Transcripts
1. Introduction: Procreate Dreams has helped massively with my storytelling. With the ability to
plan and execute a full story within one app,
it's just game changing. For me, the best part about storytelling is being able to take your audience on a journey. Having them feel
certain emotions as they're watching your
work is very fulfilling. Hi, I'm Smitesh Mistry, a multi-disciplinary
creative in videography, content creation,
illustration, and animation. I like to use all the skills
that I've picked up over the years as tools to help
me with my creative voice. You may have seen my
classes on Skillshare or some my illustration
work on Instagram or some of my video
content on TikTok. In today's class, we're
going to be creating a story using Procreate Dreams. We're going to be using
simple shapes as characters, and the story is going
to be about friendship. Within this class, we're
going to be starting off by creating a plan
within Procreate Dreams, then choosing a sound to
match the theme of our story. Then we'll be moving
on to Scenes 1, 2, and 3, with each one
exploring different emotions. We'll be using the
performing tools to help us create
organic motion, key frames, clipping masks, and also the drawer
and paint function. Don't worry if you don't have any experience with
procreate dreams or storytelling because
in this class I'll be covering everything
from the ground up. By the end of it, you would have animated your first story. Let's grab your iPad in your
Stylus and let's get to it.
2. Storyboard and Script: Okay, so we're going
to be starting off by creating a plan
for this story. I'm going to run through a
rough storyboard of what I want the animation to
look like and feel like. Then after that, we'll run into actually
creating the story. The main vision that I
have for this story, like I've mentioned, the
theme is friendship. Because of this, I
want the characters in the story to end
with friendship. But one thing I'd
like to do is start with emotion and then try
to end with the opposite, showing that the characters initial state has been resolved. In this case, we're
going to be starting off with the character
film Lonely, and then by the end,
he's going to feel like he's got some
sort of friendship. So the way I'm
going to do this is initially we're going to
have the character enter interact with some people get rejected and then he's
going to feel quite lonely. We're going to
introduce a second character, have them interact, create some sort of
excitement and then they're going to come together at
the end and become friends. Let's start off by
planning out the story. I'm going to do each
one frame by frame. Let's enter flip book mode, so for this first scene, I want the character because with this story he's going from being lonely to having friends. Let's start off for
the first frame. I want the character
coming in into frame. In this frame, there's going to be other characters there. I don't want it to
be quite simple. The characters are just
going to be simple shapes. We're going to
represent different people with different shapes. Then one by one, he's going
to go see the characters. Then they're going
to leave the frame because they don't
want to be his friend. Then we're just going to have the character in the middle
of the frame just alone to convey this small
character in a big space to help show that he's lonely
and he's feeling sad. Now we're going to introduce
a second character. Obviously, this is going to confuse the main
character a little bit because he's expressed his interest in other
people to make friends, but they've just
moved away from him. He's obviously a bit hesitant. If someone comes near him, his character too, then both of these are going
to be quite curious. Remember, this is
just a rough plan. This is what's coming to mind of the type of story
that I want to tell. Then I'm imagining after
they've got used to each other, they're going to be excited and they're going
to start playing. I'm going to be using the
motion of the background, along with color
and the motion of each character help convey
the emotion of excitement. We're going to have fast
motion of the background. Then we're going to have the two characters
interacting and playing. Then we want to end with both the characters realizing that they want to be friends. Then to symbolize this, we're just going to have
them joining together. Let's run through the
frames that we just made. Okay, so we're going
to be starting off with the character
entering the frame. He's going to be expressing
his interest to make friends, but they're all
going to move away. Then we're going to have him
in the center of the frame. We could even have
him reducing in size to make the space
around him feel even bigger, to help convey that he's
lonely and he's isolated. Then we're going to
have an introduction of a second character,
But obviously, he'll be a bit hesitant
because he's tried expressing his
friendship before, but then now a new
person's come near him, He's like not sure. Then he's going to go inspect, and then they're going to
play, they're going to come together and then they're
going to become one. This is the rough plan that I'd like for
this story to have. He's going to start with the main character
feeling lonely, going through a journey, and
then ending with friendship. The main reason
that I like to do this part before even
creating or telling a story is I just
want to get into the right mindset and really feel the emotions of this story. Don't worry if you can't draw, this is purely just to plan and visualize what you expect
the story to look like. Okay, so now that we've
roughly planned out what we want our story
to look and feel like, in the next lesson we're
going to be selecting sound. Then adjusting these frames to that sound just to get a better feel of what the
story is going to look like.
