After Effects - How to Cartoon You

The cartoon effect has caught on in so many different ways. We have the little assistant cartoon person step out onto our desktop at several service sites. We have the cartoon logos identified with our products and more recently we have the cartoon caricature used for our social networking presence. We find offers in our mailbox to have our profile image 'cartooned' for us.

The cartoon effect in After Effects is great for a banner, a photographic image or video providing a simple way to give an other worldly look to your subject. It is also easy to create a 'French impressionist' look with bright colors and exaggerated texture and features. Fortunately the cartoon effect is quite easy to apply, very easy to experiment with. Like any animation or special effect, giving some thought to what your finished product is going to say, how you want it to look is a great start. A comic effect is typical for the animated helper but it is just as easy to create a little drama with bold features and shadows. Picture the Hulk or Superman.

Why not a Picasso incarnation?. These exaggerated colors and lines of definition, texture that you can touch can be ingredients for expressive emotion and 'super reality'. When you apply cartoon you have three 'high level' render options: fill, edges, or a blend of the two. These choices are just what they sound like. The edges will highlight an outline of your video in black and white. It reminds me of a black and white charcoal sketch with white fill, dark grey and black outlines. This is an extreme cartoon and while it might serve in a logo or symbol, I doubt this is what you will want for your expressive video.

The fill option does the opposite. It exaggerates only the fill portion doing nothing to the edges. Imagine puffy fill with soft textures and because you haven't used the edges attribute, edges are very rounded and reveal curves. With fill chosen you see shadowing and darker shades highlight the fill creating the cartoon effect in this fashion. There is no better subject for the cartoon effect than a human being complete with face color, lines, and texture and the clothes we humans wear. This 'fill only' approach, creates the true comic book cartoon likeness with shading and color describing human features and clothing fabric. The fill option has two adjustments for shading steps and smoothness. At the higher setting for shading steps, the shading is less pronounced producing a softer image. At it lowest settings approaching zero, the fill shading produces much more noticeable differences in color and shadow, a much more noticeable effect.

To get a different and perhaps the preferred cartoon effect, use these two together combining fill and edges under your render option. You will see an immediate profound difference. You see the soft textures, colors, the fabric you can touch, but you also see powerful dark lines outlining everything from your human subject to the objects that share the video. If your subject is sitting in a chair, for example, your subject and the chair share powerful outline and animated description, sharing similar descriptions providing a seamlessness to the entire image.

Remember that because the cartoon effect has graduated settings, you can use After Effects 'brainstorm' tool to get help producing some random combinations of the available settings, assisting you discovering that 'certain look' you are looking for. As you use 'brainstorm', you are presented with different combinations of the settings introduced in this article. Clicking on the ones you like will include them in a second 'brainstorm' random creation. You also have the option to add one of the 'brainstorms' presented to your current composition or save it as an entirely new composition.

Of all the effects that will help you achieve the preconceived image you are seeking, cartoon is a worthy assistant but cartoon will do much more. Cartoon will give flight to your imagination taking you to new visions you have never seen before. Enjoy!

Five Tips For Creating an Animated Flash Cartoon

With Adobe Flash, creating cartoons is as accessible as ever. With a little know-how and time, you can jump right in and start animating a cartoon of your very own. However, there's a difference between an animated cartoon and a good animated cartoon. These five tips (listed in no particular order) should help you with planning and animating cartoons.

1. Write a Script. It may seem unnecessary, for the idea of the cartoon might be right in your head, but writing a script can greatly enhance the flow of you movie. Even short movies benefit from scripts. You don't need to go out and purchase expensive screenplay writing software. A simple text editor will do, just as long as you can write down the stage directions and dialogue. If not a script, then at the very least write an outline. This is also helpful if you need to add or change something later on. It's much easier to write it all down then to remember your ideas.
2. Get a Graphics Tablet. Drawing with a mouse is hard and not too many people find it very comfortable to do. So, go ahead and buy a graphics tablet, which is basically a digital pad and pen you can draw on. You can draw on the screen just like you would a pencil and paper and this can greatly enhance the way your cartoon looks. And in the long run this will be quicker then having to battle the oddities of the mouse. You can find a great variety of graphic tablets (varying in size, price, etc.) on Amazon or in computer stores. Just search around, read customer reviews and find the right one for you.
3. Watch Other Cartoons. If you've never made a cartoon before, watching other peoples' works is a great way to get a handle on flow and style. Now, don't watch a cartoon and steal the ideas or plot from it, but rather watch how the director uses cuts, camera pans, camera zooms and so on. Also pay attention to how the director uses lines (if any), color, special effects, character design and other artistic properties. Find out what appeals to you and what doesn't and then start to adapt it and form your own style.
4. Seek Input. You want your cartoon to be your own, but it never hurts to ask for input. You can do this by finding an online community and posting your work there or simply showing your cartoon to your friends. While people you know tend to be biased (and may hold back their thoughts to spare your feelings), it can still help you get an idea of what direction to take your cartoon. Now, don't let input discourage you. There are many people out there who will bash you just for fun. Ignore those hateful comments and focus on the constructive ones.
5. Practice! I'm going to be honest, your first cartoon will more than likely not be your greatest work. Like anything, this process takes time and lots of practice. Research never hurt either. The Internet is a vast resource full of articles, examples and video tutorials for you to learn from. Once your first cartoon is in the can, keep going! Start writing scripts for your next cartoons, practice your drawing skills, continue to seek input from others and keep pushing!

