Delivered Foundations in Modern 2D Animation [CGMA, Brent Noll]

Jump Start into Animation!​

Put aside your pegbars and pencils, because this class is all about learning animation the modern way. Students will jump straight into a series of projects specifically designed to get them animating as quickly as possible. Beginning with the fundamentals, we’ll get introduced to Adobe Animate CC and explore the basic principles of motion. Students will get a chance to work like an animation clean-up artist, design their own animation-friendly characters, and create a complete walk cycle.

The course also introduces students to basic 2D rigs (IE: Symbols), showing how these modern tools can be combined with traditional animation techniques. We’ll go through the full process of finishing an animation, including clean-up, inking, coloring, and even lighting. For the final project, students will create and animate their own short looping animation.

Course Format: Standard
Lecture Type: Pre-recorded
Feedback: Individually Recorded
Duration: 9 weeks
Assignment:
Assignments are due each week. Expect to spend approximately 8–10 hrs/wk watching lectures, attending Q&A, and working on assignments.
Q&A: Once a week
Materials:
Adobe Animate CC, Wacom Tablet (or equivalent), Adobe Premiere
Recommended reading: The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams
Skills Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Prerequisites:
Course pre-req: Analytical Figure Drawing, Fundamentals of Character Design

The more you know, the better.

Week 1 | Crash into Flash! Learn the Basic Tools of Adobe Animate CC and How to Use Them​

Get a crash course in Flash—no, wait! Please don’t actually crash Flash, I forgot to save! | Create a Standard Animation Document | Explore the basic drawing tools | Practice animating text | Learn how to animate a bouncing ball using the principles of motion | Discuss timing charts | Learn how to export GIFs

Week 2 | Fundamentals of Traditional Hand Drawn Animation​

Hand drawn? I thought animation was done on a computer? | Continue exploring the fundamental principles of traditional animation | Learn how to rough out drawings and create a more dynamic ball bounce using squash and stretch | Animate a simple blob character | Add in-betweens to make animation smoother | Traditionally animate a flapping flag

Week 3 | Animation Clean-up!​

It’s like your first day on the job! | Learn animation by cleaning up rough animation | Explore more advanced Flash drawing techniques | Practice drawing characters on model | Color animation | Color line art | Learn how the different brush coloring modes work | Work on a scene from Kitchen Magician, an animation by Jack Cusamano

Week 4 | Character Design for Animation​

Design your own animation-friendly character! | Draw a complete animated character turnaround | Create 8 poses using the Photoshop Timeline | Track facial features to maintain likeness | Improve character rotation skills while keeping designs consistent | Understand the IMPORTANCE OF SIMPLICITY

Week 5 | Walk Cycles​

This is a BIG one! | Learn about walk cycles and the Richard Williams method for constructing them | Discuss the 4 essential poses needed to create a walk cycle | Complete a practice walk cycle | Create an original walk cycle using your own character | Study the arcs, bounce, and timing involved in a walk cycle | Discuss secondary animation during a walk | Learn how to create an effective seamless walk-cycle loop

Week 6 | Lip Syncing, a Lesson in Flash Symbols, Nested Animations and Basic Rigs​

Design your own character around a provided voice-over | Learn the 10 basic mouth shapes needed for speech | Build a simple facial rig and animate a talking character! | Discuss useful Flash techniques and puppet-style animation | Learn about nested symbols and how they are used | Explore the FRAME PICKER | Learn how to use Classic Tweens effectively with EASES | Demonstration of Layer Parenting and simple puppet rigs | Explore alternative clean-up methods using the pen and pencil tools

Week 7 | Roughing Out and Completing Complex Animation from Storyboard​

Movin’ on up! | Animate a scene from a short film using a layered background | Discuss more structured animation techniques and how to draw characters “ON MODEL” | Learn how to effectively use a character turnaround sheet | Rough out character animation based on an animatic | Explore smearing, anticipation, timing, and arcs | Practice pose-to-pose animation | Apply secondary animation

Week 8 | Create Your Own Animation! (A Looping Short)​

It all comes together now. We’ll explore the complete animation pipeline | Develop and execute your own idea from storyboarding through final animation | Learn how to export animation for final compositing | Understand the importance of PNG sequences | Get a mini introduction to After Effects and Premiere Pro | Add lighting, shadows, and other compositing techniques to animation in After Effects | Learn how to export lossless video formats | Add sound and final finishing touches | Prepare animation for social media | Discuss the importance of completing independent animation projects, including submitting work to projects such as Loopdeloop | Students will have two weeks to complete the final assignment

Week 9 | Continue Creating Your Own Animated Loop (A Looping Short)​

Students will continue developing and completing their final homework assignment.

Lectures by Brent Noll​

A night owl and coffee enthusiast, Brent Noll is an animation production artist based in Burbank, California, and currently works as a designer on Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty. Brent’s passion is animation, and his short films have appeared at numerous festivals, including Loopdeloop, Audfest, Austin Spotlight, Asifa-South, and The Los Angeles Animation Festival.

Brent is also the co-creator of BAM Animation!, a YouTube channel dedicated to helping young cartoonists learn how to draw. Originally from San Antonio, Brent escaped the harsh Texas climate in 2013 and moved to Los Angeles to build a successful career in animation. Since then, he has worked with numerous studios, including Disney TVA, DreamWorks Television, ShadowMachine, BentoBox, and Starburns Industries.