Beginning 2D Animation: The Absolute Beginner's Entry
What you'll learn
- Animate an object smoothly turning in "3D space"
- Plan out an animated sequence completely without guesswork.
- Create a solid, clean, smooth animation every time.
Requirements
- You will need some sort of drawing software with layers OR you can draw with traditional materials (pencil and paper) with a lightbox.
Description
This course is an absolute beginner's entry point to learning the foundations of smooth, solid animation. We will cover the exact, step-by-step approach that is needed to consistently make great looking animations every time. The example we will be using is a Jack O'Lantern turning in 3D space. This will help us learn what it takes to make an animated drawing look "three dimensional," as well as how to make the animation look smooth and clean.
We will cover one of the 12 animation principles, "easing," that will serve as a foundation for all animation education moving forward. This is a relatively quick course to complete, to get you up and running in no time. After completing this course, you will be on your way to creating the animations you've always wanted to.
There are absolutely no prerequisites for this course or required software. Any drawing software with layers will do. If you prefer traditional materials, you can also use pencil, paper, and a lightbox. Anything works, as we are covering the general animation principles in this course, and not the specifics of a particular piece of software.
The course is structured in a very straight-forward manner, beginning with the first few frames as sketches and moving through inking and coloring.
Included with the video lessons are step-by-step breakdowns in image format for easy reference.
If you're curious about animation, or are frustrated with your own attempts at making animated drawings, this course will help you understand the basics and help guide you to approach animation in a structured, efficient, and pragmatic way that will produce clean, smooth results every time.
This course serves as the starting point for any new animator, whether you want to get into video game animation, character animation, movie animation, TV animation, Flash animation, web animation, YouTube animation, or your own independent projects.
Who this course is for:
- This animation course is for absolute beginners entering into the exciting world of animation.
- This course teaches the basics that will serve as a foundation for an extensive education in animation.
- This course is not for intermediate or advanced animators looking to refine their skills.
- This course does not teach how to use any specific software.
Instructor
- 4.0 Instructor Rating
- 188 Reviews
- 4,602 Students
- 1 Course
I created the animated series, "Guinea Something Good" and am working on the animated game, "Guinea Pig Parkour." I studied cartooning at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont and traditional animation at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
I've been drawing comics and publishing them online since 1999. I started with a comic series based on the guinea pig, "Joe" and updated weekly. In 2004, I created the comic strip, "Obscured by Species" which updated about two-three times a week. At the Center for Cartoon Studies, I developed the graphic novel, "featuring Talking Guinea Pigs!" (now titled, "Notes from Outerworld"), a comedy sci-fi story about guinea pigs from outer space who travel to 19th century Russia. I updated this about twice a week from 2008 to 2010. At the Academy of Art University, I developed my comic and animated series, "Guinea Something Good". The animated series updated about once a week on YouTube and the comic twice a week on my website.
I began production on the fully hand-drawn animated game, "Guinea Pig Parkour" in 2014. This game is a comedy platformer about a guinea pig that can perform crazy parkour moves. All the graphics in the game are hand-drawn in frame by frame animation.