How to Draw a Cartoon Online

You can spend much time to create a single cartoon. It is a time consuming hobby. Even the difficultly increases if you are dealing with only a paper and a pencil.

Fortunately, technology has provided magic tools and systems that can help you create your cartoons online today.

These tools can give you opportunity to express your creative instincts and bring the characters and comics into life that until now have only come to life in your mind.

There are several online sites allow you to make an original cartoon. These free internet based cartoon systems can helps you to create your own cartoons. The online sites have plenty of layouts to choose from or you can start from scratch.

Just go to search for free cartoon generating websites. You might want to try using this website first. Most people spend no money to turn their picture into a cartoon and avatar image that they could have received for free. You can try this free online websites where you can cartoon yourself for free.

First of all, you need to have a good variety of digital picture and upload it to a website. Be sure that the file size of your pictures matches with the requirement of the free online cartooning program that you use. You can resize it to match if the file size of your picture is too big.

You can save each of your favorite cartoon images to your personal computer so that you can constantly upload new image to you profile pictures.

Many websites also have program on how to draw cartoon to let you adjust the cartoon and customize your cartoon in many ways. You can always create multiple cartoon results with just one picture.

You can also download cartoon animation software for more advanced people. But, you must be sure that your computer is running an anti virus of some sort if you decide to do this because there are many sites that claim to be a freeware type company, yet they will harm your computer.

Using Cartoon Pictures in Many Places

Cartoon pictures are useful in many places. Faces of cartoon characters can make the web site appear tremendous, interactive and more exclusive. The funny and famous cartoon characters also can be exercised for education and presentations. On the other sides, pictures of cartoon characters can have a fabulous effect on the decoration of any room in which they are placed. In room for child, famous cartoon characters can brighten it up and bring happiness to the child in this room. How about Disney characters? They are one of the few items in cartoons that children and adults both enjoy.

If people are looking for cartoon animation or cartoon clip art on the internet or other places, they should try to at least have an idea what they want about cartoon before they begin searching. And they also need to figure out what they plan to do with the cartoon images that they found.

Every child has his particular liking for a cartoon face or a cartoon character. But most of kids in the world loved with some of the most widely popular characters on TV such as Mickey Mouse, Tom and Jerry, etc. Mickey Mouse, It is the most famous character in Disney. And he has appeared in many places: TV animated cartoons, films, toys, t-shirts, comic strips and games. Tom and Jerry, Today kids in the world are watching the cat-mouse fight between Tom and Jerry. The animations series of Tom and Jerry cartoons can make all of children and adults both enjoy.

Why Cartoon Pictures Have a Universal Appeal to People?

Some people think that cartoons are just for kids. In spite of this, you might be surprised that many grown-ups have never really forgotten those cute cartoon faces they grew up with. In fact, some people have never really outgrown their fondness for cartoons that a lot of websites have sprung like mushrooms for people to create cartoon characters of themselves. Because of the free web services provided by these sites, you do not have to search and pay for the services of an artist or cartoonist if you want your own cartoon portrait.

All you have to do is look for a website, upload your photo and design. Recently, old cartoons such as "Astroboy" and "The Simpsons" have also been revived and shown again to perhaps remind some people of their childhood memories. These cartoon characters, which are reappearing also give the youth of today a chance to be familiar and be fond of older cartoon characters, which they missed.

If you think about it, many people are actually hooked on cartoons around the world. This is because of the irresistible charm and humour that the cartoon faces possess. Also, some people may not notice it, but cartoons, like other forms of art, actually send messages which may remind you of the different realities in life. Cartoonists have the ability to communicate and to provoke ideas by making fun of things from the real world.

The only difference is that cartoons send these messages lightly, humorously and in some cases, satirically. Let's take, for example, political cartoons. Political cartoons have a certain appeal to people because of the truths they present about government policies, politicians' personal lives, political controversies and many others. Cartoons present a very refreshing point of view. People love to laugh and this is why cartoons have a universal appeal to them.

Cartoons - Watched by Children of All Ages

A cartoon can have two different meanings. The original meaning was meant to refer to anything that was drawn in a certain fashion, and was most commonly seen as the comic strips in newspapers and magazines. Now though, Cartoons trivia refers mostly to animated cartoons. Animation was explored in some early forms with devices such as the zoetrope and the flip book, but it wasn't until motion pictures became popularized that animated cartoons began to reach a wide audience.

