How to Learn Animation for Beginners: A Comprehensive Guide

Dreaming of building a career in animation? Animation, in its simplest terms, gives the illusion of movement to inanimate objects through a series of pictures. This guide provides essential information for beginners eager to delve into the world of animation, outlining techniques, tools, and resources to help you get started.

What is Animation?

Animation is the art of bringing inanimate objects to life through a sequence of images. Traditionally, this involved photographing successive drawings, models, or puppets. Early cartoons were meticulously crafted by hand, with images drawn or painted on transparent celluloid sheets. These sheets were then photographed, and when the frames were displayed rapidly, they created the illusion of movement. Think of the classic Disney cartoons - Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Aladdin, The Lion King - all created using this painstaking process.

Over time, animation evolved with the advent of computers. Artists began using computers to create illustrations and animation software programs to animate them. The fluidity of movement depends on how long each consecutive image is displayed on the screen. Whether hand-drawn or computer-generated, the principle remains the same. A common practice is to shoot moving characters "on twos," displaying each image for two frames, resulting in 12 illustrations per second. A higher frame rate creates smoother movements. On average, an animated film has a frame rate of 24 frames per second.

Types of Animation

There are several different types of animation techniques. Here are five of the most common:

Traditional Animation (Cel Animation)

Also known as cell animation, this involves drawing an object in a series of movements on transparent celluloid paper. Like a flipbook, a mechanism flashes each celluloid film on a camera to give the illusion of movement. It’s a detailed process and is one of the oldest forms of animation in filmmaking.

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2D Animation

Similar to traditional animation, 2D animation utilizes digital software to create characters and environments in two dimensions. Vector-based animation, a subset of 2D, uses mathematical values to resize images, resulting in smooth movements. Instead of repeatedly drawing images with incremental movements, characters move along vectors - pathways with various start and endpoints.

3D Animation

This method uses computers and animation software programs to create and animate characters in a three-dimensional environment. The animator creates the character, which is then animated using a computer program. Digital frames are set allowing all parts of the body to move. The software uses mathematical calculations to create realistic movements in every frame. A contemporary form of animation using computer-generated images that moves in a 3D environment.

Motion Graphics

This technique utilizes pieces of digital graphics to create the illusion of movement. Unlike other forms of animation, motion graphics are not typically used for storytelling but for conveying a message.

Stop Motion Animation

One of the oldest forms of animation, stop motion involves adjusting and shooting physical objects to give the illusion of movement. The artist makes small movements in every frame, and the shots are flashed on the screen, like a flipbook. Pixelation, object-motion, claymation, and cutout animation are just a few of the many different types of stop motion animation. An old animation technique that moves a model incrementally and shot one frame at a time. The shots are flashed quickly to give the illusion of movement on-screen.

The Animation Pipeline: From Concept to Completion

One of the most common terms you’ll hear in an animation production is “pipeline.” This refers to the workflow, the order of tasks needed to complete the animation production in a preset timeline. It can be broken down into three main phases: pre-production, production, and post-production.

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Pre-Production: Planning the Animation

In animation, pre-production consists of stages that precede the actual movie-making. Before the characters are drawn, animated, and polished, there’s the planning stage. This is the stage where the story, budget, and schedules are planned and changed (repeatedly!) until the clients agree to go forward with the project.

Animation Strategy: Outlining the creative direction to achieve the end goal.
Scriptwriting: This process defines the narrative style and flow of the story. Scriptwriting sets the tone of the movie, the animation’s rhythm, etc.
Style: Defines the type of animation to use for the project.
Storyboarding: This is the final step in animation pre-production. It involves artists splitting the approved script into different sections. Each section will be drawn to create a visual narrative of the story.

Production: Bringing the Animation to Life

The production phase is the time when the actual filming of the project starts. During the production stage, animators will start with the illustration, motion graphics, voice-overs, etc. This phase is when the raw materials are produced.

Modeling: The production phase in which 2D concepts illustrated by the artists are transformed into 3D models.
Surfacing: This is the stage when colors, textures, and shaders are applied to the characters, props, and sets.
Rigging: This task requires riggers who will build 3D skeletons of the characters. They work side by side with animators to bring characters to life. Think of the characters as puppets and the riggers as the puppeteers. They will create and set controls that move the skeleton of the characters around.
Animation Prep: A team of artists starts working with other departments to create the 3-dimensional characters.
Character Animation: This is the stage in production when character animators bring the characters to life using different animation programs. Using a computer, 3D animators would pose the characters using the rig that was set by the riggers. The goal is to tell the story through the characters’ movements and expressions.
Crowds: Animators would create “crowd characters” in large crowd scenes in the movie.
Simulation: Artists would apply character effects to enhance the appearance of the characters. They are responsible for every element that moves on a character, including the hair, fur, feathers, clothing, etc. they’ll also work on the interactions made by the character with objects in the scene.
Visual Effects: FX artists work together to create significant and small actions that leave traces in a film - smoke, fire, water, destruction. Little details like objects colliding with each other or liquid simulations in glass are taken care of by the FX artists to add realism to the film.
Matte Painting: Involves the creation of background of the animation such as the skies, cityscapes, vistas, oceans, mountains, etc.
Lighting: Lighting sets the tone of the animation. It adds realism to the film. To create true-to-life lighting, lighting artists would combine 3D elements with 3D development, which will take a great deal of technical direction.

