Is this animation bad?

[Rai_Muffin]

Looking for feedback.

I made this about a year ago and was feeling pretty good about it,
But lately I can’t shake the feeling that it’s just plain crap.

It would be easy to just pour it up as is,
But I want original music and that would cost money.
Don’t wanna waste funds and time on something that will just get ignored.

Can you please let me know what you think?
And be honest,
Would you post this is you made it,
Or just toss it and make something better?

I’ll review in kind if you have some work I can check out.

https://youtu.be/saA1G6LXd3I?si=iTGOeLQ8WZUw1AWg

[jwabeasley]

I understand where you're coming from. It's clearly amateur, but that doesn't make it bad. It feels like watching the end credits to an anime I haven't watched. The artstyle is cohesive, and nothing seems out of place.

You likely learned a lot during the process of making it, and so your skills and vision now far exceed where they were when you started. That's the artist's curse!

If you were to change just one thing, it could be the opening shot of the tree, which doesn't have much to look at and goes on a bit long.

Pat yourself on the back for finishing an animation project! Take what you've learned and put it into the next project!

Look for royalty-free music if you're not up to making it yourself or getting someone else to do it for you.

[KevinReijnders]

"Bad" isn't the word I would use, amateur or rather beginner is more what I'd call it.

First off, you definitely have a good grasp of cinematic language. Believe it or not, but that is a major hurdle for most beginning animation students. The concept of an anime opening sequence works well and the limited narrative that it gives is easy to follow.

Things to work on:

• As mentioned above, the static opening shot of the tree serves no real purpose. If this were used form some basic credits (names, titles etc) it would be serviceable, but since nothing happens here it's kinda dead space and could better be used fro something more interesting.

• The shots were you have a slow pan with the camera. It's very noticeable to me that you start your pan at the start of the shot and end it, at the end. It's better to have a continuous movement. I don't know what software you used to make this, but I assume it's similar to after effects. So I would place the position keyframes just outside the boundaries of your shots time-frame. I also wouldn't bother using any ease in/out with these shots.

• Animation: The actual 2D animation itself could use more inbetweens. As it is now it's kinda choppy. Adding more frames and maybe using some smear frames for the faster movements will help with fluidity. The animation is also very linear, as in, there is not easing for most of the movements. You do use some minor anticipation, but there's absolutely room for more.

I recommend looking up some tutorials, specifically I'd delve into the '12 principles of animation' and practice those basic principles to make your work look more dynamic and feel more 'alive'

[Lensing]

The animation itself looks great and convincing to me.

The thing that looks kind amateurish to me is the anatomy/proportions of
the characters

[miuthecat]

Your animation is not a Marvel movie full of effects, and it's not supposed to be one.
The only thing that disturbed me on it is that the eyes nearly touch the ears ^_^, a bit distracting, apart from that it was quite good (if the goal is advertising your comic, it's good enough).

[NickRowler]

I think it is good for a beginner. I agree with other people that animation itself is amateur.

Tho my major criticism with it is that the visual storytelling isn’t very compelling. Sometimes simple animation can be entertaining if the story is interesting. But I don’t know these characters, so it is hard to connect with them. It somewhat reminds me of anime ending credits.

[Rai_Muffin]

Thanks for the feedback,
but I think I will scrap it.

Don't hate it like I did,
but I do think I can do better.

[ZAPPI]

It's already miles better than my animation skills lol