Open Curricula Projects 2D Animation 9-Day Class

File:Open Curricula Projects logo.png

Open Curricula Projects logo (coming soon).

◉ ANIMATION ◉ YouTube playlist compiled by User:JasonCarswell.

Noteworthy videos with analysis, insights, and instructions on acting, animation, arcs, arts, audio, budgets, character, character design, cinematography, classical animation, clients, commentary, communicating, composition, computer animation, craft, credits and titles, culture, design, dialogue, documentaries, editing, entertainment industry, filmmaking, how-to, industry animation, layout and design, lighting, making-of, marketing, media, music, pacing, pencil tests, performance, political influence, previsualization, rigging, screenwriting, social analysis, social media, staging, stop-motion, storyboarding, storytelling, structure, substance, subtext, technical animation, techniques, textures, video distribution, web animation, etc.

There's also an ◎ ANIMATION Unseen ◎ YouTube playlist with unseen content that may or may not be noteworthy.

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The references on this wiki-page are primarily to very limited Wikipedia articles. Better references and sources may be found and inserted.

This Open Curricula Projects 2D Animation 9-Day Class presents an introductory crash course on the fundamentals of animation, traditional animation on paper (cels), traditional animation on computers, design-in-motion and design-over-time, compositing, editing, etc. A particular focus will be on pragmatically preparing students for production and the job placements that may follow the 9-day class. Therefore less emphasis will be on the theory, homework, and practice exercises necessary to build stronger skills.

Brief overview: Windsor Media Centre Animation Classes

Schedule

The Windsor Media Centre's first 2D animation classes start in September, 2023.

9 days over 3 weeks:

Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays

4,5,6 | 11,12,13 | 18,19,20 of September, 2023.

• Class size of ONLY 10-15 students.

Hours

• 3.5 hours morning (9am - 12:30pm)
• 0.5 hour lunch (12:30pm - 1pm) ???
• 3.5 hours afternoon (1pm - 4:30pm)
• after class hours ???
• off-class days ???

Portfolio

Not a requirement, but it might be good if students could bring in examples of their illustration abilities and/or brief clips of video work. Not to worry if you have none to show or aren't prepared.

2D Animation on paper - Day 1/9

Introduction to traditional 2D animation on paper, day 1 of 3.

1/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning

1/9-A 09:00-10:00 Introductions.

• Brief teacher overview.
• Student introductions, portfolios, experience, ambitions, goals, objectives.
• Teacher gauges the general class levels.
• Run down the overview of what has been prepared for the class to be presented.

Flexibility of options.

• Student may get out of the class what they wish to get from it.
• Students may be as passive or as active as they wish.
• Students may absorb the fundamentals class as prepared and presented.
• Students may take a vote to set aside portions of little interest to focus on other elements.
• Students may generally ignore the lessons to work on their own personal project for their demo reel, and ask for assistance when the teacher has a moment.
• Students may prefer to work on a collaborative class production.

As a flexible creative teacher, I will not only be ready to spontaneously adapt to other scenarios (ie. basic skill levels, advanced students, diverse mixture, diverse interests, etc.), I have several great creative concepts worthy of being fleshed out by the class, should they wish to explore my options. (Or they could come up with new ideas.) With luck and time available I may even outline these options on the side in preparation, on the chance they should be needed.

For clarity and simplicity, the remainder of this 9-day class outline will be traditionally prepared to be presented, without tangential "options".

1/9-A 10:00-11:00 General animation production

Like any other industry, animation is a business.

• Animation business
• Animation producers
• Animation resources
• Grant writing
• Publishing and distribution
  • Copyrights and copylefts
• Screenwriting
• WP: Art pipeline

  Like any other production, a good pipeline is necessary.

• WP: Project management triangle, aka The law of two thirds: quality, speed, or price.

What is (the magic of) animation?

• WP: Persistence of vision
  • WP: Strobe light
  • WP: Flicker fusion threshold
  • WP: Zoetrope
  • WP: Praxinoscope
  • WP: Electrotachyscope
  • WP: Flip book
  • WP: Mutoscope
  • WP: Stop motion
• WP: Filmmaking
• WP: Animation
• WP: Art pipeline

Just because you can do anything with the magic of video, it doesn't mean you should.

A professional animator and/or filmmaker's craft must be commercially viable.

