Don’t worry about making it look pretty, it’s just for you. You can time how long it takes you to do an action (walking across a room, for example) as a reference.ĭraw on scrap paper, in your journal, or even on a whiteboard. Your storyboard will give you an idea of what the pictures should look like, what and how action will occur, and the amount of time the action will take. Keep in mind that because you’re not working with sound, your story will be told through action. Modeling clay or plasticine (available at most art stores and online for $5-$10, I used this one)Ī storyboard is a sequence of drawings that outlines your scene. Your storyboard should successfully convey all the information you might need during shooting.Being properly prepared for you project is vital to its success, so have fun and take your time with it Shooting a claymation is fun but time consuming, so it’s important to have everything planned out ahead of time to make the process as smooth as possible.
It’s a fun, easy way to bring your imagination to life.įor this tutorial, I created a kitten working on a claymation, but the possibilities are endless! Kapwing kitten stop motion animation Tutorial: How to make your own claymation Step 1: Planning and Set up The pictures are then played in rapid succession to give the impression of smooth motion. The animation is created by shooting a photo of the scene, repositioning the characters slightly, and repeating the process. What is Claymation?Ĭlaymation (short for “clay animation” or another name for plasticine animation) is a type of stop motion animation where each moving piece is made from malleable clay.
In this post, I’ll describe best practices for planning, capturing, and editing a claymation video. Filming a claymation video is easy to do from home or the classroom.
Also remember to save your movie regularly or better still use an auto save function if your software has it.Clay is an awesome medium for stop motion characters since you can change the characters in small ways as the action progresses. Some software has a loop function which can be useful. Remember that all movements must be small so the animation is smooth and flowing To finish out a scene take twelve to fifteen frames. When you want to make your character blink just take 3 frames with the eye closed (at 15 fps ) so that means seven to eight frames for example between characters talking back and forth to each other. Its normal to capture one frame per movement but you can experiment with two frames if you wish.Ī pause usually lasts a half a second. But also remember 15 frames is only 1 second at 15 fps. This is sometimes called setting the scene. If you really want smooth results than you can try 20 frames per second.Ĭapture 12 to 15 frames when introducing or opening a scene before your characters animate or move. You can get very good results with 15 frames per second. Stick figures are fine.you do not have to be a good artist.
You can sketch on your storyboard images for the various events. The storyboard can act as a bullet point record of the events that take place in your stop motion animation.Įstimate the length of time (in seconds ) for the various events in your animation. Scribble it on a piece of paper if needed. It does not have to be complicated or well drawn. Watch those legs or supports as the model you make has to able to stand up on its own.Īlthough it is a difficult discipline do create a storyboard of some kind.
with bold features.no arms / legs yet full of life. See the fantastic Aardman “Purple and Brown” characters. Although many stop motion characters may merge the head and body into one for example and have no legs or arms at all.Įnsure the features are easily seen by the viewer. You only need a few body features to animate. There is some advise here on the best clay to use for claymation. All clays are not equal when it comes to creating simple clay characters.