Contour vs Structural

Caption: A friend asked recently: how do I start animating? So here I have a quick example of a happy running squirrel. Start simple, I recommend, that is, to simplify your animation so you don’t get caught up in the details in the beginning. I observe there are two basic ways you can make a rough animation – by contour and structural animations.

Animating is basically drawing a lot and linking these drawings together. Some of us draw naturally with contours; the best way for them to begin animating is perhaps simply by animating the contour! So here we link all the drawings by animating the outline and silhouette that are represented by curves, straight lines, and angles.

Some others of us draw more comfortably with structures, because that’s how most of us are taught to understand forms in school. With balls and springs, it’s maybe easier for them to understand what’s happening underneath the moving body, and what drives different parts to move differently.

Personally, I’ve always animated with contours because that’s how I draw naturally. Since it’s convenient for me, I could then focus on delivering a more dynamic action. But there are occasions where the character design is based heavily on forms which require me to animate structurally.

So you could consider trying either of these two by first understanding how you draw – do you draw better by jumping straight to the outlines, or by first representing the body with a skeleton? Contour and structure are like the two ends of a spectrum; once you master one method, you could try the other way to improve your animation! I believe good animations are based on the knowledge of both.

I hope this helps!