Post-Production: Finalizing the Animation

Postproduction is the final stage of film production. All the elements made while shooting the film will be organized, cut, colored, and edited to achieve the final look. Sound mixing, voiceovers, and background music are also added to the final footage. Final revisions are done until the director is satisfied with the final footage.

Compositing: All the animation elements are combined with final rendered frames to achieve the final look of the film.
Music and Sound Design: The music and sound effects have to be perfectly timed with the visuals. Otherwise, the movie will sound off.
Color Grading: The finishing touches to the final footage are applied by color graders.

The 12 Principles of Animation

The 12 Principles of Animation are animation techniques developed in the 1930s by animation pioneers Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston for Disney. The 12 Principles of Animation adhere to the fundamental laws of physics. The techniques also highlight character emotions and appeal.

Timing: Correct timing is vital to make animations as close to real-life as possible. It is measured by the number of frames between two poses. Correct timing gives you control over the tone, mood, and reaction of every character and object.
Squash and Stretch: Squash and stretch give the illusion of mass, weight, and flexibility to a character or object. A ball that stretches to the sides as it bounces up and down on the ground, for example, shows how a real ball behaves when bounced on the ground in real life. The object’s volume is always consistent.
Ease In and Ease Out (Slow in and Slow out): The acceleration and deceleration of an object or character’s movement. The time between when the moving object gains momentum and speeds up and when the movement comes to a complete stop.
Follow through and Overlapping Action: The character or object continues to move after coming to a complete stop, giving the idea that different parts of the object or character stop/move at different rates.
Arc: Adhering to the laws of physics, an object that falls will follow the natural angle or path as they fall due to the Earth’s gravitational pull. A good example would be a ball that’s tossed in the air.
Exaggeration: Movements are slightly exaggerated, so the animation does not appear static or dull.
Solid Drawing: The understanding and application of accurate volume, weight, balance, anatomy, light, and shadows in a drawing. It’s essential to remain consistent when drawing in a three-dimensional space unless the illustrations are supposed to be warped.
Appeal: The characters, objects, and environments should feel relatable to the viewer. To get this right, there should be strong character development.
Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose: This technique comprises two animation approaches: straight-ahead action and pose to pose. Straight ahead action involves drawing frame by frame from beginning to finish, while pose to pose involves drawing at the start frame and the end frame. When combined, these techniques enhance the fluidity of the movements, making the movements as realistic as possible.
Secondary Action: The actions that emphasize or support the main action of the animation. This technique is meant to support the character or object’s main action. It adds depth and dimension to the characters and objects.
Staging: Think of staging as compositing for animation; it sets the entire scene. From the placement of the characters to the foreground and background elements, staging guides the eye and draws attention to the story.

Essential Animation Tools

Essential animation tools aren’t exactly affordable, so it’s okay if you’re only using the bare essentials to start.

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Computer: You’ll need a PC for animation and rendering. If you’re just starting out, the best PC to get is the one that you can afford. Focus on the CPU, RAM, and the graphics card if able and upgrade as you work your way up. You can buy a PC or build one yourself. Your PC should have enough memory to install the animation software.
Animation Software: Part of your job as an animator is mastering different software tools. Some of these tools are Maya, Houdini, Cinema 4D, 3DS Max, Blender, LightWave 3D and ZBrush.

