AFS Summer Education Series: Animation

Continuing Education  Summer Education Series

Gain hands-on experience in animation using today’s digital tools with this week-long Continuing Education series. Throughout a series of classes, you will learn about character design, storyboarding, stop-motion animation, and 3D animation — including a new class on 2D animation — taught by professional animators. Explore your creativity and acquire in-demand skills applicable to comic, video game, film, and TV production.

This series is offered as a single class pass, which includes all workshops associated with the Animation Series (see list below). All workshops are held at Austin Public. Purchasing the class pass today guarantees your spot for the series. More details about the workshops will be sent to registrants closer to the event.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

Character Design for Animation
July 21, 5–10 PM

Storyboarding for Animation
July 22, 5–9 PM

Intro to 2D Animation – NEW!
July 23, 4–9 PM

Intro to 3D Animation
July 24, 4–9 PM

Stop-Motion Animation
July 25, 4–9 PM

CLASS DESCRIPTIONS

Character Design for Animation (July 21)
Instructor: Will Rodriguez

In this class, artists will have the chance to explore shape and color theories and how they apply to the creation or improvement of characters. We will explore the development of original characters, how to improve your existing characters, and how to make those characters relatable and relevant, all while ensuring you can convince an audience to invest in your characters’ growth and outcomes. We will study the success of existing characters and compare those to the successes of more contemporary characters in comics and animated films. This class will require a fundamental understanding of figure drawing and basic rendering techniques. 

Storyboarding for Animation (July 22)
Instructor: Will Rodriguez

In this class, you will have the chance to explore the realm of sequential storytelling through the drawn medium. We will study how to use camera angles to set a mood and how to use perspective drawing to capture the best angles. We will flesh out how to establish a visual “hook” between sequential images as well as how to deliver that story’s hook. We will delve into both digital and traditional storyboarding as well as introduce the marriage of visual and audio storytelling in the form of animatics. 

Intro to 2D Animation – NEW! (July 23)
Instructor: Andrew Augustin

In this class, we will take a look at how 2D animation is used in both film and video games while learning the foundational principles that bring drawings to life. Students will get hands-on experience with timing, spacing, squash and stretch, and other key concepts that form the building blocks of animation. By the end of the session, you will understand how to begin creating your own animations using accessible tools and simple techniques. 

Intro to 3D Animation (July 24)

Blender is a free- and open-source 3D creation suite, and it supports the entirety of the 3D pipeline: modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing and motion tracking, and even video editing and game creation. Those who take this class will learn Blender and the basics of 3D animation software and workflows. 

Stop-Motion Animation (July 25)
Instructor: Cesar Guevara

In this course, you will learn the basics of stop-motion animation and will use these techniques to create a short video project.