Animation Bootcamp
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Accelerate Your Animation Career in 12 Weeks!
Animation Bootcamp teaches you the art of beautiful movement. In this course, you'll learn the principles behind great animation, and how to apply them in After Effects. By the end of this course, you'll have multiple animated videos, created with professional assets and guidance that can be added to your portfolio.
Cohort-based learning
Exercises & Project Files for Every Lesson
Technical & Creative Support Along the Way
Verified Credential Upon Course Completion
Course Overview
Come join the most popular animation course on the internet! Knowing HOW to do something in After Effects is great, but knowing WHAT to do—and WHY you’re doing it—is even better. Understanding the principles of good Animation is the key to creating amazing, fluid work. Animation Bootcamp will ignite your ability to create beautiful movement through in-depth lessons, exercises, and critique. Prepare to be lightyears ahead of the competition.
Animation Bootcamp is more than just learning tips and tricks. We’re going to break down the importance of design, perform character studies, and explore how the principles of animation are used across the industry, from freelancers making TV commercials to feature films. You’ll practice techniques and create videos that meet the professional standard you’ll need to excel in the real world.
What You'll Learn
Each week is jam-packed with intense learning. While you have some flexibility in how you tackle your workload, the course is curated in a specific order. We build up foundations that support more and more advanced techniques with lessons to practice your new skills along the way.
Animation Bootcamp is meant to be a challenge, so we’re starting off with an evaluation to see exactly where you’re starting out. Your TA will also help orient you to how the course will progress so you can prepare for the work ahead.
Start the week by learning how keyframes—and the space between—affect your animation. You’ll gain an understanding of easing, which enables you to create animation that “feels right.” In the second part of the week, you’ll apply your knowledge of spacing using a Value Graph.
This week we'll introduce the Speed Graph and work on curved motion. Once you have an understanding of both Speed and Value graphs, it’s time to put them to work on your first two Principles of Animation: Anticipation and Overshoot.
Now that you know the foundations of making a realistic animation, master a realistic ball bounce using: regular rubber, a golf ball, and a bowling ball. This exercise will have you really thinking about how animation should look and feel. You’ll also learn about the animation principles Follow-Through and Overlapping Animation, adding another level of realism with swaying, trailing, or secondary elements such as tails and feathers.
This week, you will add realism through Squash and Stretch. This important principle helps reinforce weight and volume in a mass as it moves and collides with other objects. We’ll also cover adding secondary animations to your work, which are flourishes that add visual excitement and reinforce movement.
Our courses are intense, use this focus week to finish any work you haven't gotten to. You’ll also have access to bonus content covering Extensions and Scripts in After Effects, allowing you to automate tedious tasks and improve your workflow.
Now that you have the basics down, let's explore some more advanced concepts. You’ll work on mastering two "non-traditional" principles of animation: Reinforcing Movement and Eye Trace. These are both especially important in Motion Design where you aren't always working with Character. Instead your job is to guide the viewer's eye through the motion of the designs on screen.
Once you master the principles of animation, you can bend them to your will. During this final week, have some fun creating a non-traditional piece that mimics stop motion in After Effects. After that you’ll start the final assignment, putting all your skills together to animate a full :60 second piece. Get ready to set a lot of keyframes!
The final 4 weeks of class are Extended Critique. You can use this time to catch up, complete your final project, and then turn it in for critique.
What You'll Get
School of Motion courses are custom-built to provide you with an unmatched learning experience. We want you to actually enjoy logging into your classes, and we’ve designed our programs to be the most effective form of online education out there. In every course, you’ll get:
Join artists from around the world on our custom learning platform. Never learn alone, as you’ll have immediate access to a forum of fellow students to share work, ask questions, and improve together.
Each course comes packed with free project files, assets, and additional material to keep you learning and growing long after the course ends. Our exercises are designed from real world briefs, so you’re learning the skills you need to excel on your next project or venture.
You’ll be assigned a Teaching Assistant with years of experience in your chosen course. They’ll provide technical and creative feedback to guide you through new skills, improve your techniques, and provide encouragement along your journey.
Completing a course isn’t just about bragging rights. Once you’ve completed at least 70% of your work in a given course, you’ll earn a verified credential that can show current and future employers exactly what you’ve accomplished.
