Description
In this course, students will develop character animation and micro storytelling skills by focusing on the process of creating frame-by-frame digital drawings and keyframe movement for animation. This course is essentially an introduction to both the professional digital software, Harmony by Toon Boom, and the process of digital drawing and character movement. Instruction will be based in the software, Toon Boom Harmony Premium, and will include line style, visualization, character development, continuity, timing, and compositing. All the production steps required to develop simple 2D character digital animations will be demonstrated and applied through exercises aimed at the production of a single animated scene. Participants 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, filters and effects through nodes, color palettes, and lip syncing. During the fall semester, students will concentrate on character designs, rotations, walk cycles, action movements, and the fundamentals of animation. Through weekly exercises, students will gain knowledge of basic animation principles and gain skills in digital techniques. As we move through the semester, pencil test style character animation will become more complex with emphasis on multiple movements, lip syncing, and character development. During the spring semester, students will begin to create fully realized character animations which will include complex background imagery, character interactions, scene construction, and narrative development. The final project will be a short character animated film that will be screened at the end of the spring semester. 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%