START WITH ONE MOVEMENT

Make the next
frame count.

A good animation begins with a decision you can see. A pause, a shift of weight, a clearer silhouette.

Choose a small experiment for the next pass. The first motion study compares timing and spacing; the notebook below also covers planning, light and handing work to someone else. Keep the draft small enough to change one decision and see its effect.

Five positions of a ball along an arc, with progressively different spacing — STUDY 01 — SPACINGThe gap between drawings tells part of the story.

On the worktable

Open the whole notebook ↗

Original abstract studies of silhouette, material texture and light are separated and labelled. No third-party reference pictures are reproduced.

Build a reference board that answers a question

Collect less, annotate more and give every image a job.

Four numbered review passes name intention, contact, rhythm and distraction. Each occupies a separate ruled line.

Review the work. Then choose what to show.

A repeatable way to find the next useful change without collecting vague notes.

Three folders labelled Source, Media and Exports, with a separate readme line for version, dependencies and next action. Original hand-off schematic.

Choose your tools. Deliver a clean project.

The folders, notes and checks that make your work usable by someone else.

A sphere, an arch with a visible opening and a folded triangular plane: a simplified composition diagram for the lighting exercise, not a rendered lighting comparison.

Make a lighting study with three ordinary shapes

A small scene for learning to separate form, shadow and background.

A two-segment arm reaches a red table contact on the left. On the right, two arm poses illustrate free movement. These are schematic posing constraints, not a rig interface.

IK or FK? Choose the control that fits the action

Think about contact and arcs before reaching for a particular rig control.

Eight numbered storyboard cards allocate two to noticing, four to the attempt and reaction, and two to a revised plan and result. Minimal sketches are prompts, not finished frames.

A storyboard you can finish before lunch

Plan a short scene with eight cards, one clear action and a firm stopping point.

Two horizontal paths use the same endpoints. Five equal-time black samples are equally spaced; red samples spread farther apart toward the end.

Timing, spacing & weight

A practical pose-to-pose exercise in weight, intention and the moment before a jump.

LESS TALK. TRY THE SLIDER.

One path.
Two ways to move.

Compare even spacing with an ease-in. Move through the frames yourself.

Enter the timing lab →

Make the nextframe count.