YouTube Animator Cameos (Making of Cowboy Story 5)

Animating Gildedguy busting through into other web animators' worlds was an early idea that I am glad made it into the final version of the video. I am a big fan of style adaptation, both as a creator and consumer. 

As a creator, it is a rewarding challenge, and as a consumer, it is always a delight to see a cameo of an artist you recognize.

Alan Becker

When Animator vs Animation first came out, I was in middle school, and I was enthralled.  

Alan depicted many specific, intimate details about the Flash program (keyboard shortcuts, how the tools work, panel management). Not only was it entertaining, it was a reassuring to me: there are other Flash animators that fight with the program itself!

Since AvA features stick figures, I sequenced it first in Story 5, as it would be a more natural transition from Gildedguy's stick world.

Notes about Alan Becker style:

• Tween heavy for slow mo shots
• Brush tool for stick limbs and head
• Incredibly close attention to detail when recreating/mimicking the appearance of software (Adobe Flash, Windows OS, Minecraft, etc. )
• Learn more about Alan's style on his tutorial channel 

Fun Fact: My fellow stick animator, Johannes, helps Alan with Animation VS. Series. You can see my little shoutout to them in the bottom left corner of the picture above. Johannes is also the creator of Oxob, who we will learn a lot more about later this year...

Harry Partridge

 I grew up watching early web animation, and a key contributor to its rise was Newgrounds. And while many artists pushed the medium in their own, little,  unique ways, there were a mere handful of creators who stood out with fully polished productions. When HP uploads a video, you can expect a full package: smooth animation, detailed characters, painted backgrounds, ace acting, humor, and music. Stuff you'd expect from a television production, not one man (and woman; his partner helps with bg work). Just very good cartooning overall. 

Attempting to replicate his style was easily one of my most difficult challenges. I was fortunate to find some of his process on his FB page. My notes studying his style:

• Tends to Ease in, ease out, with secondary animation (clothing) almost always settling in
• Line weight (brush) affected by camera distance.
• Heavy use of arcs
• Animation on 1s and 2s (high ratio of 1s)
• Bright, yet grounded, color palette
• Muscles and smooth, non-textured plating

Story-time Animators

In my quest to stuff this animation with as many cameos as possible, I felt that referencing storytime animators would be a fast and economic approach. And although this scene wasn't as taxing as the rest of the animation, it was unexpectedly one of the most fun to work on.

It was a joy to go through each creator, learn about their channels, taking a closer look at their art. It allowed me to see the decisions and trade-offs they made, and how they influenced each other. I could figure out what art program they used, and what their production methods were. And I could apply my findings immediately toward my own art. Every few minutes, I learned, and manifested something new in my technique (the simultaneous application was important). A surprisingly fulfilling scene to work on.

For the curious, here are my notes on most of the 16 YouTube Storytime Animators I redrew as Gildedguy:

* = has since updated their style 

Odd1sout

• Eyes are medium sized perfect circles.
• Short, horizontal body
• Very consistent line weight, but with subtle tapering on all ends, super smooth and clean for sillhouettes, more freestyle line weight on facial features
• Gentle color palette, except for the pale blue shading on white skin
• Shading is fairly harsh, big weight. Light pooling biased toward curved arcs.
• Limbs are "poofy"

Jaiden Animations

• Eyes are tall skinny ovals
• Line weight is 100% consistent, thin, no tapering
• Line art is clean, rounded corners, straight lines
• Lining only varies for eye expression
• Black and white, with occasional hair or clothing accented with color.
• No shading

Domics

• Dark grey line art instead of black
• Medium oval eyes
• Sparse use of straight line harsh shading
• Thick width forearms, tapering into small hands
• Spiky fingers
• B&W palette, accented with hair color (de-saturated)

SomethingElseYT*

• Rough brush lines, except for the head and torso, which feature cleaner line work (no tapering)
• Stubby round fingers
• Medium oval eyes
• Thin eyebrows and mouth
• Non-consistent style/line quality
• Hosey, thick, cylindrical limbs
• Black and white, accented with shirt colors (solid primary, full saturation)

Let Me Explain Studios

• Mitten fingers
• Large oval eyes, elongated eye lid lines
• Thin consistent line weight
• White skin, solid, gentle colors (primary) on all other clothing/props
• Blocky bodies, big tummy with legs tapering out towards feet.
• Long wiggly wormy eyebrows
• No shading

ItsAlexClark

• No shading
• Jelly bean body, very small limbs, tubular arms
• Large head with tear drop eyes centered
• Line color slightly lighter than black (dark grey)
• Very thin line weight for inner details

GingerPale

• Thick inky outline, pure black
• Juicy pastelly jelly color palette
• Small perfect circle eyes, never eyebrow expression

TimTom

• Large tall oval eyes
• Consistent line weight
• Thin line weight for inner details
• "C" crescent shape cheek and thumb
• Bubble contour shading
• Tall elongated body

Tabbes

• Semi circle eye with dot pupil
• B&W, color hair accent
• Wire-y limbs, oval hands and feet
• Pawn shape body and head
• Scribbley detailing

CypherDen*

???
- I can't pinpoint a specific style, it almost looks like different artists are drawing her avatar.
- Frequently changes her character design
- Egg shaped eyes
- Most appealing in my opinion

Illymation

• Dark grey line color
• Noodly arms
• Faded low value color palette, white skin
• Giant thick rim eyes
• Pill body
• Flat line "duck feet"

Swoozie

• Lined limbs, no hands or feet
• Giant heads, dot eyes
• Rectangle bodies
• Light shading

Katzun*

• Furry
• Violet line color, consistent line weight
• Large detailed round eyes
• Angular line art on clothing, folds are beveled/square
• Minimal harsh shading

EroldStory

• Brush thin black line art
• Large forehead, eyes positions far down
• Large dot eyes
• Eyebrows located considerably higher than eye lids

It is difficult for me to say "they are all the same" now. 

Other Cameos

Story 5 featured a multitude of other cameos, including a wide selection of RHGs and Duelists from the Hyun's Dojo Community:

As well as a dozen or so of you Patrons!

Conclusion + Tips

Taking into account all the extras, the number of unique character designs in this animation exceeded 140! That's a good-sized pool to draw from for future animations.

• Perfect your base body designs. I had set up a base male + female stick figure design early on. 
• The best way to distinguish character designs from one another is to vary their colors. This includes colors for the eyes, hair, skin, and clothes. 
• Other areas of variation include clothing type, eye shape, head shape, age, expression (happy, sad), occupation, and wealth.
• When mimicking another artist's style, it is worth examining their work by consuming it heartily as a fan would. Do your homework, make it so close to their style that it's nearly indistinguishable.
• Copy artists that you are inspired by as well as ones who you find zero inspiration in. I ended up finding inspiration from both groups.

Thank you for reading, stay tuned for more updates.