P.I.C.T.U.R.E.

• Physics - must be obeyed, even cartoon physics, including audio, balance/weight, lighting, special effects, etc.
• Intention - and purpose must apply to everything, all scripts, words, actions, motives, characters, props, sets, focus, tones.
• Clarity - is paramount.
• Timing - is critical.
• Utilize limitations - embrace them to develop into your stylization.
• Respect the audience, their attention/focus, intelligence, time, etc.
• Emotions in all things, animate or not.

It's unclear if Pablo Picasso actually said the truism, "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist." (Follow the discussion on Wikiquote.org.)

It's unclear if Pablo Picasso actually said the truism, "Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist." (Follow the discussion on Wikiquote.org.)

Worth mentioning:

• WP: Chekhov's gun
• WP: Pathetic fallacy
• WP: Anthropomorphism
  • WP: Anthropocentrism
• WP: Photorealism
  • WP: Realism (arts)
    • WP: Trompe-l'œil
  • WP: Hyperrealism (visual arts)
    • WP: Unbiased rendering
• WP: Uncanny valley
  • WP: Creepiness
  • WP: Minimal counterintuitiveness effect

1/9-A 11:00-12:00 Filmmaking

Like any other motion picture, animation follows the Fundamentals of filmmaking.

• WP: Filmmaking

REFINE THIS SECTION

• Art department
• WP: Art pipeline
• Characters
• Character arcs
• Character dynamics
• Editing
• Genres
• Layout and design
• Originality
• Pacing
• Performance
• Plot arcs
• Production design
• Reference
• Screenwriting
• Staging
• Stereotypes
• Storytelling
• Subtext
• Themes
• Tones
• Visual language

1/9-A 12:00-12:30 Draw circles

Introduction to the desk, paper, pencils, etc.

Homework assignment: Draw circles ???

Superior to the 12 principles:
21 Foundations of Animation (9:41)
01 Appeal
02 Strong Design
03 Staging
04 Acting & Pantomime
05 Keys & Breakdowns
06 Straight Ahead & Pose to Pose
07 Thumbnails
08 Timing, Spacing & Easing
09 Squash & Stretch
10 Arcs
11 Primary & Secondary Action
12 Silhouette
13 Line of Action & Reversals
14 Anticipation, Overshoot & Settle
15 Opposing Action
16 Counterpose
17 Leading Action
18 Breaking Joints
19 Overlap & Follow Through
20 Accents
21 Exaggeration
clearly presented by Angry ANIMATOR, 2019-01-15.

1/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon

1/9-B 01:00-02:00 Fundamentals of classical animation

• WP: Traditional animation

Twelve basic principles of animation were introduced by the Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their 1981 book Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life.

01 WP: Squash and stretch

02 WP: Anticipation

03 WP: Staging

04 WP: Straight ahead action and pose to pose

WP: Straight ahead animation

WP: Pose to pose animation

WP: Key frame

WP: Inbetweening

+ Pushing through or bounce back.

05 WP: Follow through and overlapping action

+ Successive breaking of joints.

+ Whip.

06 WP: Slow in and slow out

07 WP: Arc

08 WP: Secondary action

09 WP: Timing

10 WP: Exaggeration

11 WP: Solid drawing

+ Physics.

12 WP: Appeal.

Clearly presented and superior to the 12 principles, on YouTube: 21 Foundations of Animation (9:41) ~ Angry ANIMATOR, 2019-01-15.

AngryAnimator.com/word/2022/11/18/what-courses-to-watch

01 Appeal

02 Strong Design

03 Staging

04 Acting & Pantomime

05 Keys & Breakdowns

06 Straight Ahead & Pose to Pose

07 Thumbnails

08 Timing, Spacing & Easing

09 Squash & Stretch

10 Arcs

11 Primary & Secondary Action

12 Silhouette

13 Line of Action & Reversals

14 Anticipation, Overshoot & Settle

15 Opposing Action

16 Counterpose

17 Leading Action

18 Breaking Joints

19 Overlap & Follow Through

20 Accents

21 Exaggeration

1/9-B 02:00-03:00 Arcs, Keys, Tweens

• Arcs
• Pendulum swing
• Key frames
• How to Flip animation pages.

