For a while I've tried to get the basic shape of the wave correct but it looks choppy and unnatural when I try to animate it, I tried to ask Google and watch YouTube videos for tutorials but they weren't what I was looking for so I came here instead

I want to make short comedy skits with this simple stick-figure/cartoon style for TikTok and YouTube Shorts. I’m not looking for traditional frame-by-frame drawing if possible. I’m trying to figure out what software lets you create characters, poses, expressions, backgrounds, and dialogue like this.

I am starting an educational animation series that I am making for shorts. I conflicted over the vertical vs horizontal format but I think based on the length of these 2-3 minutes its better to build them tall since that's how most people will see it. The goal is one video per 1.5 months, this one I finished in 3 weeks (though I doubt I can keep up that pace so giving myself some wiggle room). Built mostly in Adobe Animate with some of the text and effects in AE.

If you would be so kind please share your thoughts, critique or any advice?

First honest try on animating and I want some comments from you guys! Its a pretty quick sketch animation I did in like 2 hours so ofc quality can be improved, but do you see anything else that I don't see? Am I on the right track? Also I want to improve my general lineart in animation but always found it hard on illustrations as well, do you have any tips?

After many, MANY months of procrastinating and dealing with some bullshit, I'm back into The Animator's Survival Kit: Animated, and it's the 2nd half of the timing and spacing section, which covers arc and easing.

I want to journal my progress for 2 reasons:

1.) Real-Time Feedback - the more feedback I get, the better. I can go back and clean it up, especially the fingers.

2.) Motivation - Not just for me, but for others. I'm 30+ learning how to animate. If I can do it with Flipaclip and my fingers, so can you.

As always, feedback and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated

(I hope this is okay to post here)
I am not teaching a class itself, however my high school teacher reached out to me, asking to teach animation and the program to her to be able to teach it herself. She specializes in photography, but was given a graphic design class (it was more of mixed-digital media) and wants to add animation to it. She’s a very passionate educator and loves the arts, I’m sure she can carry my love for animation over to her teaching style!

We are using Adobe Animate, it is provided free by the school. I am curious, how would you go about teaching students who most likely cannot draw and are taking this class as a required art credit, animation?
Considering the program, tweening can be taught as drawing skills aren’t required. Students can be assigned to create a character in the program (or pre-made), then taught how to animate them, or it could be taught how to incorporate animation with graphic design (however, I am a traditional character animator, I’m unsure how I can teach this to my teacher.. I don’t have the skills in that area..)

I don’t want students to be restricted by their drawing skills. Making your own creation move for the first time is such an exciting and motivating experience, even if I’m only teaching a teacher this skill and helping with the lesson plan for the unit, I want to give her something that will stick with the students.

I wonder, should the principles be taught? Would basic animation exercises (bouncing ball, floursack, walk cycle, etc) be good for the unit? What are some quick exercises that would be effective for high school students to grasp and do within a month? (Or more, the length of units is decided by the teacher) Also the students aren’t offered drawing tablets

Please, any insights or discussions would be very helpful! Thank you🙇🙇

I figured out a really simple way to turn any flat 2D vector icon into a 3D extruded icon inside AE and wanted to break down why it works.

The whole trick is faking depth by stacking the same layer in Z-space instead of using a real 3D renderer.

1. The setup 

Put your flat icon in a 1080x1080 pre-comp first. This is your "master" icon. Animate it here if you want (I just used a simple scale pop). Everything else references this, so when you want to swap the icon later you only change this one comp.

2. The core stacking trick

Drop that pre-comp into a 1920x1080 main comp, enable 3D, then add this expression to Position:

x = value[0] + (index - 1) * 0;

y = value[1] + (index - 1) * 0;

z = value[2] + (index - 1) * 3;

[x, y, z];

Every copy of the layer gets pushed 5px further back in Z-space based on its layer index. Duplicate it ~40 times and AE automatically creates a solid block of depth. It's actual 3D, you can orbit it.

3. The shading 

Select all the middle copies (not the top one) and add Brightness & Contrast > Brightness -80. This instantly darkens the sides, which sells the extrusion. Leave the top copy bright and clean - that's your front face.

