Open Curricula Projects 2D Animation 9-Day Class
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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 - 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.
- 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, I have several great creative concepts worthy of being fleshed out by the class, should they wish to explore my options. With luck and time available I may even outline these options on the side - just in case.
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
- 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.
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: Realism (arts)
- WP: Uncanny valley
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 ???
1/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon
1/9-B 01:00-02:00 Fundamentals of classical 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.
- 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).
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 - Day 2/9
Introduction to traditional 2D animation on paper, day 2 of 3.
2/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning
2/9-A 09:00-10:00 Grain-sacks and Pencil tests
- Drawing grain-sack emotions
- Animating 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
- REFINE THIS SECTION
- Character design
- WP: Model sheet
- WP: Off-model
- Illustration
- Storyboards
- Layout
- Backgrounds
- Animatics
- Key animation
- WP: Key frame
- Inbetweening
- WP: Inbetweening
- Pencil tests
- Scanning
- Inking
- Painting
- Figure drawing
- WP: Figure drawing
- WP: George Bridgman (1864-1943)
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 - Day 3/9
Introduction to traditional 2D animation on paper, day 3 of 3.
3/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning
3/9-A 09:00-10:00
3/9-A 10:00-11:00
3/9-A 11:00-12:00
3/9-A 12:00-12:30
3/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon
3/9-B 01:00-02:00
3/9-B 02:00-03:00
3/9-B 03:00-04:00
3/9-B 04:00-04:30
- WP: Phonemes and visemes
- WP: Viseme
- Character design
- WP: Model sheet
- Facial expressions
- WP: Facial expression
- WP: Lip sync
- Meow exercise
- WP: Click track
- Dope sheets
- WP: Exposure sheet
- Layout and design
Long Weekend 1
4 days.
2D Animation - 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 Brief overview of Animation research - history, techniques, and styles
4/9-A 10:00-11:00 Brief overview on Visual language for animation
4/9-A 11:00-12:00 Brief overview on 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.
- WP: Image scanner
- WP: Image registration
4/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon
4/9-B 01:00-02:00
4/9-B 02:00-03:00
4/9-B 03:00-04:00
4/9-B 04:00-04:30
Brief overview on how to
- Layers
- WP: Onion skinning
- WP: Onionskin
- GIF animation
2D Animation - Day 5/9
Introduction to 2D animation on computers, day 2 of 3.
5/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning
5/9-A 09:00-10:00
5/9-A 10:00-11:00
5/9-A 11:00-12:00
5/9-A 12:00-12:30
5/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon
5/9-B 01:00-02:00
5/9-B 02:00-03:00
5/9-B 03:00-04:00
5/9-B 04:00-04:30
2D Animation - Day 6/9
Introduction to 2D animation on computers, day 3 of 3.
6/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning
6/9-A 09:00-10:00
6/9-A 10:00-11:00
6/9-A 11:00-12:00
6/9-A 12:00-12:30
6/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon
6/9-B 01:00-02:00
6/9-B 02:00-03:00
6/9-B 03:00-04:00
6/9-B 04:00-04:30
Long Weekend 2
4 days.
2D Animation - 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
- Storyboards
- Modelling
- Rigging
- Staging
- Previsualization
- Animation
- Dynamic simulations
- Textures
- Lighting
- Rendering
- 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
7/9-A 12:00-12:30
7/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon
7/9-B 01:00-02:00
7/9-B 02:00-03:00
7/9-B 03:00-04:00
7/9-B 04:00-04:30
2D Animation - Day 8/9
Introduction to 2D post production on computers, day 2 of 3.
8/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning
8/9-A 09:00-10:00
8/9-A 10:00-11:00
8/9-A 11:00-12:00
8/9-A 12:00-12:30
8/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon
8/9-B 01:00-02:00
8/9-B 02:00-03:00
8/9-B 03:00-04:00
8/9-B 04:00-04:30
2D Animation - Day 9/9
Introduction to 2D post production on computers, day 3 of 3.
9/9-A 9:00-12:30 Morning
9/9-A 09:00-10:00
9/9-A 10:00-11:00
9/9-A 11:00-12:00
9/9-A 12:00-12:30
9/9-B 1:00-4:30 Afternoon
9/9-B 01:00-02:00
9/9-B 02:00-03:00
9/9-B 03:00-04:00
9/9-B 04:00-04:30
- 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
- Did Amanda look at my invoice?
- Did she understand it was based on the December numbers?
- Did it make sense to her?
- 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?
- 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?
- Classes take place Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays.
- May teachers assign homework evenings and/or over the two 4-day weekends?
- 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?
- White board?
- 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.)
- Will I get a teacher's assistant?
- 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.