2 Use markers and keyframes

Once you have your audio and your plan, you need to mark the key points of your dialogue and gestures. You can use markers and keyframes in your animation software to indicate the start and end of each sentence, word, syllable, or sound. You can also mark the accents, pauses, breaths, and emotions of your voice acting. These markers and keyframes will help you to align your animation with your audio, and adjust the timing and spacing accordingly.

3 Animate the eyes and eyebrows

One of the most expressive features of your characters are their eyes and eyebrows. They can convey a lot of emotion, mood, and intention, and complement your voice acting. You can animate the eyes and eyebrows to match the tone, pitch, and intensity of your voice acting, and create contrast and variety in your animation. For example, you can make your characters blink, squint, look around, or stare, and raise, lower, or furrow their eyebrows.

4 Use lip-sync software or manual methods

Lip-syncing is the process of making your characters' mouths move in sync with your voice acting. You can use lip-sync software or manual methods to achieve this. Lip-sync software can automatically generate mouth shapes based on your audio, and save you time and effort. However, you may need to tweak the results to make them more natural and accurate. Manual methods involve creating mouth shapes by hand, and assigning them to different sounds or phonemes. This can give you more control and flexibility, but it can also be tedious and time-consuming.

5 Add secondary actions and details

To make your animation more realistic and appealing, you can add secondary actions and details to your characters. Secondary actions are the subtle movements that follow or support the main actions, such as hair, clothing, or accessories. Details are the small nuances that add personality and charm to your characters, such as facial expressions, gestures, or mannerisms. You can use secondary actions and details to enhance your voice acting, and create more depth and interest in your animation.

6 Review and refine your animation

The final step is to review and refine your animation, and make sure that your voice acting and animation are in sync. You can play back your animation at different speeds, zoom levels, and angles, and check for any errors or inconsistencies. You can also ask for feedback from others, and see how they perceive your voice acting and animation. You can then make any adjustments or improvements that you think are necessary, and polish your animation until you are satisfied.