Articles Index

What's The Difference Between Japanese and American Animation?

I'm not about to throw my towel in the ring over the fight between which is better, Japanese or American animation...but nonetheless, let's take a look at a comparison between the two and what makes them so markedly different.

What Are Structural Lines and Center Lines?

It's almost impossible to draw a perfectly balanced character in symmetrical perspective without a few guidelines, let alone animate them accurately. The most basic of guidelines are called structural lines and center lines.

Animation Careers Outside of Entertainment: Forensic Animation

Not every animator ends up producing for the big (or small) screen. More interested in solving problems? Forensic animation may be for you.

Seven Ways To Tank Your Animation

Oh, sure, you've heard of seven ways to improve your animation or seven ways to make a blockbuster animation, but maybe you're one of those people who's addicted to failure. Or you like obscurity. So here's seven ways to tank your animation and chase your audience away!

Storytelling For Animation

Animating is about much more than just sequencing frames together to create motion. It's about telling a story - and it takes quite a bit of thought, imagination, and planning to make sure it's a good one.

Animating With Purpose

Realistic animation isn't just about perfectly capturing animated motion and facial expressions. It's about imbuing characters with an intangible sense of life that makes them real. One of the most important ways to do that? Give them a purpose, and show how that purpose drives them in every frame you draw.

Creating An Animation Sample Sheet As A Companion For Your Resume

Sample sheets can be an invaluable supplement to any animator's resume.

How To Create An Animation Resume

Never written a resume for an animation career? Here's a few tips to help you out.

Animation Careers Outside of Entertainment: Science & Engineering

Want to be an animator but not interested in the entertainment industry? You may be more at home in one of the many science or engineering disciplines that make copious use of 3D animation tools.

2D Animation Tricks for a Distinctive Style

You've probably seen some pretty cool 2D animations that use style tricks a little different from the standard side-scrolling, black-lined textbook animation. There are tons of ways to make your animation stand out using unique tricks and experiments; here are a few pointers you can try.

How to Use a Light Table for Animation

So you have a light table - but are you using it to its full potential to help you in your traditional animation work?

How To Create An Animation Flip Book

Ever tried to make a animation flip book? It's not nearly as complicated as it seems, and can be a good way to practice your animation principles by using unorthodox sequential animations instead of keyframes and in-betweens.

Top Five Animation Myths

People have the strangest ideas about animation and the animation industry. Here are a few myths I've encountered, and the truth behind them.

Alternatives To Using A Light Desk

Light desks are essential to 2D animation, but what if you can't afford one? There are numerous other approaches to the onion-skinning needed to effectively animate frames in sequence.

5 Things To Do Before You Ever Start Animating

Ready to dive in and start animating? You may not be as ready as you think. These 5 pre-animation tips will help you define your workflow and direction to make sure you don't flounder on the way.

7 Life Lessons I've Learned from Animation

Animation isn't just a career; many things learned throughout your career as an animator can provide valuable life lessons, as well.

Avoiding the Uncanny Valley: How to Keep Your Animation from Creeping People Out

A trek through the Uncanny Valley can be fatal for a 3d animation, where so much relies on creating empathy with your audience and naturally enabling them to suspend disbelief. So why, if we so often strive for photo-realism in 3d animation, is that realism sometimes a bad thing?

How To Create A 3D Bump Map in Photoshop

3D bump maps are used to create raised texture surfaces on 3D models - but they actually start off as flat 2D images.

What To Do When It Just Won't Work: Solving Problems With Your Animations

Sometimes we get so frustrated trying to solve problems with our animations that we lose the ability to step back and think rationally. That's when we need to stop and take a methodical approach to problem-solving. What's your approach?

Share Your Stories: What Inspired You To Become An Animator?

For some of us there's a pivotal turning point in our careers, a moment of inspiration or choice that changes our lives and directs our paths. For many of us it was that moment that pushed us to become animators, whether we've achieved our goal or are still on that path. What was that moment for you? What inspired you to become an animator?

Keeping Up With the Studios

Computer animation can be be fun, but it can also be quite costly. But it's not always necessary to spend that kind of money; for the curious, the studious, or even the aspiring professional, there are much more cost-effecitve ways to get your feet wet. If you know where to look and how to shop, it's not that hard to compete with the big boys without spending the big bucks.

The Myth of the Starving Artist: What Salary Can An Animator Expect?

Not a week goes by when someone doesn't ask how much money an animator makes. What kind of salary should an animator expect?

Getting Started in Animation - From the Comfort of Your Home

While animation is a complex art that can require years of schooling to perfect, for the hobbyist - and even for some self-taught professionals - it’s surprisingly easy to get started from the comfort of your own home and begin producing animations from scratch with just a little studying, hard work, and practice.

All About Flash CS5

A list of all Adobe Flash CS5 content on the Animation@About.com site. Updates weekly as new tutorials and overviews are added.

Getting to Know Flash CS5: The Default Properties Panel

The Flash CS5 Document Properties panel displays the file name and lets you change the default properties of the stage, timeline, etc.