How to Animate With GREAT Line Art! [Adobe Animate / Flash]

[@Coolfizz10]

Hmm, my school has the Adobe Suite on their computers and we use Animate for animating, but our version still adjusts the brush size for the zoom level like you mentioned only older versions do. Maybe we’re not on the latest version? Ours does look a little different from yours...

[@RubberNinja]

I forgot to mention, but theres actually a setting that let's you revert to the old way! I haven't ever touched or, but I hear it's there! Someone might've set it to that in properties?

[@Coolfizz10]

RubberNinja Right, in the Properties panel when using the Brush tool there’s a toggle for switching between both methods. Unfortunately our professor neglected to mention that so I had to toy around with Animate for the whole semester to figure a bunch of stuff like that out. Also, not sure if there’s a difference between versions since it’s the same subscription, but we use Macs in our computer labs.

[@Sanpaku-san]

Coolfizz I’ve used Animate for 3 years and I didn’t know there was a toggle button

[@kregkennon949]

@@Coolfizz10 Film/animation professors not mentioning things is the true college experience. Being forced onto Macs is also the true college experience. I've learned so much more from KZbin working on a PC than I ever did in undergrad.

[@MrWorstNews]

@@RubberNinja you're the reason I'm an animator now. Like I have gigs and quality content on my channel now. Ty Ross for making this seem not as daunting as I thought! Also, please let Arin know he secks. Thanks bud! Maybe one day we can collab :D

[@Guru_1092]

I see Ross's drawing hand has recovered from the latke injury.

[@LewDawn]

oh shit, i thought i was stupid for doing this all these years. turns out i'm secretly a genius.

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

As a person who's incapable of drawing, I think I know why my cartoon line art would look bad.

[@katoweltmer7476]

Practice!

[@dogardoogin6201]

What a bad attitude to have, you didn't even try. I hate this mentality so much. "I can't even boil a pot of water" kind of person.

[@LAN2D]

@@dogardoogin6201 bruh the point of the comment was a joke. I don't think it really reflects on his life view and attitude

[@thrownstair]

I can draw, but only circle heads, cylinder bodies, and noodle limbs.

[@AlterBridgeJericho]

@@dogardoogin6201 I've been practicing drawing for over 5 years and I haven't improved much. I have shaky hands and have bad depth perception. There are 12 year olds better at it than me. Not everyone can do something even with a ton of practice.

[@the_doug_digital]

6:48 love the quiet little anime sword sound effects when Ross cuts out the lines

[@iwillendyou4570]

No homo but Ross is such a good looking dude.

[@nocturnal2802]

No, you're right.

[@willpoweramv]

Holy shit ikr

[@RancidFart8571]

ok fax doe

[@pudgypunkk]

I'm really glad you said "no homo" because I 100% thought you were gay, man. Wow.

[@smexypants__3299]

Yeah ikr

[@AnMeiChan]

When I first tried Flash years ago I was baffled at the whole “brush size is relative to zoom” thing and it made me frustrated with making animations. I look forward to your videos and I hope they inspire me to try animation again!

[@SpiritScienceOfficial]

Love this! I have been doing this for years, I'm thrilled to see you have put this together and it has so many views! By the way - one more secret technique that speeds up the process - instead of pressing V or selecting the tool, hold the CMD (Mac) or CTRL (windows) key to temporarily convert your pointer into the selection tool. Then you can be in the middle of drawing, do this technique and clear out your overlapping lines, and then release it and keep going. It's especially useful if you have hotkeys on the side of your tablet, such as the ExpressKey remote or what have you, to just set one of those buttons to cmd/ctrl. Ps. You're awesome Rubberninja! I remember watching your videos on Newgrounds back in high school!

[@RushLightInvader]

great vid dude

[@Fox-Picture]

Yes. Very poggers vid. To bad I can’t apply it because I don’t use flash. I use a free program called Krita.

[@foursidess]

bruh

[@bizarre_animations]

Hey Rush

[@zero28ism]

How can Ross be so lovable? Like holy shit he just makes me smile and aaaaaaaaaaa godamn it ross

[@AymenZero]

He's obne of the grumps. And the grumps are all lovable

[@CHEYMIX]

One of my new year resolutions was to finally get into animating id love to learn alot from you about clipstudio in doing so

[@epicfailasaurus]

as a recent flash -> csp convert, a tutorial on how to animate from the perspective of a flash user sounds like exactly the thing i need. super looking forward to that!!

[@candiewrapper]

I didn't know I needed this until you shared it oml thank you so much bruh 🙏💕💕

[@themoonrivergalaxy]

Been doing a flash animation for a friend and been real frustrated with the program. This helped out big time, dude thanks so much

[@theprawn3958]

A neat little hack to sorta help emphasise certain rough lines in Animate is to set your layer opacity property to around 30ish and turn on object drawing (shortcut is j). That way you can build over the top of your lines. If you want variable opacity I think you can even add alpha to your brush now but you will still need to turn on object drawing to get that overlap. You can also now erase though grouped objects which is neat. Obviously not quite as good as roughing out stuff in pretty much any raster drawing software but hope someone finds this mildly helpful.

