Animating Drawings with After Effects | CCT 078-W27

In this course, students will learn the basics of digital animation through the Adobe software After Effects. We will explore the process of bringing hand-drawn images into the digital space, preparing them for animation, and creating short films that bring our illustrations to life through digital puppet animation. After animating our own characters, scenery, and illustrated backgrounds, students will learn to export videos and prepare them for upload to YouTube and various social media. All skill levels and interests are welcome.

Learning Objectives

• Properly digitize, clean, and isolate hand-drawn characters, backgrounds, and assets for compatibility with Adobe After Effects
• Students learn the foundational mechanics of After Effects, specifically focusing on layer parenting, rigging assets, manipulating the Puppet Tool, and keyframing motion paths
• Composition timeline, adding audio/effects, and utilizing Adobe Media Encoder to output web-optimized video files

Learning Outcomes

• Rig and animate a static, hand-drawn character using keyframes and digital puppetry to create an expressive, short narrative sequence
• Render a finalized animation into an optimized MP4 format formatted correctly for upload

Who is this class for?

• All skill levels and interests are welcome!