Comic Artist - Volume 3 2016

Core skills | Sketchbook Pro

PREPARE YOUR ART

FOR ANIMATION

1
Set up your project
Select File from the main toolbar
and choose New Flipbook. The project
panel will appear, containing a range of
properties to choose from. The presets are
the pixel dimensions of your project, and
you can also input the dimensions to
create your own custom size. The next
option is the frame rate or how many
frames per second your animation will
be. The final option is to decide how
many frames your scene will consist of.

Learn the basics of the fledgling Flipbook feature in SketchBook Pro 7, and

with a bit of planning you can use it to produce an effective animation

2

The animation timeline
The Timeline is a series of frames from 0 up to the number of frames that a
scene consists of. The animation is played back frame by frame along the timeline at the
frame rate you selected in the previous step. On the left of the timeline are the keyframe
options, where you can add and delete a key. On the right are the playback controls.

3
The Flipbook
layers system
The layers system is very different from
what you’ll find in any other software.
You can’t add or delete a layer, but you do
have three specific layers to use for your
Flipbook animation. The background
layer is a static layer across the timeline
for you to draw and paint the
environment of your scene. The fore-
and mid-ground layers are related to
each frame on the timeline.

You can’t export your animation as a

video file and the layers system is very

basic, but to be fair, this is the beginning

of a feature that could very well lead to

the next generation of “tradigital”

animation tools. In this brief introduction

I’ll guide you through the animation side

of SketchBook Pro, reveal how to animate

with the Flipbook, and explain how to

handle the new layers system.

T

he animation Flipbook feature
in SketchBook Pro 7 can for
now be considered a bit of an
experiment from the program’s
developers. It’s best to see the tool as a
work-in-progress project, because while
the brush tools and user-friendly
functions are impressive, this new feature
is still limited. But it’s worth spending a
little time investigating.

BRING YOUR ART

TO ANIMATED LIFE

C. Cleaning up and colour

Tidy up the rough animation by selecting

the foreground and going over every

keyframe along the timeline. This stage

can take time and effort to keep the lines

consistent: if you rush it, the forms will either

expand or shrink. Once you’ve cleaned the

frames, erase every keyframe on the mid-

ground and add your chosen colours.

B. Sketching

Because the layer system is very limited,

select the mid-ground and start sketching

out the rough animation along the timeline.

Always refer back to your thumbnails and

try to stay as loose as possible. Once you’ve

completed the rough animation, take the

Soft Eraser and gently erase 50 per cent

of each frame to reduce its opacity.

A. Planning your scene

Plan out your sequence beforehand on

paper. This will help you to figure out the

timing and spacing of your scene. I like to

sketch out thumbnails and keep this stage

very rough and loose, which means I can

focus on the poses and the silhouettes.

You’ll also be able to work out how many

frames a sequence will consist of.

This is a

feature that

could lead

to the next

generation

of animation

tools

SKETCHBOOK PRO