Any animation in its final version is a colorful and appealing product that catches the eye and conveys a certain message. All processes are important: conceptualization, sketching, modeling, rigging, and animation. But the key element of the pipeline, which is at the very beginning of its creation, is the idea.

Why is it so important? Because this is the foundation of all subsequent work. All other specialists work according to the idea. If it is successful, then everything else is a matter of technology. If it is unsuccessful, no amount of experts and modern technology will make it attractive to people.

The idea should be lively, relevant and appealing to the audience. It can appear quickly, with one glance at some object, thing, film, or with the appropriate association. How do you get closer to getting an idea? Check out some helpful hints.

Ideas for Animation: How It All Starts

Usually, the search for an idea is associated with a brainstorming procedure. The team offers a large number of options and chooses the one that is most liked. But in the case of animation, this is not exactly how it works. Experienced companies like game design studio Kevuru Games don’t just generate a random assortment of separate ideas that come out of nowhere. Initially, all ideas are ordered by some key criteria that set the vector for brainstorming and make it more targeted.

These are the following criteria:

1. Theme. You must clearly know the plot, that is, the theme around which your future animation will revolve.
2. Goal. Be sure to articulate the reasons why you decided to start this project and what results you should achieve.
3. Audience. Who are you doing animation for? Who is its consumer and who will eventually be its judge? Be sure to think it over.
4. Message. Once you have defined your audience, you need to frame the message you want to convey through the animation. If you cannot do this, then people will not understand it even more.

It is not necessary to paint all these points in too much detail. To do this, you will have the following steps and conceptualization. The main thing is to fix the main features and not be limited to the idea in the possible development and freedom of implementation. It just needs to remain the same in the four points above.

Continuing Working with an Idea

So, you have identified the answers to the four questions above. You know what you are working for and what goals must be achieved. It’s time to create a wrapper for the idea. These are the visuals that best convey it to the audience. They form a coherent narrative with a specific plot, which is the subject of discussion at this stage.

This is where concept artists come in. The team provides them with references, based on which the artists create concepts for characters, objects and environments. Each drawing should not exist by itself, but work for the idea and its artistic embodiment.

Beyond the characters, plot, and setting, you need to think through the nature of the question or problem that the animation culminates in. After it has been solved, you also need to make a decent ending that sums up the results and either puts an end, or creates a hook to wait for the second part. It depends on whether you are planning a sequel or whether the animation is a complete unit.

Structural Test

The idea shaping stage ends when the whole concept art is ready and all the plot twists for the future animation are formulated. Often, if the concept is already ready, then the idea is actually approved. But this is not always the case.

In order for the client to approve concepts and scenarios, it is necessary to operate not only with their subjective ideas and images. It is necessary to provide accurate information regarding the estimated animation duration, the required budget and the size of the team that will work on the project further. The client needs to know how long it will take, why you chose this style, and what payback is expected.

Identifying such things is not easy at this stage. It is very important to be open to criticism and adjustments. If they pose a potential threat to the semantic integrity of the animation, you should be able to explain it. When you come to a consensus, the idea is considered approved and goes to the next stages: modeling, rigging, and so on.

In the End

You should never underestimate an idea. It moves the project and allows you to check its main goals at every stage, without getting lost on the course. Great 3D animation ideas can come up unexpectedly. But most often they are formed thanks to the experience and a large number of implemented projects.

Kevuru Games 3D animation agency has been working with animation projects for over eight years and knows exactly the importance of the idea creation stage. If you already have your intention, they will tell you if it has potential. If you have only vague sketches, then they will help shape them into a great and promising idea and bring it to life with the help of the best experts and advanced technologies.