Help! Need help creating a frame by frame animation

[Langston Wells]

Hello After Effects community. I am super super new to after effects so be easy on me. I don't have anyone around me who knows how to use the program so this was the only place I knew to go. Basically all I'm trying to do is create a frame by frame hand drawn animated video but am having trouble getting started.

I have a source video of my hand waving in the air and I am trying to draw over each frame of the source video in a seperate layer. When i am done drawing each frame, I want to export only the drawings and not the source video. I want it to look like a cartoon animation of a hand but without any background, or maybe with a solid black background. So far I can't figure out how to even draw on a seperate layer while still being able to see the source video. I know how to draw in after effects and how to do it frame by frame but I can't figure out how to do it on a seperate layer from the source video while still being to see the source video while scrolling through the video frame by frame so that I can see what I am drawing.

Hope this was clear enough. Thanks for reading and this is possible to do. Thanks

[Jose Panadero · Accepted solution]

If you are using the Paint Tool for painting is as easy as checking the box Paint on Transparent into the effect parameters of the Paint effect. Press F3 to access Effects Control Panel. This way you can export only what you need