If your are Searching for step by step guide on how to make a cartoon video then you have landed on the right page. Cartoon videos are the latest thing in the world of videos and are a must-have. Why? There are several uses for these videos. They include entertainment, education, business marketing, and communication. Cartoons enchant the mind, make abstract ideas visible and understandable, and have a broad interest in penetrating age and cultural divides.
At a time when the world seems to be majoring more in moving images, cartoons are doing their splendid job of entertaining and teaching. Due to their versatility, people involved in content production, teaching, and marketing tend to develop them. Cartoons can be used in all productions, whether for kids, students in schools or colleges, or even for advertisement, making an explainer for a brand.
So, how to make a cartoon video that represents your brand perfectly? Let’s find out!
Overview of the Cartoon Video Creation Process
It is necessary to go through several steps to make a captivating cartoon video, including planning, creativity, and thorough work on video editing. This process includes but is not limited to creating the concept of the project, developing the characters and the settings, animating the scene and ultimately, video editing and post-production.
All these levels significantly contribute to the actualisation of a story. Familiarising yourself with the process and the tools available shapes the quality and efficacy of the output. The following is a step-by-step guide for creating compelling cartoon videos.
Step by Step Guide: How to Make a Cartoon Video?
Step 1: Planning and Pre-Production
1. Developing a Concept and Script
The first step in creating a cartoon video is developing a good concept. This entails generating ideas for the video’s content and understanding its goal. Ask yourself questions like: What information do you want to pass? What consumer group responds to your targeted panel or advertisements? What kind of emotion do you wish to induce in your consumers or clients?
If a clear concept is not already available, there are two ways to prepare to write a script. A script is essential since it frames the approach toward the video. It should use dialogue, narrative, and the scene’s setting in detail. You must be very keen on the script and how often something big happens to keep the audience glued to their screens. The script must not be lengthy but informative to ensure the target message is clearly passed.
Example: If the video intends to teach children about balanced diets, the concept may involve developing one character who begins learning about fruits and vegetables. The script would then describe this process and take other characters (talking fruits and their activities) into account.
2. Designing Characters and Settings
Drawing characters is the powerhouse of any cartoon video. Introducing characters people can identify with and like to follow is the most crucial factor. Width them and draw character roughs with the clothes, personality, and position in the story in mind. A character design should quickly distinguish one from the other and depict the correct emotion backed by their gestural and facial gestures.
In the same regard, environments and backdrops should be created with narration. Whether it be a fairy tale forest, New York City, or a space station, the background should be appropriate for the video and its overall concept. The level of detail in the conceptualisation process determines the form and texture of a more elaborate animation.
Tip: Generate character sheets with multiple poses and facial expressions for use in the animation.
3. Storyboarding
Storyboarding is an essential step in pre-production, where the script is taken through a graphic form of representation. It presupposes using a sequence of sketches that define each video scene. Storyboarding can facilitate the plot’s layout and ease in utilising time to plan the scenes, setting for cameras and movement. Also, it functions as a working strategy where all the team members know what to do and how to do it about the animated project.
A good storyboard can be very useful because it allows for the visualisation of the production process and points out the flaws, thus allowing the opportunity to rectify them without going through the entire production process.
Tip: Choose a digital tool for storyline production. Storyboard That or Adobe Illustrator allows you to create exhaustive and shared storyboards that the team can modify.
Step 2: Production
1. Choosing Animation Style and Tools
Another factor that needs consideration is the style of animation that you want to use in the cartoon video. This is because all the styles bear different feelings and aim to address different types of clients. Some common animation styles include:
- 2D Animation: Hand-drawn animation tradition used for cartoon and explainer videos. Industry-standard software for 2D animations includes Adobe Animate and Toon Boom Harmony.
- 3D Animation is often seen in movies and computer games. Some of the software used in 3D includes Blender, Maya, and Cinema 4D.
- Stop-motion animation involves taking pictures of objects or representations in small bits and making them appear. It’s pretty tedious, but it results in a very different and textural aesthetic.
- Whiteboard Animation: This type is typically employed in instructional and commercial videos; it imitates drawings on a whiteboard. VideoScribe and Doodly are standard software used to create this kind of animation.
The software selection depends on the type of animation required and the degree of difficulty of the job. The tools that should be preliminarily acquainted with are Pencil2D, free and open-source for 2D animation, and Blender, for 3D animation. On a professional level, there is Adobe Animate, Toon Boom Harmony, Maya, etc.
2. Creating the Animation
The first step in the animation process is turning the storyboard into an animation. Producers develop action by drawing characters and objects and changing their positions on the screen at intervals. At this stage, proper animation coordination in terms of time and space is warranted to achieve that natural and sleek look.
