2D Animation Basic Principles

Name: 2D Animation Basic Principles
Rating: 4.7 (26 reviews)

Learn Traditional Animation From The Very Start

Created byMacarena Lastra (McKaren)

Last updated 8/2022

English

What you'll learn

Understanding of audiovisual elemental concepts such as the Frame Rate and Aspect Ratio
Animation of different kinds of transformations drawing Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
Bounces' animation applying Squash & Stretch, Slow-in & Slow-out, Solid Drawing...
A swing animation applying Secondary Action, Overlapping Action and Follow-through

Course content

4 sections • 30 lectures • 1h 15m total length

Welcome!1:18
General presentation of the course. We list the principles we're going to learn, which are:
Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose animation
Solid Drawing
Squash & Stretch
Slow-in & Slow-out
Overlapping
Secondary Action
Anticipation
Tools2:17
In this lesson we see different tool options for making traditional 2D animation, and some homemade solutions in case we want to work on papen without having proffessional equipment.
Frame Rate1:23
Aspect Ratio1:41
We see some frame size and proportion options to work with in animation. Printable material is attached of each one of these ratios.
Straight Ahead Action0:34
Master straight ahead action by drawing frame to frame, updating each new frame from the previous one with small modifications for spontaneous, non-patterned motion.
Animating Frame to Frame6:24
Editing9:14
Your Project0:34
Animate a transformation using Straight Ahead Action. The choice of topic and tools are up to you.

Introduction0:39
Explore pose to pose animation as a continuation of frame by frame transformation, with examples and methods to combine the two techniques, building on module one.
Pose to Pose0:37
Drawing Inbetweens on the Board6:52
Drawing Inbetweens on Software3:32
Inbetweening the Edges2:06
Straight Ahead Action vs Pose to Pose3:34
Your Project0:52
Animate a transformation of at least 1 second inbewtweening 2 or more key drawings.

Introduction0:58
Solid Drawing1:56
Squash & Stretch1:10
Slow-in & Slow-out1:36
Animating a Bouncing Ball4:34
Animate a bouncing ball by tracing diminishing arcs across a 24 fps timeline, marking frame positions and applying squash and stretch with slow-in and slow-out to convey weight.
Animating a Bowling Ball5:02
Anticipation0:44
Animating a Jumping Ball3:10
Your Project0:39
For this module I propose you to animate a bounce keeping in mind the volume and elasticity of the object.

Introduction0:42
Explore the final module of traditional animation, introducing secondary action and follow through and overlapping action, with a simple swinging character example.
Secondary Action1:07
Learn the secondary action principle in 2d animation, where complimentary movements add life without overpowering the main action, as shown by a cat's tail, ears, whiskers, and hand gestures.
Overlapping Action & Follow-through1:26
Explore overlapping action and follow-through to achieve natural movement by analyzing inertia, wind effects, and secondary motion like hair and clothing.
Analyzing the Swing1:28
Animating a Character With Overlapping and Secondary Action8:14
Your Project1:04
As a final excercise for this course I propose you to animate a swing with overlapping elements. You can incorporate secondary action too.

Requirements

If you choose to work on paper: An animation board (or homemade solution), 90gr or less grammage sheets, paper hole punch and ruler with bolts (to hold the sheets). An editing software such as Adobe Premiere.
If you choose to work digitally: A tablet or monitor device with a digital pen and a drawing software with layers and a timeline, such as Adobe Animate or Clip Studio Paint.

Description

In this course you'll learn to make traditional 2D animations drawing each frame as it's done in anime or Disney movies. The goal of this course is that you learn to animate with simple examples, but understanding all the fundamental principles that make an animation work and look appealing and credible.

If you're a drawing artist but have no experience with animation, this course will give you the basic tools to get a good understanding of movement.

If you don't have experience with drawing but you're interested in animation, this is a good starting point.

Throughout these 4 modules we'll learn about:

Frame Rate and Aspect Ratio
Principle of Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose Animation
Principle of Solid Drawing
Principle of Squash & Stretch
Principle of Slow-in & Slow-out
Principle of Anticipation
Principle of Secondary Action
Principle of Overlapping Action and Follow-Through

Each module explores the necessary theory of these principles and a series of practic examples that will serve you as a reference to apply in your own projects.

At the end of this course you'll know how to animate different types of transformations, bounces of objects with different weights, hardness and elasticity, or even with a "living" looking, as well as animating in many layers as needed for an animation with more than one element.

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Credits for the material used in this course:

Videos from Pexels by Kindel Media, cottonbro, Engin Akyurt, Artem Podrez, Muhammadrizwan, Peggy Anke and Rodnae Productions.

Archive material from the Internet Archive in collaboration with Prelinger Archives.

Music from Bensound.

Who this course is for:

This course is for anyone who wants to get into traditional animation. The exercises can be applied to simple forms, so character design knowledge is no required, neither color theory or other complex drawing topics.

2D Animation Basic Principles

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Module 1: A Frame to Frame Transformation8 lectures • 23min

Module 2: Transformations Pose to Pose7 lectures • 18min

Module 3: Animating Bounces9 lectures • 20min

Module 4: Animating a Swing6 lectures • 14min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: