Create hand-drawn animations (Photoshop Extended)

You can add a blank video layer to your document when you want to create frame-by-frame hand-drawn animations. Adding a blank video layer above a video layer and then adjusting the opacity of the blank video layer, allows you to see the contents of the video layer below. You can then rotoscope the video layer content by painting or drawing on the blank video layer. See also Paint frames in video layers (Photoshop Extended).

Note: If you’re animating several independent elements, create separate content on different blank video layers.
  1. Create a new document.
  2. Add a blank video layer.
  3. Paint or add content to the layer.
  4. (Optional) Click the Toggle Onion Skins button  to enable onion skinning.
  5. Move the current-time indicator to the next frame.
  6. Paint or add content to the layer in a slightly different position from the content in the previous frame.
    You can add a blank video frame, duplicate a frame, or delete a frame from the blank video layer by choosing Layer > Video Layers and then choosing the appropriate command.

    As you create more hand-drawn frames, you can either drag the current time indicator or use the playback controls in the Animation panel to preview your animation.