I have noticed there isn't a thread for 2D animation works or those aspiring to be 2d animators.So I decided to make one.I am currently learning on my own and I gat to admit it seems easier than 3D animation.
No graph editor,no bad skin deformations,no rigging,no tweaking dynamics.
All you need to do is just draw.One can even do explosions,fire,water movements and all.Of course,this is my opinion.

melvi:

I have noticed there isn't a thread for 2D animation works or those aspiring to be 2d animators.So I decided to make one.I am currently learning on my own and I gat to admit it seems easier than 3D animation.
No graph editor,no bad skin deformations,no rigging,no tweaking dynamics.
All you need to do is just draw.One can even do explosions,fire,water movements and all.Of course,this is my opinion.

ahem pardon the somewhat long post, it just happens to be a subject im passionate about.
although you clearly pointed out that its your opinion on the matter. i must say i disagree with you on almost everything. first of all there is actually a 2d thread that has been around for a while even though its been pretty dormant with the disappearance of the creator and perhaps one of the most accomplished 2d animators in the country lafem. https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-71864.0.html 

*2d animation is not necessarily easier than 3d, it all depends on the quality of work you want to churn out. in fact some 2d works can actually be harder to replicate than their 3d counterparts. the animators of the first full color feature lenght 2d animation( snow white and the 7 dwarfs by disney)  had to book themselves in hospitals in advance to recover from the grueling effort  it took to pull it off particularly as the world had far less people with the required skill. this could be an explanation for the far fewer nigerian 2d content than that of 3d which is currently enjoying intrest of many youths ourselves inclusive.

*the top 2d animation applications of today actually do have graph editors.

*they also do have rigging and yes , wait for it, bad skin deformations. although in this case its vector deformation. dynamics are also present.

*drawing is not a "JUST". the top world animators had to learn to draw properly for animation for years. Richard williams the famous and perhaps the most recognized  name in 2d animation today thought he was very good at drawing until he went to disney wizards and was told to go and learn to draw. you would need books to properly understand how to draw and construct characters for 2d animation.it is the absence of this very skill  that has plagued most nigerians who normally cold draw well and attempetd to do 2d animation. it ususlly well not really good and our eyes pick up so many things wrong with it.
computers are changing the way we do just about every thing and 2d animation is not an exception. some of this applications carry very advanced features and so although the final thing might look 2d you would be suprised at what went through the pipeline. you might be surprised to find out that maya has a hand in a harsh looking cartoon southpark! here is a 2d cartoon i once worked on for EVCL and the characters had to be rigged with bones and even inverse kinematics as well as wiring some bones to control others and trust me i had to work at it for a while before i got rid of bad vector deformations and i sill had to use some scrips.  this kind of character setup's are acually called 2.5 d rigging. http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=GB&v=A4Ou87VtFvM

wish you the best in your learning (we are all still learning) but i must advice you not to take 2d lightly. you will encounter a lot of brick walls but with the right determination. your effort would be well worth it in the end.

hmmm Its nice info. The points about drawing helped me. Thanks for sharing

Thanks
Anya
<a href="http://www.padanagloves.com" title="Garden Gloves">Garden Gloves</a>Manufacturer

hi everyone, I am totally impressed with all I have read and seen, I am truly proud of all your efforts, I am not an animator but I am presently producing a children's series called Numberland for a company called 3s dali,Numberland aired on Silverbird TV on children's day 27th may 2010, work is still in progress but I am desperately looking for hands( especially fresh art graduates ready to animate, if you know any pls indicate and I will send follow-up info) thanks

Well, I am using Image Ready 7.0 for my animation study.I had Photoshop CS4 but it kinda lags or slows down when you press the play button.
I used Photoshop CS4 for this animation.It took me up to an hour:



I doubt one can get hair to move like that in 3D.Even if its possible for example with Maya Hair,you will need to tweak the dynamics a lot to get the desired movement.Thats if there aren't holes showing the characters skull.Not to mention modelling the character and doing facial deformations which may look uncanny and painting skin weights.

So far I am working on something and I already have a beach with water flowing and shrubs moving in the wind with ImageReady.I have heard of applications like Anime Studio and such.Image Ready doesn't have a graph editor.I just concentrate on drawing.I need to practice more.I enjoy drawing and its real fun!!
Currently studying anime like Bleach and Naruto.

you are taking the right path.understanding and even mastering the fundamentals of hand drawn animation first is a right step. later on if u choose to use apps like anime studio, toon boom or even flipbook. you would be able to utilize the tools correctly and to their full potential.

