Discover a career in motion graphics, a field of visual design linked with digital animation and film editing. Learn how to create animated images for Photoshop and Illustrator designs, and understand the tools used in the film and television industry for special effects and post-production edits.
Key Insights
- Motion graphics refers to digital animation and film editing. Tools used in this field include Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Cinema 4D.
- Skills in motion graphics can enhance a variety of professions, from web designers, social media marketers, digital advertisers to film editors and brand managers.
- Adobe offers a subscription-based licensing system for their software, with various programs including Adobe After Effects and Adobe Cinema 4D available at about $21/month.
- Noble Desktop provides hands-on training in motion graphics, with courses available in Adobe After Effects and Cinema 4D, as well as career-focused programs like their Motion Graphics Certificate program.
- Free online tutorials and resources are available for those looking to familiarize themselves with the basics of motion graphics.
- Professionals in fields that use digital animation skills, such as graphic artists, illustrators, film editors, and brand managers, can see a significant improvement in their work and job opportunities by gaining motion graphics skills.
The cost of motion graphics applications will depend on how one chooses to license these programs and how many they opt to license. While free trials are available, users can expect to pay about $20/month per program, though some bundled packages can decrease this cost.
What is Motion Graphics?
Motion graphics refers to the field of visual design concerned with digital animation and film editing. Here, students will learn the tools that will allow them to create animated images that can be layered onto Photoshop and Illustrator designs, giving motion to otherwise static images. Motion graphics training also serves as an entry into the world of film editing, as motion graphics classes will teach students how to use the tools that are used in the film and television industry to create special effects and post-production edits. Motion graphics tools create animated web assets, digital logos, responsive and interactive infographics, and other animated visual content.
Motion graphic artists use Adobe After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Cinema 4D to build animated designs and assets. Using these tools, motion design artists can produce vibrant animations that fully utilize the digital canvas. Motion design also relates closely to video editing, so motion graphics training will cover how creatives use digital tools to both cut and mix film clips. Additionally, the training covers how to edit those clips using tools to correct colors, use green screens, and replace cell phone displays. These skills will allow creatives to take static designs and enhance them with dynamic motion animations that give life to their visions.
Read more about what motion graphics is and why you should learn it.
What Can You Do with Motion Graphics?
With motion graphics training, students will learn how to build dazzling graphic animations that add life to their creative projects. Using After Effects and Premiere Pro will give students the training to start working with complex, animated graphic designs, ranging from digital animations to animated logos and infographics. Using these tools will allow students to create elaborate animations that will take their graphic design projects to the next level. By learning how to render animations in Cinema 4D, creatives will be able to develop the skills necessary for entering into an in-demand career field.
Motion graphics is closely related to film editing, and learning these tools is ideal for anyone hoping to work in the digital side of the film and television industry. Special Effects Artists and Film Editors use motion graphics animation skills, particularly those working on effects-heavy content. Whether you hope to be part of a professional design team that brings fantastic scenarios and characters to life or just want to enhance your creative projects by adding animated assets and elements, learning motion graphics skills will help you achieve those goals. In addition, learning motion graphics skills will help students expand their creative toolkits and begin working on even more exciting projects.
In-Depth Review of the Cost
When starting with motion graphics training, there is a required tool, a recommended tool, and a few tools that will make life easier but not be required. Users will need a tool like Adobe After Effects that is dedicated to motion graphics animation. They will also likely need a tool like Premiere Pro that lets them integrate some of those animations into video files. Beyond this, tools like Photoshop and Illustrator are helpful but not required.
Adobe has moved to a subscription-based licensing system, meaning that users will pay a monthly fee to access various programs that make up the Adobe Creative Cloud. At the time of writing, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Cinema 4D come together with a single subscription of about $21/month. The specific cost will depend on whether you opt for an annual or a monthly subscription and your region.
This price is the same for almost all of Adobe’s creative applications. However, they also allow users to bundle all the applications in a single subscription of about $54 per month, which is a significant saving if you use three or more programs. Adobe also offers users a one-month trial subscription to Adobe Stock, Adobe’s library of royalty-free images and assets. After the one-month trial, this service will cost users $20 a month.
Adobe offers free trial subscriptions to each of these programs, and they do not need to be taken concurrently, so users can slowly acclimate to their new applications. However, it is worth noting that once the trial expires or a user has begun a subscription, they will need to maintain their Creative Cloud subscription to access their work.
Why Learn Motion Graphics?
