How to Create a Walking Kitten Animation In Adobe Photoshop


Create a Flight Animation From Scratch in Adobe Photoshop

Final product image
What You'll Be Creating

Creating frame animations in Adobe Photoshop is simple, but the real power of it isn't in the tool, but in the way you use it. 
Today I'll show you how to create a six-frame animation of a quickly walking kitten. The most intuitive way to create an animation would be to draw it frame by frame, but with Photoshop there's no need for that. I'll show you a set of little tricks that will make animating easier and faster, and the animations themselves smoother. 
First we'll draw a kitten from scratch, and then we'll convert it to simple shapes, understand the movement, and adjust the shapes to the movement to give them life.
This is a beginner-friendly version of Create a Run Cycle Animation From Scratch in Adobe Photoshop.
In this part we're going to sketch a kitten in a simple, side view. If you're not a beginner at drawing, feel free to skip it and draw your own sketch.
Open Photoshop and create a New File (Control-N). Use 2000 px for Width and1500 px for Height.

photoshop new file

Create a New Layer over the background. You can use the shortcut Control-Alt-Shift-N, or click the icon as shown below:
photoshop new layer
Select any Brush (B) you like for sketching, and roughly draw the idea from your head. Do it quickly—don't think too much, and don't erase the lines.

photoshop draw sketch kitten cat simple

Set the Opacity of the layer to 20%.

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Create a New Layer the same way as before. Now we're going to build more thought-out shapes on the base of the sketch.
Start with a "6" that will imitate the chest and the back.

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Add another 6-like shape for the head and the back of the neck.

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A little "C" will make the snout.

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Two elongated "S"'s will make the legs. Add a short line for the tail.

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Add two flattened domes for the paws.

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We need to work on the legs some more to get the shape right. These lines will be the elbow and the heel of the cat.

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Add more guide lines to divide the legs into parts.

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Our "skeleton" is done. You can now delete the sketch, and change the Opacity of the skeleton to 20% as we did before.
Now we'll be building the actual body. Use the guide lines on the legs to create the chunks as shown below:

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Now add the paws.

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Use straight lines to build the shape of the head. 

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Now take care of the lower part and connect the head with the chest.

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This shape will make the eye socket:

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Put the eye inside.

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"Stick" a triangle on the head—it will be the base for the ear.

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Sketch the ear.

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Finish the picture with any other lines you can find.

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Delete the previous layer, leaving only the background and the line art. Our kitty is done and ready to have fun!

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We need to cut the body into separate chunks to animate them individually. Don't worry, no kittens were harmed in the making of this tutorial!
Again, lower the Opacity of the layer and create a new one. Can you see any circles/ovals in the body? Draw them!

photoshop draw sketch kitten cat simple prepare for animation

Try to show the contours of the body by using only straight lines. Just imagine you're drawing a constellation!

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Take the Pen Tool (P). It doesn't only draw paths for selection, it can also draw editable, vector shapes. Change the mode to Shape and pick any Fill color you like.

photoshop vector drawing animation

Click the points ("stars") of your "constellations" one by one, until you've closed the shape. Every shape creates its own layer automatically. For ovals use the Ellipse Tool(U) in Shape mode.

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This is what you should end up with:

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A lot of layers have been added to the list! To avoid a mess, Control-select them, and then Group (Control-G) and label them.

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Test the body! If you Control-click the shape, the group it's in will be selected. You can move a whole body part, and rotate or scale it (Control-T). Because these shapes are vector, they don't lose their quality no matter how strongly you modify them.

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Don't forget to undo the changes!

There are three basic gaits of a cat. Cats can walk, and they can run with great leaps, but there's also a middle way. It's called the pace, and it looks like a fast walk. Do you recall your cat running to you when it hears the "sound of noms"? That's the gait.

cat pacing gait pace walking animation cycle frames

The funny thing about this gait is that it's literally based on two frames:
  • Left side legs to the front, right side legs to the back
  • Right side legs to the front, left side legs to the back

cat pacing gait pace walking animation cycle frames 2

To make it smoother, we're going to add two frames between those, giving us six in total. That's going to be easy!
Let's take a closer look at the frames we'll need:
  1. Left side legs go to the front; right side legs to the the back; rump goes up, head goes down.
  2. Left side legs are landing; right side legs take off.
  3. Left side legs are pushing the ground to the back; right side legs get pulled to the front.
  4. Left side legs go to the back; right side legs to the the front; rump goes up, head goes down.
  5. Left side legs take off; right side legs are landing.
  6. Left side legs get pulled to the front; right side legs are pushing the ground to the back.

cat pacing gait pace walking animation cycle frames 3

It's still quite complicated, isn't it? Luckily for us, it's a fully symmetrical gait—one side repeats the exact movement of the other, with a slight delay. So we can actually create only one side, and then copy it to the other!
Just see how a one-side movement looks:
  1. Legs go to the front; rump goes up, head goes down.
  2. Legs are landing.
  3. Legs are pushing the ground to the back.
  4. Legs go to the back; rump goes up, head goes down.
  5. Legs take off.
  6. Legs get pulled to the front.

