Two Ways to Animate a Blink

Let's learn how to animate a blink!
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0:00 - Introduction
0:56 - Base Layers
6:00 - Animating on 3s
7:30 - Animating on 2s

[@zamokuhlethusi2964]

I've never witnessed a timing chart and the little timing diagram being explained more clearly. Your vids each possess a wealth of knowledge, big up to you Dong

[@eafe394]

Ye

[@Sasukesanimation]

As someone who is a amateur animator and did not receive professional training, i do not understand wtf is going on at all

[@jessiebell6884]

My biggest pet peeve about animation is how 2D animation is considered passé or childish in the west, so we always do 3D even though it's way overused and all ends up looking pretty much the same, at least to my eyes. There's only so many ways you can render hair. That, or we do live-action, which isn't bad and requires a lot of talent in and of itself, but all the same. . . Just give me something different. 2D has so many more opportunities for _motion_ and _personality._ It's why I love Summit of the Gods so much. The art style and animation on that movie is jaw-dropping, but it gets so little attention.

[@jessiebell6884]

To clarify, I probably should've said America instead of "the west", because France is still very much part of what's considered the west.

[@Kiwikick238]

3D is much cheaper so sadly thats what will be chosen as the medium. still love 3d though just wish we saw more 2d

[@hell0mega]

2d animators are unionized but 3d cgi artists are not 🙃 you may know this but others might not, but a lot of "why are we doing THIS now instead of THAT, because that looks so much better!" can often be traced back to what industry is or isn't unionized...

[@machidraws1]

so true

[@Forlorn-kg7zm]

3d can look just as beautiful and full of personality as 2d animation but they still choose to make it look generic for some reason

[@Michaela_ZC]

My animation teacher complains that anime is stiff; using still frames a lot like in this example. Meanwhile, American cartoons are pretty much always moving even if they're not doing much. This video made me realize why; the Japanese industry has a higher standard for their pencil tests. Most 2D Western cartoons never bother with shadows & have simpler designs than anime characters. As a result, western animators can afford more frames (2's instead of 3's) & can focus on adding more movement; because they don't have to spend as much time on each frame individually.

[@flare1438]

Japanese studios are often making shows with much less resources and time as well, on higher budget productions there is nothing stiff about them.

[@idonotmakevidsyet]

This is why Japanese animations have a way higher ceiling potential than western animation

[@MALICEM12]

Yep, that and the Japanese crunch more and have to fit tighter time constraints because animation is HUGE in Japan and they are constantly cranking it out. Whereas traditional 2D animation in the West is sort of an archaic thing thesedays. Only kids shows and raunchy adult shows do it anymore. So the Japanese really need to cut corners (like with the god awful PS2 CG thrown in) to make up for the overall better looking designs and more detailed art. Japan draws art but makes it move like a stick figure except for important moments and shoves very obvious 3D models in for anything too large. America draws hideous dog shit abominations with no detail but damn near rotoscope the characters with how smoothly they are animated. Both have trade offs.

[@MALICEM12]

@@hundredfireify to be fair, to most western adults, ALL animation is "childish". Eastern or Western.

[@Model_BT-7274]

I realized something similar with manga and comics. Comics usually go for color at the cost of detail depending on the release schedule, and manga (not always) goes for more detail and no colors. Plus no colors is cheaper.

[@froufroudeluxe]

I just love the look of the raw animation with the color separation lines

[@zombiexpanda]

You may just be a fan of chromatic aberration in general :P

[@thffkfltm]

indeed.

[@pigagu]

this video alone has taught me more about animation workflows and color separation lines than any article I've found so far. thanks a lot!

[@arsenhere7020]

Western animation applied to the Japanese style of anime is probably the best. The animation is smooth while the figures are sharp. Interesting combo but works pretty well I think.

[@arsenhere7020]

@@gregoryford2532 That's definitely true, but that's sorta the style. If you go watch some old disney animations (the ones that were drawn by hand (not 3D animated or using rigs) you can see that same effect. The blinks were very graceful and deliberate, which was intentional, since back then they animated disney princesses with big pretty eyes and wanted to exaggerate the effect of the blink. While the Japanese art style (anime) wanted to have sharp and fast movements to keep up with the crazy intense fights, which was something disney never really had in 2D animation.

[@canobenitez]

how come his process is western?