  Not to be confused with WP: Flip book

• Inbetweens

1/9-B 03:00-04:00 Animate bouncing balls

Not to be confused with (follow the) WP: Bouncing ball (music).

• Drop ball bounce
• Heavy & bouncy balls
• Bounce off cube

Homework assignment: Animate bouncing balls ???

1/9-B 04:00-04:30 Critical analysis

Review the 21 Foundations of Animation (9:41) ~ Angry ANIMATOR, 2019-01-15.

Find examples of bad animations on YouTube.

Then play bad animations to quiz class on what's (obviously) wrong in the videos - according to the 21 foundations of animation.

2D Animation on paper - Day 2/9

Introduction to traditional 2D animation on paper, day 2 of 3.

• Classical animation exercises

2/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning

2/9-A 09:00-10:00 Grain-sacks and Pencil tests

• Draw grain-sacks with emotions
• Animate grain-sacks
• Pencil tests
  • WP redirected from Pencil test (animation): Traditional animation#Animation

2/9-A 10:00-11:00 Animation departments and Figure drawing

The character model sheet of a door-to-door salesman for the American traditional animated short film, Jungle Jitters (also known as the Fulla Bluff Salesman as the working title), part of the Merrie Melodies series, circa 1938.

Book cover of Bridgman's Complete Guide To Drawing From Life.

REFINE THIS SECTION

• Character design
  • WP: Model sheet
  • WP: Off-model
  • WP: Character animation
• Illustration
• Storyboards
• Layout
• Backgrounds
• Animatics
• Key animation
  • WP: Key frame
• Inbetweening
  • WP: Inbetweening
• Pencil tests
• Scanning
• Inking
• Painting

• Anatomical structure, body / figure drawing:
  • WP: Figure drawing
  • WP: George Bridgman (1864-1943)
  • WP: Body proportions
  • WP: Body shape
  • WP: Physical attractiveness

2/9-A 11:00-12:00 Walk cycle fundamentals

• Walk cycles
  • WP: Walk cycle
  • Side
  • Front
  • Three-quarters
• Double-bounce
• Sneak
• Proud
• Run cycles
• WP: Eadweard Muybridge

2/9-A 12:00-12:30 Animate stick figure walk

Homework assignment: Animate stick figure walk ???

2/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon

2/9-B 01:00-02:00 Storyboarding, Animate pitch and swing

Storyboarding overview.

• WP: Storyboard

Baseball pitch, fundamentals of animation and physics exemplified in an exercise.

Baseball swing, fundamentals of animation and physics exemplified in an exercise.

2/9-B 02:00-03:00 Animatic / Board-o-matic

Animatic / Board-o-matic, scanned sequential images compiled into a crude previsualization video for reference to refine staging, editing, pacing, timing, etc.

• WP: Storyboard#Animatics
• WP: Previsualization

2/9-B 03:00-04:00 Animate whip

Whip exercise, fundamentals of animation and physics exemplified in an exercise.

2/9-B 04:00-04:30 Homework

Homework assignment: Animate pitch and swing ???

Homework assignment: Animate whip ???

2D Animation on paper - Day 3/9

Introduction to traditional 2D animation on paper, day 3 of 3.

• WP: Computer facial animation

3/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning

3/9-A 09:00-10:00 Character design and Model sheets

REFINE THIS SECTION

• Character design
  • WP: Model sheet

3/9-A 10:00-11:00 Face design

Book cover of Bridgman's Complete Guide To Drawing From Life.

REFINE THIS SECTION

• Anatomical structure, body / figure drawing:
  • WP: Figure drawing
  • WP: George Bridgman (1864-1943)
  • WP: Body proportions
  • WP: Body shape
  • WP: Physical attractiveness
  • WP: Perspective (graphical)
  • WP: Perspective distortion
• Anatomical structure, face:
  • WP: Face
  • WP: Facial symmetry
  • WP: Portrait
• Anatomical structure, character:
  • WP: [1]
  • WP: Caricature
  • WP: [2]
  • WP: Character (arts)

3/9-A 11:00-12:00 Facial expressions and Visemes

Mouth shape chart featuring common phonemes and visemes.

A page from Cartoon Animation (1994) by Preston Blair, the best book for animation students.

REFINE THIS SECTION

• Facial expressions
• WP: Facial expression
• WP: Phonemes and visemes
• WP: Viseme

3/9-A 12:00-12:30

Study Pencil tests on YouTube.

