Animation Introduction to 2D Digital Animation in Harmony

Catalog description

In this course, students will develop animation and micro storytelling skills by focusing on the process of creating frame-by-frame digital drawings and keyframe movement for animation. This course will serve as an introduction to both the professional digital software Harmony by Toon Boom and the process of digital drawing and character movement. Instruction will include line style, visualization, character development, continuity, timing, and compositing. All production steps required to develop simple, 2D digital animations will be demonstrated and applied through exercises aimed at the production of a single animated scene. Students will develop and refine their personal style through exercises in digital animation and assignments directed at increasing visual understanding. Students will learn about body mechanics and motion flow in the development of animated characters and backgrounds through techniques that include walk cycles, rotating forms, transformations, holds, smear frames, squash and stretch, weight, and resistance. Additional instruction will include techniques in pencil-test animation, camera and layer animated movements, color palettes, and lip syncing. This course will provide students with a working knowledge of the emerging and highly efficient software Harmony, recently adopted by the film and television animation industry. The final project will involve each student’s production of a single, refined animated scene. Students interested in continuing in 2D digital animation will be encouraged to take the subsequent course, Intermediate 2D Animation (