Welcome to Animation 11

Instructor email address: 

T Linburg: Telinburg@sd43.bc.ca

Bring Your Ideas to Life Through Animation!

Ever wanted to create your own characters, build animated worlds, or bring a story to life on screen? In this course, you’ll learn the creative and technical skills to do exactly that. We’ll start with the fundamentals and build your Animator’s Toolkit, learning how to turn simple drawings and ideas into movement, stories, and fully animated scenes.

You’ll explore everything from digital drawing and character movement to tweening, sound, voiceovers, lip syncing, and creating realistic movement. As your skills grow, you’ll have more freedom to experiment, develop your own ideas, and create increasingly ambitious animations.

Course assignment submissions: 

Drop Box - Animation 11 / (*) Alternative Dropbox  

Create a one Drive share link - create an 'on line' spreadsheet for sharing course assignments 

• Create and Share links in ONE drive - A 'how to' guide

• Example - T Linburg - (using Google Sheets - but you could use your Microsoft version of Excel) 

• T Linburg - grade and assessment link spreadsheet (adjust the share permissions to allow Mr. Linburg to edit) 

Instructions: 

• Download an excel version 

• Rename the file "Last Name / First Name" - Animation 11 - Block 4 

• Drop this spreadsheet into the hand in box and then add in One Drive Share links as you complete course assignments. 

• It is YOUR responsibility to keep this spreadsheet updated as you complete assignments

Please ensure share links can be opened only by Mr. linburg 

Utility Links 

Wacom driver install / Wacom One Creative Pen Display / Convert Pdf to PNG or other file types

Module # 1 - Introduction to Animation 

Animation Inspiration Hunt

What Makes You Want to Animate?

Animation can be funny, strange, beautiful, dramatic, disturbing, exciting, realistic, abstract, or completely unexpected.

Before we start creating our own animations, let's explore what other animators are doing.

Your job is to find animation that makes you stop and think:

“That's cool. I wonder how they made that.”

🔎 Step 1 — Explore

Start by browsing some of these collections. Don't just pick the first thing you recognize! Watch as many as you have time for and look for animation that catches your attention.

Try to find examples from different Animation mediums: Here is a complete list of 'types of animations'...see links below

Animation Techniques

• Traditional / Hand-Drawn 2D — Snow White, The Simpsons, Spirited Away

• Digital 2D / Frame-by-Frame — Adobe Animate, Toon Boom, many YouTube animations

• 2D Keyframe Animation — Adobe Animate, motion-based cartoons

• 3D Computer Animation — Toy Story, Shrek, Pixar films

• Stop-Motion — Coraline, Wallace & Gromit

• Claymation — The Nightmare Before Christmas, Wallace & Gromit

• Puppet Animation — Coraline, The Dark Crystal

• Cut-Out Animation — South Park, Monty Python

• Pixilation — The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb

• Rotoscoping — A Scanner Darkly, Loving Vincent

• Motion Graphics — Movie titles, commercials, animated logos

• Whiteboard Animation — Explainer and educational videos

• Object Animation — Animating toys, household objects, food, etc.

• Paint-on / Experimental Animation — Abstract films, hand-painted animation

• Mixed-Media Animation — Combining drawings, photographs, video and physical materials

• Pixel Animation — Retro video games, pixel-art animations

• Live Action + Animation — Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mary Poppins

Great places to explore:

• National Film Board of Canada — Animation
  https://www.nfb.ca/collection/animation/

• NFB Hothouse — Short Animated Films
  https://www.nfb.ca/collection/hothouse/

• Animation Mentor — Student Showcases
  https://www.animationmentor.com/student-showcases/

• New York International Children's Film Festival — Student Showcase
  https://nyicff.org/programs/student-showcase/

• Anime https://www.sakugabooru.com/post

🎬 Step 2 — Find Three Amazing productions from 

Find THREE different animated productions that interest you.

Try to choose examples that are different from each other.

For example:

Example #1 — Something visually amazing
Example #2 — Something funny or entertaining
Example #3 — Something unusual or experimental

You don't have to love the entire production. You simply need to find something about it that interests you or you find compelling.

Criteria 

Half page discussion of each of your finalists. Please include the link the actual production. Expand on your thoughts and ideas within a specific animation context (stylistic / genre / animation technique) 

Introduction to Adobe Animate

Assignment #1 —Bringing an Everyday Object to Life...

Due:

In this first animation project, you'll learn the basics of Adobe Animate by taking a simple everyday object and bringing it to life.

We'll begin with a simple bouncing ball and gradually build the animation by adding movement, timing, squash and stretch, a background, easing and sound.

The goal isn't just to make something move — it's to begin understanding why movement looks natural and how animators create the illusion of life.

What Is Animation? — StudioBinder

Part 1 — Getting Started with Animate

Begin by exploring the Animate interface and learning the basic tools you'll need for this project.

Animate CC — Program Essentials

Learn how to:

• Create a new project

• Set up your stage/canvas

• Work with layers

• Draw and fill objects

• Use the Timeline

• Create keyframes

• Save your project

Other great resources! for your first animation effort! 