cat pacing gait pace walking animation cycle frames 4
cat pacing gait pace walking animation cycle frames 5

This is exactly what we need to do with our kitten. Let's get started, then!
Some kind of ground is necessary to create a proper movement. We don't need to draw anything—just use the Control-R shortcut and drag the top ruler down, under the kitten's paws.

photoshop guides rulers
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We're going to play with all the body parts now, so duplicate (Control-J) all of them and store them in a new group (Control-G) for a back-up. Hide the group by clicking the eye icon next to it.

photoshop animation kitten body animal simple

We're starting the actual animation now, using the first frame as a reference. Select the front leg group and press Control-T. This runs the Free Transform Tool that you can use to scale and rotate the object. Can you see the "cross-hair" in the center of the box? You can drag it anywhere to define the real center of rotation. 
Do it now—drag it to the place where the arm is attached to the chest...

photoshop animation kitten body animal simple 2

... then rotate the leg. Hit Enter when you're done, or Escape if you want to cancel the change and try again.

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In the first frame of the animation our cat is reaching out far with its arms, paws included. Rotate the front paw so that it's ready for landing.

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In this step both front paws are in the air, so the chest, neck, and head aren't supported. Select the head layer, hold Shift and press Arrow Down to move the head down. In the next frame you'll move it two Arrows Up (which means "a bit higher"), and thenShift-Arrow Up ("back to the base position"), and after that the cycle will repeat.

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To reach so far with the forelimbs, the chest must be rotated a little. 

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In this step the hips are a bit higher, so just like with the head, hold Shift and pressArrow Up twice.

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The hind leg imitates the movement of its front counterpart, so rotate it properly.

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The paws need to prepare for landing too. 

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We're going to move the tail too during the animation for a bit more aliveness of the whole.

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We did it! Our cat has the same position as the reference.

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Select all the parts and duplicate (Control-J) them. Group (Control-G) the original and name it 1Hide it.

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Now do the same with the second frame as a reference. Rotate the front leg...

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... put the paw on the ground...

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... rotate the hind leg, put it a bit lower...

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... place the paw properly...

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... move the head up...

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... rotate the chest...

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... and straighten the tail.

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If you change the Opacity of the previous frame (group), you should be able to see something like this. You can use it as a base for the next pose.

photoshop animation kitten body animal simple 22

Do the same with every frame. Make sure to keep a half-transparent first frame on when working on the last one—they should be consistent.

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There is a three-frame delay between the movement of one side in relation to the other. In order to show it:
  • Duplicate the legs of Frame 1 and move them to Frame 4.
  • Duplicate the legs of Frame 2 and move them to Frame 5.
  • Duplicate the legs of Frame 3 and move them to Frame 6.
  • Duplicate the legs of Frame 4 and move them to Frame 1.
  • Duplicate the legs of Frame 5 and move them to Frame 2.
  • Duplicate the legs of Frame 6 and move them to Frame 3.
Place the copied layer at the bottom of the group.

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photoshop animation kitten body animal simple 25

Before we go any further, we need to check if the animation looks OK. 
Delete every layer except the frame-groups and the background, if there are any.

photoshop how to create animation frames animal running

Right-click every layer and select Convert to Smart Object. This way the group will be converted to a layer, but if you ever want to get to its content, just double-click it.

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Open the Timeline panel (Window > Timeline). We want the animation to go on endlessly, so set the looping option to Forever.

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To create an animation, just open the panel's menu and select Make Frames From Layers. Tadah!

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That's not all. First Delete the redundant frame made by the background.

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Select all the layers by clicking the first and the last one while holding Shift—you will now modify them all at once. Click the Frame Delay and set 0.1 seconds.

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With all the frames selected, Show the background layer.

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Hit Space and enjoy!

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If you didn't enjoy it, don't worry, we can fix everything! Just double-click the layer you'd like to change, modify the content (rotate or move what you wish) and Save (Control-S). The change will be automatically applied to the animation. When you're done, open the Timeline menu and Delete Animation—we don't need it for now.

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We've got a perfect base for an animation now! Time to add lines to it. Curious how to keep them consistent across the frames?
We're going to use a special brush for the line art. Go to Window > Tool Presets to open the panel below. Then, with the Brush Tool (B) active, open the menu and selectDP Brushes. My favorite line art brush is DP Comic Inker of this set.

photoshop how to draw line art animation

Create a New Layer above the first frame. The head is the only element that doesn't change during the animation (it only changes position), so we can draw it only once. Here's how I did it:

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At the very end, hide the base for a moment and fix the shape, if you don't like something about it.

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Duplicate the head and place a copy over every frame. Adjust their position to the base.

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Draw the back, and then make the layer more transparent (less Opacity), go to another frame and repeat.

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Do the same with every element of the body. The smaller the area you re-create on every frame, the more chance the lines will be consistent. 

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Use the Magic Wand Tool (W) on the outside of every frame. If it does select the inside of the body too, locate and fix the gaps in the outline, and try again.

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Now, make the selection once again. Make sure to select everything outside the body.

photoshop animation line art color cell shading

Invert the selection (Control-Shift-I). The inside of the body should be selected now.

