Course Description

Are you an animation fanatic? The kind of person who hates waking up to an alarm clock for school but can always jump out of bed for Saturday morning cartoons? Does “taking notes” in class mean constantly doodling and day-dreaming about far-away fantasy worlds and colorful characters? If so, 2D Animation & Digital Art is the program for you! You could step into one of these exciting and rewarding careers:

  • Digital Animator
  • Character Designer
  • Storyboard Revisionist
  • Layout Artist
  • Background Artist
  • Illustrator

 

2D Animation Training College

Animated characters are no longer seen only in Saturday morning cartoons or on the big screen—they’ve worked their way into online games, apps, TV commercials…pretty much everywhere you look! Though media may be ever-changing, our connection with animated characters will always remain. And the way in which those characters are brought to life today remains true to the early days of classical animation…So! Are you ready to take your place at the drawing board?! You will break into the job market with a professional portfolio and demo reel, showcasing your talent and your style to potential employers. A solid grasp of 2D Animation remains one of the key foundational skills many studios look for in hiring animators. Graduates of this program can be found working on some amazing projects, including: Rick and Morty • Rocket Monkeys • Camp Lakebottom • Teen Titans GO When our instructors aren’t in-class with students, they can be found working in the animation industry for animation studios such as: Atomic Cartoons • Yeti Farm Creative • Disney Interactive • Mercury Filmworks This accelerated program will give you the skills and training you need to dive into the animation industry, including: character design—layout and production—Digital Painting—Life Drawing—Cell Animation—Design for Online and Mobile Games—and more!

“Everyone and everything you connect with at kennysoft film academy is your best resource to ensure that you make the most out of your passion and talent.” –James peterson

Course Flow

In this introductory quarter, you will learn the practical skills and knowledge that form the foundation of visual art in animation. In your initial Character Animation course, you will be introduced to the principles of animation and the application of traditional drawing in 2D animation. You will get an Introduction to the Animation Industry which covers the history of animation, its changing cultural significance, major past and current players/influencers, types of animation (2D, 3D, stop-motion, motion capture, etc.). In your first Life Drawing course, weekly life drawing sessions will train you to render the human form accurately – a skill essential to 2D Animation.

In your second quarter, you will build upon the fundamental principles of animation acquired in your first quarter with further traditional study of human and animal mechanics and acting. You will concentrate on fine tuning your life drawing skills such as shading, perspective, anatomy, proportions, and other elements essential to artistically represent the human form. The principles and rules of linear and organic perspective are covered alongside other drawing elements. Digital painting and design for animation will be introduced to complement and broaden your artistic palette.

In your third quarter, you will transition from traditional animation into Digital Character Animation where, in addition to animating with studio quality assets, you will be introduced to the tools and techniques of working in this digital medium. You will continue with more advanced life drawing training in which you will gain further knowledge of anatomy, structure, composition, line weight and rendering for portraying the human and animal form alongside developing the techniques and principles for strong character design. You will also become familiar with Storyboarding, where you will practice creating sequential art to convey story and character in visual media.

In your fourth quarter, you will continue honing the process and techniques of 2D Digital Character Animation through the application of industry standard methods and software tools. You will add essential breadth to your 2D art portfolio through traditional mixed media study in life drawing with water color painting, marker and ink rendering, pencil and pastel as well as design principles and elements as it relates to design in animation. You will begin the pre-production process of pitching and developing an idea for your final project which allows you to explore the creative freedom of realizing your own idea, while putting into practice everything you have learned about the process of an animated show pipeline.

In this crucial final quarter, you will benefit from the guidance and mentoring of your professional instructors and success coaches designed to aid you in securing employment after graduation. Digital Character Animation will continue to teach and reinforce more advanced techniques, allowing you to hone your animation skills to the level of employability. Your final project will enter the key production phase and you will learn to use digital editing and post-production processes in the delivery of this final project and professional demo reel and portfolio site.