Actually,I drew the frames with a digital tablet in Image ready.

Well, I have experimented with Anime Studio and I hated it.I think I am okay with Image ready.Its an awesome and simple software.I have heard of flipbook,it's very similar to IR only that it has more tools and stuffs.

hi melvi you are doing great work already, 4rm what I just saw you will become the da vinci of Nigerian animea pretty soon keep it up

Thanks,gqeen.

Mel, did you study art or animation as a course?

u guys are doing great.though i am not an animator but a mechanical engineer who have been looking for a way to animate most of my drawings and i think this 2d animator will do just that.The issue is i am completely a novice in animation and i want to believe this will not be a barrier to my learning the system.i would therefore need you guys to give me info on where to learn the skills in lagos preferably aroung ikeja axis.not necessarily in a formal environment ,the certificate does not matter but the skills

Dolemite:

Mel, did you study art or animation as a course?

Nope, self taught.

Zagash:

u guys are doing great.though i am not an animator but a mechanical engineer who have been looking for a way to animate most of my drawings and i think this 2d animator will do just that.The issue is i am completely a novice in animation and i want to believe this will not be a barrier to my learning the system.i would therefore need you guys to give me info on where to learn the skills in lagos preferably aroung ikeja axis.not necessarily in a formal environment ,the certificate does not matter but the skills

Sadly,I doubt there are good 2d animation schools in Nigeria.I suggest you purchase tutorial DVDs or better yet,browse the web for tutorials on animation.For me,I have always enjoyed drawing so drawing each frame doesn't come across as difficult.

hi zagash there is a website u can visit a friend told me about it the guy advertised his animation school in it customercare@dudutoonz.com (234) 8076360615 ,234 1 8952367 ,
www.dudutoonz.com , so u can call him 2 find out more, also I know some guys who could help you animate ur engineering work,

hey melvi, wanted to know are in the animae world for work or pleasure? if work would u be interested in freelancing in a future lenght movie project?

2d animation is still in demand.It is not as good as 3d but it's been developed completely and this is the reason why people prefer it before switching on to 3d.

gqeen:


hey melvi, wanted to know are in the animae world for work or pleasure? if work would u be interested in freelancing in a future lenght movie project?

Right now,I am learning it.I think I won't be ready until I am able to show something professional.

jthomson:

2d animation is still in demand.It is not as good as 3d but it's been developed completely and this is the reason why people prefer it before switching on to 3d.

Well, personally I prefer 2d to 3d.3D does have its advantages but there are some things that are not possible yet or are difficult to pull off in 3d.Example,
-facial expressions and emotions,except done by a someone highly skilled,this usually leads to uncanny valley or isn't very convincing.Hence the use of motion capture.Final Fantasy:The spirits within flopped due to this.
-Hair and clothes in 3D is still problematic.

Some people do switch to 3d after understanding 2d animation and its easier for them since they understand the basics.Most don't.3d is really popular right now but there is this slow movement back to 2d.If you notice,2d films and games are slowly coming back.I don't know if anyone heard of SHANK, a 2d game slated for the XBOX360 and PS3.The truth is 3D movies and games demands presently are really very high,takes at least not less than 3 years to make and cost a lot of money.So if you want to tell a story,why spend so much money and time on 3d when you can make it way awesomer in 2d.Besides,anime like Naruto and Bleach are very popular and the creators of these franchises are smiling to the bank.If they ever made them into 3d,I don't think it will have the same charisma and look that fans have come to love and appreciate.

melvi:

Besides,anime like Naruto and Bleach are very popular and the creators of these franchises are smiling to the bank.If they ever made them into 3d,I don't think it will have the same charisma and look that fans have come to love and appreciate.

i have to agree with this part. 3d evolves too much during production. a lot is even scrapped in the process not always it cant be done but due to deadlines or other technicalities. for example i was flipping through the book "the art of kung fu panda" and almost cried at the juicy parts that did'nt make the movie. tai lung the villain was supposed to have an army and a base and so many nice parts from the original story.and like you stated 2d does have a strange appeal when executed properly. it certainly seems to work better for tv series which  3d has so little success in so far.in traditional 2d there are far fewer technical limitations as long as you have talented animators and sufficient inbetweeners to do the donkey work . i think nigeria will make a headway quicker if they embrace 2d passionately enough and get proper training and resources because there are so many different areas of specialization to get up to speed with in 3d. and any studio to do anything proper and decent must be ready to invest heavily (financially) and push the research development envelope aggressively for at least two years. only then will they be capable of having a sustainable pipeline. even pixar took 4 years to produce toy story 1 and get a decent grip on 3d production. and hey, thats PIXAR!