3. Select a Sound: Now that we've planned in storyboarded what we're
going to be creating, let's go in and choose the
sound that I'll be using. I have gone ahead and inputted a sound into Procreate
Dreams already. Let me play it for you
just so you can have a listen and then I'm going to run through why I chose it, and where we're going
to switch each scene. Now is going to imagine what
the characters are doing. Right now, this is quite slow. Imagine the
characters coming in, interacting with the last
character and then he's like, oh, no one is my friend, cool. I might as well just
sit here on my own. Then imagine a second
character coming in now, oh, cool, who's this? Then he's like, oh,
let me go explore, and then he's like,
oh, cool, she's fun. Then it slows down,
so I'm like, cool, they come to a rest
and they're like, cool, let's be friends. Then they come together,
and they join, and then that's the
end of the story. Now that we've visualized and imagined what the story is going to look like through the sound, with the frames that we drew
in the previous lesson, I'm going to expand them
and change them where I feel like the
emotion is changing. Let's just get into it. Let's
start off with Frame 1. We said right now the
character comes in, he's exploring each friendship, but he's just getting rejected. I'm going to fill it to
the duration and then I'm just going to cut it,
it'll be easier that way. So filter duration, and let's find whereabouts
we want that to change. Right now he's exploring. Let's split that there. Delete that, and let's go
back to the next frame. Let's include the
character in this, just so we can see
it a bit better. All the characters
are leaving him. The character is moving around, exploring these friendships, and then these guys don't
want to be his friend. Now he's like, cool,
I'll just be on my own. Let's get the next frame. I'm just going to fill
that to duration. Remember there was that slight
peak in the sound where the second character comes
in, cool, just there. I'm going to split the
clip just before it. Now let's pick the frame where the second
character comes in. What I'm going to do, I'm
just going to put each of these frames on a new
track just so it's easier. He's on his own, and then the second
character is introduced. I'm imagining
character coming in, then him being like,
oh, who are you? I'm going to turn off
the other layers until we get to it. Right now he's a bit curious. He's like, who are you? Then after he's comfortable, then they're going
to go off and play. Let's turn on the next frame. I'm imagining them
just moving around the frame quite freely,
quite organically. The second character comes in, he's curious enough to
be like, who are you? Then, they're going to play, moving around the
screen quite freely. Let's turn on the next frame and then they come back
together in the center, and then the end is one. Now I'm going to
walk through and imagine just how it would feel. The music is quite
slow right now, so starting off the
character is going to be coming in and see all
these other people around. He's is going to try to
entertain here by going over, but then get rejected, so they're going to
leave the frame. Then the main character
is just going to be alone on his own. I think at this point I will want to reduce
the scale of it, and then with the
spike in the music, I want the second
character come in, and the main character to be curious enough to
see what's going on, and then he feels
comfortable with her. Then they're going to
have a little chase. Really try to create a form of excitement within the scene. A lot of motion with the
background and the characters. Then after these, they're
going to feel quite close to each other and want
to become friends, and the way I'm
symbolizing this is them coming together and really
confiding in each other. Now that we've added
sound and roughly planned out how we want
this story to feel, in the next lesson, we're
going to be creating Scene 1.
