
Explore the Adobe Animate interface, set up a Full HD 1920 by 1080 project at 24 frame rate, and master the stage, timeline, and vector drawing tools for character animation.
See how time and space drive animation using the stage and timeline to craft frame-by-frame, hand-drawn motion. Grasp keyframes, frames, and the shift away from tweens toward traditional principles.
Explore the 12 principles of animation, focusing on six core concepts: pose to pose, timing, spacing, easing, shape change, and anticipation to bring characters to life.
Explore Adobe Animate’s drawing and painting tools, including the pen, pencil, brush, and shape tools, plus selection and transform options to create vector artwork.
Learn how frames and frame rates drive motion in 2D animation, with 24 frames per second as the standard and easiest rate, and how animating on twos reduces workload.
Master key frames, key poses, and breakdown drawings to plan animation with in-betweens, using onion skin to map arcs and create smooth, evenly paced motion.
Animate in arcs to create natural motion. Use an arc guide to align your keys, breakdowns, and in-betweens.
Control timing and spacing to create natural animation. Define the timeline and keyframes, then space in-betweens to slow at ends, speed up in the middle, and use arc motion.
Apply easing to spacing in your animation to create life by using slow in, slow out, and easy ease with keyframes on the timeline.
Plan the bouncing ball project by setting keyframes, a timing chart, ground plane, and arc guides, then use squash and stretch to refine in-between spacing.
Plan and place in-betweens for a bouncing ball with a timing chart—keys, breakdowns, and spacing—to achieve smooth motion, then explore squash and stretch in the next lesson.
Learn to apply squash and stretch to give a bouncing ball cartoony personality. Use stretched poses for speed and squashed poses on impact to convey weight and life.
Explore the principle of anticipation, overshoot, and settle to add life to a simple sack of flour character. See how starting opposite to the action boosts believability and personality.
Plan the jump with a rough thumbnail, then create keyframes, add breakdowns, refine timing and arc, and animate in-betweens for a complete hand-drawn 2d character jump.
Learn to craft hand-drawn 2D animation by creating consistent head shapes and maintaining volume through inbetweens. Master anticipation, squash and stretch, and backgrounds to deliver a springy character jump.
Export your Adobe Animate project as a video file after consolidating the timeline and keeping visible layers. Change guide layers to guide and use export media with a white background.
This is a COMPLETE beginner's guide to ANIMATION, in ADOBE ANIMATE.
You will learn ANIMATION PRINCIPLES that you need to know in order to be able to animate objects, text, and even characters.
If you want to learn how to animate from scratch, you can start right here with this course. I've made this course for complete beginners, so if you’ve never heard of a key frame or you don’t know what a timing chart is, then this course is for you. This course is how to animate, 101. I also think this course will be great for anyone who has a fair idea of animation, someone who is a beginner animator, and has been using software to make things move around, but who would like to really know the fundamentals and core principles in order to bring their animation to the next level.
These core principles of animation will set you up for life as an animator. You will learn step by step how to create realistic and appealing motion; plus you'll learn why specific animation techniques effectively bring objects to life. And importantly you'll learn when to apply them to your work.
I use Adobe Animate in this course to teach you how to animate. What you’ll be studying is classical, frame by frame hand drawn animation. This is the best way to learn animation principles. And don’t worry if you think that you can’t draw, we are working with basic shapes to animate - to literally bring those shapes to life.
This course starts out with teaching you how to animate with just key frames; and takes you all the way, step by step, through to animating a character jumping. I’ve structured each lesson so that it’s neither confusing nor overwhelming. Because I keep the application of the principles very simple, you’ll have the chance to really get to grips with the concepts and you can do so without having to worry about drawing skills, working with advanced symbols, or with complicated rigs.
The course works progressively towards two final projects. These are important animation projects in every school or university curriculum. In these projects you will progress from key frames to fluid and dynamic character animation. I want to ensure that you feel confident animating a complex character animation with many moving parts, when we get to the final project.
What’s covered in this course
Whether you want to ultimately work in 3D, motion graphics or 2D animtion, you will need to know the things like
easing in and out of key frames
how to create an ease,
why you need to do that - and when you should apply it.
You’ll also learn skills that will not only make you an animator, but will make sure you are a really good animator - skills such as
timing and spacing
squash and stretch
working in arcs
working with timing charts
how to animate with anticipation, overshoot and settle
Once you are enrolled in the course you have access to the student packs and downloads for each of the projects; plus you’ll have access to me, I’m there to help you along the way and respond to any questions or feedback that you have as well as to look at your assignments and monitor your progress.
I can’t think of a more exciting creative field to be working in and if this course ultimately leads you to pursuing a career in animation that would be amazing. Either way if you want to work as a professional animator, or if you want o use animation s a way to make your own short films; this is the start of a very exciting journey.