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Create a New Layer and drag it under the sketch. Fill (G) the selection with any neutral color. Repeat for every frame.

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You can now delete the vector bases—they did their job. The filled shapes will be our new bases, but we need to link them with their line arts first. To do this, place your cursor between a base and its line art, hold Alt and click. It will create a Clipping Mask.

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Repeat with every frame:

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What do we need Clipping Masks for? Place a New Layer between the base and the line art, paint something, and see for yourself!

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photoshop animation line art color cell shading 7
1—without Clipping Mask; 2—with Clipping Mask

Create a New File for a moment. We need to choose colors for our kitten. You can paint them with a brush, but I suggest you draw them with the Ellipse Tool (U) in Shapemode, so that you can change their color easily. This is what I've chosen:
  1. Main fur color: #e38016
  2. Secondary fur color: #ffead3
  3. Eyes: #1ecc78
  4. Nose: #ffa2b8

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Open the Window > Swatches panel. To clear your list, hold Alt and click the first swatch quickly until they're all gone. Then pick (I) the color you want to add, hold Alt and click the empty area.

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Create a New Layer clipped to the first frame. Use the DP Comic Inker brush and the secondary fur color to paint the underside. Sharp edges are easier to re-create on other frames than soft ones. Do this for every frame.

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Grab the Lasso Tool (L) and draw a ragged selection with it. Then Cut the inside. This way we'll fix the edges. Repeat it for every frame.

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Create a New Layer for every frame and paint the eye and the nose.

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Let's see how to add stripes to every frame without painting them one by one.
Find the frame where the front leg is as vertical and straight as possible. Then create aNew Layer and paint thick stripes on it.

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Use the Lasso Tool (L) to draw "furry" edges on the bottom of the stripes. Fill them with their color.

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Use the Lasso Tool again to cut the top part.

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Right-click the layer and select Convert to Smart Object. Now the stripes will be easier to modify. Duplicate them, clip if they got unclipped, and drag to the next frame. Adjust the rotation to the next position.

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If needed, use the Warp Mode to adjust the shape without re-painting it. When you're done, come back to the frame where the original stripes are, duplicate them once again and go to another "stripeless" frame. Do this with every frame, always using the original to create a copy.

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You can use this technique to create stripes on the whole body!

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Let's redo the animation. This time we've got too many layers to use the Convert Layer to Frames method. However, the alternative is still simple:
  • Create a New Frame by clicking the white card icon.
  • Show the Clipping Mask with its content, and hide others.
  • Repeat!

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The content of a clipping mask can't be shown without it, so you only need to hide the mask to hide everything that's clipped to it.
Test the animation. Check if the stripes work as intended, and fix anything that seems wrong.

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photoshop animation line art color cell shading 22

Create a New Layer and paint shadows with dark blue (#112e6a).

photoshop animation line art cell shading

Cut their edges with the Lasso Tool as before.

photoshop animation line art cell shading 2

Change the Blending Mode to Multiply—it will make the layer transparent and dark—and lower the Opacity to 20%. Do the same for every frame. To keep consistency, you can duplicate the head as a separate part.

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Create a New Layer for the light. Use unsaturated orange (#ffd790) to paint the light with the same technique as the shadow.

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This time use Overlay for the Blending Mode—it has a brightening effect. Change theOpacity to 30%.

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White should reflect more light, so let's add it. Create a New Layer and paint plain white stripes in the illuminated area.

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Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and select the Radius that makes the stripes blend with the body, but without losing their brightness.
If you want to apply the same filter to another frame, just hit Control-F—it will be applied with the same settings as before.

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photoshop animation line art cell shading 11

We're going to add waving whiskers now. Create a New Layer above all the frames and paint them, using black, white, or a creamy color.

photoshop animation whiskers

Duplicate the whiskers twice. Leave the original as it is. Select the second one and go to Filter > Liquify, and use the Forward Warp Tool (the one on the top) to change the shape of the whiskers. When you're done, do the same with the third layer.
Now, show the first layer of whiskers for frames 1 and 4, the second for 2 and 5, and the third for 3 and 6. They should be waving now!

photoshop animation whiskers 2

Add a New Layer on the top and Fill it with black.

photoshop noise layer grain

Then go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise.

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You can make it brighter by adding Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen a few times.

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If you change the Blending Mode to Overlay, you'll see a nice texture applied to the kitten.

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Play with the Opacity to get the effect you like.

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Ready to finish it? Use the shortcut Control-Alt-I to change the size. The smaller it is, the more detailed it will seem.

photoshop size change

Use Control-Alt-Shift-S to Save for Web. Since we've used very flat shading and few colors, the overall size of the animation should be less than 200KB, which is perfect for most sites. If it's not, reduce the amount of Colors and play with other settings.

photoshop save animation how to make gif

Phew, that was a lot of work! But our kitten is finally alive and happy, ready to explore the world. You're now more advanced in Photoshop, so if you liked this tutorial, make sure to check the ones about creating flight animation and the run cycle of the cheetah
I also would like to hear from you—if you're having problems with any of the steps, let me know in the comments section. I read all of them!

photoshop kitten running walking animation pace gait
Did someone say "tuna"?

TDasany

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