Head turn animation/colouring process.

Come with me for three hours as I animate, colour, shade and ramble incoherently whilst playing retro C64 videogame remixes right into your ears!
This is a head turn from the short R-Type animation I'm making for MASHED.
Equipment used:
TVPaint Animation Pro 9 (animation)
Adobe Photoshop CS2 (background artwork)
Wacom Intuos tablet (to draw everything and stir my coffee)
I'm posting updates and animation samples up regularly at / otaking77077 if you fancy a look.
I sometimes livestream myself animating at / otaking77077 too. Only look at that if you're seriously bored, though.
Planet 55's PRISONER ZERO trailer is at: / 728021784000470

[@Corranhorn122]

3 hours for 3 seconds of material really puts into perspective the effort that goes into making anime/tion.

[@kabronex9877]

I wish more modern studios took tips from 80s anime, they had such great shading and coloring.

[@Akeruyri]

"I can understand why modern anime studios dont shade like this anymore, its a pain in the ass"

[@ximitify]

@Akeruyri thanks for answering the question i would have asked.

[@isaiahdaniels5643]

@@Akeruyri a pain in the ass that looks better than anything else.

[@cloverbun2574]

I love to see people put more care into their frames. Everyone's always into quick, loose and simple animation nowadays. It's nice to see something more polished created by a single person.

[@NCHProductions]

thanks for sharing your process, it never came to my mind to draw the shade outline line by line instead of figuring out the entire chunk throughout the frames, I usually go with puting the shade on a new layer and do onion skinning, but it seem this technic sounds pretty sensible to keep everything in one layer. also outlining stroke by stroke throughout the frames is something I never would thought of. /m/

[@firesoul453]

The amount of patience this requires is maddening.

[@kiyoushu]

Could we please just take a moment and appreciate how absolutely gorgeous your animation style is. I saw your star wars video on Dorkly like a year ago and loved the way the characters moved. You now have one more subscriber eager to see any new works you give us.

[@shiing1122]

Paul Johnson... I can't say I'm a fan of Anime, but being a CG Artist, I enjoy seeing your work. Love your style and attention to detail. Loved your Tie-Fighter short. Best of luck to your future fan short-films!

[@Cruznick06]

its so cool that you're willing to show is your process. I know some of it is standard animation technique but damn it is awesome to watch you work. I hope you make more of these, they'd be cool to have playing in the background as I work on costumes and commissions. its nice to have something to glance up to while working.

[@MarkusReese]

Hi, Not an animator, but the way this goes to show the work required for higher detailed animation, even with modern computers was worthy of the like. Hope I get the chance to support Prisoner Zero up in Canada! Hopefully you guys can get a good breakout!

[@Dermeister009]

I'm glad that you've allowed us to watch the full process even In the bits where you felt like it would be just you drawing and you tell us to feel free to talk amongst each other or to fast forward. Most youtubers would have cut those bits out. But I'm happy you din't because I like watching the full process of these let's paints ect. When I watch these is to relax and kind of zone out and watch some 1 paint/animate ect. SO I appreciates those long videos.

[@watertriton]

this video really puts into perspective how much work goes into anime.

[@zendiumartwork2886]

how much that goes into classic animation to be more accurate

[@mitrooper]

+Zendium Artwork Traditional cel animation.

[@tsubasa1988]

He is not doing classic animation xD

[@Cruznick06]

tip for remembering to save: set an timer for intervals of 10 or 15 minutes. Save every time it goes off and reset it. it might be a bit annoying but you won't loose all of your work.

[@JudgeMad]

I this a dream? Did he really return? THE ORACLE HAS FORSEEN IT!!! PRAISE BE UPON YOU!!

[@EGOS42]

You're as good with your commentary as you are with your animation. I was laughing way too much.

[@chowderstone]

I honestly don't know what going on in your brain.

[@yirtimd2faterland986]

Man It's Great! Please Make More Videos! It's so encouraging to know that there are more "romantical mad artists", who do what they wanna do.

[@claypidgeon4807]

Holy... now I see why TIE Fighter took 4 years.

[@mnemosynegates625]

This has been up for 2 years with over 60k views and there are 0 dislikes. Well done man.

[@sedoku6894]

you have my full support man, you are awesome and now we are here for you.

