Why 2D?

I've been doing 3D animation for some years now, but I still admire the freedom of hand drawn character animation. I'm going to start repurposing what I've learned about timing, posing and animation principles while doing CG and see what I can do in 2D.

I will be using some 2D computer tools like Flash, ToonBoom Studio, Plastic Animation Paper and various paint programs to enable the process, but I won't be using any automated inbetweening powers they may have. This will be all about drawing by hand.

I studied at AnimationMentor.com in 2005-2006 and learned quite a bit, but did all my exercises in 3D CG. I saw a few students stick their toe in 2D there, but they retreated to CG pretty fast. It just wasn't possible to get a weekly assignment done well and on time in 2D.

But I don't have any deadlines now, so I'm going to start by redoing my AnimationMentor assignments in hand-drawn animation. This was my first bouncing ball at AnimationMentor:


I think I can do a bouncing ball in 2D. But full blown character animation wasn't far down the line. We'll see how it goes!