Overview

This is a guide for those wanting to learn about Design for TV animation without going into massive debt due to art school

Note: This is primarily for TV animation because that’s what I’m more familiar with. A lot of the same ideas can definitely translate to Feature! Also, I am a story artist so forgive me if there are any mistakes!

DM me at @ebbigal on Twitter or @ebbigal_ on Instagram if you have any other resources/feedback!

If you enjoy these resources and want to support me, here’s my Ko-Fi!

TV Animation is very specialized so I broke this document into sections to cover each role!

Lost on which role is for you? Read this little guide on TV anim production and scroll down to design

Storyboarding more your style? I have a guide for that too!

PWUW = Pay What You Want

Color Design

Guide’s on what you do on the job:

Jess Marfisi’s guide on what a Color Designer does!

BAM Animation video on Coloring Characters the Industry Way!

Videos for better color theory

Marco Bucci’s video on Color Harmony

Blender Guru’s video on Understanding Color

Paint with Nick’s Practical Color Theory ($25)

Devin Korwin’s thread on color in painting

Laura Norwood’s guide to quick color thumbnailing

Misc

Courtney Coffman’s CTNX Color styling Portfolio review

MingjueChen’s Lighting presentation for WIR2

Color Designer Committee

Color Design Examples

Amphibia by Andy Garner-Flexner

Shera by Grey Chen

Steven Universe Connie by Leigh Luna

Glitch Tech colorscript by Scott Kikuta

Big City Greens colorscript by Kassandra Heller

Green Eggs and Ham by Carol Wyatt

Owl House by Mari Alizor

Background Art

Jay Kitten’s Background Advice Q and A

Devin Elle Kurtz’s Background Art Workshop

Andrea Gerstmann’s Animation Stuff: How to Paint a Farm

Laura Price’s Day in the Life of A Disney Artist

Corinne’s Thread on learning Blender for BGS

CNS Recruiting: Art Director’s Break down Backgrounds

BG Design

Latoya Raveneau’s Day in the life of a BG Designer

Steve Lowtwait has a bunch of threads on designing BGs!

Check out his twitter for more

Andrea Gerstmann’s Animation Stuff: Background Design Tips

BAM Animation’s Perspective Drawing in Photoshop

Matt Laskowki’s Perspective Class

Ernest R. Norling Perspective Made Easy

Paint with Nick’s Practical Perspective class ($25)

BG Design Examples

Faith Schaffer’s BG Design work

Britney Thoreson’s BG Design work

Kipo BG Design by Angela Sung

Amphibia BG Design by Joey McCormick

BG Paint

Lulusketches’ Background Painting Tutorial video

Nicholas Kennedy’s Background Painting Walkthrough

How to Paint a ‘Klaus” style Background

Levon Jihanian’s BG Paint tips thread

Marco Bucci’s Painting Fundamentals

Marco Bucci’s 10 Tips for Better Painting playlist

Patrick O’Keefe’s Painted Illustration course ($165)

Downloadable BG Designs for paint practice

https://twitter.com/foxorian/status/1270112155023470593

https://twitter.com/britneythoreson/status/1288555970637963264?s=20

https://twitter.com/andrewgeorger/status/1295101802489057280?s=21&fbcli

=IwA390DhpSgpxwsF221mNqJOT4uFoVbonF3RuR5aW2FFPPmF4nZ3o7tayIhc

BG Paint Examples

Steven Universe painted by Melissa King

Part 2

Infinity Train painted by Melissa King

MaoMao painted by Yudi Chen

Props

Rick and Morty: Prop Process

Phils Design Corner Intro to Prop Design

Maaike’s Rapid Fire tips for Prop Design

CNS Recruiting Character Design and Prop Design for TV Anim

Frank and Becky’s Character and Prop Designs from the talk ^

Isaac Orloff’s VisDev Guidebook: Design Pipeline Fundamentals for 3D Animation ($12)

Prop Design examples

Wizards of Arcadia by Isaac Orloff

Amphibia by Steve Wolfhard

Craig of the Creek by Maaike Scherff

Character Design

Maaike’s Character Design Portfolio Tips

Allison Perry’s tips on Character Design Portfolios

Jess Lackey’s Portfolio Guide for Character Designers

Laura Price’s How to Make a Character Design Portfolio

Latoya Raveneau’s Day in the life of a Character Designer

BaM Animation Character Turns like a Pro!

BaM Animation Good vs BAD Character Design Tips

Brookes Eggleston’s Let’s Design a CAST of Characters!

Amanda Jolly’s Art Q&A’s

Toniko Pantoja’s Improve Drawing and Character Design

Ideas to Consider when Creating BIPOC Characters

Character Design Examples

Pocket from Trick Moon by Brandon Wu, Colors by Kali Ciesemier

Trickshot Character Guide by Geneva

Owl House special poses by Justin Noel

Infinity Train Character Designs and special poses by Megan Phonesavanh

Owl House predesigns by Matthieu Cousin

Anatomy/Gesture

Toniko Pantoja’s Basic Human Anatomy and Figure Invention for Animation

Sycra’s Playlist on Human Anatomy

Natalie Nourigat Figure Drawing Tips

Toniko’s Drawing Figures Fast with Technique for Animation

Griz and Norm Tuesday’s Tips

Natalie Norigat’s Tips on Loosening Up

Tracing to Learn

Vee’s Tutorials for Art and Animation (PWUW)

Figure Drawing Models (NSFW)

https://line-of-action.com/

https://vimeo.com/channels/1300087

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy1rwangC3k&list=PL7EWYwaF6E-H65W-hXeKvv

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https://www.deviantart.com/senshistock/gallery

MISC resources

Art of Books

Netflix Recruiter AMA art portfolios

Amber Blade Jones’ MISC tips

https://processresource.tumblr.com/

Maaike’s Real Quick Resume Guide (PWUW)

Maaike’s TV Animation Basics Zine (PWUW)

Jody Prouse’s Tips on applying to companies

Advice to Illustrators looking to transfer to Animation

TAG Story Group Portfolio Website Advice

TAG on Excessive Testing

The Etherington Brothers 300 Free tutorials

Art Resources Links

Zol’s Master thread of resources

Discords

Discord servers are a great way to help build up a community of artists and connect with others without going to art school. Once you get a good group of artists, I also suggest making a storyboarding focused discord with close friends!

RAD Artists Network

https://discord.gg/TEUDrRx

Emotional Support Artists

https://discord.gg/n3H43ZB

Gestalt (Backgrounds Focused)

https://discord.com/invite/U5RZFb4

More Art Discords