[@pubcle]

I think there's a lot of styles when you actually dig into it, but if we're just going generic, I probably most prefer classic American animation or late 90's Japanese animation. The thing I REALLY dislike about modern Japanese animation is that so many characters' face, especially if they're boys/men, look the same. Most of them have the noses fused into the face, the chin is a young, narrow one, the brows the same, the eye placement the same, the mouth the same, etc. I think Genndy Tarakovsky's work deserves a lot of attention and inspiration drawn from it, if just in the use of contrast and lines. If you want smooth, some of the old Disney stuff was ridiculous. I mean, Alice was entirely rotoscoped in Alice in Wonderland. They had a young girl dressed as Alice model every single movement and then traced it frame by frame for the effect. It never has a still frame either. American animation focused on keeping characters looking lively and moving in some small degree.

[@obnoxiouspedant]

Something about modern animation I don't like, iis the marriage of 3D and 2D seen often in anime. I understand certain things can be a huge challenge for the animators, andd using 3D for certain things (cars for example) saves on production time and cost (I assume) but it just takes me straight out of the scene, always sticks out like a sore thumb. ​@@pubcle

[@Animeshelly0120]

me trying my hardest not to blink so I can watch the other characters blink.

[@jaslikeart]

Me doing the opposite and wanting to sync my blinking with the characters

[@hatakekakashi3228]

Me never blinking

[@itscris01]

​@jaslikeart well hello fellow neurodivergent fancy seeing you here

[@FennecFox00]

​@@jaslikeartme

[@BlueLeef]

Seeing your workflow gives me peace of mind when I'm stressing about how to set up my scene, thank you as always for the helpful tips!

[@FriskKimura]

I got a random burst of energy while watching this video, so I went and animated some blinking This helped a lot, thank you

[@stduupie]

This video is so clear about the work flow, I honestly want to animate more after seeing this

[@K0IBEE]

i’m not even super interested in doing animation but this is really interesting - great learning material.

[@SomethingScotty]

Professionals make drawing look so effortless. And if this is all the work that goes into animating a pair of eyes blinking, not even hair or a mouth moving along with it, I can't imagine how long it'd take to animate an entire scene.

[@koktszfung]

Fr, they draw with confidence probably since they have done it thousands times already

[@chrispysaid]

It blows me away. Obviously you're a highly skilled artist and animator, and yet even for just a simple, simple, simple demonstration you had to speed the footage up quite a bit just to illustrate one single part of the body animating. *HOW DO PEOPLE ANIMATE ENTIRE SEASONS OF ANIME??* Like it's gotta take them AGES, right?? You sped up your footage SO MUCH, and you animated a fraction of a fraction of a percent of what's animated in a whole season of anime. I can't imagine how long it ACTUALLY took you without all the video editing, let alone how long it would take to do a whole SEASON. This stuff just absolutely makes my brain shut down.

[@Mandarinoooooo]

lots of animators, of course. But once you have the techniques, the anatomy, the „rules“(e. g. lines converging at the horizon) etc. etc, down, it surely goes a lot faster (sometimes at the cost of uniqueness and quality).

[@BreezyDefrag]

I have watched many of your videos, and I love them very much, but can you go into a bit more detail on how you decide to break the parts into their own separate timelines? Maybe I'm just missing that step due to how quickly you move through the steps, which isn't a bad, but it does sometimes feel like a cooking show. Sort of the 'now we will need to cook this, but I have already prepared this in advanced...' kind of thing. But yeah, how do you decide what should be in Layer A and what should be in Layer B, and is there a master layer where all the parts are drawn together into a solo layer or do you still keep them separate? Perhaps that's what you mean by the Tie down,. I don't know, I am still rather new to all this. Like I said, I may just be misunderstanding the breakdown. So if you could explore that more, or perhaps send me to a video where you go into that more depth. It would be much appreciated. Again love you videos, it is nice to see industry standard skills outline.

[@JoyceW-Art]

I think in this case he's put everything in layer A, except for the eyes, which are in Layer B, cause that is the only part that is getting animated. That way you only have to animate the eyes and you draw the body just once. It saves a lot of time and effort. Tie downs doesn't have anything to do with that. I think the Tie Down is when he makes a more clear and clean drawing from the sketch. I think you can compare it like going from sketch to lineart. At least that's what I take from this video. It would be nice to see it explained in detail tho, animation can get messy quite fast, so organizing your layers and folders can be really helpful

[@BreezyDefrag]

@@JoyceW-Art Ah. Ok thank you ^^ also I agree on how messy it gets and how quickly. I get a bit overwhelmed by that factor since I have just started. Thank you for the incite, I do hope the more detailed bit can be available. It is good to know I am not the only one the struggles with it.

