animatings actually easy as shit heres how to animate a quick movement in 5 frames
(works better with small things, if there is larger movement, then you probably should have more than 5 frames but whatever):
key frame 1 (start position):
key frame 2 (end position):
now we have the start and end, we make a middle stage:
the pink and green are the previous and next frames showing. its called onion skin and is good for drawing inbetweens 👍
here is the middle stage without onion skin:
and then, using the first frame, we make an ease in frame, which is just the first frame with a teensy tiny bit of movement towards the goal (onion skin showing frame 1 on the left and no onion skin on the right):
then we get an overshoot frame, which is the final frame but extended a bit further so when it plays, theres this spring-like bounceback effect (it makes it more realistic). (onion skin showing last frame on the left and no onion skin on the right):
now make sure that the key frames (first and final frames) are on for multiple frames since they are when the movement is still. the program i use, FireAlpaca, has an option to change the amount of frames a frame is onscreen for, but you can duplicate frames manually if needed
or
the amount of frames the image needs to be onscreen for depends on the framerate of the whole animation (how fast each frame is onscreen for). note that higher framerate does not necessarily equal smoother animation and an animation can still be pretty darn smooth even with 8 fps (frames per second) but the standard for animation is 24 fps. its all a matter of how you animate. i like to do 8 or 12 fps cuz i dont have to draw as many inbetweens teehee
here is the animation on 12 fps:
^ i have put the key frames on for half a second, which is half the framerate, so the key frames here are on for 6 frames
this is the animation on 24 fps:
^ i have increased the key frames frame count to 12 frames since the framerate was increased.
the movement is faster in 24 fps because the amount of frames are the same, but the more inbetweens you add it will be slower. this is a tutorial for animating with 5 frames, though, so who cares. plus if this is the effect you want then whatever
lasty, here is one on 8 fps:
much slower than the previous two. duh (the key frames are now on screen for 4 frames in this version)
anyways reblog with your tries if you find this, dear animation babies and theres another example below:













