The animatic stage was done in TVpaint, while the software is on PC and often crashes. And to maximize my efficiency, I chose Procreate Dreams for the later on rough animation stages since it is on iPad. Drawing on the iPad allowed me to focus heavily on key framing and performance decisions very quickly rather than sitting in front of my PC. For the main character, I used mechanical key poses show her personality. Working in Procreate Dreams allowed me to easily flip through frames and test the timing. I also finished most of the in-between during the rough animation period.

Rough animation on Procreate Dreams

Moving from the rough animation to clean-up stage, I exported my rough animation as video instead of sequence from Procreate Dreams into Clip Studio Paint (CSP) for the final clean up and coloring. Keeping the character’s volume consistent while giving her that specific pale, required a lot of patience. The lines are in vector layers, this helps me refining everything quickly and safely.

Animation Files in Clip Studio Paint

Since the final compositing in After Effects (AE) was going to be heavy work, I had to be super organized with my files. I spent a lot of time properly naming and separating each shots, including lines, color, highlights, special effects and background elements in CSP. Taking this extra time to keep all my materials neat and organized beforehand, it made the transition into AE so much smoother and saved me from a massive headache later.

Sequences files export and upload

Because I had separated my layers carefully back in CSP, the final compositing stage in After Effects wasn’t actually too overwhelming. In fact, having everything well organized gave me the freedom to really experiment. Instead of fixing technical issues, I spent a lot of time just testing out different layer effects and blending modes to build that chaotic, surreal dimension. I did a bunch of visual tests, including simple background color adjustments and lighting tweaks, to see what looked best. Being able to easily play around with these effects without fighting my own file structure made it so much smoother to achieve that deeply disturbing vibe I was aiming for.

Timeline screenshot in After Effects

Looking back at the technical side of this project, it reinforced the importance of understanding animation as a flexible pipeline rather than just a linear drawing process. The structural decisions I made at the rough stage in Procreate Dreams directly impacted the ease of clean-up, which in turn dictated how far I could push the final compositing in After Effects. Balancing artistic quality with technical efficiency was the biggest takeaway from this workflow.