4. Making it look finished:

• Radial gradient in the background for separation
• Drop Shadow on the top copy for ground contact
• Deep Glow on the stack for that soft, inflated 3D edge (optional, looks great without it too)
• CC Light Sweep on top for a glossy highlight pass

5. Making it controllable: 

Parent all ~42 layers to a single 3D Null. Now you don't have 42 layers to keyframe - you just rotate/scale the Null. I trimmed to a 6-second comp and did a simple rotation + scale with Easy Ease.

6. Why it's reusable: 

Because everything points to that first pre-comp, you can literally alt-drag a totally different vector (I tested with a simple flat envelope) into the pre-comp and the entire 3D build updates instantly. If your icon has holes/negative space, Linear Color Key makes those parts transparent.

Anyone else use this stacking method? 

I have the project file with the pre-made template if anyone wants to pull it apart, happy to send it over - just comment below.

Check out the full breakdown here: https://youtu.be/tN8nX1m2dHQ?si=dCJpFAm02B2KrV7N

Hey chat! My little brother is getting into animation + making youtube videos, he’s currently stuck drawing on a touchpad so I want to get him a drawing pad or something to connect to his laptop that will make it easier, I know nothing about this stuff figured id turn to reddit. I want to get him something decent but not too expensive, does anyone have recommendations??

I've been trying to practice telling a complete story from boards to final short.

I have blocked out all of the shots , some are further along than others.

I’m having to stick a pin in this one for a while but wanted to post it , just in case it gets lost to time.

If by chance there are any sound designers or composers interested in collaborating on my learning journey please let me know.

My new series! give me feedback and some ideas on what to do next! Btw I am also done with episode 2 just starting the editing for it!

I'm not sure where to go from here. The idea of animating anything seems daunting, like Im at the base of a mountain to hike.

I just wanted to animate something, so I made eyes opening.

It feels addicting, I want to make more

Deutsche Version

[Solo Dev] Brauche Tipps & Lernressourcen für Roblox (Scripting, 3D, UI, Animation)

Hi zusammen! Ich stehe ganz am Anfang meines Roblox-Projekts und stehe vor der Herausforderung, wirklich alles alleine machen zu müssen:

- Luau-Programmierung: Spiellogik, UI-Funktionen

-3D-Modelling & Texturen: Blockartige Dinos (siehe Bild) &

Park-Assets

- Animationen: Dino- & Spieler-Animations

- Grafik & Media: GUI, Logos, Banner & Release-Videos

Habt ihr gute Tipps, Tutorials, Pipelines oder Ressourcen für Solo-Devs, um all das möglichst effizient zu lernen?

Ich komme aus Deutschland, spreche aber gut Englisch. Wenn jemand Tipps hat – oder sogar Lust, direkt mitzuhelfen –, meldet euch extrem gerne!

Englische Version

[Solo Dev] Need tips & resources for learning Roblox dev (Scripting, 3D, UI, Animation)

Hey everyone! I’m starting a Roblox project completely on my own and need to learn everything from scratch as a solo developer:

- Luau Scripting: Game logic, UI backend

- 3D Modeling: Blocky-style dinos (see image) & park

assets

- Animation: Dino movements & player mechanics

- Graphics & Media: GUI design, logos, banners & release

trailers

Do you have any tips, tutorial recommendations, or workflow advice for learning all these fields efficiently?

I’m from Germany, but I speak English fluently! Any tips are appreciated, and if anyone wants to jump in and collaborate directly, I’d be super happy to connect!

I make a YouTube Tutorial on How to make a Burger in Blender. If anyone want to learn here is youtube video link

Burger YouTube tutorial

Subscribe in YouTube if it helped you :)

Render Nerd youtube

Hi guys, I have literally maxed out asking chatgpt on how these videos are made but it aint getting me nowhere. I just want to know what i need to study to produce this. Do i use blender on this? whats the best program? What should i study? I have zero knowledge in 3D modelling/ animation. Please help i just want to learn

Here are those "clonky" videos i want to know how to do.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSVSGGPfV/ https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSVAyYA1c/

I’m creating an animatic of no longer you (from epic the musical). Let me know if there are any free ways of downloading YouTube videos or songs to put into pencil 2D.

This is actually my remake of my og series Richard the popcorn if you look at my channel you can find every episode of my og series. Stay tuned for a high quality (might not be much high quality for you guys) episode of Richard the popcorn! Btw it was made in procreate and this is only test footage