1.Do you use one layer per character?
- How do you make cycle animation?
I use Harmony Essentials.
Depending on the action and complexity. There are times when the character body or head are on different layer so the body can be held. It comes down to planning and what you need to do, and what style you’re working in. I usually sketch out the motion first on one layer, if I need more action on the arms, I’ll put them on another layer.
Making cycles in toon boom is super easy. There is even an option to create cycle once you’ve animated your frames.
For any animation though there is no one solution.
yes for frame by frame generally you use 1 layer, cycles are sometimes called loops, so after you make a drawing on each frame to complete and animation, you select all the frames click and drag or select first frame and hold shift and select last frame, right click on layer and select cycles, type or scroll to the numbers of times you want your animation to cycle or loop, you have the option to select all frames right click and select copy, and then you can select next empty frame right click and select paste reverse to make your cycle or loop go backwards