How do Beginners Learn Animation?

It can be intimidating starting something new, especially when it has the potential to have such a huge impact on your future. It can also be super exciting when you set out as a beginner to learn animation. There’s definitely a learning curve, but learning animation is a journey that will begin with learning the 12 principles of animation, technical skills like Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects, honing your creative process, and developing an amazing demo reel. But how do beginners learn animation? There are several paths you can take to learn animation skills like design principles, Adobe After Effects and Animate, Autodesk Maya, storyboarding, and editing. Many Animators learn animation at an arts-focused school, college, or university through a degree program, but there are also plenty who learn their skills in professional training facilities. And you’ll find just as many self-taught Animators. If you’re sure that you want a career in animation, you can jump right into a career-focused bootcamp or certificate course for a faster entry into the workforce. If you have a larger budget and time for the most in-depth and immersive animation education available, you can apply to a college, university, or art school to earn a degree in animation. 

Getting Started with Animation

Before you enroll in animation classes, it can be helpful to have a basic understanding of color theory, computer literacy, and even some experience with design software like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. If you’re planning on enrolling in college, an art school, or a professional training facility, you probably won’t need any prior knowledge. Each course is different, and certain courses will have prerequisites. Some professional training facilities will even offer pre-coursework to help students prepare for learning animation. In this event, students should complete this before the start of class for the best learning outcomes. Whether you want to do traditional hand-drawn animations or you intend on going into computer graphics-based animation, you will still need to have artistic abilities and drawing skills. Although creative thinking is a skill that can be taught, it is also a skill that many creatives have innately. 

Some industry-standard animation software includes Adobe Creative Cloud, Autodesk Maya, and Blender. Access to these animation tools will be necessary for many beginner animation courses. Some education facilities offer students computers with software preloaded, while others will expect students to supply a subscription or license to animation software. You may also need to purchase course materials or an external hard drive to save your coursework and demo reel. Other materials you may want can include drawing supplies like sketch pads, colored pencils, and watercolors, a stylus pen for your mobile device, and books on animation for your library.

The First Steps When Learning Animation

The basic skills that you’ll need as a new or entry-level Animator can depend on the type of animation professional you want to be. But foundational skills almost always begin with the 12 principles of animation. These principles serve as techniques that allow animation to adhere to the laws of physics and highlight an animated character’s emotions and the overall appeal of the animation. Things like timing, exaggeration, and staging are core parts of animation that help anchor and captivate audiences. Not only does it help create realistic animations, but it also helps you bend or break the rules effectively. 

You’ll also master several popular animation software like Autodesk Maya and Adobe Premiere Pro. These tools are useful in creating animations and editing them. With their large selection of animation and computer graphics tools for modeling, texturing, lighting, and rendering, animation software helps to make your designs everything you want them to be. Other software like Adobe Creative Cloud can provide you with a suite of creative tools that allow you to bring your wildest or tamest animation ideas to reality. Proficiency in multiple animation software will ensure that you can create however you need for whatever animation role you’re in. Other basic skills that you’ll need to conquer include writing and editing, researching for character design, storyboarding, compositing, and 3D modeling. Learning these skills gives you a bit more range as an animator. 

Free Animation Tools for Beginners

Many animation beginners aren’t completely convinced that animation is the right career path for them. If you find that you too are unsure about animation, experimenting with free animation tools can help you make the decision. Free tools are also very helpful in supplementing your education. They allow you to get some additional practice while also increasing your confidence.

Free animation tools include Adobe Animate, Cinema 4D Lite, Powtoon, Vyond, Moho, and DigiCel FlipBook. While most of these tools do have a paid version, you can also have access to limited features for free or through a free trial. You can use these to learn a variety of animation techniques and explore the tools. You may find that the learning curve is too steep and that you’d rather take a class to more efficiently learn to navigate the software, or you may learn that you prefer one animation tool over another.

There’s a lot you can do with animation tools, and product makers want you to make their animation tool one of your go-to animators. Most companies that offer free animation tools also offer some insights on how to use their products. Through videos, articles, and tutorials, you can learn how to use animation tools for character rigging, 2D and 3D animations, creating visual effects, and creating engaging videos and presentations. Exploring these tools will help you start to learn animation skills and give you some preparation for what you can look forward to learning in a live animation course. 

Live Animation Training for Beginners

You’ll find that there are many advantages to enrolling in live animation training for beginners. The main reason most people opt for live training is because it’s the most traditional and widely accepted method for learning new skills. Not only is it thought to be the most efficient, but also the most effective way to learn. It offers students plenty of support, guidance, personalized feedback, hands-on guided practice, and networking opportunities. Live animation training is a great choice for anyone, however, if you have a particularly tight or erratic schedule, you may find live courses to be stressful to incorporate into your existing schedule. 

Guided and structured learning is the biggest advantage of enrolling in live animation training. Whether you choose live online learning or in-person learning, having an instructor to help you through the coursework, provide personalized feedback, and invest in your animation future is invaluable. Without a live instructor, you may find it difficult to figure out the most logical order to take courses and how to troubleshoot animation challenges when they arise. Receiving hands-on guidance can help you feel more self-assured and learn more efficient ways of navigating animation tools. Personalized feedback is a form of support that anyone who wants to improve and grow as an Animator looks forward to. Live training also gives you more opportunities to interact with your peers and build lasting networks that can be beneficial to your career as a professional Animator. 

Another huge advantage to live training is accountability. When you have peers and an instructor, you’re more likely to be motivated to complete the coursework, engage with it in more meaningful ways, and meet class expectations. On-demand courses and free online resources do not provide this level of engagement or accountability. It’s easy to slack off, procrastinate, and completely abandon self-paced coursework, even when you’ve paid for it. In comparison to live courses, there is very little accountability in on-demand animation courses. This partnership between instructor and student works to the student's advantage by encouraging growth and advancement. 

The Next Step

If you already have experience with using animation software or a foundational understanding of animation, you may be interested in learning more through advanced animation courses. These include advanced single-topic courses, bootcamps, and certificate programs. Advanced courses are typically better suited to those who are pacing their education to better fit their schedule and budget and professionals looking to upskill in their current careers. Moving into advanced animation courses will give you more depth and range in your animation projects, deepen your understanding of techniques, concepts, and tools, and develop a higher-quality demo reel. You can look forward to learning advanced uses of animation tools like Adobe After Effects and Photoshop, 3D project rendering, incorporating AI into projects, and editing video and audio. 

Have you already completed a beginner’s animation course and decided that animation is best the career path for you? Consider enrolling in this Video Editing & Motion Graphics Certificate course where you’ll learn video editing principles, advanced After Effects, and Premiere Pro techniques. You’ll also get a bonus lesson in either AI for Video & Motion Graphics or Adobe Photoshop Bootcamp. It’s helpful to be familiar with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop but not required when enrolling in this 126-hour certificate program. This is a beginner-friendly certificate program that also covers post-production and animation concepts and techniques. Students can take advantage of one free course retake and 1-on-1 mentoring sessions outside of the scheduled class times. Full-time and part-time schedules are available to better meet student needs.

Do you already know the basics of Adobe After Effects and want to start working with Cinema 4D? Take your animation skills a little deeper with Cinema 4D in After Effects Bootcamp. This course will teach you how to integrate Cinema 4D Lite with After Effects to create animated 3D models and motion graphics. After completing this bootcamp, you’ll have learned the skills to create and work with 3D models, assign textures, create animations, and use the Cineware effect for seamless integration in an 18-hour, live, project-based bootcamp. Students can view recorded class sessions to reinforce their understanding and can retake the course for free once if needed.