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Next121
Apr '19

Hello.

Especially during action scenes, I really dig when characters shoot around like lightning if you understand me. What is the best way to accomplish this? I'm auditing an animation class right now, and the professor cannot stress the important of exaggeration enough.

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    Apr '19

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    Apr '19
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skicoak
Apr '19

Well there's different types right?

There's super hero types that become multiple blurred images in a direction...

Anime types that become a force of energy that bolts towards a destination...

Cartoon characters who's faces distort from the wind shear while their legs become spinning whirlwinds...

I'm sure there's more but that's the top three that pop up in my mind.

punkarsenic
Apr '19

understanding comics has an interesting bit near the end of chapter 4 (time frames) about different ways people have shown movement in comics, it gives some good examples of what @skicoak is referring to. that could be a good place to start looking, OP

moop
Apr '19

I would suggest watching an animation in the style you’re looking to recreate (anime vs western cartoons use them differently) and go through the video frame by frame to see how it’s used and how you can recreate it in comic form. Some smear frames look weird isolated and are only there to help animation, but sometimes they do effects with speed lines and stuff that can look good in a comic.

DokiDokiTsuna
Apr '19

I'm only a novice animator, but I'd explain it like...just think of it economically, from a frame-saving point of view. You could have a character move out of the scene normally, and you'd have to do every frame of them running over to the side and exiting...or you could have 'em wind up and suddenly "stretch" out of the scene, which basically eliminates most of those middle frames. In other words: a stretch or a smear should replace the movement from point A to point B.

Of course, that's just * basically * what it is; professionals use them more for their dynamic motion than for cheats (although a good cheat is a precious thing~). If you're having trouble understanding it, visualizing it, or planning it out, I'd suggest looking at frame-by-frames of old cartoons like Tom & Jerry; anything with lots of goofy chase scenes. ^^