Industry-Standard Software

Maya: One of the leading animation software in the industry. It is universally loved for its vast selection of animation and CG tools for modeling, texturing, lighting, simulation, and rendering. It has all the tools for creating 3D scenes, special effects, presentations, and game scenes.
Houdini: Developed by SideFX, Houdini is known for its versatile performance and unprecedented power in building a range of 3D imagery. The software features a node-based procedural workflow, so it’s not for everyone. But once you’ve mastered this software, you’ll have the power to create realistic, high-quality animations. Houdini comes in different versions, but the free version is Houdini Apprentice.
Cinema 4D: An award-winning animation and rendering software used for procedural and polygonal/subd modeling, lighting, and texturing. On its own, Cinema 4D comes with a powerful toolset for easy animation and rendering. But you can boost its functionality further with inexpensive plugins.
3DS Max: Featuring a robust set of tools for 3D modeling, rigging, animation, and fluid simulation, 3DS is one versatile animation software. It’s easy to learn, especially if you already know how to use Maya.
Blender: Blender is an open-source 3D animation software that supports a 3D workflow in its entirety. It is often compared to Maya in performance, but it’s absolutely free. This software can be used for modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, and motion tracking.
LightWave 3D: LightWave 3D is an animation program developed by Texas-based software company, NewTek.
ZBrush: ZBrush is a digital sculpting and modeling toolset used to create UV maps and paint textures. Developed by Pixologic, ZBrush utilizes “pixol” technology that stores lighting, color, material, depth, and orientation information for the points consisting of all objects on the screen. The UI is non-standard, so there’s a steep learning curve.

Building Your Animation Career

Career Paths in Animation

What does your career look like as an animation artist? Apart from breathing life into digital assets, you can specialize in creating models of humans, animals, and props. You can specialize in detailed animations like skin texture, hair, eye color, etc. As for the salary, this will also depend on your skill level, but generally, animation artists are paid between $70K to $90K. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), animator jobs are set to rise to 4% between 2018 to 2028.

Building a Strong Portfolio and Demo Reel

Regardless of whether you are just getting your start in animation or a seasoned artist, it’s vital to build your portfolio. To get your foot in the door, you’ll need to put together a killer demo reel. Remember, hiring managers are busy folks; they watch thousands of demo reels in a day. A demo reel that features your best work + a Demo Reel Breakdown (DRB) and contact details will be your ticket to success. Avoid fillers; it’s better to show just a couple of your best animation samples instead of 10 mediocre ones.

Continuous Learning and Skill Development

The learning never stops when you’re an animator! You’ll need to learn different techniques and concepts to build an impressive career. You can learn these tools on your own using video tutorials online, but it will take YEARS and a deep understanding of the many artistic principles + mid-level technical skills to understand these tutorials.

Animation Education Platforms

Animation Mentor: Established in 2005, Animation Mentor is the original online animation education platform. With mentors from Pixar, Disney, Blizzard, DreamWorks, Riot Games, Industrial Light & Magic, and many other major studios, you’ll learn animation directly from the pros.

Testimonials

Best Decision I Ever Made: AM was by far the best decision I ever had the pleasure of making, and I’ve loved every minute of it. From the online resources and tech support to the mentors and classmates. Thank you for everything you all do for us. I’d definitely like to join the mentor roster one day to always be a part of Animation Mentor!
Pursue My Dream: Animation Mentor gave me an amazing opportunity to learn from such great mentors and to allow me to pursue this dream of working in animation. I’ve met some great people in person and online and I look forward to staying a part of the AM community and helping others.
Strong Support Network: The community was my biggest surprise. Being surrounded by so many people all working towards the same thing and supplemented by a strong support network really made the AM experience for me.
Opened My Eyes: Animation Mentor has opened my eyes to such an exciting industry. Before starting at AM I never dreamt I would one day be able to move characters around or even give them a soul. AM has given me more than just an invaluable education, it’s also exposed me to such wonderful mentors and an exciting future to work towards.
Incredible Community: Every term my mentors have taught me so much and pushed my animation in new ways. The AM community is incredible and the staff are awesome. It has been one of the best experiences for me!
Excited About Animation: I love how all the students in AM are so excited about animation and helping each other improve, despite having their own work to do. My mentors were also extremely passionate about what they do and helping us get to that point as well.
AM is the Best: Animation Mentor has been a lifesaver for me. I truly think that AM is the best at what it does and am glad that I chose it over any other animation class. My teachers have been phenomenal and their instruction has proven invaluable. Their dedication to the craft is what drives me to push further and not get discouraged. I’m learning new things everyday and the lessons are always exactly what I needed to move forward in my work.
Best Online Education Experience: This is the best online education experience I’ve ever had. The way you guys teach is the way I wish all online programs taught. Your teaching material is never outdated and the rigs are all top notch. The mentors are responsive and best of all, they all know what they are talking about and have real-world experience. It is in every way like having a mentor looking over me, and handing down a skill that was probably mentored to them.
Receive Feedback All Week: I am a former student of some other animation programs and one reason I like AM the most is the opportunity to give and receive feedback all week. The dailies are awesome, I’ve never seen that before. If only I knew about them sooner!
Each Mentor Has a Unique Style: Each mentor has their own unique style of teaching and connecting with the class. I think this is what I really enjoy about the classes at Animation Mentor, each one is a new experience! All of my mentors have taught me so much.

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