4. Scene 1: Characters Enter: For this scene, we're
going to be starting off with our character
coming into the frame. Let's start off by
creating our character. I'm going to go on the
drawer and paint tool. I'm going to use the Blackburn
brush and the colors. For this, the color
palette that I chose, I wanted the main two characters to be contrasting colors. So for the main character,
I'm going to go for a blue to kind of imitate
like lonely, sad. Then on a new track above it, I'm going to be adding
in some texture. This will be clear
later on in the class, because I'll be
using the texture in there to help convey
some emotion too. I'm going to select
a darker color and then change my brush. Then holding on that layer, I'm just going to turn that into a clipping mask so it stays within the main
shape that we created. Then I'm just going to
group those two together. Perfect. Let's rename him. Deselect timeline edit, rename, and we'll call him character 1. Then we'll just
change color to blue. There we go. Let's zoom out a bit and then let's
just extend this content. There we've got a character. Now what we're going
to be doing is using the performing tool to bring him into frame and then having him move
around the frame. Let's start off by moving
him out of frame first. Like in the way
that we planned it, we did have characters in
the scene at the time. So what I'm going
to do is I'm going to just play around
with the motion of the first character just to get a feel of how I want the character to move
around the frame, and then I'll introduce
the characters. I'm just going to press
the performing tool, zoom out a bit on my timeline, and then I'm just going
to gradually bring him in. Like I said in the plan, I'm imagining the
character coming in, interacting with a few people, and then realizing that no
one wants to be his friend, and then just come
back to the center. So let's watch that back. Perfect. One thing
I do want to do is, I want to turn on a bit
of motion smoothing. I'm just going to undo
that keyframe that I did. I'm going to go onto
the performing tool. Up here on Modify, I'm just
going to add a bit of motion filtering just to smooth out the motion
just a little bit. Let's try that one more time. The good thing with
the performing tool is it doesn't start recording keyframes until your
stylus interacts with the screen, which is nice. Let's watch that back.
Stop the performing. I'm really using the sound to help move the
character around. Perfect. Now that we know where the character
is going to be going, it's like far left, below, and then to
the top of the frame. So now we can go in and
add our characters. I've already prepared a
few of these characters, so let's just drag
them into frame. What I'm going to be doing
is just adding a little bit of motion to each of
these characters, almost like they're floating. Some I'm just going
to do this by just moving my stylus
around ever so slightly. You want to create some form
of hesitation initially, and then for the characters to retreat as if he's
been rejected. Let's do the same for the
other characters too. I'm just selecting the track to watch that back.
Perfect. Let's do the same for the
final character. To press the performing tool, and let's add a little float. Let's watch that back now. The great thing I like about the performing tool is that you can match the rhythm of your
audio to your movement. As you saw with mine, as I was moving the
characters out of the frame, or even the main
character into frame, I was slowly bringing him in, and then as he moved
towards a character, I sped up my movement matching
the flow of the song. Now that the character has
tried to interact with different people and is now
realizing it's quite lonely, I'm going to exaggerate
this by playing with the hue and the saturation
of the character. So I'm going to go
through and listen to it just to see where I feel it will work, because remember,
I need to wait for that spike for when the
second character comes in. Perfect. Around here. For me, it's around 26, 27 seconds. By then, I want the character to be smaller in size
but also desaturated. First, I'm just going to
perform a bit more motion, just so it looks like
it's still floating. Gradually reducing my motion. Perfect. It's around there. Now let's go in and
desaturate the character. I'm going to put the playhead to where I want
it to desaturate, tap on the playhead,
filter, and then HSB. I just want to create
a keyframe there, and then let's desaturate him. Let's just see what
that looks like. I want that to start
a little bit earlier, so I'm just going to drag the
first keyframe by holding and then just drag it
a little bit earlier. Perfect. Now for the
scale like I mentioned, so I'm just going
to go in and reduce the scale so it matches to where I added
the hue keyframes. Perfect. Now to add
a bit of life to each of these shapes to make
them look like characters, I'm just going to add a
little rotation keyframes to all of them just so they look like the are
interacting with each other. I will be using the performing
tool again for this. Let's go over to the
main character first. Let's make sure the anchor
point is in the center, and using the performing tool. As I'm watching and
listening to it back, I'm just going to be doing the motion of the
rotation as I feel. Let's watch that back,
so wanting to look like the characters actually facing these people as he
interacts with them. Then reducing the
speed of which I rotate to help add to
the sad and loneliness. Now that we've animated
the first scene, where we've got the
character coming in, interacting with
other characters, and then realizing
it's quite lonely. In the next lesson,
we're going to be introducing this character 2, and then we're going
to explore excitement.
