What is an Animatic?
An animatic is typically defined as a sequence of images timed out to synchronize with audio in order to provide a sense of pace as well as an idea of what the final project might look like. In short, it is an animated storyboard.
Each animatic consists of frames. For my YouTube animatics (usually less than one minute long), I typically draw about 45-75 frames per video.
Oftentimes there are some effects added to provide even more movement.
An example of one of my short animatics
Process
For these animatics, I begin by selecting an audio that I want to illustrate. For the video above, I heard this sound on TikTok and immediately wanted to make it into an animatic. I usually either make animatics to songs from musicals or to funny audios.
Once I select a sound, I listen to it repetitively at least fifteen times. In my head, I visualize what I hear and try to construct a story in my head. Usually, I jot down notes or scribble some ideas for the main frames I want to draw.
With a storyline in mind, I begin drawing. I use Procreate on the iPad with an Apple Pencil. Animatics are totally dependent on the project and the artist. Since these were just for my own pleasure and there wasn't an immediate deadline, I could draw each frame to be as detailed or as messy as I wanted. In real animation studios, animatics are usually very rough to just get an idea of what it will be like. Since I don't go on to fully animate and render my story, I try to make my animatics more fleshed out with color or some cleaner line art.
For a 45 second animatic, I drew 62 frames. It varies, of course, but that's about the average of what I do.
Once I have all of the frames drawn out, I export them and import them into Final Cut Pro X on my computer. In Final Cut, I also import the sound and time each frame so it aligns with how I pictured it with the sound. I add some effects, transitions, and text until I am happy with it. Once the editing is finished, I export it and upload it to YouTube.
TikTok
I always loved making animatics. I started in middle school and made about five or six videos in between middle school and my first year at Claremont McKenna. In quarantine, I suddenly was presented with an abundance of time as well as restrictions that kept everyone locked in at home. With the inability to go out, I decided to turn to animatics and drawing as my form of escapism.
Before quarantine, I very rarely shared my artwork to my social media. I still don't like posting it to spaces where I am connected to people I know outside of the digital sphere, but quarantine created a new timeline in which I wasn't going to be seeing these people I knew. It gave me more confidence knowing that and I began posting little animatics and drawings I made on TikTok.
Play Date - 15 seconds
Sofia - 19 seconds
Glinda Meme - 18 seconds
Night Changes - 19 seconds
How Among Us Shifted me from TikTok to youtube
At the same time, I uploaded my animatics to YouTube. I had created a channel for my animatic in high school but only uploaded two videos. I didn't feel ready and abandoned my channel fairly quickly.
In quarantine, I started uploading some of the ones I made mostly out of convenience so I could delete the data from Final Cut Pro X and other spaces in which it took up storage. I didn't think much of it.
The mobile game Among Us quickly gained popularity in my circle of friends in October. It was a perfect game for the time since it was an exciting and engaging multiplayer game that allowed the player to play with their friends while in lockdown. I immediately began to draw art based on the game (exemplified by the video on the left).
However, the biggest game-changer was my discovery of Among Us streamers. I began watching a group of streamers that gained a huge following on Twitch and YouTube and their streams played a huge part in my continuation of making animatics. Corpse Husband, Valkyrae, Pokimane, Sykkuno, etc. streamed themselves playing Among Us and I became obsessed with their streams. While they played, they talked over Discord and they were so funny, witty, and charming that I began using their audio to make animatics.
On TikTok, one of my videos garnered 57,000 views which was exciting for my small account. Because of this, people started commenting to ask if I had a YouTube channel. This traffic was the initial catalyst for the attention my YouTube videos began to get.
With the traffic from TikTok combined with the immense popularity of the aforementioned streamers and video game, my channel somehow reached millions of people. The video above is my most watched video with currently 2.3 million views. Reading viewers' comments and feedback have really helped me grow as an artist. I am extremely thankful towards my 20,000 subscribers who continuously support my work and videos.
These animatics have allowed me to connect with so many people. I have received commissions and business inquiries through my channel which has been surreal. I have also met several virtual friends who either commented on my videos or reached out and they have been such incredible people to connect with.
I now try to post weekly on Wednesdays and cannot wait to grow more as an artist and connect with more people through YouTube.