[@fantasystaplesuwu1554]

Perhaps you should start with beginner online classes instead.

[@totally_not_a_bot]

The tie-down solidifies the drawing and tells the colorizers which areas should get which color as decided by a master palette. Splitting the animation into separate chunks is a judgement call. Minimize effort, or, be lazy where it counts. Only the eyes are moving, so only animate the eyes. For simpler things, you might split the background from the character, for another example. Krita's manual has a good example showing a simple walk cycle. Krita is an art program that kinda does everything. The workflow is similar.

[@foxynie.5861]

Always loved the smoothness of western animation it looks so natural, but I definitely admire Japanese art style both of them are amazing in their own .

[@cinnamonfluff594]

Really cool! When I animate a blink, I have the open and closed eye positions as keyframes, and then my inbetweens are as follows: Open eye Open eye with the upper eyelid moved down just a tiny bit Frame that is exactly inbetween open eye and closed eye frames Closed eye but squished down/stretched horizontally a bit Closed eye frame Frame that is exactly inbetween open eye and closed eye frames Open eye frame but upper eyelid is slightly higher Open eye frame I find that this gives the eyes a bouncy, lively effect. Of course, it isn't realistic, but i like how it looks :)

[@LuniIsHere]

I do it with less frames (i use 12fps) but its the same way i animate bliking

[@hellspawnstudios]

Cool, that's how I do it too, though I picked it up from Crowne Prince. Would be interesting to see that style of blink in an anime-style work.

[@xPixelDreams]

This makes me want to take another shot at animation 😂 thank you so much for this video!

[@DanielRodriguez-zi9qe]

i cant tell you how help ful your vids are to learning how to animate from a professional industry stand point

[@catboyblackhole]

personally my favorite type of blink falls between these two, where the closing still has one or two inbetween frames but the opening also still has more, it helps it feel smooth while also being snappier than the common western blink

[@LynsArt]

Dong, thank you thank you THANK YOU for making videos such as these!! I can't express how much value these videos possess❤️❤️

[@Rob-gp6yb]

Seeing the basics makes me appreciate how innovative the Mappa shows have been in combining hand drawn art with CGI to get some of the most "realistic" anime movements I've ever seen. Great tutorial btw 👍👌

[@miaomiiao]

CGI is the cancer of animation.

[@SilentSilvia]

This is just soothing and relaxing to watch. Even if you don't plan of learning anything or go into animation. Pure bliss.

[@Penndemonium]

This video was super helpful!! It was very interesting to learn what was common in anime and in western animation. I do really like the "out" sorta curvature the movement has on the western style (following the next frame closer than the previous), but the snappy movement of animating on 3s looks so good! Maybe in the future, I'll try to implement a mix between these two styles. Thank you for the video!

[@guesthmmm]

This video made me manually blink

[@feiyuin4178]

I made it to the best animation course in my country and it did less for me than your free KZbin explanation. Thank you so much for doing what public education failed in

[@diesal_one]

Man I absolutely love your tutorials! I just started getting back into drawing (as I was gifted a good quality drawing tablet, so I'm kind of obligated to) and I can't wait until I'm good enough to start doing stuff like this!

[@max_coast]

So interesting. At Disney and DreamWorks on 3D films we have the closing in-between favor the open position for a slow-in (first 'anime' example). On the release to open though we usually have 2 in-betweens with the first favoring the closed position and the second NEARLY fully open, but not quite, for an slow-in, ease-out. Holding the closed for a minimum of two frames is 'typically' the default since our rendering software's motion blur may actually lose the closed position if it's all in constant motion. We definitely add in more since it's less labor intensive to do so. I had no clue the 2D Asian 'anime' style favored one key over another when compared to the 'west'.

[@Ehh97]

Thank you for making this! Its such a simple this, but having an expert's insight is still super valuable!

[@quipo.0166]

Your channel is like a gem, I was looking for how to animate stuff!!!!

[@alieosharp3083]

This video is so informative even from a roughing standpoint for drawing it's incredible.

[@cozi6587]

Animation is so cool and creative especially the different ways to animate I can definitely see a difference ❤️❤️❤️

[@holidayy2468]

i dont animate WHY DID I WATCH THIS?!?

