Resources for Animators – Using vectors and animations

The most successful animators out there do two things really well:

First, they research their clients, and how their customers interact with them, to understand the purpose of the project and what the resulting animation is aiming to communicate.

Second, they consistently push their artistic boundaries to make themselves as stylistically flexible as possible and always focus on delivering the client’s message, whether that’s selling a product or telling an evocative story.

However, no matter how flexible and skilled you are, there will still be moments where having access to content that you can seamlessly weave into your projects could be a game changer for taking your work to the next level.

This is why learning how to use stock content is a very under-appreciated way that animators can dramatically improve their workflows and consistently impress clients. 

But you may be wondering:

How can I find the right content for different animation projects I’m working on? 

In this article, we are going to show you how you can use stock vector and animated content from iStock to improve the consistency and tempo of your work and impress clients. 

Finding content for explainer videos

The best explainer videos out there communicate complex ideas simply and powerfully and take the viewer by the hand through all the reasons why the product or service would be great for them. 

But if you’re stuck for inspiration and you’ve got a project with a tight turn around, then you need to find content which can blend in with your style and communicate the company’s message in the storyboard.

Here’s some examples:

If you want to communicate that an app or service is trusted and secure, then you can use this series of pixel perfect vector icons, saving you the time of creating each one individually, so you can focus on how they appear and interact within the narrative:

They also give you the freedom to colour them in using the company’s colours to personalise them even further. It’s well-worth checking out this awesome list of graphic design resources for similar downloadable packs & other resources. 

Or what if you need to create a scene to symbolise the meal delivery possibilities of an app in an urban environment?

You could start by taking this map vector:

And then animate the popping up of these vectors to symbolise food delivery options:  

You could also insert video footage into the video to represent the different types of cuisine on offer, like this delicious fried salmon with salt:

Or this fresh produce being mixed up and fried:

Content for character development and generating backgrounds

If you’ve not thought about using stock content for developing characters then you’re definitely missing a trick.

iStock has lots of character concepts which provide you with not just the completed character, but also their body parts in all sorts of different movement positions and profiles.

For example, this awesome robot has everything you need to start rigging their character movements but also enables you to build on them and make the robot as sophisticated as you like:

Also, think about the time you can save creating character accessories.

Like these viking character’s weapons could all be extracted to form the arsenal for your own unique character, or their outfits could be swapped out and recoloured to create whatever type of character you want:

Also, if you’re working on an animation with lots of complex scenes, then having content available to help populate environments can be a massive timesaver.

For example, what if you’re working on an animated film based on a tropical island and you need to give a dense jungle effect? 

Like this lovely tropical bush:

Or if you need more flexibility in the types of foliage then this wide range of tropical leaves could be really useful:

So here’s the deal

No matter what type of client you’re working for and what type of explainer video they’re asking for, learning how to use content to stimulate ideas and streamline your work will really help you to grow your business.

The only limitation is your imagination!

These ideas seem great! But why should I use iStock?

iStock is trusted by thousands of freelancers around the world and their content selection is vast and very high quality.

Click here to find out more and start browsing.

If you’ve got any questions please let us know in the comments below.