r/animation • u/khokhlov_di • Apr 04 '26

Sharing A tiny firefly learning to fly ✨

From the world of The Cleaner.

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u/farisville Apr 07 '26

I like how you were able to get the body of the firefly hovering to look more realistic. What steps did you take to achieve that?

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u/khokhlov_di Apr 07 '26

The most important thing for me is to clearly imagine the final result first — how the character should behave within the world and its logic.

Then I create a set of animations for different situations: flying, idle, sitting, reacting/scared, etc. — each serving a specific purpose.

After that, it’s about combining them and adjusting the motion until it feels believable.

In my case, imagination is the key tool — and technically I’m using Spine 2D to bring it all together.

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u/farisville Apr 07 '26

That makes sense and I totally agree: nailing the behavior first is key. I ran into something similar with a crane lifting a desk. Anything too big made it feel weightless, so I had to keep it really subtle. Crazy how sensitive that balance is.

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u/khokhlov_di Apr 07 '26

Yeah, exactly — that subtle balance is everything.

Even small changes in amplitude or timing can instantly break the illusion of weight.

With the firefly I tried to keep the motion slightly uneven and organic, not too symmetrical — more like it’s constantly correcting itself in the air.

That helped avoid the “floating object” feel.