10

Tips &Tricks For

Animating Action
Scenes
___________
The Ultimate Guide To Making
Your Animations Dynamic

Round Table Studios

 HEY, ROUND TABLE !

I'M CLIFF.
Creator of Round Table Studios

Thanks for downloading this free guide on how you can

enhance your animation and make them more dynamic.

If you're looking for another stereotypical list that repeats

the same things, I'm telling you right now: this is not it!
These are the the exact tips I use in my animations that
lead me to work with Mighty Raccoon and DeathBattle!

Let's jump in, shall we!?

LIKE WHAT YOU SEE?

KEEP SCROLLIN' FOR A SPECIAL INVITATION

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 1
Study the 12 Principles of Animation
I know, I know...

If you are even vaguely familiar with animation, then I'm sure you are beaten to
death with the 12 Principles of Animation.

There are a set of techniques originally used by Disney's leading core animators
that have now become widely recognized as basic essential knowledge for all
artists working on animated video production.

12 Principles of Animation

Squash and Stretch Straight Ahead & Pose To Pose

Anticipation Timing
Staging Exaggeration
Ease In and Ease Out Secondary Action
Overlapping Action Solid Drawing
Arc Appeal

To master the Twelve Principles as an animator, you're essentially learning how to

think about your character as adhering to the rules of physics

While also considering equally important topics like the character's appeal and the
timing of your shot.

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 2
What Is the Objective ?

Why are your characters against each other?

Are they an obstacle to the plan? Is it a misunderstanding?

Are they sparring or showing off skills?

The more stakes your fight scenes has, the more interesting and dynamic your
animation will be.

Kakashi Vs. Obito (Naruto Shippuden)

Now it doesn't have to be a long , drawn out story-telling sequence there can be a
few lines of dialogue, a visual objective that one character is trying to get to, maybe
one character is trying to escape, etc.

Keep your objective clear because as awesome as it is to see characters just beat
each other up for no reason, making your fight scene have stakes can help you and
your audience invest more into each action.

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 3
Poses, Poses, Poses!

Always think....how can I push it more?

Poses are going to be the backbone of your animation. The more dynamic the
pose, the "cooler" it is!

And at the same time, think about balance. You don't want to throw your character
into a pose where physically it doesn't make sense how they got into or will get out
of it without falling.

Characters typically follow a curve, like a C or an S.

Tracer & Pose Design 101 - The Animation of Overwatch : New Frame Plus

An extra tip: Once you got your poses, down, rotate your character in 3D space and
make sure it looks solid from every angle so you can sell it!

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 4
Single Frame Hits

This helps sell the impact of the hit as well as the weight of the action!

When an impact happens, whether its a fall, a punch, a block etc. Every "hit"
should hold for a least a frame. And not necessarily the whole animation, but the
part of the body that is absorbing the hit.

Red vs. Blue Season 9 - Preview | Rooster Teeth

Without it, the impact will seem to just slide off the character and the sense of
weight and believability within your animation will be gone.

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 5
Let The Audience See Everything!
Or at least understand

We may be used to watching movies with actors who have to pretend that they can
do the action that they really can't do or having it cut to stunt doubles who have to
hide their faces during some other action sequences.

But in animation, our characters can literally do anything

Kingsman : The Secret Service | Church scene

So while referencing action scenes, keep in mind that the more in frame your
characters and actions are, the more the audience can understand what is actually
going on, which leads into the next tip....

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 6
Less Camera Cuts!

Cut to enhance your animation, not to hide!

You know why single cam action scenes like the Daredevil hallway sequences are
so celebrated?

It's because of the difficulty of the shot.

When they are filming live action, the scenes don't necessarily flow right away from
each shot, they take time.

Daredevil : Season One - Hallway Scene

Technically....we have the ability to show our animation in one long cut if we
wanted to but making rapid camera shakes like they do in some action scenes isn't
entirely necessary.

Take the time to show much of your animation so you can show off your ability.

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 7
Camera Shake

Not shaky-cam!!

This is a slight movement happening to your camera to enhance the animation.

So what it is, is that you want to have the camera go with the movement of the
action that is happening with the characters.

UA:LA Part 1 -- My Hero Academia (Mini-Mini-Series)

You also want to delay the camera after an action to mimic a realistic camera man
watching the action as it wouldn't look realistic if it just followed all the actions right
as it happened.

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 8
You Spin Me Right Round...

Add a spin move into an action..

RWBY : Red Trailer

Rock Lee Vs. Gaara- Naruto

It may look ridiculous at certain parts....but it's really cool! That's it! :)

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 9
It Should Not Feel Like A Choreography

So to make the fight as dynamic as possible..

you want to keep the characters always moving and always thinking.

They should never really be stopping and letting the character make a move on
them unless are recovering on something themselves.

So every move should just flow into the next one.

The Raid 2 | Kitchen Scene

And every move should feel as an individual decision made by the character.

So keep in mind that each character is trying to hit each other and the responding
character needs to figure out how to block or counter the move.

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 10
Sllooooowwww Motion

Now this is something that I think is becoming a staple in my animations which I

don't mind is adding in a couple of slow motion sequences.

Not only does it look cool but it adds a different degree of anticipation which
changes up the pacing of the overall animation which is always fun.

Wonder Woman | Warehouse Scene

Now don't turn into a Sherlock Holmes fight scene where every single action is slow
motion just to extend the time of the animation but one or two doesn't hurt.

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 Want More Help?
Attend MY FREE WORKSHOP Where I Dive Deeper Into
these Dynamic Action Steps!

Want to learn my step-by-step system on how I create my animations?

If you want to get serious about learning how exactly you can leverage these tips
and more to build up your animation skill, make dynamic animations so you can
share your stories, I'm hosting a free workshop on Making Your Fight
Choreography Dynamic!

We are going to cover:

-How to properly use reference in order to animate your project

- How to make your animation interesting to keep your audience engaged
-The exact 3-step strategy I've used to outline and choreograph my animations

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

This will enter you into a waiting list so when my workshop goes live, you can
attend!

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