Looking to learn a bit of animation. Anyone know any good resources or classes for this?

[brettb_draws]

I'm looking to learn some animation so that I can add some animated elements to my illustrations and possibly practice making animatics for a storyboard portfolio.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good affordable learning resources for this?

As with most new things, it's very overwhelming to figure out where the best place is to start. I know there's a lot of things that go into it like drawing, timing, camera angles/movement etc.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@brettb_draws not really sure but... Aaron Blaise?

[lizardillo]

I recommend these two books. The Richard Williams book is kind of the animation world’s go-to resource I think. It’s full of technical information. The Preston Blair one is less technical and has how to draw characters. If I had to pick one, I would choose Richard Williams.

[ajillustrates]

@brettb_draws I agree entirely with @lizardillo - Richard Williams The Animator's Survival Kit is basically the Bible for the principals of animation. I keep my copy by my desk at the office, so if I ever hit a snag on a walk cycle or a trying to figure out a bit of anticipation or follow-through around an action, I can grab it for quick reference. For more of a top-down, full picture view of the animation process (especially from a traditional point of view), The Illustion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson is an incredible resource as well.

[ajillustrates]

@lizardillo I can't tell you how offten that walk-cycle page by Richard Williams has bailed me out!

[lizardillo]

@ajillustrates it’s an absolute saviour isn’t it! You can see by the amount of coffee spilt on the cover that it’s always in reach

[brettb_draws]

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Thanks! I love Aaron Blaise's work, I watch his livestreams all the time.

[brettb_draws]

@lizardillo Thank you ! I have The Animator's Survival Kit, it really is an amazing book. I think I'm just being lazy and trying to avoid reading it it's so big ! I remember trying the walk cycle from there years ago. I'll definitely go back to it now, pretty much everywhere is recommending it.

The second book looks really cool, I want to see if I can get hold of that one. I tend to draw a lot of cartoony animal characters so that looks like it could be really useful.

Thank you !!

[brettb_draws]

@ajillustrates Thanks very much, I've never heard of that second one. I've always been interested in animation and really want to put some work into it so I'm going to be gathering as many good books like that one as I can. Thanks for the recommendation !

Yeah The Animator's Survival Kit is amazing, I've had it for over 10 years and I've never even given it a proper read through as I was interested mainly in illustration at the time. Everywhere seems to be recommending it so I'm definitely gonna have start studying from it.

[KevinTreaccar]

I do All in Gesture with Todd Bright (@brightanimation). He’s doing some two-week summer animation camps for kids and adults.

[brettb_draws]

@Kevin-Treaccar Thanks ! I'll take a look, just saw that he did some work on Lilo and Stitch, that's really cool !!