[@c.o.n.collectingofnostalgi889]

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR ANIMATION STYLE, PLEASE KEEP PRODUCING EXCELLENT WORK MY FRIEND !!!!!!!!! 😲😲😲😲😲😲😲

[@MicahBuzanANIMATION]

Incredible work. I enjoy seeing your process.

[@lastdesciplescorner587]

unable to fathom that kind of skill for myself for drawing but I'll admit this is beautiful work and I do miss the retro anime art style as well. Keep up the work it lead to great things and more to come!

[@Heavymetalrille]

Thank you! You given me hope again and have put me back on track were i was stuck. Love your channel and man was that Star Wars Tie Fighter short you did awesome. If someone doesn´t hire you for something bigger in the very near future i´ll eat my underwear... pass the mustard :D

[@TalkernateHistory]

Paul, godspeed to you my man.

[@TheAngryman20]

Love the old-school style makes me nostalgic thanks for that, very good work.

[@antonp3921]

World needs more of these videos

[@Distrakt]

Absolutely stunning

[@parminderkauldhar7908]

dude this is amazing, please make more, this is awesome!!!!

[@scot.t]

Why do i have a feeling that you make a amazing berserk animator for the series

[@matty_boy2872]

i love your work!!

[@IceDelight]

I used to use TV Paint in my animation degree many years ago, no one else there used it but I liked it.

[@ximitify]

Can't wait for the technology where you create animation with your BRAIN, because BOY IS THAT LONG.

[@peterraber5198]

Love this video! Would love to see more behind the scenes, q&a's, opinion pieces etc.

[@ToonUpTV]

your work is awesome!!!!!

[@NeilDohertyMusic]

Incredible work sir! R-Type is my favourite shoot 'em up of all time and I love this! :o)

[@TVsTewi]

Why not. I have 3 hours to kill. *3 hours later* I have learned much. Maybe i can do this???

[@gualulapop]

it's looks amazing good work

[@glimmershins]

beautiful work on the shadows dude!

[@pecamian]

Absolute genius!!

[@terrelljones2373]

You're amazing, I hope you go far

[@shokiyokawa874]

Excellent !

[@beeseebee_]

awesome. great teaching

[@mohammadmousaviparsa5854]

really really good and helpful

[@twasbrillig33]

Thank you for providing so much information, such as equipment, and thank you for taking the time to share all of your technique, you are a wonderful communicator, artist and have a fantastic relaxing voice and enjoyable British accent. Brilliant presentation!! Helps though if you put your video on 1.5 speed. The music kicks ass even then. =)

[@JayDeLaFunk]

Man I love your videos. Any more Star Wars videos in the works? Your TIE Fighter video was one of the best Star Wars animes I've ever seen. Keep it up man.

[@mematron]

Dudebro, your work is most inspiring! Oh yeah I am with you on the set up for some of the animation programs because really since you don't use actual film anymore friggin exposure sheets are not needed. I think people still use those terms so that they can feel more like a traditional animator. Really, the end result is all that matters. Who cares how you do it? btw 24:11 YES, YOU ARE SUPREME! 1:15:50 OMG I see BD from Megazone 23 part 2. I'm modeling making vehicle for a comic while watching this. It's like working in a studio with a co-worker. Great video

[@maximofrias7667]

Wow... I wish I had the patience to make this... excelent work!

[@fal9942]

That was.. AMAZING

[@waaaaaaah5135]

For some reason, this didn't appear on my sub feed :/ Keep up the amazing work!

[@EgnaDel]

Awesome! Also I think we are listening to the same audios in regards to c64 remixes :)

[@HappyConsoleGamer]

B.D!

[@AnAmbientGrey]

Had this running in the background while doing my own artwork. Anime really is a time-consuming art style, even when it's just a single picture lol, especially for people like myself who has incredibly limited skills.

[@inceptional]

There be talent here.

[@Askhran]

Somehow your voice soothes me, and makes me sleepy. "falls on keyboardojkssssssssssssssssn

[@1Kaisermerlin]

Very inspiring, thank you. .3

[@1Kaisermerlin]

+Kaiserinmeli Also very entertaining, you have a awsome humor. :D

[@motionwindart]

God-level

[@BadwolfGamer]

Your work is so epic I'd have loved to have seen a full series of your Doctor Who anime it's a bloody shame the BBC stopped you :(

[@1lael1]

Hey mang.. This is fkin cool, I hope you keep at it.. Really like the work..