Homework assignment: Design model sheets, full body and facial ???

3/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon

3/9-B 01:00-02:00 Animate meow

Lip sync recording.

Homework assignment: Animate meow ???

• Animate meow
• Lip sync
  • WP: Lip sync
• Dialogue emphasis
• Dialogue arcs

3/9-B 02:00-03:00 Click track and Exposure sheet

REFINE THIS SECTION

• WP: Click track

• Dope sheets / exposure sheets
  • WP: Exposure sheet

3/9-B 03:00-04:00 Layout and design

REFINE THIS SECTION

• Layout and design

3/9-B 04:00-04:30 First week questions

• First week questions

Long Weekend 1

4 days to do homework and study the ◉ ANIMATION ◉ YouTube playlist compiled by Jason Carswell, featuring noteworthy videos with analysis, insights, and instructions on acting, animation, arcs, arts, audio, budgets, character, character design, cinematography, classical animation, clients, commentary, communicating, composition, computer animation, craft, credits and titles, culture, design, dialogue, documentaries, editing, entertainment industry, filmmaking, how-to, industry animation, layout and design, lighting, making-of, marketing, media, music, pacing, pencil tests, performance, political influence, previsualization, rigging, screenwriting, social analysis, social media, staging, stop-motion, storyboarding, storytelling, structure, substance, subtext, technical animation, techniques, textures, video distribution, web animation, etc. (There's also an ◎ ANIMATION Unseen ◎ YouTube playlist with unseen content that may or may not be noteworthy enough to include in the primary playlist.) Jason has also compiled a ◉ FILMMAKING ◉ YouTube playlist.

2D Animation on computers - Day 4/9

Introduction to 2D animation on computers, day 1 of 3.

4/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning

4/9-A 09:00-10:00 Overview of history, techniques, and styles

A brief overview of Animation research - history, techniques, and styles.

4/9-A 10:00-11:00 Overview of Visual language for animation

A brief overview of Visual language for animation.

4/9-A 11:00-12:00 Overview of Computer basics

A brief overview of Computer basics.

• Fundamentals
• GUI
• Interface
• File management
• File formats

Introduction to

• WP: Adobe Photoshop
• WP: GIMP

4/9-A 12:00-12:30 Scanning and registration

Scanning and registration.

• WP: Image scanner
• WP: Image registration

Homework assignment: Scan images ???

4/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon

4/9-B 01:00-02:00 Layers

A brief overview on Layers.

4/9-B 02:00-03:00 Onion skinning

A brief overview on Onion skinning.

• WP: Onion skinning
  • WP: Onionskin

4/9-B 03:00-04:00 Image file animation

A brief overview on Image file animation.

• WP: GIF
• WP: APNG - Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) is a (2004+) file format which extends the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) specification to permit animated images that work similarly to animated GIF files, while supporting 24-bit images and 8-bit transparency not available for GIFs. It also retains backward compatibility with non-animated PNG files.
• WP: Multiple-image_Network_Graphics - MNG is closely related to the PNG image format (1995+). Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNG) is a graphics file format, published in 2001, for animated images.
• WP: WebM = Google evil
• WP: WebP = Google evil
• WP: Comparison of graphics file formats

4/9-B 04:00-04:30 Animate bouncing balls

Homework assignment: Animate bouncing balls ???

2D Animation on computers - Day 5/9

Introduction to 2D animation on computers, day 2 of 3.

2D Animation on computers - Day 6/9

Introduction to 2D animation on computers, day 3 of 3.

Long Weekend 2

4 days to do homework and study the ◉ ANIMATION ◉ YouTube playlist compiled by Jason Carswell, featuring noteworthy videos with analysis, insights, and instructions on acting, animation, arcs, arts, audio, budgets, character, character design, cinematography, classical animation, clients, commentary, communicating, composition, computer animation, craft, credits and titles, culture, design, dialogue, documentaries, editing, entertainment industry, filmmaking, how-to, industry animation, layout and design, lighting, making-of, marketing, media, music, pacing, pencil tests, performance, political influence, previsualization, rigging, screenwriting, social analysis, social media, staging, stop-motion, storyboarding, storytelling, structure, substance, subtext, technical animation, techniques, textures, video distribution, web animation, etc. (There's also an ◎ ANIMATION Unseen ◎ YouTube playlist with unseen content that may or may not be noteworthy enough to include in the primary playlist.) Jason has also compiled a ◉ FILMMAKING ◉ YouTube playlist.