A cartoons quiz will show that the first cartoons were silent, as were the movies of the day. The most popular character of this era was Felix the Cat. However, it would be the development of cartoon films that had synchronized sound that would change the industry. This would make cartoons much more popular, and firmly establish the company that would remain right until the current day the most powerful player in the animation industry. The first popular cartoon with synchronized sound was "Steamboat Willie", starring Mickey Mouse, produced by Walt Disney.

Walt Disney would remain the most important company in terms of film animation, and would win countless awards for animated features over the years. However, cartoons trivia mentions many other important cartoon creators, companies, and characters that were featured on television as well as in film versions.

A cartoons quiz could mention Warner Brothers, Hanna-Barbara, and Walter Lantz organizations which were all incredibly important in the history of cartoons. The Warner Bros. Cartoonist that would create some of the most enduring characters next to Disney was Chuck Jones. He is the creator of the Looney Tunes stable of characters, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd.

Hanna Barbara and Walter Lantz also created many important cartoon characters, including Yogi Bear and the Flintsones (Hanna Barbara) and Woody Woodpecker (Lantz). The Flinstones would pioneer primetime animation success. The tradition of Saturday morning cartoons was created by companies that had failed attempts at prime time airing their shows on saturday morning instead.

The modern age of prime time television animation has been lead by Matt Groening and Seth McFarlane, with a more mature take on cartoons. Groening is the creator of Simpsons, arguable the most popular television show of all time, and McFarlane of Family Guy. Feature Film cartoons are now dominated a new form of computerized animation. This movement is lead by industry giant, Pixar, with such films as Toy Story and Finding Nemo.

Early Cartoons - How Did the Animation Go Wrong?

Ever noticed the cartoon shows that were animated before 1950's seem to have more life and exaggeration to it? For example, have you ever compared a 1940's Looney Tunes cartoon to a 1960's Flintstones cartoon?

You know before I begin, if you're interested, why don't you Google, sit back relax and take a look at the two cartoon videos I listed below. See if you can point out something different about them, and of course you don't have to watch them. But if you can for fun, just take a peak.

The first video is a Looney Tune cartoon short of Daffy Duck/Elmer Fudd called To Duck or Not to Duck. The cartoon short was a Warner Bros. production that was released to theaters in 1943. Yes, that's right 1943...

The second show is a Flintstones cartoon, No Help Wanted, which premiered on ABC's TV network in 1960. Yes, Once again 1960...

So go head, don't be afraid to give it a shot, take a look and I'll come back later. Trust me, I'll be right back.

Okay, so notice any differences? Yes? Of course you did! But for fun let's assume you didn't.

Though by looking at the two videos it's blatantly obvious that the animation in Looney Tunes seem much more fluent and exciting. Personally, I was drawn in by the exaggerations of the animation. Where as, the Flintstones portrayed little to no animation movements at all. In fact, I was getting very annoyed by the constant isolation of the bobbing heads.

I was having constant reminders of driving to work, seeing the Bobblehead bobbing back and forth in the corner of my eye on the dashboard. With all honesty, I can't believe this was even considered to be a form of animation. But hey, I guess it falls under the same thought of Taylor Swift being a country artist.

So why the step back? Why is a 1943 cartoon more visually appealing than a 1960 cartoon? (And even some of today's cartoons.)

Simple, ready for it?

Back in the 1940's and even before the 1940's, cartoons were called 'theatrical cartoon shorts'. These cartoons were originally released to theaters and only theaters. They were considered side shows or previews for a premiering live action film. Most cartoon shorts were only about 5-7 minutes long hence, the reason they were called 'shorts'.

But the real key to why these cartoon shorts were more appealing than early TV cartoon shows were due to a few things.

First, there were on average, approximately 10-13 theatrical cartoon shorts produced per year for a giving studio, with each cartoon being only a few minutes long. However, for TV cartoon shows, studios were producing a new show each week with a total run time of approximately 20 minutes.

Of course to effectively produce a 20 minute show each week, the quality of the animation had to be cut. Often times animation cells or backgrounds would be re-used multiple times in different shows. (You'd probably noticed this a lot.)

For animators and the animation studio, the process wasn't very fun, challenging or thrilling. But as for networks, they did not care if the animation was good or bad. The only thing they cared about were the ratings.

But wait... There's more...

Animation studios for TV networks were given very small budgets. In the early 1950's studios were given approximately $2,500-$3,000 to produce a 20 minute cartoon. Does it sound like a lot? Well it does until you compare the cost it took to produced the worlds first Technicolor cartoon short Flowers and Trees (1932), which turns out to be a whooping $27,500 with a runtime of 8 minutes.

Honestly, I can't even imagine animating a 20 minute cartoon show for a mere $3,000, talk about trimming out the fat. Though, if being pushed on the brink of an edge; there are only two options, fall over or push your way out. Luckily, these animators and animation studios found a way to push their way back into the cartoon animation business. Otherwise, we'd all be stuck here watching Desperate Housewives and Days of Our Lives.