Step 3: Draw Mike Ant with the Brush Tool

In this step, you use the Brush tool to draw the head and then the rest of Mike Ant.

Unlike the Ellipse tool and other centerline tools (Rectangle, Polyline, Line and Pencil), the Brush tool creates variable-width strokes that respond to the pressure you apply with a digital pen and graphic tablet.

When you draw with the Brush tool, Toon Boom Studio creates shapes that are formed by points that surround a zone, which is filled with color. We call the shapes created by the Brush tool “contour shapes”.

Drawing with the Brush tool allows you to create distinctive lines that are more natural than the mechanical looking centerline shapes. However, brush strokes require more memory to store because they use more points to create. If you are concerned about the file size of your animation, consider carefully when choosing your drawing tools.

To draw Mike Ant with the Brush tool:

1. Select the Brush tool from the Drawing Tools toolbar.

2. In the Pen tab, type 5 for the Minimum Size value. When you draw with a graphic tablet and pen, Toon Boom Studio uses the Minimum Size and Maximum Size values to determine the width of the variable-width line.

3. In the Drawing View window, use the Brush tool to draw a circle approximately the same shape as the Mike Ant’s head as shown in the previous drawing in the onion skin.

4. Using the Contour Editor tool, [Shift]-click the ant’s head drawing and the ant’s body. Notice the number of points in Mike Ant’s head, drawn using the Brush tool, and Mike Ant’s body, drawn using the Ellipse tool.

When you have finished comparing the drawings deselect them by clicking anywhere in the Drawing View window.

5. Using the Contour Editor tool and the curve handles, reshape the ant’s head you drew so that it is approximately the same shape as the ant’s head shown in the previous drawing in the onion skin.

6. Draw the rest of the ant. The completed drawing must fit in the run cycle, so you must draw Mike’s legs so that his left leg is touching the ground and his right leg is bent at the knee. His body should also be slightly elevated, so you might want to move the body up slightly.

When you finish drawing, your ant should look something like this.

You can look at the final drawing in the Drawing_Final animation set to see how we did it.

7. To help you with your drawing, you can use the Rotary Light Table so that you can get a better angle on the part of the drawing you are working on.