iNGENiO Digital Art - Animation

Name: iNGENiO Digital Art - Animation
Rating: 2.5 (1 reviews)

Exploring Empathy through Animation

Created byiNGENiO Education

Last updated 11/2025

English

What you'll learn

Identify and interpret nonverbal pet communication (body language) to understand emotions.
Define empathy and plan appropriate responses to observed nonverbal emotional signals.
Use Procreate's Animation Assist (Onion Skin, Duplicate) to create smooth, looping movement.
Design an animated pet by building and refining simple shapes into an expressive moving sequence.

Course content

1 section • 5 lectures • 54m total length

Introduction to Empathy & Animation13:34
Core Challenge & Focus
The main challenge is for students to create a short, looping animation of a pet (real or imaginary) showing a specific mood/feeling through one moment of movement.

Skill Focus: The lesson aims to make students fluent in the "language of feelings" by noticing and interpreting nonverbal communication (body language). Examples include a dog's tail wag for happiness or a cat's slow blink for contentment.

Empathy Practice: By focusing on the small, silent actions of the pet, students practice reading and interpreting feelings communicated without words, which helps them become better friends and teammates.
Procreate Animation Demonstration13:34
Key Technical Skills (Procreate)
Students learn fundamental digital animation techniques using Procreate's tools:
Setup: Turning on Animation Assist via the Wrench Icon to reveal the Timeline.

Movement: Using 'Duplicate Frame' and making tiny changes to each new frame to create motion.

Smoothness: Utilizing the Onion Skin (the faint, see-through copy of the previous drawing) as a guide for smooth movement.

Timing: Adjusting the Frames per Second (FPS) slider in Settings to control the speed of the animation.

Planning: Deconstructing the animal into simple shapes (circles, ovals, triangles) before starting detailed sketching.
Emotions Reference Sheet13:34
Empathy Activity Sheet0:04
EXTRA iNGENiO Lesson: Symmetry - Curious Creature Game Cards13:21
In this EXTRA iNGENiO lesson - you are taken through a journey of discovery to find the world's wildest creatures and use the symmetry tool on your drawing app to create amazing Creature Game and Trading Cards.

Visit the ingenioeducation.com website to find more amazing lessons!

Requirements

It is required to have access to an iPad with Procreate drawing app downloaded. A stylus is not required.

Description

Snap Shot: Animate Your Feelings

Ignite your creativity! Dive into a 10-minute animation challenge using Procreate to become a storyteller of feeling.

The Challenge: Create a short, looping animation of a pet showing a big mood through one tiny movement (like a happy tail flick or a slow blink). You'll use this art to master the super-important real-world skill of empathy—reading nonverbal signals.

Before you start, we'll play a game to warm up your observation skills by guessing feelings from short animated loops and planning a kind response. This practice will help you better understand what movement is best to show a feeling. We will begin by learning the tools using a fun splash effect.

What You'll Learn:

Art Power: Deconstruct animals into simple shapes (circles, ovals) to make complex drawing easy.
Procreate Secrets: Unlock Animation Assist and the "Ghost Helper" (Onion Skin) to make your movements incredibly smooth. You will also practice using the 'Duplicate' frame feature.
The Big Win: Learn to read the silent messages your body and your art are always sending. This skill makes you an amazing animator and a more empathetic friend.

Get ready to make the smallest movement tell the biggest story!
Start Creating!!

Who this course is for:

This is for children, teens and adults who want to explore the world of animation whilst learning a vital social skill!