8. Planning an animation

You should realise by now that animation is quite a labour-intensive process. You do not want to waste hours doing the wrong thing only to have to start all over again.

So planning before hand is essential, no matter how basic the project.

You need to know what the story of the animation is to be. And for this, professional animation companies use a story board. This is where an artist draws a number of sketches that show key points within the story. Almost like a comic strip except its purpose is to explain every key part of the animation

Every major film that uses CGI or other animation methods will have a story-board artist working for them.

Of course for personal projects only the most crude hand drawn sketches are needed. Telling the story is the point - not the quality of the drawings.