Character Animation & Illustration – How to Balance

How Does Character Animation Complement Illustration in Visual Storytelling?

Animation is a powerful medium for telling a story. At the same time, it encounters some challenges. One of those challenges is complementing character animation with illustration in visual storytelling. You may also face the same challenge and want to know how you can overcome that challenge.

In this post, we shall tell how you can balance illustration and characters in animated videos (visual stories). Before jumping to our main topic, we want to talk about the following:

• What Is Meant By Characters in Motion?
• Role of Animated Characters in Visual Storytelling

What Is Meant By Characters in Motion?

Characters in motion are animated characters you see in animated videos that entail visual storytelling. It is a form of animation that is captivating and powerful. You can effectively convey information, promote products or services, and engage audiences via it.

Moreover, explainer videos that professional character animation services create often entail animated characters. This is because visual storytelling becomes more compelling with characters in motion (animation).

Role of Animated Characters in Visual Storytelling

There are various roles that animated characters play in visual storytelling or explainer videos. Let us reveal them to you:

1.      Add a Human Touch

Incorporating animated characters in videos gives them a human touch. Not to mention, visual storytelling in such a manner evokes emotions and builds an emotional connection with the audience. This emotional connection also helps viewers remember the information they get from videos in this manner.

2.      Allow for the Visualization of Abstract Ideas or Concepts

Including animated characters in videos allows for effectively communicating abstract ideas or concepts with audiences. This is because they let you transform complex information into visual stories that are easy-to-understand and easy to follow. So, you may use such characters to explain intricate processes, simplify technical jargon, etc.

Complementing Character Animation and Illustration

It is time we start talking about our main topic. That is how characters in motion and illustration can complement each other in visual storytelling. Let us unveil to you some tips and tricks in this respect:

1.      Define Your Animated Characters

In order to balance your animated characters, you will need to define them. In this respect, you will need to find answers to specific questions. We have shared those questions for you below:

• Who Are Characters in Motion That You Want to Come Up with?
• What Does Your Animated Characters Want?
• Where Do Your Animated Characters Lack and Where They Are Strong?
• What Problems Do Your Characters Face in Your Visual Stories?
• What Motivates Your Characters in Motion in Your Visual Stories?

Finding answers to the aforementioned questions will help you define your animated characters. Not to mention, well-defined characters in your visual stories will have a clear and consistent personality, voice, and appearance. At the same time, they will have a compelling bend in your story. It will aid you in successfully showing how your characters change and overcome their problem in your animated video.

2.      Plan Your Illustration

You will also need to plan your illustration to balance it with your characters in motion. This is because action scenes (illustration) are part of your visual story and serve a purpose. Knowing your goals, plot, theme, and tone for your video will help you plan your illustration. So, you should keep the aforementioned things in mind to plan your illustration accordingly.

3.      Integrate Your Animated Characters and Illustration

Integrating your character animation and illustration will also help you complement each other in your visual stories. To accomplish that, you will again need to find answers to certain questions. We have also shared those questions for you below:

• In What Way Does Illustration Reflect Characters’ Personality and Emotions?
• How Do the Characters Respond to the Illustration and Influence It?
• How Do Action Scenes in the Videos Challenge and Change Characters?

Finding answers to the above-mentioned questions will help you integrate characters and illustrations dynamically yet naturally.

4.      Keep Rhythm and the Right Tone

Please remember that visual stories that run too fast or too slow can lose the interest of your audience. By the same token, you should keep rhythm in your animated videos and the right tone. We mean to say that your characters in motion and illustration should have harmony plus change smoothly yet effectively. Moreover, you can vary the pace and tone of your visual story in a way that is engaging and appropriate. All of these things will aid you in balancing your character animation with illustration.

5.      Use Your Story to Show and Do Not Tell

Please remember that animation is a visual medium that you should exploit. You should leverage it to convey information & emotions via images, sound, and movements. At the same time, you should smartly use the camera, lighting, colors, compositions, and animations in your animated videos.

Put differently, you will need to communicate to your audience via portrayal in visual stories rather than using words only. In this respect, you will need to ensure the gestures, expressions, and body language of your characters complement the illustration. It will help you make your visual story compelling.

6.      Count on Feedback to Improve

It doesn’t matter how well you create your visual stories, you should always encourage feedback. This is because there is always room for improvement even if you create one-of-a-kind video animations. For this reason, you should get feedback from your animation team and also exploit audience testing. It will aid you in getting the right feedback to make final edits to your visual stories and improve them. So, you can always count on feedback to improve the video animations that you create.

Conclusion

Animation is a powerful tool to deploy for storytelling. But it also faces some challenges. One of the challenges it faces is balancing character animation with illustration in visual storytelling. Besides, characters in motion are animated characters in videos that involve visual storytelling. They play a few roles in animated videos, like giving them a human touch and aiding in explaining abstract concepts. There are tips and tricks that you can follow to balance your animated characters and illustrations in video animations. Define your characters, plan your illustration, and show but do not tell, to recap some of them. Lastly, you can successfully complement characters and illustrations in visual stories while exploiting tips and tricks we have shared already.