Get started in animation | From an idea to an animated movie

Explore animation's basis in the stroboscopic effect and retinal persistence, where images persist about 12 fractions of a second, and motion arises from sequencing frames at 24 frames per second.

Explore the history of animation through flipbooks—the first animation form, painted on pages to show the same image in different positions as you rapidly flip them.

Explore the Phenakistoscope, an early animation device that uses persistence of vision, a spinning disk with phased drawings and radial slits viewed in a mirror to reveal motion.

Build a phenakistoscope to explore persistence of vision, creating a cyclical animation with a 12-wedge wheel, templates, and a spinning mirror view.

Explore the zoetrope, a pre-film animation device that creates motion from a sequence of drawings or photographs, a cylindrical variation of the phenakistoscope used to show discrete images.

Introduces the kinetoscope, a single-viewer device that uses perforated film and a high-speed shutter, laying the groundwork for cinema when the Lumière brothers improved it to 16 fps in 1895.

Georges Méliès pioneered directing for animation, invented tricks by chance, turning street footage into visual fantasy and shaping stop-motion. His 'A Trip to the Moon' blends real images with tricks.

Perform a practical animation trick by filming with a camera on a tripod, hiding behind a tree, swapping places with a friend to capture every step, then review the photos.

James Stuart Blackton, founder of animation, created 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' (1906), a vaudeville gag in which drawings come alive, and explored object animation in 'The Haunted Hotel' (1908).

Emile Cohl is the real father of animation, blending animated drawing, cropped cartoons, and animated objects. He created Fantasmagorie with Fantoche and later The Happy Microbes, a political satire.

Compare american and european animation, from large u.s. studios with series inspired by comics to european cinema d auteur ideals and handmade aesthetics, noting motion over looks and avant-garde influences.

Tell an out-of-the-ordinary story for an animation project by empathizing with an idea, aligning script, camera framing, character design, set design, lighting, editing, soundtrack, and effects with the technique.

Begin by writing the script from this perspective to shape the visual concept, characters, and audience emotions, ensuring continuity, framing, camera angles, and color palette support your story.

Develop a storyboard by translating the script into a sequence of key static images that visualize the movie, ensuring continuity and planning shot order through varied angles.

choose camera angles to shape the storyboard's composition and framing, highlighting shot relationships, and using high and low angles to convey power and meaning.

Explore framing in animation by using wide, establishing, long, close-up, and extreme close-up shots to convey setting, character detail, and emotion, guided by storyboard coherence and camera angles.

Explore seven shot types and practice framing by photographing a friend, experimenting with extreme long shot to extreme close up, and having fun while learning the basics of framing.

A character's history, background, and experiences shape its personality and actions, while appearance, facial expressions, posture, and gestures convey emotion. Its movement, anatomy, and form—rounded or sharp—define its mood.

Design a set that supports the story, assigning each object value and importance. Use camera distances and the horizon to create depth and prevent a flat image.

Choose lighting techniques to express mood in animation: use below lighting for dramatic shadows, behind lighting for silhouettes, or two-part lighting for broad face and body illumination.

master post-production by editing, sound design, and graphic adjustments to craft the final movie in a 24 frames per second workflow, using single-frame and storyboard-guided shot order to ensure continuity.

Nenad edits with nonlinear techniques, crosscutting, flashbacks, and memories to shape rhythm, ensure the action unfolds in chronological order, save shooting mistakes, and weave multiple narrative threads.

Learn editing by selecting shots and assembling them into sequences, illustrating how two sequential shots create meaning beyond a single frame; practice with five shots to build two stories.

Edit with free HitFilm Express or your software; install via resource link and follow the tutorial; create project with transitions and layers, import five animations, and craft two stories.

Explore how dialogue, ambient noises, and music shape animation soundtracks. Follow the 'what we see must be heard' principle, using silence and distortion to heighten perception.

Learn lip sync by matching three mouth shapes to a prerecorded song or speech. Choose audio, animate a fruit to speak, and use a tripod for fixed angle and placement.

Open HitFilm Express, create a new project, import the soundtrack and three photos, place and resize them on the timeline to sync with the music and animate.