[@krycklund]

This video illustrates perfectly why i love using Flash, vector art is so infinitely customizable and you can go back to files you made like 8 years ago and you can scale it up to any quality you want, it's fucking amazing.

[@jumugama]

I was expecting him to jokingly insult art. Not give a tutorial

[@tjf9449]

Keep teaching, Ross. This is great content I wish I had while in college.

[@mitomidou]

Not an animator, I just enjoy watching them and it's fascinating to see the small, simple intricacies of the tools that make the content I watch. Hope lots get to see this so they can improve their crafts. 👍

[@tinyrocketship]

Totally starting to do this for my graphic design work, its waaaay easier than fiddling around with the stroke appearance in illustrator hehe

[@53SecondGaming]

Here’s to a new decade of tormenting Arin and Dan!

[@chiyowee2721]

53 Second Gaming might be the opposite after the latke power hour tbh

[@JustAaron94]

Ross this was brilliant, thank you!

[@SpellcasterMedia]

Step One: Don't use Flash. Step Two: Learn Toon Boom because it's cheaper and the industry standard. Jokes aside, keep up the awesome tutorials Ross!

[@Marlyjade]

Toon boom ain't cheaper honey. Not if you get an adobe package. Harmony costs an assload

[@SpellcasterMedia]

​@@Marlyjade I suppose you're right. I didn't realize how much the prices have raised. However, if you're a student you get a steep discount on it. Either way, Toon Boom still is the standard pipeline for the animation industry nowadays. It does everything that Flash/Animate can do. Importing Storyboards from Storyboard Pro to Harmony is reason enough to make the switch.

[@krycklund]

Flash is very cheap if you're internet savvy. Also fuc Toon Boom.

[@Marlyjade]

My teacher finally got toon boom but we all insist on using animate for our stuff... while it'd be cool to try it's just not as... nice to use when animate is adequate enough. That being said. If you want cheap. Use opentoonz. It's free and emulates a traditional style. It's good for those who need a grasp of how animation works. In case you're curious of what course I take. I take a Texas Highschool course of animation and we've taken gold for a few UIL's in the past (last year second and first. Hell yeah boi) and hope to do it again

[@terrorbyte5352]

It’s not a good idea to use Toon Boom if you’re just starting out, the learning curve is steep steep as hell

[@jordanboxman]

Genuine content creator is genuine content creator. Keep it up man, much love!

[@solidsnake797]

I've given up on flash/animate so many times due to the brush tool, though if I had known this trick I might have bared with it a bit more. Thanks Ross :3

[@ButtplugClock]

This is extremely helpful, I started trying out animation in flash a few days ago, first time in a decade. Back then I only used my mouse and the line tool, now I'm using a tablet but am still learning to get nice, accurate consistent line work. This helps immensely!

[@quietazn]

Just what I needed to hear starting in the new year. I gotta get my goals back on track. Cheers Ross

[@LuizenL]

Very helpful stuff! Looking forward to that Clip Studio animation tutorial. I want to dip into CSP animation soon and I know it'll be very helpful

[@jayceem.7306]

Can I just say that I found out about this video by you and immediately started crying because I admire your art, Ross. Thank you so much!

[@quinsomnia4934]

Bless you for these lifehacks. I've been frustrated with the lineart on animate for YEARS.

[@RyanSpargo]

Excellent video on fine details! I've only dabbled in After Effects for blocky animation graphics, but this inspired me to try more line art.

[@Witchcrafty]

you have no idea how helpful this is!!

[@MultiColors]

Thanks RubberRoss,I've been thinking on getting Animate 2020,and this helps me understand it better!

[@MildlyOCD]

I don't draw anymore &, even when I did, it was traditional sketching. But I have a lot of friends who do art & any time I find stuff like this, I pass it off to them. I hope they appreciate it.

[@BethanyHarbaugh]

Thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge! This will be awesome to use when I get into my classes for Flash! :) I'm in college for 2D animation, and I'm so excited to get started making my own cartoons as well!

[@sungodmoth]

You know that you make quality content when dozens of people comment "I don't draw but this is really entertaining!".

[@SBFlux]

I've been a fan of yours for a long time (since like the Mass Effect and Minecraft animations lol), and I'm very excited for these tutorials! Online animations like yours motivated me to go to school for animation and I'm in my senior year now! Can't wait to hear tips, tricks, and advice you have to give.

[@im_dygitz]

I don’t even draw, I watch this because of how interesting it is, and because Ross is such a great guy. Keep up the good work!