[@sebdoom]

So much talent there. This is brilliant man. Wow 3 hours for 3 seconds wow, how much time did it take for the R Type video ?

[@alexbaxthedarkside]

Glad u like the sober marionette J style otaking (tho not exclusive to that show, even the ol filmation/ hanabarbera shows varied up their lines nicely, glad your keeping that going, makes the lines alot more appealing :)

[@Sancho_Retablez]

TVP FTW.

[@captaincrazee3961]

This makes me (and everyone else) realize how hard some animators work. I can only imagine how many hours you put in to make the Tie Fighter "short film."

[@NeyFrancaArteNossaMix]

Muito bom, me ajudou!

[@thehorselessheadman3366]

Great work, but I gotta ask: are we gunna see another animated video from the imperial perspective? The last one was GLORIOUS.

[@kape2978]

Seeing this animation process is really inspiring! I'm currently in an animation class, though it seems another animator here in youtube is right, there isn't that much "animating" going on at all. I'm planning on going self taught myself by practicing my own style as well as going around youtube.

[@trydowave]

Long time fan of your work Paul and I think this is your best yet. Not only are you into the exact same animation style that I like your also into SID tunes! Cool. Anyways.. Got a few questions if ya don't mind. Are you using 3d wireframes underneath some or all of your drawings to save time getting perspectives right? How do you do your backgrounds? and what do you think of Cacani? Obviously the main problem of creating traditional animation is the amount of time it takes. Do you think programs like Cacani could help animators who work alone? I personally couldn't get on with Toon Boom so ill have a closer look at TVP and these tutorials will be a great help. I might finally get away from doing comics and into the world of 2d animation :) Keep up the great work.

[@phantomcorps3373]

@OtaKing77077 I really am enjoying your work. The animation you are doing is amazing. I was looking at this program, and it seems that you can import video into it. I think that as well as your 3D reference technique is very smart. For example, I recently watched an Akira Doc. I wonder what that studio could have done with tech like this now. Obviously, Ghost in the Shell, and other films have come out since Akira. But Akira was insanely expensive, had at least 70 people working on it, using cels, 70mm photography and acrylic paints and such. You are one person, and watching this, it seems the time put in still is enormous, but do you feel that you could tackle larger projects in the future?

[@xesolor]

Jesus how long did you spend on the tie fighter short? How... where do you get the patience to keep doing it for so long?!

[@xaayer]

Da ve tie fighter took four years

[@InForTheLonghaul]

Insanely patient man. Gotta love people like that. :)

[@Binks23]

Awesome video!! Could you make a video on how you choose a color palette for your animation? :)

[@boyeliza]

Hey, It's nice workaround! I actually came from traditional animation too, working with pencils, papers etc. I also doing some 3d stuff, not expert just hobbies. I have the same gear like you but still working to get the hang with TV Paint, kinda like it but I find it very difficult to have a straight smooth clean up lines, so this video and how you work with it kind of give me a 'light' about what supposed to achieve while working with TV Paint. And it really, really take a lot of patience while doing it, which sometimes I forgot to have one :LOL. Add me if you need team for collaboration, maybe we can find times, chemistry work or something! Thanks anyway, this is just great!

[@mfbobyle6771]

hey man, love your work and your humble attitude. are you planning on doing any more? i thought i saw you were gonna do a mech type anime and i would love to see it. ill be keeping an eye on youre art!

[@Broughtvulture]

If you ever choose to try out TVPaint 11 Pro, it has a feature that makes coloring somewhat easier. The CTG Layer, allows you to coordinate colors based on image markers and it readjusts even if you change your color marker. Video Link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHXNgoGsl8yto9k

[@glitchyghosting5798]

Star wars please! I know it is time consuming and it costs your own money since you aren't being back by a large studio but I think we can wait and if you set up a Paetreon page plenty of people would donate. I hope you keep animating since you are probably the best on KZbin.

[@nielsdejong]

Gorgeous work man! Also, what happend to your patreon? Did you make one after all?

