Learning Animation with Toon Boom Studio

Grady Smith

Occupation
Graphic Arts student and entry-level animator and telecommunications.

Location
Colorado Springs


Biography

Grady Smith is a Toon Boom Studio animator

After 3 hours of playing with the tools and the interface I was in love with this technology. The ease of use and the feel of natural drawing was what had me from the jump. The use of the onion skinning to create traditional animations to the cut-out animations has provided me multiple options that I have never been able to use before.

Company

None

How long have you been in this profession?

2 years

What are your most important accomplishments?

Having children..

Do you create your animations using Toon Boom Studio only?

No I also use the Adobe Creative Design Premium CS4.

Why did you choose to combine these products?

The school I attend provides Adobe CS4 and this is what we have to use for school and web applications.

[ watch the clip de Speedy The Bear ]

Please describe your workflow

My workflow starts with a script then sketches of character models using a sketchpad. Then I sketch them out digitally using a Cintiq tablet. After sketching out all designs I then create a storyboard on paper. I then record the dialog using GarageBand and import it into Toon Boom Studio. That is when I begin to clean up all characters and work from the storyboard I have created earlier.

What kind of animation do you create?

Traditional and cut out animations, cartoons for my friends and families for birthdays and holidays.

What are your favorite features in Toon Boom Studio?

• Workspace is very easy to get the hang of.
• The 3D space.
• Cut-out breakdown in Studio when breaking down characters.
• Onion-skinning.
• The ability to incorporate Flash elements, to export Flash and the ease of use. These programs are very easy to catch on to.

Did you experience any productivity gains in using Toon Boom Studio?

Very much so. With the onion skinning it has been very easy to animate traditionally. The drawing tools feel very natural and make it easier for a beginner in the digital animation world to get the hang of the technology.

Are you more efficient today compared to your production toolset used previously?

Very much so. Flash is a pretty big learning curve. I started using Toon Boom Studio in the matter of hours.

Is it possible to get the same results with other digital animation software?

No! The level of quality 2D animations achieved in Toon Boom is unmatched. This technology was designed for animators of all types and is very successful in providing needs to animators of all skill levels.

How do you feel about Toon Boom Studio?

It is simply amazing. As a current Graphic Arts student free lance animator, I have used Adobe Illustrator and Flash CS4 in a lot of different projects and assignments. I have spent months and thousands of dollars in tuition to learn how to use Flash in online classes. As a result I use the CS4 and have become very familiar with these programs, and have used them quite a bit. I had been using Adobe Flash for animations in web projects and did not seem to get the quality that I was looking for. I then looked online for some alternative options to animation. I found that Toon Boom Studio would come up at the top of the list every time I put in a search. So I decided to take a look at the website and try out Studio 4.5 for 30 Days. After 3 hours of playing with the tools and the interface I was in love with this technology. The ease of use and the feel of natural drawing was what had me from the jump. The use of the onion-skinning to create traditional animations to the cut-out animations has provided me multiple options that I have never been able to use before. So then I decided that I would try Anime studio 5 by Smith Micro to see if there were other options in 2D animation. Not even close. Toon Boom has set the standard for quality, features and price in the animation industry. Since this I have purchased the Toon Boom Studio. Thank you Toon Boom for understanding the needs of animators around the world.

Equipment used

Mac book pro and IMAC Intel desktop.