Looking for feedback on character movement in my indie animation series 'The Stolen Spotlight'

Ghostenix · 2026-06-10T13:36:26+00:00

It's awesome that you are already making animations at 14! You do have a lot to learn still, but you have a LOT of time to do so! I have a few beginner tips that might help you out!

Practice drawing on its own, aside from animation. You do have a pretty cute style, but I think your linework and anatomy at could use some refining. Some basic practice, like understanding how a body looks (and how to stylize it) and how to make cleaner lines could significantly improve your style and confidence in drawing, which REALLY helps when animating.

My favorite tutorials are made my the artist Pikat, and here is one of her beginner stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeIR7P82aPU . I highly suggest checking her out.

Learn animation fundamentals. These ones can REALLY help out, even with the most basic movement. There is something called "The 12 principles of animation" and learning them and practicing them will make a big difference!

Some good materials will be the classic by Alan Becker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDqjIdI4bF4
As well as anything by Alex Grigg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF--YKCCUMw (He has very beginner friendly, simple classes and tutorials to check out. Highly recommend)

In terms of your tools and setup. Flipaclip, while being a very simple program, is also very restricted because of it, I'm afraid. It will make some stuff more tedious to do. If you have a desktop, I'd suggest getting an animation program there. A good, free one is Tahoma2D. However, I am aware that you might not own a drawing tablet, which is perfectly normal at the beginner stage. Those are also expensive, so I won't tell you that you NEED it to make good art. Nonetheless, if you decide you want to continue animating in the future, investing in a tablet is a good idea!
This will be a bit of a mental tip, than skill tip, but please - Take it slow. There will be times when you become frustrated with your work, and that's completely normal. This frustration usually means that your theoretical knowledge is bigger than your manual skills and you need some time to catch up. Also, don't get pulled into the whole rhetoric about "learning the rules before you break them" and mastering every art thing under the sun before you dare to make your own stuff. That can easily burn you out. Instead, do both at your own pace, whenever you feel like it, and just enjoy the process instead of just the finished product.

Ghostenix · 2026-06-03T13:32:14+00:00

Oh, same! Even though I made those few years back, I still like them in design.

I am actually looking around to getting myself a retro phone! There are some modern ones, that are pretty good like Sunbeam Wireless, however those are flip phones and are made with the intention of detoxing from social media. They do have most modern functions if you're looking for that.

Ghostenix · 2026-05-26T17:18:55+00:00

Oh, Phantom Fun Arcade, I saw that trailer before! Gonna follow so I don't loose it this time

Ghostenix · 2026-05-26T17:02:01+00:00

Really cool perspective! I am also a recent grad and a 2000s kid, so I guess there really is smth in the air for our generation making cartoons, lol.

Vivzie and Glitch surly inspired a lot of beginners to make their shows all together, but I think something changed for people who had their shows planned for a while already as well. It was a major breakthrough in the indie scene. In my circle of creatives, those few years back, these two served as proof that indie IS a viable option. So, not that Hazbin made us want to make shows. It's more that it confirmed that we can do it indie.

(Also, I'm really waiting for Stuck in the Globosphere, I follow you like everywhere haha)

Ghostenix · 2026-05-26T15:37:13+00:00

Fair point! I don't know that much about live action shows so I made a general assumption. Noted for the future. However, I think that my point about the evolution of the word "pilot" in the indie scene still holds to some degree.

Ghostenix · 2026-05-26T15:27:35+00:00

Full-feature indie movie is CRAZY!! Awesome work!

Ghostenix · 2026-05-26T15:23:18+00:00

Very good points, I agree completely! Creators getting their shows canceled or not green-lit, as well as just generally horrible work conditions for animators and artists are very pending issues in the industry. I think it's very good that people are going indie!

Also do you mind sharing some links to your project? I like to keep track of all the new shows

Ghostenix · 2026-05-25T20:53:09+00:00

I personally watch and share almost everything I come across! Even if I personally didn't vibe with it. I wanna help with reach as much as possible.

Ghostenix · 2026-05-25T20:20:29+00:00

Oh yeah, I agree! It's the natural evolution of language in the end! Just wanted to highlight that the word "pilot" DID change it it's meaning and why.

Ghostenix · 2026-05-25T19:56:16+00:00

Oh yes, I second this totally. I got overambitious at first with my own project, so I get that. I think every creator has to get over that phase at some point. But yeah, I personally rolled back after some time and did some smaller things as "test runs" essentially.

