Creating the Seal - from the "Animating with OpenToonz" course

This is a short snippet from a video in my "Animating with OpenToonz" course, which you can find via the link below;
james-whitelaw-animation.thin...
In this video I reference a trick/technique I learned from Darren T's channel - it is to do with filling gaps in colour using OpenToonz's new "Pick & Freehand" tool - it's a very handy new function that OpenToonz has, and Darren T's channel shone a light on it in one of his very good videos. The specific video that covers this "Pick & Freehand" tool and this technique can be found on Darren's channel here:
• [New Feature] Easy fil...
I did this entire animation in OpenToonz.
OpenToonz is a professional, free (Opensource) 2D animation program.
You can download OpenToonz here:
opentoonz.github.io/e/
I have created a course on using OpenToonz to animate - for more details on this course, please see the links below;
Animating With OpenToonz:
james-whitelaw-animation.thin...
"Animating with OpenToonz" covers everything an animator needs to know about OpenToonz, from setting it up, and all the basics, all the way to more complex techniques and tools that one can use to really let OpenToonz show its' power.
This is a very hands-on course, leaning more to the application of OpenToonz, rather than just all the theory of it. So the project that I take on, and encourage the animator to do to, is central to the course. In between every project video, there will be technical explanation videos that go through what we have just used in more detail. So even if the animator does not do the project, she will be able to follow all the technical theory that goes into the creation of the project.
It comes with downloads needed for the project plus some locomotion templates to make the animation of certain parts much easier.
The course covers:
1. Basics - installing, FF Mpeg, Tools and workplace windows etc.
2. Drawing - the 2 main methods; vectors & raster, and how to use them to the full
3. Animating - covering the various methods and techniques OpenToonz offers
4. FX - we dive into some of the methods we can use the powefull FX that OpenToonz is packed with.
The course is broken into a few sections;
1. Basics - covering all the basics you need to get going with OpenToonz
2. Scene 1 - we start creating straight away in Scene 1, from drawing to animating.
3. Scene 2 - the creation continues in a second scene, as we explore more of OpenToonz.
4. FX - we add a variety of special effects (FX) to the 2 scenes.
5. Finally we render the final video and put it together with sound effects to form a wonderful piece of animation.
6. In between each part of the creation and animation of this piece there will be videos on the specific part of OpenToonz that we are covering in that part of the creation or animation, so the student can see specifically and in more detail what we are using and how we are using it.
7. There will be a section at the end of each scene covering what we have learnt and what we have used, just to once again reinforce the tools of OpenToonz and how we have used them.
The course is available on at a 40% discount to it's anticipated price when it is 100% complete.
Completion should be early in 2024.
Click the link below to go take a look at the course:
Animating With OpenToonz:
james-whitelaw-animation.thin...
To join my mailing list:
mailchi.mp/2e4363513399/sykx8...
To see more of what I offer, please visit my Website:
james-whitelaw-animation.thin...
And here are the links to my courses directly:
Making A Short Animated Movie:
james-whitelaw-animation.thin...
Locomotion Course Bundle:
james-whitelaw-animation.thin...
Animating With OpenToonz:
james-whitelaw-animation.thin...
This 2D animation was created using Opentoonz
Music by www.Bensound.com
#opentoonzanimation
#opentoonz
#opentoonztutorial

[@DarrenTAnims]

I appreciate the shout out.
I'm glad these tips are helping.
I like the style of animation of drawing your character, duplicating, then moving it a little.
To save the degredation in the line quality, what if you keep a duplicate of the original drawing and work from that every few drawings, so the line quality doesn't go downhill? I know you lose the flow of change A to B to C, etc, but it could help.

[@jameswhitelawanimation]

Cheers Darren, you are very welcome, your channel has been a great help to me and you deserve all the promotion you get. That is a great idea re. working off an original like that, I may well try it. I don't know if the way I work is just "lazy" but I do like working that way, instead of drawing each one from scratch. It's just that "degradation" of the line that get's me - but that's a great idea of yours, I may well implement it, thank you. :-)

[@DarrenTAnims]

I don't think it's lazy at all.
It's a great way to create animation and a perfect way to keep the proportions. I do this myself a lot. Especially for inbetweens. Even if I draw one inbetween, I tend to add a small one at the start and end of the movement by using this technique. It gives me a 3 drawing movement while only making 1 new drawing.

[@DarrenTAnims]

And for these small movements I tend to use the selection tool, holding the ctrl key and adjusting the corners, just to give that small anticipation.

[@jameswhitelawanimation]

@@DarrenTAnims Ah, cheers Darren. Yes, I am always looking for a way to speed up my work flow, as you know how long animation takes, so I do tend to "cut corners" where I can, like that. Then I feel guilty that it may be lazy or what ever, but I push on, for ever looking for processes that speed up the workflow without giving away (too much) on the quality. It's always a balance, and I may tip over to one side or another, depending where I am in a project.