[@ArcaneYoink]

Ahahaha, the recruitment process is working

[@zombiesalmon4997]

Frame 1: draw eye open Frame 2: draw eye closed Repeat continuously until animation is over DONE

[@jangonauta]

Just knowing how the shading lines work... made this video worth while blue for shadows and red for highlights . All the rest was just icing on the cake thank you

[@chrismiller4278]

Man dong tysm for making anime animation tips and tricks please keep coming out with more :)

[@ohthatsean]

Oh hey I never knew what the different colors were for! Great informative video

[@deepsea5348]

Wow, crazy how tiny things like blinking can be done in different ways depending on style and direction!

[@MicahBuzanANIMATION]

A blink can bring a static character back to life. When you're short on time, focus on the eyes!

[@phantompain8198]

Dios mío que genial como lo explicas, gracias por proporcionar el conocimiento a los que queremos adentrarnos en el mundo de la animación

[@bigscheesy4982]

Do you think using one or two smears would preserve the snappiness of the anime one while being perceived as smoother like the disney one?

[@zlavi6470]

This video forced me to start blinking manually.

[@Phoca_Vitulina]

Thanks so much! I love your tutorial videos and insight into the industries and differences between them!

[@meberra]

Your video are so awesome. Thank you so much for all you do in helping us grow and get better!

[@octavia978]

Thank you for this, and Merry Christmas!

[@mememan1546]

Whichever style used really depends on what feel you're going for imo, you could definitely use both at the same time.

[@dovesr0478]

I have never and will never animate anything in my life but I was enthralled by this video. That's how you know it's good 💪

[@pinkhairblackman8141]

thanks dong, your're making a difference in this world

[@festekiz]

I love it! I like these types of videos so much and I really admire your work

[@bungerman7560]

Ive been waiting for more tutorials! Finally i have been blessed today

[@Cobra-yo7fx]

Nice video! Thank god this video and this channel appeared in my home feed! You seriously have a lot of potential my friend! I wish you great amounts of happiness and success! :)

[@SurjeetKumar-yh2mu]

Thanks man I m always waiting for ur video because I m learning through ur video

[@gauthierruberti8065]

Did I just witness a guy draw the most perfect face in the world in just a few seconds?

[@HyperDevv]

Bro your “rough construction” is better than anything i could ever do

[@sandcrawlerstudios2013]

Surprised I haven’t found your channel sooner. Hope more people learn to animate with your help

[@activemotionpictures]

Thank you for sharing this! Another great video.

[@littlemoonlight5897]

This is really helpful! I have the clip studio paint software but the animation is hard for me so this will be good practice. I hope to be in the animation career someday so this helps a lot.

[@audaykun8328]

Wow I learned so much in this video thank you 🙏

[@leecrawford6560]

I may not be an "Animator" but, just learning what and how the art is for what you do in it is pretty amazing thank you for this video

[@DivisionOfTheLight]

This video has so much Art Attack vibes. Love it !

[@mrnine6259]

Dong please make how to storyboard convert in animation + timing please dong please ARIGATO

[@mont140speedy8]

NO.

[@Kanompangkrop]

I really love ur tutorial and ur art

[@e-brosanimations231]

For me, I basically use the first example as an involuntary blink, for more casual scenes, and the second I would use as a forced blink, basically someone manually closing their eyes or when they are emotional.

[@InedibleMuffin]

I never realised one was predominantly "anime" and the other "western". I just learned the "anime" blink from observation because I liked the snappiness of it.

[@MR_DREAMER_Experience]

This looks great!

[@jakkdlaw]

Him: the first thing you need to do is draw the character Me: *pauses video* *opens new tab* *searches how to learn to draw a character*🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@MASTERCRAFT938]

Love this video. Thank you so much :D

[@porkur]

Thanks, this will definitely be useful!

[@anr5525]

really informative as always

[@mitch_sorenstein]

That blinking animation in the thumbnail is so damn beautiful.

[@floofie_1976]

Yo this is so helpful. I dont wanna go into animation i want it to be a hobby while im studying art. I finally get how this works ☠️ thank you kind sir.

[@theophelusmagudze3827]

Thank you it helps me a lot

[@mhin7424]

Glad I found your channel you explained everything clearly Thank you and more content to come +sub for you

[@jonmichaelgalindo]

So that's why western cartoons have bouncier blinks!