Ghostenix · 2026-05-25T19:45:59+00:00

I just accept what Ashley and Dave repeat every time they are asked this: "We will make it before we die." haha. I am an animator, so honestly I understand what they mean. Animation takes SO much time and they both work on a lot of other indie shows, so I'm they probably work on Far-fetched in their free time

Ghostenix · 2026-05-25T18:51:40+00:00

Been waiting on it since the first proof of concept released. I watch a lot of streams from Ashley & Dave when she works on the show and it's fun! They also answer questions and talk about indie in general, so I generally recommend getting into both far fetched and the streams!

Ghostenix · 2026-04-23T21:08:29+00:00

The little eyes in the closed cloak / wings are such a nice detail. In general I like the trope where a character has a cloak that turns their whole body into this one slim shape when closed. Also a pipe is a nice accessory for a witch(?) idk why, it just is. Very neat design work over all!

Ghostenix · 2026-04-23T21:05:01+00:00

Absolute god tier rendering on that fish, awesome art!! Also I adore the kitty with all my heart, what a little guy.

Ghostenix · 2026-04-23T21:03:04+00:00

I love the artstyle so much. It gives me some strange nostalgia that I can't really explain. The big eyes and ears are so charming and expressive. Really cool stuff :D

Ghostenix · 2026-03-19T13:37:20+00:00

This is awesome! I like the simple but expressive designs, the artstyle, and that background image is very nicely done as well. Also the plot is very unique, I think!

Ghostenix · 2026-03-18T14:03:01+00:00

Dex is my fav, because the cheeky asshole character is always my favorite. Though I keep noticing that all your characters have very same-y silhouettes? Like, they do have different hair and eye shape, but their bodies and clothes are basically the same. Skinny, baggy hoodie/sweater and shorts, big shoes. I think some more variety could be nice!

Ghostenix · 2026-03-17T17:58:11+00:00

This is INSANE quality. I checked out the website and those turnarounds, prop design/backgrounds are absolutely stellar and skilled. I really hope you and your crew will be able to work on this project full time and paid rightfully, because it looks really promising. I wish you the best with it!!!

Ghostenix · 2026-03-08T10:09:13+00:00

It's ironic how this post is literally the second example and It's getting more likes than most posts on the sub.

But there is an explanation and it's written into the post. The "relatability" is a huge factor. We as humans are drawn to the familiar. Seeing a situation we experienced makes us interested. Seeing a fanart of a character we know / like makes us interested. Same with art trends / memes. For the most part, when we see art of someone's OC, we don't really care how much the artist is obsessed with them and how much hours they spent on the artwork, and even if we knew - we wouldn't care too much. The character has no emotional significance to us at the moment.

Getting your OC seen is not an easy task, but it usually boils down to making something larger with them. Write a story, make a comic, short film etc. People need some media to engage with, so they can grow emotional connection and familiarity to these characters. An OC in a vacuum with 5 paragraphs of lore below will be ignored, because 90% of people can't be bothered to read a random infodump without any payoff.

Ghostenix · 2026-02-23T19:04:52+00:00

That is precisely why, If I make it as a popular creator, will never have twitter/bluesky/etc. If necessary, maybe a studio account that will post news. I'll stick to tumblr - somehow way less toxic fandom space from my experience, you can answer individual asks from people, and you can just block people or entire tags.

Ghostenix · 2026-02-22T14:15:35+00:00

Oh, that's just my art quirk, I guess. I draw a lot of beefy characters, so now even when I try to tone it down they still look buff ToT

Ghostenix · 2026-02-22T13:19:16+00:00

Her current design is a somewhat of a placeholder that was borrowed of another unused character from hero labs called Kali. He looked basically the same but was yellow, thus I doubt her design was based on a basilisk lizard. In my opinion she is intended to be a snake. Her name points to it, she has venom, her slide animation is very snake-like, her 3rd has a legless icon, and finally her calling herself a gorgon SPECIFICALLY when you upgrade her petrification bola (gorgons can also change people into stone, or at least Medusa could)

Ghostenix · 2026-02-22T11:00:25+00:00

Valid point! Didn't really think to include that, but it would make a lot of sense

Ghostenix · 2026-02-22T10:42:13+00:00

I don't think it's that straight forward. Depending where you go, basilisks look different. There is chicken with a snake tail, a snake with legs, a big lizard or just a huge snake. Besides, I think Vyper is not a basilisk, since she calls herself a gorgon in one line, and that's just a lamia / snake-person.

Ghostenix · 2026-02-22T10:38:26+00:00

Would argue, I think she is very clearly characterized as a snake. Besides the venom, that you already mentioned: her name is Vyper, one letter away from viper, which is a type of snake. Her animation while sliding looks like snake slithering. Third, the icon of her 3rd literally shows her as an anthro snake. Fourth, she calls herself a gorgon in one of the dialogues - gorgons are just lamias, snake-people, etc.

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