[@mrwaru]

Ross starts dropping toots the same time I start taking ritalin and am thirsty to learn animating. Coincidence? I mean, yeah, for sure.

[@AymenZero]

I recommend watching Alan's tutorial on 12 principles of animation

[@maltezachariassen7496]

Even though I have NO artistic skill whatsoever, I still enjoy these videos a ton! I hope you make more like this!

[@mouthfulacoque3580]

I just realized that he doesnt sound offensively Australian today

[@Sheithan]

I'm going to work my ass off to get a PC and drawing pad, and start animating something. I've been drawing for a while, and always had an itch to start drawing, so I'm hype to one day follow your tutorials! Thanks for everything, Ross!

[@NoCapsNoSpacesofficial]

Clip Studio also needs to let you fully render your animation before playing!! I always have to export to get it to play without lag, even with all the options selected for favoring frame rate and all that

[@RubberNinja]

Yeah, that is a problem. I do see frame skips a lot.

[@eLLcartoons]

SO helpful dude

[@FaeHyena]

this is very helpful, i’ve always admired you but lately i’ve been watching you more and more and it’s really motivational

[@sparkybleu]

so happy to see my boi on youtube again :3 his twitch is awesome, but im happy he made this video

[@HotBlasterBot]

Gosh that 2 frame monster face when you shuffle his audio like a GMod skit is comedy gold!

[@milkpowderbun]

I'm so excited for more of your tutorials! You really inspire me to get back into art : )

[@LichiMae]

Very insightful and informative tutorial. I've been using Flash since the MX Macromedia Suite and have moved to Leonardo and Clip Studio as my main drawing programs, but still use Flash for animation and filters for effects. Looking forward to more!

[@blamoduck6999]

im glad you’re not one of those art channels with those shitty clickbait thumbnails and titles that claim your art is bad and you only have to watch their videos to fix it

[@radiantburrito]

ROSS, I needed this. Thank you.

[@biggishbloom9097]

Happy New Year Ross!!!

[@francoislalonde4555]

I've never really drawn, but it's pretty cool to see these neat techniques. Have a good one!

[@lisadiira6455]

You're smart. All your vidoes really taught me a lot

[@MrCatnip52]

Huh, I was considering Clip Studio vs. Animate. I always felt like Animate had awful brush tool options, but I though it was just me not knowing how to use it. Good to know I’m not dumb lol. Looking forward to that Clip Studio video!! I would love to hear the take of someone who’s been familiarized with one pipeline. Thanks!

[@tommykarrick9130]

I need more ross animation tips videos in my life

[@TsunamiCoRyan]

Oh man, this is really helpful. I would manually try to taper my lines by drawing intersecting lines, and using the eraser to try and fix it up. That took me forever to do it this way, but this method seems super useful and much faster. Thank you!

[@JacquesSnacques]

I'm hyped to learn all you have to teach! Looking forward to the new cartoon as well! Best wishes for the new year! :)

[@milkbox103]

i can already tell just from this video that you must have been a great teacher, ross!!

[@TomboTime]

cool video idea, Ross! Just a tip for the future in case you ever wanna make another one like this: I don't think it's necessary to show your face in the bits where you're showing us in the workspace how to do certain things. It actually makes it harder to see what you're doing in certain places. Next time you should either make yourself on the screen much smaller or don't show yourself at all.

[@theoddlifter7217]

I hope you keep doing these videos. Good stuff.

[@JAKWOLF1]

Man, the whole audio time-line scrubbing thing, made me laugh hard as hell cuz I do the exact same thing when I'm bored that I just slide that slider back and forth rapidly and watch the chaos unfold and refold

[@DexterDLopez]

You can actually do the object animating thing in CSP like in Flash. After you make your frame-by-frame animation, press the button on the top of the timeline that looks like a rectangle moving, then use the object tool to move the whole animation folder layer and boom! It's not perfect, but it works

[@andrewa7304]

This is really helpful, thanks! I'm just getting started using Flash for drawing, purchased a second-hand copy of Macromedia Flash 8 (!) last week, and my lines have been quite blobby, even with pressure sensitivity on. Used this trick on some random lines and it worked great, will have to give it a try on some actual artwork.

[@lucy8265]

Happy New Year!

[@dacero7570]

Thanks Ross! You are a wonderful and insightful educator.

[@realmbeyondtheshadow]

Starting off the new year with a Ross video, this year is already great now

[@mrspaceman1190]

Great video Rose always love your videos no matter what your talking about it

[@evilmuska]

Just got my first drawing tablet, which came with 2 years of Clip Studio Paint so, can't wait for that vid!

[@fungusthe3rd624]

he finally made the tutorial he was talking about on stream

[@VermilionLotus]

I don't animate but this was still really informative. That trick to creating sharp edges is really interesting. Thanks, Ross!