Learning motion graphics skills is a great way to improve your creative work and open the door to high-paying job opportunities in diverse industries. Digital animation skills are utilized by Web Designers looking to build animated assets for web pages, Social Media Marketers, Digital Advertisers hoping to create more eye-catching ad campaigns, and Graphic Artists and Illustrators who work in the film, television, and video game industries. Even Film Editors, 2D animators, and Brand Managers stand to benefit from learning how to use tools like Premiere Pro and After Effects.
Motion graphics training is also useful for creatives who want to break into creative industries such as online content creation. As the medium expands and the marketplace gets increasingly crowded, learning motion graphics skills to enhance your digital content is a good way to set yourself apart from other creators. If you’ve spent time online, you know the difference between a professional quality video and a video produced by someone without the proper training to make it look as good as it can look. Learning motion design skills will help you ensure that your content looks professional-quality, even if you are the only person building it.
Read more about why you should learn motion graphics.
Free Introductory Motion Graphics Course Online
If you aren’t ready to dive into an entire motion graphics course, you may wish to consider taking advantage of some of the free online tutorials and resources available to you. These courses won’t replace professional skills training for students who want to build a career out of their motion graphics skills. Still, they are great places to become familiar with the basics and comfortable with the applications before enrolling in a paid training program.
Noble provides students with a variety of different free resources to help ease students into a motion graphics education. On the Video Editing & Motion Graphics playlist of their official YouTube page, Noble provides students with free introductory seminars that provide a basic overview of the tools and techniques associated with motion graphics. On their main website, Noble’s free seminar page provides students with frequently updating video tutorials that serve as beginner-friendly courses, such as Getting Started in Motion Graphics, Intro to After Effects, and Intro to Premiere Pro. These seminars give students a taste of the kinds of training that they will receive when they enroll in a live online motion graphics course through Noble.
Since they are the tools most commonly used by Motion Graphic Artists, students may also wish to take advantage of some of the free tutorials Adobe provides for Premiere Pro and After Effects. These brief tutorials give students a basic walkthrough of the features and functions of these tools. They are ideal for students looking to familiarize themselves with how to navigate the application interface. Free tutorials are available through other service providers, such as Udemy and Coursera.
Read about more free motion graphics videos and online tutorials.
Learn Motion Graphics with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop
Students looking to learn motion design skills should consider the hands-on training options available through Noble Desktop. Noble offers courses for experienced and novice designers covering specific skills like After Effects alongside more career-focused bootcamps like their Motion Graphics Certificate program. Available both in-person at Noble’s Manhattan campus and online, these courses are taught by experienced instructors who are there to help provide students with feedback and assistance on their designs. Even online, class sizes are small, ensuring that students won’t have to fight for their instructors' attention. Plus, all these courses offer a free retake option for students, letting them take the course again within one year. This gives students the chance to go back over skills they had difficulty with, attend missed lessons, or get more hands-on experience with motion graphics tools.
For students who have some design experience or who just want to learn a new tool to add to their creative toolkit, Noble offers several skills bootcamps designed to teach students how to use Adobe After Effects and Cinema 4D. These courses are designed to introduce novice users to the basic functions of these essential design tools. Students will learn how to build simple animated images and layer them onto Photoshop and Illustrator designs. Then, students seeking more training can take Noble’s After Effects Advanced course to learn how to composite video footage, animate shape and text layers, and learn practical chroma key skills. These courses don’t require knowledge of Illustrator and Photoshop, but some proficiency is very helpful. Students interested in receiving this background training should look at the graphic design courses offered through Noble.
Students seeking a more career-focused training course may wish to consider Noble’s Motion Graphics Certificate program. In this course, students will learn how to use Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Cinema 4D to create motion graphic designs and edit video clips. Students will get hands-on experience working on the kinds of creative projects they will work on when they enter the workforce. A part of their training will be a professionalization seminar designed to teach them how to get involved in the motion graphics and video editing industry. In addition, students will receive one-on-one career mentorship from Noble’s career professionals and dedicate substantial time to building a practical demo reel that students can bring onto the job market.
Students interested in learning more about these courses or looking into their other training opportunities should consider Noble's motion graphics design courses.
How to Learn Motion Graphics
Master motion graphics with hands-on training. Motion graphics design describes the process of creating animated images, which today requires specialized software like After Effects or Cinema 4D.
- Motion Graphics Certificate at Noble Desktop: live, instructor-led course available in NYC or live online
- Find Motion Graphics Classes Near You: Search & compare dozens of available courses in-person
- Attend a motion graphics class live online (remote/virtual training) from anywhere
- Find & compare the best online motion graphics classes (on-demand) from the top providers and platforms
- Train your staff with corporate and onsite motion graphics training