[@TevraShai]

Can you please go in depth on the colors and how EXACTLY to use them? So for the most part I can figure out on my own that- Blue outline with light blue fill=cool shadow (mostly for clothes/objects) Dark blue outline with blue fill=darker cool shadow (within clothes/objects) Blue outline with orange fill=warm shadow (used for skin…Maybe even certain fruits like an orange depending on sub-scattering) Red outline with yellow fill=warm highlights (used for hair/objects) Red on its own = brightest highlights (hair/objects) Now where I got thrown off is, the purples, pinks and greens. At first I thought Blue outline with purple fill= dark cool shadows for hair (mostly underneath layers. Also implying this cool tone shadow is much darker than the dark blue outline with blue fill used with clothing/objects) But then sometimes I see green fill. Purple outline with pink fill. Blue outline with green fill…and now I don’t know what any of those signify…. For example, you used blue outline with what looks like a purple fill, signifying a darker cool toned shadow within the hair…ok cool..I get it…but then why did you use green for the eyelashes when they’re hair too? Or is a green fill supposed to imply a MIXTURE between warm and cool tone shadow? Meaning not really as dark as the blue outline w/ light blue fill…but also not as warm as red outline with yellow fill? Or would it be be blue outline with yellow fill?? I need some direction here. I understand you say different studios have their own different way of doing it, but can you please go in depth on the way you’re SUPPOSED to use them overall?? I’m desperately trying to teach myself this and this small part has me a bit stumped

[@savegalkissy]

I think the main thing the colors signify is not whether the shadows are cool or warm They’re different colors to signify what is a different, but potentially overlapping part. So the hair can touch and go over the neck shadow. Making the neck shadow pink, then, could confuse the animators in the next step or working on the next pose as to which part is the neck and which part is the hair

[@Blaxpoon]

Amazing ressource !

[@O9PRATIK]

First of all i want to thank you for making this videos , I am a animation studio from india and your contact has helped me learn more about animation than my university. So thank you for your video and please keep Posting this kind of detailed video.

[@chloemariebaker9754]

Ahhh I wanna try this out so bad! Thanks for the inspiration!!!

[@user-zj2xq9fu7b]

Beautiful!!

[@DeadMimicked]

This is cool, I learned exclusively off of the 'Animator's survival kit' and I always wondered why my stuff wouldn't have that snappy feel I wanted. TIL!

[@maxchaos44]

Watching you work makes me resent the studio that trained me couple of years back. They went out of their way to make things more difficult and not allow you to use the tools clip and other programs gave you because "it's not right".

[@philip4658]

Thanks for video! Single inbetween is enough for such fast action as blinking. I think.

[@ledot2037]

Duuude, I loved Deca Dence!!!, cool to be reminded of it by it's animator

[@benruniko]

I love the techniques you are showing here. You have developed a great skill! Unfortunate side effect of watching this video: I am going to be blinking on manual all day now lol

[@10weslleynereu]

Thanks for this handfull tips!

[@raven_moonlight]

This helps me when I become animator thank you

[@vandalsavage2074]

I proudly say if nothing else my blink animations are top notch.

[@twintailstutor]

Your work is beautiful 🤩

[@bergenehrlich8309]

I love you Dong!

[@Sakukitsune]

With in the first minute your voice hypnotised me into subscribeing a second later I went "wait why did i subscribe again? I don't know his channel well yet.." Lol u have captivated me

[@MountRush]

Thank you, I learned something new today

[@Atraira]

i learned so much more than just two ways to animate a blink with this video lmao

[@mimithinks7]

I feel like for me as a animator that for eyes the main thing to make a smooth blink is the bounce, I use about 12 frames (6 up and 6 reversed) and some hold frames to make a complete blink. At the 6th frame stretch the eye exaggerated and then return to starting base after the hold frames you did and done.😊

[@romanroyer7057]

This is the video that convinced me to learn to draw again

[@StrawberryMoonMina]

I wish to be an animator so I found this extremely helpful! Thank you so much :)

[@singularitony]

Looove this thank you

[@kriterer]

The Eve instrumentals fit the aesthetic of your art well

[@johnr9679]

Amazing video, thanks a lot!

[@908animates]

Animation = having a literal character rig tattooed on your brain and being able to move that rig around on paper, also spacial awareness stuff

[@maximilianourbanas177]

dios! que animación! 10/10. buscaba algunos tutoriales para aprender a hacer animaciones cortas y terminé encontrando oro puro! 🚬🚬🚬🚬

[@blacklotus432]

Good teaching thanks 🙏