5. Scene 2: Characters Interact: Building upon scene 1. In scene 2, we're going to be creating some form
of excitement. First, let's start off by
introducing the character 2. This character, I wanted to make sure she was a circle as well. I just wanted to change
the outside of it, so I use a different brush
to create this character. Now I'm going to be
listening to where I want the character to be
introduced into the scene. I'm just seeing where
I think just before, this is like here because
I want the first character coming to the second character when the sound
peaks a little bit. Before that part of the audio, I need to make
sure the character comes back to the center again. Let's introduce the
second character now, so I'm just going to tap, move, move, and scale. Then I'm going to introduce
using the performing tool. With this, it is a matter of just playing
around and having a feel for where
the introduction of character 2 works best. I'm happy with that. Now
let's animate character 1. When the track comes back in, that's when I want the second character to be introduced and the first character to be a bit wary and move away from
the second character. I'm going to put the play
ahead back onto the group and make sure the
performing tool selected and let us listen to it through to really imagine what the
motion would look like. It's curious, so
it's like perfect. Now that we've played
with a motion, I want to re saturate character 1 just to show some form
of like, who is excited. When he realizes this new
character isn't a threat, I'm going to saturate
the character back again. Now that we've got both
characters in the frame, now I want to create some
form of excitement of both characters almost chasing each other through the frame. I'm going to start off
with character one first. Again, the motion that
I'll be doing will be following the
flows of the music. Let's do the same for the
second character to almost create like they're
chasing each other. Press the performing
tool and then again just try follow
and follow the music. To add the excitement
that we've created, we're going to be
adding a moving background and we're
going to be changing the scale and the clips itself to make it look like they're
rotating around each other. Let's start with the
background first. Let's select to track
below the main character, but above the background. Then I'm going to go on
the draw and paint tool. With this, I'd like to turn the stage sideways
just so it gives me more real estate either side to draw rooms to the backstage, I'm going to be using the
colors of the character. It's changed to blue now. It's had a bit of both, because what I want
to create with this background is their
friendship forming. That's why I'm
using their colors. Starts off quite
light on the edges. Closer they get to the middle, just a bit darker. Then I'm just going to
finish off with some white. One last trick that I'd like
to do is just in the center, I'm going to add using the smudge tool just to make it look like
there's a motion blur. Now that we've got a background, let's move it to
the start position. I want it to start
around here just as they start dancing or
chasing each other. I'm going to find
the frame I drew on hold and then fill duration. Then I'm going to start
the track around there, and then deselect the drawer and paint tool move the track, so I'm going to start this
background at the top. Then there's a key frame
that by going to move, moving on scale and then let's
drag it to get the finish. Add another key frame there, and let's drag the background
all the way to the top. Let's set the easing to
ease in and ease out, let's just see what that looks like. The way I illustrate it, I think it's slightly one key. I'm just going to use
some more key frames to make sure it stays straight. There's two things
I want to do now. One of them is add a scale to either character to make it look like they're going
around each other. Then secondly, I want
the background to go from dark gray to a off white. Just before they start dancing, I want to start the
keyframe there. By the time they get
to the end of it, the background has
changed as well. I'm going to add
a keyframe there. Then by the time we
come to the end, I want the background
to have changed. Let's go in and let's play
around with the scale using the performing
tool of both characters, so I'm going to select
character 1 first, go into the key frames and
then click on performing. Then as the character
is moving around us, I'm just going to
scale in and out. One thing I want to do is as scale character 1 up on a scale, character 2 down as if
they're rotating around each other. Let's watch that back. Right now it just looks like they're overlaying each other. One trick I like to do is to duplicate the first
layer, put that above. Then on the parts where I want the first character to be in front of the
second character, I'll just make sure that's
visible on the track. But one thing I want to do
before that is I want to change the hue of the texture within character 1 looks at, the moment it's the dark blue. But through this journey
of excitement and chase, I want the cold to
go from a dark blue to match the color
of character 2. Let's select the
texture layer and let's add a HSB key frame. I've put one there, and
then let's go to the end, and let's change the color of the blue to red. If
you watch that back. What I wanted to do with this scene was to create some excitement through a chase, but at the same time
having two people, or two characters who
seem like strangers initially after
they've gone through this exciting little
chase feel connected. Which is why I changed the hue of the characters 1 texture to match characters 2 to almost emulate what it
feels like to be connected. Like I mentioned before, a way to create a depth
within this animation. I'm going to be having them
rotate around each other 'cause right now they're
just overlapping each other, so let me show you
how I do that. With character 1 I'm going
to duplicate it and then put it on top of character 2. Let's find where I
wanted it to overlap. Let's split this here.