In post-production, we fix shooting errors and blend stop motion with computer animation, merge clay characters with computer-generated sets, adjust color intensity, and add explosions and fire.

Explore animation techniques across various methods, and learn how object animation, clay animation, cutout animation, and computer generated animation express story ideas.

Master stop motion object animation by photographing objects that move gradually between frames, keeping the background and camera still, creating a fluid timelapse with a diorama setup.

Practice object animation by selecting two objects, making them chase each other to reveal timing and performance, and give them personalities within a diorama and controlled lighting using stop motion.

Create a stop-motion animation by using a webcam or phone as a webcam, connecting via USB, and capturing frames with the capture mix option for fluid motion.

Master clay animation by framing characters frame by frame or using duplicates to bend shapes, while balancing charm with limited movement and robust, lightweight builds; some productions blend CG.

Create a clay character and tell a short story using simple, stable shapes. Learn two basic animation methods—using simple shapes and replacement shapes—for controlled, expressive movement.

Practice clay animation by shaping orange clay into a cylinder and shooting frame-by-frame to move a ship from one side of the frame to the other, keeping the base steady.

Practice clay animation by using replacement shapes to create motion, starting with a blue clay cylinder, measuring and aligning pieces, and advancing through bent shapes frame by frame.

Compare clay animation techniques by using the same cylinder for every step versus ready-made shapes; explore how material behavior affects camera appearance, balancing organic roughness with controlled smoothness.

Practice clay animation by morphing a character into another and creating simple backgrounds with paper or fabric; use frame-by-frame motion for believable movement.

practice cutout animation by building two puppets cut from paper or fabric, reinforce with duct tape, assemble on a flat surface, and explore overlapping joints for movement.

Create a large cut-out animation background by printing a 3x3 grid of A4 pages in landscape, tape the pieces together, and animate the puppet with stop motion.

Compare 2D and 3D computer generated animation, and learn how programs replace frame-by-frame drawing. Follow the five basic 3D steps: modelling, applying textures, bending the scene, animating, and rendering.

Build a puppet with an armature to create a sturdy, flexible inner structure, design rough sketches, and mold an expressive face.

Twist three 30 cm wires to form a puppet's spine and legs, achieving triple-strength joints, then tighten with cutters and a glue gun for durable connections.

Twist wire through a spine gap to create shoulder and arm joints that allow forward and backward movement. The armature begins taking shape, but rigid pieces are still needed.

Position and space rigid bone sections to create puppet joints using elastic boilerplate strips, align each limb to achieve correct puppet proportions.

Shape the wire to form puppet hands and feet, with loops at the ends, guiding through the arm and corn wire, then set neck length based on proportions.

Place a wire about halfway up inside the character's head, splay its ends a little, and perform a rough go shake to refine neck animation.

Add body and shape by wrapping lightweight materials around an armature to form a flexible puppet, using strips of fabric to build legs and arms.

Learn to sculpt and assemble puppet feet with a thin form, silicone glue, and careful pressing to shape and join edges, then repeat for the other foot.

Shape your puppet character’s torso by forming the body from foam strips, attaching it to the armature, and aligning shoulders and arms for a neat back seam.

Learn to use the basic puppet pattern to assemble a costume with jumper and trousers, operate the pattern correctly, and check the print window before cutting.

Glue clothes directly onto the puppet using stretchy fabric. Cut trousers and jumper shapes from the back of the fabric with a pattern, then trim to fit around the neck.

Fit the trousers to the body by aligning sections and joining edges, then shape the second leg to open the front and back and cut with sharp scissors.

Learn to craft puppet footwear by shaping a flexible fabric cover, stretching it to fit the foot, and outlining steps for the second shoe.

Learn to form a trouser cuff by gluing a small fabric piece at the joint, a practical technique showcased for animation prop construction.

Repeat the jumper assembly by applying silicon glue, sealing seams, attaching sleeves with seams at the bottom of the arm, fitting the turtle neck collar, and adjusting its length.

learn to sculpt a simple expressive puppet head from clay, shaping the head, nose, ears, and eye sockets with fingers and modeling tools to capture warmth and softness.

Position the head correctly relative to the shoulders, then craft the puppet’s hair with a special material, apply a blue layer, shape with scissors, and secure it before animation.