When you think of your favourite Pixar or Disney movie, you might have heard the term “animation design,” and you might be wondering what an animation designer does. A job in animation design will help you get closer to having a rewarding profession in addition to bringing imaginative thoughts to life. Discover what animation design is and what you can study to begin a career in this area.
What is Animation Design?
The process of creating animated scenes and other visual effects for different mediums, including video games, movies, and digital assets like websites and apps, is known as animation design. It is possible for these effects and animations to be 2D or 3D, basic like a loading indicator to indicate that work is in progress, or complex like an animated movie.
However, an animation designer’s duties go well beyond mere animation and drawing. Discover what an animator designer does next.
What does an Animation Designer Do?
A 3D animation agency that has 3D animation services will hire animation designers that are responsible for are varied and call for different skill sets. Aside from drawing and animating, which are key aspects of the profession, an animation designer is also in charge of additional duties.
Here are a few examples of what an animator works.
#1 Drawing
Drawings are the foundation for the actual animations used in multimedia, whether they are created entirely digitally or on paper first and then scanned into a computer. Animation designers usually concentrate on either 2D (flat) animations or 3D (CGI) visual images since the animation techniques utilised for each are somewhat different.
Moving in a two-dimensional space is the art of two-dimensional animation. This covers the settings, animals, special effects, and characters. The employment of digital approaches with tools like Toon Boom Harmony or Adobe After Effects has revolutionised modern 2D production, despite the term “traditional animation” occasionally being used to describe it.
The attractive and adaptable medium of 2D animation is regaining prominence. In TV shows, video games, movies, advertising, mobile apps, and websites, it is commonly employed. This 2D cel animation short from McDonald’s Singapore was created by SuperPixel. Rick and Morty and The Simpsons are two examples of well-known 2D animated television programmes.
3D animation is the process of creating three-dimensional moving images and placing them in a digital setting. Software designed for 3D animation was used to make these items. With the use of this software, 3D animators can create the appearance of motion that gives objects life. As 3D animation becomes more and more popular, there are a growing number 3D animation company that were created because of it. Many businesses utilise it because it offers more eye-catching visuals and illustrations for their presentations.
#2 Conceptualising and Brainstorming
You’ll need to improve your creative abilities if you want to become an animation designer because you’ll need to take part in brainstorming sessions to conceptualise concepts. This is typically one of the best components of the work for most animation designers and one that must be mastered to contribute creatively to the project.
The ideas generated during the sessions are used by animation designers to make rapid drawings and mock-ups in addition to contributing thoughts. These are routinely offered to clients or stakeholders and have a rapid turnaround time. Because they frequently operate under time constraints, animation designers need to improve their time management and prioritisation skills.
#3 Storyboarding
Animation designers frequently work on storyboarding, which entails visually defining an animation sequence in a series of sketches. They frequently get screenplays or even simple concepts from directors or clients, which they must creatively interpret in order to come up with unique ideas for animations.
#4 Animating
Animation designers start the animation process after creating the original artwork (or model, in the case of 3D animation). For 2D projects, this entails sketching each animation frame and mapping it to a unique key frame in the animation software. Divide the animation into essential poses (such as taking a step) and construct them before filling in the empty frames to make the animation flow smoothly.
The entire “rigged” model must be computer-manipulated for 3D animation, though. In order to represent movement in animation, an unseen bone structure is created with the use of 3D rigging. Rigging is used for things that need to move in animation as well as for human models.
#5 Editing and Compositing
You might collaborate with other animators, writers, editors, UX designers, and a director as an animation designer on a large team. On other occasions, however, you can find yourself engaging in a wide range of activities. The resulting animations are frequently edited with the help of animation designers in response to the director’s and the client’s input.
The compositing procedure could also fall within the purview of an animation designer. A sequence, frame, or shot’s final design is created by a compositor.
A Look at the Behind The Scenes of an Animation Production
Knowing what an animation designer does today may lead us to consider working with an animation production business, as an animation designer is likely to collaborate with a production team.
