Intro to making animation
10
Do you have an illustration or photo style that would look great as animation, but not sure where to begin or how to add a professional edge to your basic motion? I want to help you know how to make animation.
What you can expect from this course is basic training on the terms and techniques of how to translate motion from what you observe into a series of images. Think of it as "brain training" or a rapid "observation drawing" combined with "motion" class.
You will learn about the basic "tricks" (techniques) that professionals at Disney and classic 1930's Warner Bros. animators developed and which modern studios such as Pixar and modern movies like Frozen and Moana still use to this day. Why do they? Because they are universal animation understandings of motion just like "shading" and "perspective" are basic to drawing. I will teach you these basics of very high-quality animation for any budget (from nothing to high production). The techniques I want you to understand include:
- squash and stretch
- extreme poses and tweens
- lip syncing
- your software/hardware options today
- various options for turning your particular style into movement (different motion styles applied)
- commercial applications of these understandings
Basically, this service is for artists who have some rendering skills in any medium (animation can give motion to anything from paper to drawings to digital art to household objects), are fans of animation and passionate enough about it to want to discover how to make animation on their own using basic available tools, and ready to learn traditional skills you can use when embarking on a professional project (social media animations, animated short or feature length)
I won't tell you what to do with the techniques, but I can give you the tools. Do you want to know about it without taking expensive courses at CalArts? Hit me up! :D
I'll bring my hybrid laptop for some aspects of the explanation. We will talk, I will draw animation live using animation software (this applies to traditional animation as well, not just digital, but the hybrid laptop is a very portable animation studio), you will show me your style or the styles you are interested in, and we will dissect your favorite animations, some classics and some new animations together. I will explain the "magic" of the animations wherever you have questions about how something you like can be deliberately achieved, and we will devise ways of how you can realistically embark on (and hopefully complete) your first dream animation project.
Training & Qualifications
I am a professional cartoonist and animator living in the north-central Phoenix (Camelback) area. I have taken professional animation courses where they charge a lot to learn these basic techniques you can get from books, but I've had the hands-on experience to make those techniques make sense. I have dabbled in various illustration techniques for decades. I am also premiering my first animated short this year.
Availability & Preferences
I will be available August, October, November and December to meet up.