Keyframing is often employed in animation; it implies that the animator sets a movement’s start and end points, and the software inserts the intermediary frames.
Example: In a 2D animation, if a character is waving, then the frame grabs are made for the initial stage or position of the character, the highest stage of the wave and the final position of the character. The software will compute the other frames in between to give you a natural waving action.
3. Recording and Editing Audio
Audio can be recorded using a voice recording device or a microphone connected to the computer and then saved in several formats, such as WAV, MP3, or WMA.
Sound is essential in a cartoon video as it enhances emotions and even provides context to the animations depicted in the video. This stage involves voiceover, dialogue, sounds and jingles, background music and audio. After recording the voiceovers, the audio tracks must be edited and, more importantly, synchronised to match the animation. This enables the dialogue to synchronise with the characters’ lips and perfectly synchronises sound effects with action.
If that is not done right, the final product can look weird and off-putting. It immediately disconnects the audience from the motion picture.
Tip: To that effect, it is advisable to use sound editing programs such as Audacity or Adobe Audition to edit the recordings, equalise the sounds, delete the background noise, and merge different auditory segments.
Step 3: Post-Production
1. Editing and Compositing
Synchronisation is the last stage in post-production, where all the components produced are put together to make the final product. Editing involves cutting and pasting the scenes in animation form and inserting some connecting scenes so that they make sense. Compositing manipulates several shot components, including characters, graphics, backgrounds, and effects, into a single shot/scene. It may also include making visuals, correcting the colour, and finishing the video.
Software for Editing and Compositing: Adobe After Effects can be beneficial for composing and adding effects to a video; Adobe Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro are generally used for video editing.
2. Exporting and Sharing
After editing and compositing the video, the last step is to export it in the correct format. The format and resolution depend on where the video will be hosted—social networks or other platforms—or even the YouTube site or website. Usual extensions are .mp4, .avi, and .mov. Fortunately, the video quality does not have to be altered often, but you should always match the resolution to the platform on which the video will be posted.
Tip: Before exporting the final copy, export a test video to assess audio-video sync, video quality, and video playback. This can help you edit the video according to the requirements and share it with the public once you are ready.
Tips and Best Practices
- Start with a Strong Concept: The key to the success of a cartoon video is the admissible and convincing concept. Take time on the idea so that it stands alone and gets the attention it deserves.
- Focus on Character Development: Try to imagine characters who can be understood, are nice to look at, and are distinct in personality and/or function. Hire good storytellers for the same.
- Use Colour Wisely: Colour means the possibility of expressing emotions, that is, the mood of the video. Ensure that the colours used are as close to the mood and theme of the story as possible.
- Pay Attention to Timing and Pacing: Timing is as essential in animation as in other media. It impacts the continuity of scenes and the audience’s interest in the story. Learn some approaches to timing to make the storytelling have a significant effect.
- Incorporate Feedback: During the production process, always seek opinions from other people. New ideas could be tremendously helpful and may enhance the video.
- Stay Organised: Animation projects involve using many files and other forms of media and may include using other related parts/assistance. To make it easier to handle the project, create different folders and give each one a respective name.
- Keep Learning: Animation is a continuous process undergoing development in society. Keep abreast of the new technologies and methodologies in practice. There are great websites that give online tutorials, courses, and support groups for the learning process, which can be pursued without interruption.
Conclusion
What can be more fun than making a cartoon video? It is a great process that allows you to turn stories into animated videos. You can create a cartoon video that would appeal to the audience by following a correct approach, from generating ideas and storyboarding to the end of the production and post-production process. Here we have discussed all the steps on how to make a cartoon video.
Cartoon videos can be fundamental across the spectrum, whether it is entertainment, teaching, or marketing, and they can be an influential tool when delivering to the audience. With the help of animation applications, creativity and focus on details, anyone can draw their ideas and narrate compelling stories.
Need help? Contact IceNFire today and take advantage of our creative storytellers and animators, who can bring your vision to life, give you ideas, and ensure your audience makes their decision instantly. Our team will assist you from curating the idea to constructing the final product, which will include all the elements we discussed here and so much more.
FAQs
- Which software is best for doing animations for a cartoon video?
A few of the best 2D animation software programs include Adobe Animate, Toon Boom Harmony for 2D animation with professional tools, and 3D animation with Blender.
- How much time does it take to make a cartoon video?
The time depends on the video, its duration and the number of animations used. A single message video that is not more than one or two minutes long may take days to a week or a month to create.
- Can I create cartoon videos utilising free software?
Yes, many free and open-source software can be used for animation. Some are Blender, 3D animation software; Pencil2D, 2D animat