my opinions:
art and/or its appreciation boils down to preference.
different art forms target different audiences, and the notion of any genre (either 2D or 3D)
being 'easier' to produce or 'more popular' just opens the door for an endless and possibly unresolvable argument:

truth is, 2D drawing is the father of all creative efforts, because ALL productions (be it 3D animations, movies,
music videos woteva) start from 2D conceptualisation graduating to 2D storyboarding-
and a storyboard is simply a 2d animation presented as stills (and with several inbetweens skipped).
the 3D animator merely uses the computer as a tool to output the 2D animation in a different format tagged 3D.

a radical way to put it, but its basically sound.
so, in a sense 2D animation is integrated into virtually all forms of video output, and there is no 'pure' 3D animation!
and nowadays u rarely find a 'pure' 2d animation either!


@ xothermik
scrapping parts is general to the media industry- whether it be a movie, 2D or 3D animation.
thats why theres an editing department.
same with deadline limitations and all, it applies equally to all production processes- not particularly 3D.

and hey, talking about Toy Story, Lion King was started in 1991, it was released in 1994.

@ melvi
in my opinion, success in a film venture doesnt necessarily depend on the format u present it in, but how u use the tools
within whatever format u choose, to tell the tale.
Disney enjoys success because of a standard of creating lovable characters and lovable tales- not merely, because they employ 2d.
infact, they have had quite a couple of 2d flops!

its just that, with the advent of CAD and the ability to simulate life-like characters and conditions, a branch of 3d animation evolved,
constantly pushing the creative envelope towards realism. this gave rise to the need for highly skilled and specialised
individuals and heavy duty equipment being needed to render complex scenes.
but again, not all 3d work are 'Polar Express' quality- (and that movie still had limited success- mainly cos d storyline sucked)
and u still have low staff 3d production houses that produce good movies!

infact, there are competitions targeted specifically for such studios. (Pixar was barred from competing after a while- they were deemed as being too large)

again, even 2d animation is heavy on the tech. the days of the 9 old men bent over light tables sketching laboriously is long gone.
even as far back as 80's and 90's (Lion King), computers played a major role in the production pipeline. so whether it is 2d or 3d,
u still need highly skilled folks depending on the complexity of ur output.

The use of computers helped the Lion King filmmakers present their vision in new ways.
The most notable use of computer animation is in the "wildebeest stampede" sequence.
Several distinct wildebeest characters were created in a 3D computer program,
multiplied into hundreds, cel shaded to look like drawn animation, and given randomized paths
down a mountainside to simulate the real, unpredictable movement of a herd.
Five specially trained animators and technicians spent more than two years creating the two-and-a-half minute stampede sequenc

wow, long post.
summary is- success is NOT based on ANY medium but on story-telling abilities.
and hey, wots the largest grossing movie of all time- definitely not "Mary Poppins" or "Who framed Roger Rabit" ! lol

@ xothermik

Wow, didn't know that about kung fu panda.I bet the movie would have been way awesomer if they added that stuff but just thinking of the time and work needed to model,uvmap,texture not mention animating those additional stuff is probably gonna make production cumbersome.
In my days with 3d,I have had some pretty cool ideas,characters or very complex weapons but the moment I think of the time and energy that will go into the concepts,or how I was gonna do the rigging,or the animation workflow.I had to cut back on my ideas.2D presents a situation where u do not bother about modeling,uvmapping,rigging or animating with graphs(I use Photoshop/ImageReady to animate).The only disadvantage is drawing every frame but that sounds cool to me though.

@OKX
Very Informative post indeed.Its your opinion and I respect that.

I still believe success is based on format as well as story telling.Of course,none would want to go back to traditional 2d animation where you draw the frames on paper.Computers make our lives easier and I am well aware of the fact that these days 2d animation movies employ 3d for some certain shots.E.g The Prince of Egypt.

@ melvi
kool. same respect here.
just airing our thots

Animation appears to be here to stay as an art form. While there are many advancements in the realm of 3D animation, 2D animation is still being used. It isn't so much a question of which type of animation is better, but what each type of animation brings to a project.