We all need a refresher now and again, which is why you’ll keep access to your course—and all the assets and project files—for the rest of your life. Come back to listen to exclusive interviews, review old lessons, and try out new techniques using your old assets.
You’ll gain instant access to our alumni platform, The Square. Here you can network with professional artists at every stage of their career. You’ll get access to new job opportunities and exclusive alumni events, such as meetups, virtual hangouts and reel reviews.
Upcoming Course Dates
Enroll Now
Our cohort-based leaning program runs on a designated schedule, so you’ll always have a group of like-minded artists working alongside you for support and encouragement. We offer multiple sessions each year, so choose the best start date for you and get ready to go!
Pay the full amount all at once. The simplest, lowest-cost option.
Pay the full amount all at once. The simplest, lowest-cost option.
One payment now, two more 30 and 60 days from now = $1245.
Pay the full amount all at once. The simplest, lowest-cost option.
Pay the full amount all at once. The simplest, lowest-cost option.
One payment now, two more 30 and 60 days from now = $1245.
Pay the full amount all at once. The simplest, lowest-cost option.
Pay the full amount all at once. The simplest, lowest-cost option.
One payment now, two more 30 and 60 days from now = $1245.
Course Instructor
Prior to starting School of Motion, Joey was the Creative Director and Lead Animator at Toil in Boston, MA. There he lead projects for clients like Subway, McDonalds, Progressive, Saucony, and many other high-profile brands. He has also freelanced extensively for studios and agencies, working on network rebrands for Speed, Discovery, HBO, and SyFy. He's been using After Effects for close to 20 years and is one of the baldest dudes you'll ever meet.
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FAQs
How do I know if this course is right for me?
This course is a good fit for those that are comfortable using After Effects and are looking to take their work to the next level. Animation Bootcamp teaches the principles of animation that push you to learn beyond the After Effect's interface. After all, there's much more to being animator than simply being good at After Effects.
What are the prerequisites?
To succeed in this course you should be comfortable with After Effects and capable of creating basic animations. If you are not there yet, you should consider starting with After Effects Kickstart, an 8-week introductory course that will have you animating in no time!
What is the required software?
The minimum software requirements are:
- Adobe After Effects CC 2014 (13.0 or Higher)
- Adobe Flash Professional CC 2014 (14.0 or Higher - Important Note: This is now called Adobe Animate CC as of version 2015.1 (15.1)
*To access other students' project files you will likely need the most current version of After Effects.
What is the course format?
Animation Bootcamp is a 12-week course. Lessons become available at a specific time each week but you can watch them and do your work whenever it is convenient for you. The lessons include pre-recorded videos, podcasts, PDFs and assignments with working files. All student work is critiqued by our highly trained Teaching Assistants. School of Motion TA's are professional Animators with real life experience in the industry. During the course you will be invited to a private classroom that contains all of the students and Teaching Assistants in your session. This is a great tool for connecting, asking or answering questions, sharing thoughts or insights, and winning cool contests!
How much time do I need to commit?
Animation Bootcamp is a 12 week course. You'll have the flexibility to watch the course content and complete your course work on your schedule. However, you can expect to commit at least 15 - 20 hours per week on course material. The video lesson are 1-2 hours in length. There are 13 assignments total. Assignments are typically assigned on Mondays and Thursdays with soft deadlines the next day. We have designated catch-up weeks built into the schedule so students have extra time to complete their assignments if needed. There is also an extended critique add-on for those that want more time with a Teaching Assistant after the 12-week course or need more time to complete assignments towards earning a credential.
Do I get a certificate at the end of the course?
Yes, if you complete, submit, and have 70% of your course assignments approved by your Teaching Assistant you will be eligible for a Course Credential through Credly. With your Credly Course Credential, you can share your accomplishments across your social networks, the blockchain, or to print out yourself.
Can I access my course content after the course ends?
Yes! Once you complete Animation Bootcamp, you’ll have lifetime access to all the course lessons and materials, so you can revisit them whenever you like. Also, if we make any changes to Animation Bootcamp following your session, you’ll automatically receive access to the latest version.Please note: Video critiques change each session, so you’ll only have access to the video critiques during the session you're enrolled in. The written critiques you receive in your homework locker as well as the classroom content will also remain available to you forever!
