A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING 2D ANIMATION 2D animation is one of the most interesting visual mediums because of the freedom of style the animation staff has to convey their imagination. Unfortunately, many people lack even the most basic understanding of how to judge animation. Often, animation is judged the same way they would judge illustrations, meaning that the viewer focuses on how detailed the art is, and how close to the design sheets the frames of animation are. While these are factors in the quality of animation, judging animation only by these principles completely devalues the movement, art direction, and sometimes even contradicts the core principles of animation. By making this post, I hope that I can change people’s understanding of animation for the better. PART 1: BASICS OF ANIMATION First, I’ll cover how professional animation is made. On any given animation, there are several different ...