Introduction to Animation Principles using Adobe Animate

Introduction to Animation Principles using Adobe Animate is an introductory course into 2D Character Animation focused on the practicalities and theory behind the animation principles.

The aim of the course is to introduce students to the animation pipelines and workflows, from planning and blocking, to the final 2D animation sequence. These workflows are the base for films and games animation.

Understanding the animation principles will increase your artistic abilities related to character animation.

This course also offers an insight into the physics concepts in connection to the animation principles. As animators, we use basic physics principles in order to capture the mechanics of a believable motion.

Throughout the course, we build the complexity with each new exercise. You’ll develop a strong foundation on how to apply the animation principles and how to bring your own ideas to life.

Teaching modules:

The course is divided into several modules covering the tools, theory, and practical exercises.

• Introduction Lecture of the Animation Principles vs Physics Principles.

• Exercise 1. Bouncing ball on place, loop cycle

• Exercise 2. Bouncing ball in space, with attenuation

• Exercise 3.1. Ball with tail, bouncing on place, loop cycle

• Exercise 3.2. Ball with tail, sliding in space

• The End and What's Next

How to approach this course:

The course has 3 main progressive exercises, and each exercise comes along with the following materials:

• Real-time animation workflow video, from start to finish.

• 1 JPG file as a starting planning sheet.

• 1 PDF file as keynotes from video lessons, covering all the animation tools, animation theory, as well as specific animation workflows.

• Multiple FLA files (source files) are saved as progressive files for each video lesson.

• With each exercise, you get increased complexity of animation principles, tools, and workflows.

• Exported animation in multiple file formats.

Each exercise starts with a discussion around the planning sheet and then students are being introduced to the theory and tools.

Note: The first exercise comes with an introduction to Adobe Animate interface.

After this course:

The role of a character animator is to give life to characters and to create the illusion of life.

The character can be anything in terms of physical appearance, from an object to an animal, to a human or a creature. It doesn’t really matter as long as the animator makes the character feel alive, making the audience think that the character is real in terms of movement and emotions.

To understand and practice character animation you also have to learn the visual language of communication. And you start doing this only by learning the fundamentals of visual storytelling.

Once you understand the basics, you'll get a boost of artistic confidence. Think of it as constructing a high-rise building. You need a structural system, a strong underground foundation before you can start adding multiple levels of that building, one on top of the other.

This course gives you strong fundamentals that will transform an absolute beginner into a confident junior character animator.