2D Animation post production - Day 7/9

Introduction to 2D post production on computers, day 1 of 3.

7/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning

7/9-A 09:00-10:00 Brief overview of Audio production

• Audio engineering
• Audio performances
• Sound editing
• Sound effects
• Sound engineering
• Sound foley
• Sound recording

7/9-A 10:00-11:00 Brief overview of Computer animation production

• Brief Introduction to computer animation
• WP: Computer animation
• Fundamentals of computer animation
• 3D animation production is incrementally built in stages, often compartmentalized into CGI departments
  1. Storyboards
  2. Modelling
  3. Rigging
  4. Staging
  5. Previsualization
  6. Animation
  7. Dynamic simulations
  8. Textures
  9. Lighting
  10. Rendering
  11. Post production (see below)
  • See also, WP: Art pipeline

7/9-A 11:00-12:00 Brief overview of Post production

• Colour timing
• Compositing
• Compositing 2D
• Compositing 3D
• Editing
• Graphic design
• Video editing
• Visual effects

2D Animation post production - Day 8/9

Introduction to 2D post production on computers, day 2 of 3.

2D Animation post production - Day 9/9

Introduction to 2D post production on computers, day 3 of 3.

9/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon

9/9-B 04:00-04:30

1. Plan something for Saturday, October 28?
   • WP: International Animation Day October 28, the International Animation Day (IAD) was an international observance proclaimed in 2002 by the ASIFA as the main global event to celebrate the art of animation.

2D Animation - End Of Crash Course

Fin.

2D Animation - Job Placement

Potential video production fields

• 2D production
• 3D production
• Character animation
• Commercials (and public service announcements)
• Documentaries
• Event videos (festivals, protests, weddings, etc.)
• Feature films
• Imagery
  • Photography
• Industrial videos
• Memes
• Music videos
  • Audio engineering
  • Audio production
• Podcasts (audio/radio/video)
• Shorts
• Visual poetry (art films)
• Web ads
• Web design
• Web site clients

Potential placement places that may be interested

• Audio Den Studios, Windsor?
• --- Audio (WMC board member), Windsor
• Bad Boy D
• BeeVision, Toronto
• CBC
• CTV
• Digital Alchemy, Vancouver
• Free Flow With Coco
• Freedom For Journalists
• Gary White
• Gavin Michael Booth
• Giraffe Ideas
• Global
• Glossed And Profound
• Guru Animation Studio, Toronto
• PlugNPlay Productions
• Riggi Media International (Walter Riggi)
• Spin, Toronto
• The Trumpet Of Truth
• Topix, Toronto
• TVO

2D Animation - FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

2D Animation - Notes

Questions for Amanda

1. Did Amanda look at my invoice?
   • Did she understand it was based on the December numbers?
   • Did it make sense to her?

2. Class hours are 9:00am - 4:30pm.
   • May teachers and students come early and stay later to use the equipment (ie. homework, projects, testing, practice, etc.), seek answers, and/or socialize?
   • May students take home portable animation desks?

3. Lunch?
   • Is there a lunch break, and for how long?
   • Can we work through lunch on occasion?
   • Can we organize a potluck?
   • Can we organize lunch orders?

4. Classes take place Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays.
   • May teachers assign homework evenings and/or over the two 4-day weekends?

5. Job placements may follow the 9-day class.
   • What are the criteria that must be met, and by when?
   • May we start compiling lists of folks to cold call to see if they're interested?

6. White board?
7. How many video cameras will we have to record the classes?
   • Will we have decent lighting and sound recording?
   • Will someone be available to edit the footage under my supervision?

     We'd likely cut to minimize length and repetition.

     We'd likely also cut in example clips found online.

   • Can we share the videos online?
   • For free? (This is the best way to market the next class.)

8. Will I get a teacher's assistant?

9. Plan something for Saturday, October 28?
   • WP: International Animation Day October 28, the International Animation Day (IAD) was an international observance proclaimed in 2002 by the ASIFA as the main global event to celebrate the art of animation.

See also

• Giphy.com GIPHY - Be Animated
• []