[@squirrelnutscartoon9145]

great work bro, very insightful

[@KuronRat]

Thank you Ross! This should be quiet helpful! Unless I'll use any other animation software when I finally get to animating lol And I can't wait to see the cartoon! I was interested in your characters for a while now and I'm eager to see more about them!

[@_janhex]

Hey Ross, I really like this video and look forward to learning more animation tips.

[@blossomingbeelzebub]

This is gonna be so helpful for me in my next semester. In my class we normally use ToonBoom Harmony, but next semester we are doing some Flash animation, and I have no clue what I'm doing there haha. Thanks Ross!

[@GrizzlyKnightX]

I've been wondering, FOR SO GOD DAMN LONG, how to do this, thank you so much

[@17HOURSEPICIMATION]

Bro thanks actually, I never thought this would help but wow.. it did

[@theonlything.]

A great alternative to adobe animate ive found is tv paint, it uses a bitmap system instead of vector and has a surprisingly good tween system, it fixes all the problems you mentioned in this video and in my opinion is the best non vector animation software out there.

[@andrewkful]

Is it a coincidence that another KZbinr ALSO uploaded a video about drawing good lines in Flash/Animate on the same day??

[@DirtMoss]

I don’t even draw but this is still very interesting and entertaining, thanks Ross!

[@Supertimegamingify]

Who needs tapered lines and sharp edges when you can have that CREESPY 2004 feeling.

[@SubterraneanLosers]

Yo! This trick is gonna help me so much!

[@capnthepeafarmer]

If the line is continuous, then you would use the miter edges feature. Most default vector lines have rounded edges.

[@missfrubby7814]

YES!! PLEASE do a CSP animation tutorial, there isn't any good ones that really go in depth!

[@lorenzolugo835]

Ross is the hero of the animation community

[@MichaelMegaX]

I have no idea what's going on but I enjoy watching this so much.

[@LilChuunosuke]

I don't even own flash or animate at all, but I still intend to watch this entire video

[@christin7066]

Your comment about the opacity of raster based programs is interesting! I've been animating in between Photoshop and After Effects for years, used Flash once back during school but I'm tryna get back into it now for some projects because animating 2D in Photoshop is sooooo clunky. I never lower the opacity of my layers when the timeline is involved because my software starts to get tricky, lowering the opacity in one layer in one frame also effects that layer sometimes in another frame...UGH I don't know exactly what it's doing but it's infuriating. I'm finally trying to make the switch over to Flash since the onion skinning is so much better and I can rough out my animations more easily! I'm simultaneously trying to learn Duik Bassel rigging in After Effects. I'm a clunky animator lol. It took me years to learn any hotkeys or start to use plugins. Your video has been super helpful, though! I'm glad I watched this right when I opened the software, these tips helped me avoid things that I just KNOW would have driven me insane.

[@kiddpenn]

You're a great teacher I would love to see more tutorials from you. I use TVPaint but I really need to learn how to use other programs better, seems like most of the industry jobs don't call for TVP =_=. Also need to work on my line-art anyway.

[@DaxSchaffer]

The job thing is unfortunately true, but TVPaint is a far better piece of software for line art (then again, I hate using vectors in animation, so I'm biased). You're well off knowing TVPaint, but its application comes into play more for feature and short films I think... just not so much with TV series (which is ironic, given its name).

[@kikir.5194]

I love using CLIP! I can't wait to see your video on it. :) Animating on CLIP is just so nice, and honestly the audio part doesn't bother me too much, bc I tend to export my animation as an image sequence and rearrange it in Sony Vegas with the audio.

[@lunaromancia]

Bruh... I know very little about animation but after having seen this video and actually used Photoshop myself recently, I can't even believe the state of Adobe. Photoshop literally doesn't have the option to have zooming tied to the Scrollwheel with panning as middle-click. That's available on Paint 3D. This plus all the nasty shit I've heard about their products (Vs. all the nice things I've heard about CSP) from artists on Twitter makes me wish real bad that CSP gets those features Ross talked about at the end, just so Adobe can get fucked lmao

[@Fries101Reviews]

What happened to the Mario Maker 2 Videos on here? I don't see them on here

[@hankanderson8633]

Nice info! I personally just- use the lines that the piece calls for. What feels right.

[@StaggerNight]

hitting zero is too much fun on this video.

[@jackhasbadopinions4262]

Can't wait for the CSP video!

[@Bisuto_Modo]

This is seriously helpful, NGL

[@calicolegends3633]

Great tutorial! I look forward to more from you. :)

[@darthsquidward3092]

Loved that serie. I am sad this was is was not continued.

[@rewrose2838]

This reminded me of the flash games I grew up playing

[@theplotkeeper7080]

I dont even draw, but i enjoyed this information. More videos like this would be awesome