You’ve certainly also heard about the benefits of investing in an animated video for your company’s marketing efforts. Yes, animated movies can assist you in spreading the word of your business, even if it is difficult to understand your product or service at first.
Examples include animated advertisements and video explainers. In contrast to a live-action movie, the story in an animation is not constrained by the confines of reality. Instead, you may utilise your imagination to come up with the greatest strategy for luring them in and eventually turning them into paying customers. You may also have a peek at this behind-the-scenes animation trailer creation from one of SuperPixel’s most recent Ranger Buddies productions.
The Animation Production Process
If you decide to include animation in your upcoming marketing campaign, here is a thorough breakdown of the production process.
#1 Researching
Finding out about the business, brand, and the goods and services it provides is the first step in the process. In a given brief, clients will be questioned about the values, identity, and target market of their brand. Companies that run animation studios also ask questions regarding the video’s tone and target audience.
#2 Conceptualizing
This phase should clarify the brand’s message and/or the message it wishes to express. Additionally, it shows how an idea is visualised and how the fundamental concept for the script is created. To start, a straightforward and accessible script will be written in order to make the campaign’s main point stand out.
#3 Storyboard
The creation of the storyboard is the following stage in the animation production process.
It also serves as a visual representation of the original script. Your future video’s key-frames will be illustrated by an animation studio to assist you. For each scene that acts as a reference, script captions will also be provided.
A storyboard helps to build a cohesive strategy to avoid omissions and miscommunications between the client and the animation studio team. This will provide the customer a better understanding of what they have in mind and a preview of how the final animated version of the video will appear.
#4 Style Frames
The style frames of the videos are the main focus of this stage. This will show how everything will appear like overall in the video. The style frames feature the artwork for important components including the characters, colour scheme, typography, object, and significant frames in the video.
This will assist the client in determining whether the appearance and feel of the video reflect their brand identity. The client should get the impression that this embodies their brand values.
#5 Voice Over Narration
Now is the time for voice-over narration, which brings the script to life. The ability for the client to select the ideal voice-over talent and tone that best represent their brand makes this the most exciting phase of the animation process. The screenplay can be delivered in a way that accurately captures the client’s attitude with the help of a skilled voice-over actor.
#6 Illustration and Animation
The animation designers will now use their inventive thoughts and hands to bring the pictures to life after the previous stages have all been approved. They give each figure and other components on the screen motion with the aid of cutting-edge animation software.
#7 Sound Effects
To give the picture a finished look, this phase entails editing and synchronising the voice-over recording, sound effects, and music. The animated video’s appeal to the target audience is greatly influenced by the music and audio quality. To get the greatest results, this phase is properly carried out.
Why is Animation Design Important Today?
Animation design has been utilised for years in movies to amuse audiences. Animation is now used to advertise products, build brand recognition, and persuade viewers of important messages. It will be simpler to create wonderful animated short films for your company as long as you can develop a captivating plot and memorable characters.
Because of this, more companies are using animation design into their marketing strategies. Here are some further arguments in favour of animation design in the contemporary era.
#1 Bringing out different emotions in audiences
Any emotion may be conveyed clearly through animation design. And as we all know, a brand’s ability to evoke particular feelings in its audience and make them happy is its most valuable asset. You can use animation to convey a wide range of concepts, ideas, and imaginative works in a variety of settings and formats, including marketing, advertising, business, and more.
#2 Making audiences feel more connected
Animation is significant because it enables us to convey ideas and emotions in a creative, approachable manner that appeals to both children and adults. When writing and live-action films can’t always create deep connections, animation has a way of doing it. Nowadays, anyone may utilise a drawing tablet to communicate their ideas to the globe.
#3 Grabbing viewer’s imaginations and attention
Simply said, a touching narrative that captures the attention of your audience has been created using animation. Live-action movies can cause people to form prejudices based on how an actor plays a role or how that character actually looks. The animated character, on the other hand, seems to be an individual. Additionally, because it might represent any regular person, viewers are more interested in what the animation video is.
Dezpad is a 3D product animation company in Malaysia that strives to make your ideas come to live. Contact us and be part of the whole creative process today.