Animation Foundations

also goes by: Animation 1, Fundamentals of Animation

Visiting Professor
Tec de Monterrey / Department of Communications & Digital Art / Querétaro, Mexico
Fall 2012 (workshop), Summer 2011 (2 sections), Fall 2010 (3 sections)

Teaching Fellow
Harvard University / Visual & Environmental Studies / Cambridge, MA
Spring 2007, Fall 2006, Spring 2006, Fall 2005, Spring 2005

Course Summary

This course is an introduction to the possibilities of animation. Students receive a foundation in techniques of traditional and digital animation. Screenings and discussions will provide history and context to the work that students produce in the studio meetings. The culmination of the class is the production of a short film from concept development through the screening of the finished project.

The course consists of a screening and a studio meeting each week. These two components inform each other; the screenings will often introduce themes that are then implemented through hands-on practice in the studios. The first half of the studio meetings will introduce basic animation techniques through in-class demonstrations and exercises produced outside of class time. The second half will mainly focus on the development and completion of the final film.

Examples of Topics Covered

Flipbooks Rotation Squash and Stretch Loops Walk Cycles Character and Acting Cutouts

Puppets Sound Design Lip Synch Concept Development Storyboarding Moodboards Animatics

Pixilation Rotoscoping Mixed Media and Materials Compositing Editing

Software Covered

After Effects
Flash
Final Cut Pro / Premiere
Corel Painter
stop-motion software