If you are a beginner, you might want to stay away from stories and themes that require animating complex scenes, like huge battles or intricate machinery. Your animating skills may need to be refined and practiced more before you are ready to tackle a project of that size. Also keep in mind that you will need more equipment depending on how complex you want your cartoon to be. A claymation cartoon with two dozen characters and four sets will require more supplies than a cel animation with only one scene. If budget is an issue, keep it short and simple.
Most cartoon shows are 10-15 minutes long, with commercials. Cartoon movies can go anywhere from 60 minutes to 120 minutes. If a one-time cartoon made for the Internet is all you want to create, you can create a short running from 1 to 5 minutes. Creating anything longer may turn people away from viewing it.
For example, a cartoon about something tragic, like the death of a loved one, would be better reserved for a slightly older audience. If a young audience is your target, you would be better off choosing a topic that is a little simpler to understand and more concrete.
If you want to create a cartoon with a serious tone, think about life experiences that really mold and shape you: an unrequited love, the loss of a friend, working hard toward a goal that seemed impossible, etc. If you want to create something more humorous, take an everyday situation like waiting in traffic or waiting on an email and exaggerate how difficult the situation is in a funny way. Alternatively, you can use something already funny to create a humorous cartoon.
Relatable details include underlying themes that are universally appealing. For example, most people can relate to a coming-of-age story, regardless of whether that story takes place in the contemporary real world, in a futuristic space-age setting, or in a sword-and-sorcery fantasy setting.
This is an important step no matter how simple or complex your cartoon will be. While a character in a longer, more serious cartoon will need to develop more, a short, funny cartoon will need a protagonist with a clear goal and clear character traits that allow him or her to react to the conflict in whatever way he or she does.
You need to know the script before you can animate the cartoon. The mouth moves in different ways for different phonemes, and you will need to animate these different mouth movements in a believable way so that any voice overs you add later will match them.
Write multiple drafts of any script before beginning the production phase. Write your first draft, set it aside, and come back to it in a day or two to see how you can improve upon it and make it flow more effectively.
Use basic shapes, stick figures, and simple backgrounds. A storyboard should be fairly basic. Consider drawing your storyboard frames on index cards so that you can rearrange them and move parts of the story around as necessary. You can also include notes about what is happening in each frame so that it will be easier to remember later on. [1] X Research source
Cel animation utilizes a principle similar to the way a flipbook works. A series of drawings is produced, and each image varies slightly from the next. When displayed in rapid succession, the differences create the illusion of movement. Each image is drawn and colored on a transparent sheet known as a “cell. " Use your camera to photograph these drawings and edit them together using animation editing software.
You can use shadow puppets, sand art, paper puppets, or anything else that can be moved into a range of positions. Each movement must be small. Take a photograph of each movement after making it. Edit the photographs together so that they are displayed in rapid succession. When viewed in this manner, the eye will perceive movement.
Each 2D computer animation program will work differently, so you will need to find tutorials for the specific program you intend to use in order to learn how to do it. A common example of 2D animation is any cartoon created using Adobe Flash.
In some sense, 3D computer animation is similar in style to stop-motion animation, but the graphics can range from seeming very blocky and pixelated to being very life-like. As with 2D computer animation, each animation software works a little differently than the others. Examples include Maya and 3D Studio Max.
A high-quality computer microphone will work effectively enough for a beginning cartoon, but if you plan to seriously market and distribute your cartoon, you will eventually need to invest in more professional equipment. When working with a small microphone, encase it in a tube speaker box lined with foam to cut out echo and excess background noise.
Make a list of sound effects you will need. Be creative and thorough, including everything from the obvious (explosions, alarm clocks) to the less obvious (footsteps, background noise). [2] X Research source Record different versions of each sound so that you have more options to use. A few examples of sounds you can create include:[3] X Research source Fire - Manipulate a piece of stiff cellophane Slap - Clap your hands together once Thunder - Shake a piece of plexi-glass or thick cardstock Boiling water - Blow air into a glass of water using a straw Baseball bat hitting a ball - Snap a wooden matchstick
Always review the usage permissions for any pre-recorded sound effects you use. Even if something is free to download, it may not be free to use, especially for commercial purposes. It is very important that you know what you are permitted to do before you use a sound for your cartoon.
Consider manipulating the voices using computer software. If you have fewer voice actors than characters, you can change the voice of one character simply by adjusting the attributes of the voice sample you already gathered. You will need to invest in special audio editing software to do this, but depending on which one you use, you can likely change the pitch and add overtones, like metallic garbles, to the voice recording.
A distribution company will review your pilot episode and determine how marketable it might be. If they decide to represent your cartoon, you will be given a distribution plan and revenue projection. Ask for a formal letter of interest at this point and show the letter to potential investors to let them know that a distributor will be willing to represent your cartoon. If you go directly to an animation company or TV station with your pilot episode, they might be willing to accept and distribute it directly, especially if they have empty time slots to fill.