Whenever character 1 is small, I don't
want that to be there. I'll be clipping it just so
the red characters on top. Then when I want the blue
one back on top again, just make sure that track
is visible just here. I want it to switch
behind the red, so let's split the clip and then it goes behind the red and then comes
back in front, just there. Let's split the clip again, then delete the middle
and let's just see what that looks like. Perfect, so let's just do
that for the rest of it. I'll spend some time playing
around with the animation. Let me show you what I've got. Perfect. In the next lesson, we're going to be wrapping
up this whole story by having them come
together and unite.
6. Scene 3: Characters in Joy: Moving on from Scene 2. In Scene 3, I want both the characters to
be coming together. What I'm going to be doing is just listing out for where I feel best that the characters
should come together. Perfect. What I'm going
to do is just move Character 1 and 2 gradually to the center using the
performing tool, and then do the same
for Character 2. Then let's add a
slight rotation too. Then as they come together, I just want to split
both the clips. Now on a new track, let's
make a new character. Let's only use essence of
both of the characters. So only use the
outline of character two and then the
insides of Character 1. Let's extend this content
just to fill the duration. Let's position it
in the right place, just where the previous
two characters were. Then on the track
above, I'm just going to add a new track, add the texture, and then
turn it into a clipping mask. As you've realized, I've changed the color of the main character, so now the base is
red and then having the blue texture on the inside to show that above come
together and connected. Let's fill that to duration. Let's turn that into
a clipping mask. Let's just group
these two together. Now what I want to
do is want to create a glowing effect as the two
characters come together, so with a separate let's add
a glow with a soft brush. I've just selected
the soft brush, selecting a white, and I'm just going to draw
a circle in the middle. I want the glow to appear as the two characters
are coming together. Let's split that so it ends just so the new character
can show through. Now let's go in and add
a few scale key frames. So it starts as small
and the center, it's the biggest
between the transition and then it ends small again. I'm going to go to the
middle, add a keyframe there, then go to the start, and
let's reduce the size. And then same for the end, now we just have to move
just as the middle. Then let's add a Gaussian blur
and opacity keyframe too, so in the center on it
to be at full opacity. So on filter opacity, and then let's drop
the beginning to zero, and then let's end it on 02. Then let's add a
Gaussian blur too. What we can do is we can change the len mode of the glow to add. I've just added the
glow, let's just play it back and let's just see what it looks like. Perfect. What we're
going to do is add some motion to our
final character. Let's select it, use
the performing tool, and let's just have it
floating initially and then somebody moving around a little
and then come to a stop. Now what I'm going to do is add a glowing effect to
the final character. So I'm going to
duplicate the layer, put it below the tract, and then I'm going to
add a Gaussian blur, and then I'm going to perform
the blur as it's moving. Let's hold the
content duplicate. Let's drag that underneath it. Let's add a blur, filter, Gaussian blur. So I'm going to put on
about 3% at the moment. Then let's perform the rest. Now if we watch our back, it will look like the
character is pulsing. Then to end off, let's just add a rotation to the
main character. Let's click the performing tool. Beautiful. Now let's watch back the full story
that we just animated. We've got Character 1 entering. It's a bit unsure and it's like, let me try and
make some friends. He tries a triangle. Triangle does not want
to be his friend. Tries with the semicircle. No. Then he's like,
maybe I try to square. Nobody wants to be my friend. I might as well to
stay here all alone by myself feeling sad. Then, who's this? New character enters pulling
away, so I'm a bit curious. [inaudible] okay,
let me go closer. The change in color was to represent him being alive again. Then they've interacted, he trusts her so playing around, chasing, getting
some excitement. The reason to change the color of his texture was
to show that he's connected and he feels safe,
and then to become one.
7. Final Thoughts: Congratulations,
you just completed your first animated story
within Procreate Dreams. You learn a lot in this class. From planning initially to
using the performing tool to really help capture the emotion and the movement
of your characters, and then finishing off by having the two characters come together with a slight
glowing transition. The thing I really like about in Procreate Dreams
when it comes to creating a animated story
is the performing tool. Having the ability to use your own movement and capture that into the animation
that you're making. For me, it has just
been revolutionary, and then being able to go in, alter those keyframes,
and even add key frames as
rotations, the colors. Just being able
to really dial in the emotion and the mood that
you're trying to create. I'm really excited to see
what stories you've animated. Please do share them below
in the project gallery. I can't wait to see them.
Smitesh Mistry, Illustrator & Designer