2D Animation
To construct a 2D animation, the animator will use bitmap images that consist of blocks of color. When these blocks of color are placed side by side, they create a picture, according to AnimationSchoolReview.com.

3D Animation
Animation in 3D uses computer generated lines, surfaces and solids to create a three-dimensional look. The end product is an image with more perceived depth than would be obtained in 2D animation.

Limitations of 2D
Unlike 3D animation, in 2D animation only one angle or side can be seen at a time, giving the image a flat look.

Limitations of 3D
The skill sets required to do 3D animation are much more difficult to obtain than those required of 2D animation. It also tends to be more expensive to create 3D images.

The Outlook
Both 2D and 3D techniques are now being used in the creation of animated projects. According to AnimationSchoolReview.com, this means that both 2D and 3D animations that have been artistically integrated together will become the norm on many animation projects in the future.

By Buffy Naillon, eHow Contributing Writer


this article by the above author captures the issue perfectly, in my opinion.

@OKX

I checked out the website AnimationSchoolReview.com and I found this interview with an animation expert called Jerry Beck:

http://www.animationschoolreview.com/articles/animator-interviews/interview-jerry-beck/

I actually agree with the part where he says:

''2-D hand drawn is still big on television and will remain so. 3D computer graphics will be in fashion for a while as animated features. I forsee 2-D coming back to theatres in a few years — but not as traditional Disney style. More like Yellow Submarine, it'll evolve into an new exciting look and feel. Disney style will return further down the road.''

I think 3d is kinda all over the place right now and in truth 2D animation is slowly coming back.

Awesome website.I am gonna check out more of this site when I can find time away from my 2d animation practice.

yeah, Jerry's predictions have already come true- to the most part.
Disney has already gone back to its traditional animating style (Princess & the Frog(2009) represents their first 2d animation project since 2004), and 2D animation has evolved- thanks to 3D toon shading techniques.

i have a question tho,
if an animation is done employing 3D tools and output in a 2D vector format and cleaned up,
how do u classify it? how many D? lol

thing is, our definitions of wot 2d/3d animation is has to be updated to accommodate advances in technology.

i still think both forms of animation are so integrally employed in most projects, that even tho a movie may be classified as 2d (because of its vector look) or 3d (because of its bitmap depth); those terms are not technically accurate- they are mainly employed for classification sake, and they sometimes refer to how the output looks NOT necessarily the process of creating the output.

i also dont think 2d animation will ever go away, not necessarily because of demand- but because there will always be some big studio that will want to awe the public the HARD way, and make a biggie about how tuff it was to pull off. it creates an exclusive niche, which is marketable, in a way.

kind of like climbing everest just cos u can, not necessarily to get to the top.
heck, u can just be air-lifted to the friggin' summit. lol !

Gosh,I still can't believe I accidentally overwrote the file containing an animation I am working on thats up to 1min 42 secs last week.That means I have to redraw and colour the frames again.
On the positive side,this might give me another way to approach the camera angles and movements of the previous animation sequences differently.

Animation now 1min 40 secs.Quite glad I have redone my lost file animations again.Now to add some new stuff.Wonder why I never bothered to google anime/manga colouring tutorial.Just found out how its properly done some days back.Now,I feel bad.Will definitely have to recolour some frames.

A screenshot of an opening I am working on:



Took an hour to do.Really had fun making this.

melvi:

A screenshot of an opening I am working on:



Took an hour to do.Really had fun making this.

what application are you using?

Photoshop CS3.

Some new stuff:

Great stuffs i must confess. I love the flexibility in the movement. can one achieve this in flash?

Yep, Its possible with Flash even easier.I just kinda prefer Photoshop cause it looks better graphically.I have never used Flash but I hear its easier if you are familiar with it but it kinda takes time to learn.Photoshop is easier and faster to get familiar with in my own opinion.

New work:



Absolute fun making this.

EDIT: I am currently looking for a good advertising agency or any establishment that is in need of a 2d animator preferably in V.I or Lekki in Lagos or Abuja.So if you know of any,e-mail me:
melviso2@yahoo.com.

Pls, no spams.

Hi Melvi, great work I had posted a request earlier and the offer is still up, studio address is 3s dali Ltd, 984a saka jojo, off Idejo,Adeola Odeku, Victoria Island. Please call 08025577755 .

getting more intresting. keep it up.