when an actor needs to hit a mark on a stage.

I'll then really roughly sketch out my keys, having no real detail, mainly just the volumes, primitive shapes of the body, and some indication of where the face is pointing. If it's really vital to the scene and the character's (inter)action I'll put basic eye information as well. At this point I don't worry about anything overlapping. No clothes, no tails, hair, feathers, etc... I'm just going to block this stuff in. For ever foot of animation (16 frames @ 24fps) I average about 4 keys. This varies depends on the action but I think 1 drawing every 1/4 second can pin things down nicely. I'll then do a first pencil test. At this point I can get a good idea if the character is hitting his poses in an interesting way and in a "non-mechanical" way. If I find the timing seems a bit staccato and mechanical I'll adjust the timing so things vary a bit. I'll make sure to update my X-sheet to correctly reflect the changes made. I'll also place timing charts on my key drawing indicating how I want to slow in and out of these keys. It's really at this point that I think I'll have my timing pegged.

At this point I'll go ahead and roughly sketch any key breakdowns needed. Again, keeping all the drawings very primitive. The point is the timing and performance, NOT the draftsmanship. Sometimes If I’m working with an assist, I'll make sure to have at least 2 breakdowns between each Key. This is mainly because I like to control my slow-in/slow-out. Sometimes the action is simple enough to place just one breakdown between the keys just to indicate the arcs for the character. Once I have these breakdowns I'll again do a pencil test. This time checking to make sure all the arcs, holds and timing is working right and hooking up to any other animation. If I need to adjust any of the timing I'll update my X-sheet and timing charts here.

At this point the only drawings left to do are the in-betweens, so, I'll go back and fine tune the actual drawings of the Keys. I'll tighten them up, still not worrying about any overlapping or loose clothing etc. If there's dialogue I'll still hold off on any mouth shapes except maybe where they effect the whole animation. Basically I'm drawing a naked mannequin with all the ON MODEL construction of the character. After I'm done with the Key's I'll do the same with the key breakdowns. Sometimes if my original roughs are too rough to refine I'll just lay a new sheet over the rough and redraw them. Once again I'll do the pencil test. The timing should be fine, but now I’m looking at the arcs again and how my masses are holding up, including any volume during squash and stretch.

At this point I'll go ahead and rough in the dialogue as well. Hitting my Key frames first. Your dialogue and sometimes run on a different timing than your action so you may have to draw some exposures that are just mouths or heads or whatever. Make sure to indicate on these pages which Key or breakdown should be used to trace back the rest of this drawing. Once you've done your dialogue reshoot a pencil test and sync it up to your audio. Make sure it's matching nicely. Some mouth shapes need to be hit a few exposures ahead of the actual dialogue, just try to make it LOOK good, you don’t' have to be overly critical with the mouth. The mouth is a pretty lazy set of muscles.

Once I'm satisfied with that stage I'll go ahead and animate any overlap. I'll do it straight ahead for the most part. There are always exceptions of course. Say I have a character like Robin Hood, who has a feather in his hat, also has a tail and maybe a sword. I would likely do his tail first, ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE SCENE. Then go back and do the sword all the way, then the feather. I usually try to do whatever overlapping object would have the most dramatic movement relating to the character's action. Then I'll go pencil test them. Paying particular attention to the overlapping objects. Making sure the clothing moves right, making sure everything is looking right. I'll go back and fix any timing I find disagreeable. In this case you have to have a very discriminate eye. Get a second opinion on your animation. Flip it, view it mirrored how you drew it so that you know it's looking right. If you've ever drawn something then flipped it, you'd know where your errors are, they just seem to POP out. The same can happen with animation. Make tedious notes about changes that need to be made, including exposure numbers. Then go back down those notes like a grocery list and check them off as you fix them. Do another test.

Once you're satisfied with your results go ahead and tighten up your roughs. This is where you can worry about the quality of your draftsmanship. You may even feel inclined to redraw them over your roughs. I would always do my keys first, then my key breakdowns.

Once I have this point the work goes off to a rough in-betweener, but if you're doing your own in-betweens it should be almost as simple as matching line to line. Just draw whatever frames your timing tells you that you have left. Make sure that you don’t' have any dancing lines or drifting details. Eyes can really drift if you don’t' nail them down. Once you have all your in-betweens reshoot, take notes, and make tweaks.

At this point it's time to clean up. Start with your Keys, then your key breakdowns then any other breakdowns, then your tweens. Reshoot, scrub through your animation to make sure your lines aren’t' dancing, there's no drift, volumes don't jitter etc... At this point you should be ready to move on, inking painting compositing etc...

This is my process, it sounds tedious I know, but animation IS tedious. Once the roughs and timing charts are all finished the rest is pretty tedious work. But this is a pretty sure fire pattern for nice animation. There are a lot of other little tweaks you can do along the way like drawing in different colors. Some do Keys in red or black, break downs in blue and tweens in green. Some do roughs in blue, tighten up in red and clean up in black. Some will do all primary action in red, secondary in blue and overlap in green finish in black. There are just a lot of little things that different animators do to expedite the process.

I really hope this helps out, I promise all this attention to detail pays off, you can get an incredible amount of information and animation accomplished this way.

Good Luck

**edit** Okay I went back and fixed some of the spelling grammer and the fact that Tony's book is actually The Animator's Workbook ~ duh....

That was pretty thorough. A good solid read and a nicely written tone.

Thanks SL, yeah serves me right for trying to write anything in the morning. My brain doesn't even function before 11 am.

Okay so, Animator's Workbook by Tony White I'll go up there and edit it, heaven knows there's tons of typos in that mess up there hahaha.

I would try to draw -well-, and then keep practicing at doing that quicker and quicker. If you're truly new to animation and then just aim for a speed, the only thing you'll likely wind up succeeding at is having done it fast.

When I went to Edinboro they had the freshmen animation classes have 300 drawings per week as a constant homework assignment through the semester. Just keeping it very gestural, you were to look and scrape down, look and jot, run down the line with it. Everyone used to be so impressed by this junior in my building. "Draw a bear," they'd say. "No, draw a horse!" and in 10 seconds she'd have something, but not something workable.

From what I have read (and I -will- be corrected, so just hold out for a little longer =) when all is said and done, if an animator has been working in the industry for a few years with traditional background, and for the sake of example does the roughs -and- the cleanup, each drawing would average between 1 and a half to 3 minutes.

Personally, I've never had enormous paper. I've had the very small field size, that seems almost like printer paper but less of a ream weight. I try to use as much space on the paper as possible. I can always cut down when I scan or take photos with the digital camera, but I can't blow up and make it look good if I've drawn too small.

Hello.

If you want to save time then thumnail out the key poses first and then do the regular sized poses.

As Don Bluth saya,"If you fail to plan...you plan to fail!"

Here's a ruff drawing and a thumbnail sheet...

Thanks.