Motion design process from start to finish

It might seem simple for some people, or at least for the ones in the industry, but creating an animated video from scratch might actually look more like wizardry to some others. That's why I thought of writing this super simplified guide manual on how it works, although depending on the type of video it can drastically change.

1 - Inspiration and Conceptualization

It all starts with a spark of inspiration. It can come from anywhere: a dream, a walk in nature or even a casual conversation, but it usually starts with the client brief, explaining what they need and what the idea is. Once the first little okay idea comes up, the conceptualization phase begins. It’s time to shape the story, the characters, if there are any, and the atmosphere. It's usually when I dive into sketches, notes and brainstorming until each element falls into place.

2 - Storyboard

With the idea somewhat clear in mind, it’s time to think about the storyline that the animation will follow. It's time to create a storyboard that acts as a visual guide to the story. What's a storyboard? You might ask. It's basically a sketched comic version of what the video will look like. It's often referred to as "the bible" of the video, and it's used in any kind of video-making process, whether it is animated or not. Each scene is broken down into panels that capture action, dialogue and camera changes. This step is crucial for setting the rhythm and narrative of the animation.

3 - Character, Environment and Shape Design

It's time to decide how everything is going to look like in the final video. Exploring different styles and designs to find the perfect look that captures the message that I want to convey. If there are characters present then there's a character design phase, with turnarounds, expressions, outfits and poses. If there aren't any then it's a matter of thinking about what shapes and colors can be used rather than humanized characters and conventional environments.

4 - Styleframes

Now that we know what's happening in the video and how everything is going to look like, it's time to make a polished version of the storyboard. It means recreating the first storyboard with the final look of the video. These boards are called "styleframes" and are the ones that are going to be the base to actually start animating.

5 - Animation: Bringing the Everything to Life

It’s time to get down to business. The nitty gritty of the situation. Time to put everything into the animation software of choice (for me it's usually After Effects), and bring the scenarios to life. Each movement, and gesture is carefully animated to convey the appropriate emotion. This phase requires patience since it can be the most time consuming, but if the previous steps are well executed, it should be a relatively smooth process. Plus seeing the video come to life makes it worth it.

6 - Editing and post-production

Once the animation is complete, it’s time to polish the details. Make final adjustments, add visual effects and sounds to give it that extra touch. Editing is what can make the difference from the video looking okay, to it looking premium.

7 - Ready for the World (or the Client)

To be more correct, after each and every phase of the creation of the video, if it's a client commission, I always share it with the client and wait for feedback before moving onto the next step. However this is when they can fully see what all those steps brought, so it's when they can truly see if the video is coming out how they were envisioning it or not. There's often a few more edits to make before it's fully finished, but if the previous steps are well made, it shouldn't be too much of a pain, if at all, to make the final edits. That's why it's important to always share every new step and have it approved before moving on. It can be really hard and take a lot of time to make important edits at this stage.

There you have it, a super simplified process of designing animations from scratch. Each step is different and they're all important, especially the first ones. One might think it can save you time to skip them, but more often than not, that's not a good idea.

Do you have any questions or want to share your own experience?

I’m here to hear it!