Assignment PDF — Bouncing Ball / Bouncing Ball Tutorial

Part 2 — Create Your Object

Create a simple everyday object in Animate.

You can use a:

• Ball

• Car tire

• Apple

• Can

• Box

• Yo-yo

• Or another simple object

Start with a clean, simple design. You can add detail later.

Working with the Animate Brush / Tracing Objects in Animate

Part 3 — Make It Move

Now bring your object to life!

Create a simple movement sequence. If you're using a ball, begin with:

Fall → Bounce → Bounce → Bounce → Roll/Stop

Experiment with keyframes, layers and tweening.

Adobe Animate — Motion Tweening

Think about timing. objects don't normally move at a constant speed.

A falling ball:

starts slowly → accelerates → hits the ground

A ball moving upward:

starts quickly → slows down → reaches its highest point

Timing — 12 Principles of Animation

Part 4 — Movement on the "Two's"

Experiment with animating movement on the two's.

This means holding a drawing or pose for two frames before moving to the next one.

What Are Ones, Twos and Threes? — LifeWire

The goal is to begin noticing how the number of frames used affects the feeling of movement.

Part 5 — Squash & Stretch

Now make your object feel alive! When the ball hits the ground, squash it. As it moves quickly through the air, stretch it.

Squash and stretch can communicate:

• Weight

• Speed

• Impact

• Energy

Squash & Stretch — Animation Mentor

12 Principles of Animation — Video

Watch for realism! The way I describe 'realism' is that if I came across this object in 'real life' would it act in exactly the same way as my animation? What is the same? What is different? 

A natural bouncing ball follows an arc and changes speed throughout its movement. It accelerates as it falls, slows as it rises, and loses energy with each bounce.

Arc — 12 Principles of Animation /  Adding Squash and Stretch - an artist's perspective / 

Part 6 — Add Easing

Now experiment with easing.

Easing allows you to control how an object accelerates and slows down, creating more natural movement.

Adobe Animate — Custom Easing

Try different settings and decide which one makes your animation feel the most natural.

Part 7 — Build the Environment

Your object shouldn't exist in an empty space!

Create a simple background that gives your animation a sense of place.

For example:

Ball → playground

Tire → road

Apple → table

Think about how your background can help tell the story.

Examples

• Animation Infographic Example 1

• Animation Infographic Example 2

Part 8 — Add Sound

Once your animation is working, add sound effects.

Think about what your object would actually sound like:

Impact → bounce → bounce → roll → stop

Add sound at the end of the project - ensure the sound times correctly with the animation sequence. Add the sound 

to it's own layer. You might want to edit the sound clip in Adobe Audition to ensure it times our correctly. The sound will be added right where you specify a keyframe. 

• Adobe Animate — Working with Sound

• Free Sound Effects — Freesound

• Class Sound Library

Final Production - criteria - outline

Your completed animation must be at least 5 seconds long.

It should include:

✓ A clearly designed object
✓ Multiple layers
✓ Keyframes and tweening
✓ Natural movement and timing
✓ Squash and stretch
✓ Easing
✓ A background/environment
✓ Sound effects
✓ A clear beginning and ending

Your final animation should demonstrate that you are beginning to think like an animator — not simply moving an object around the screen.

Export Your Animation / Export your finished project as an MP4/video file.

Adobe Animate — Export Video

Video Export Tutorial

(Extension) Challenge

Take your animation further by adding:

• A second object

• A character reacting to your object

• More detailed backgrounds

• Additional movement

• More sophisticated sound

• A creative surprise

Learning Sequence: 

Learn Animate → Create → Move → Timing → Two's → Squash & Stretch → Easing → Background → Sound → Export.

animationmentor.com

Assignment # 2 - Drawing Essentials     Create your own digital doodles....

Due: 

(fill your digital sketch book with the fanciful, the frightful, the fun... :) - at least 10 sketches 

For today we'll be using Adobe Fresco! 

• Perspective drawing basics / one point perspective drawing / learn to draw for beginners / how to draw faces (front view)

• Instructions for making characters and faces (use Paint 3 D)

• How to add in realistic curls / various hair styles

Try drawing scenes from different perspectives or sketch three expressive faces or animals. Use the above links as a guide. and just let your creative mind take over and do the 'unexpected'.....You are encouraged to do your sketched using Adobe Fresco. Adobe Fresco is excellent for offering a greater variety of textures / painting tools / watercolour brushes and so much more. One can use Adobe Fresco seamlessly with Adobe Animate. For example, one might create a background in Adobe Fresco and then export it to Adobe Animate for the character and movement cycles.

Adobe Fresco - a dramatic improvement in drawing tip and painting brush options. You can also easily stylize your projects to give your work a specific 'look and feel'.

Adobe Fresco - How to Guide

Adobe Fresco - intro 'how to' video guide

Resource Guide - Artistically Inspiring Animation productions 

' Mexican Standoff ' - effective perspective and view angles and excellent personalized sketch work / 'Hot Dog' (Bill Plympton) - effective use of stilted animations

Working With Animate CC - Video learning guides