[@OtaKing77077]

+nielsdejong I didn't make one, as I have a few jobs lined up with the MASHED channel so I'm doing OK for cash right now and won't take peoples' hard-earned credits when I'm already earning money. When I start doing my actual film thingy, though, I'll set one up if people are interested, so that I can work all day every day on the film. I'd really only need enough to eat and pay the rent, but I'd want to do it right with full transparency (probably posting up my bank statements so folks can see where the money is going) and weekly streams and stuff so people could see that I'm actually working on it and not just spending their money on cakes and pies.

[@heartbreakmanNo1]

+OtaKing77077 Why Disney hasn't hired you for Starwars is beyond me :/"

[@bradrolim3731]

+OtaKing77077 I m a big fan of R-type and star wars , just subscribed to your channel and gonna spread the word . Really really good work here .

[@thexangelolight6693]

+OtaKing77077 great to know you're doing well!

[@Ribab1]

+OtaKing77077 "A Fox In Space" is currently being funded by Patron. I think with patron you could work on TIE Fighter full time.

[@onlyarandomusername]

teach me sensei!

[@thedudenamedjon]

Amazing amazing stuff ... Have you ever dabbled in Manga Studio or Anime Studio? They're super simple to pick up - you mention preferring pixel-based pens etc ... Manga studio tweak your of line smoothness / correction, without blurring or anti aliasing the pixels away into fuzz ;) Thought you might enjoy them!

[@busnut33]

Love your work! I have a question. Would you recommend the Wacom Clintiq for animating? I'm considering buying one.

[@Estaran]

24:10 Worked for me! EXTERMINATE!

[@Wardo12345]

Wow

[@jordankp96]

Awesome stuff!! What frame rate are you working at?

[@lightspeedlife8299]

Beautiful, dude! Where can I find the final thing?

[@MrGabol100]

Awesome work there! By the way, could you post an update video to inform people about your work? Like: If you're eventually going to look into making the film/series, what you're doing right now, what you may do in a future, etc... Because the Information about the future of the projects are scattered around all the comments on the videos and It's hard to guess what's gonna happen next.

[@intel386DX]

cool :) you even use a classic Windows theme :D

[@warmecanic]

What programa are you using for this? It looks awesome.

[@unicorniocanibal9090]

r-type

[@umjammysammys]

J O J O K E

[@davidordonez9572]

bro do you have an Instagram?? what's MASHED? Is this gonna be released as a film? I absolutely love your work bro!

[@ikesalonga1809]

where do you reference from for the cockpits? the style looks really good and immersive!

[@subarusumeragikun]

I wish I could be like you someday. How did you start out?

[@Pynoxim1]

Goddamn

[@TheVintageGamer]

How many frames per second do you do? Disney animated films (the old hand drawn stuff) was 24/f/s, but you figure old anime, the production shops wanted to save budget/time so they did fewer (maybe 12/f/s?)

[@MoleculeXmolecule]

ZTV needs to interview you one of these days.

[@OtaKing77077]

+MoleculeXmolecule Haha, I wish. Zone-tan is my internet waifu.

[@rafalohaki]

I Love Zone-Tan and i have T-Shirt XD

[@GabrielMartinez-ho4fl]

JOJOOOOOOOO

[@paulinelambert7780]

Paul, how many hours do you spend to get 1 minute of finished anime (c/w voice work etc) ? Just an average number will do.

[@DarthJami]

1:22:10 Zarya from Overwatch, anyone?

[@henkkutsu5364]

Darth Jami Me..?

[@TanatomorFozis]

Do it more, please))

[@daephx]

perspective looks alittle weird when doing close ups, could this be solved by adjusting the lens mm?

[@nix7100]

I just want to ask what Tablet and Software do you use

[@ToonUpTV]

omg!! hello please what software is this

[@Ninjahero51264]

I have a question. I've heard some people say that Toon Boom is a really great animation software, and I wanted to ask if you had any experience, and if you did, which is better? TvPaint Animation Pro or Toon Boom?

[@OtaKing77077]

I'm more of a straightforward "draw every frame" 2D animator so TV Paint is better for me and far more intuitive and user friendly. I know a lot of vector flash-style/character rigging animators who use Toon Boom though. So I guess it depends on what process and workflow you're going for.

[@Ninjahero51264]

Would Toon Boom still work for drawing each individual frames and making a mixed style of vector and frame-by-frame?

[@thexangelolight6693]

you have a twitch to see you work live?

[@OtaKing77077]

+Forest Bond-Wheeler Here you go! twitch.tv/otaking77077