Motion Graphics Video Tutorials

Motion graphics is an artistic skill that uses digital design tools to construct animated assets. Using tools like Adobe After Effects, motion graphic students will learn how to bring their designs to life. Watching video tutorials online is a popular method of learning motion graphics. These resources are often free, giving students a great deal of control over the pace and style of their training. Plus, they let students work on their own schedule, practicing and training when it is convenient for them to do so. This article will cover a range of videos, including what they teach and where to find them.

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.

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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. 

Why Are Video Tutorials Helpful When Learning Motion Graphics?

Video tutorials are often helpful for new motion graphics students for a few different reasons. Most notably, they give students much greater control over the pace of their own learning, letting them pick up and put down their video tutorials at will. This is useful for students with limited scheduling flexibility and students who don’t want to feel tied down to a single kind of tutorial.

An important feature of video tutorials is the ability to pause, rewind, or navigate through the video at will. Since students are on their own and dealing with pre-recorded content, it is easy for them to navigate through the video at the pace most conducive to their learning style. If an element of the design process gives them trouble, they can rewind and hear the explanation again. If they are looking to pick up a specific skill, they can locate the part of the video that explains those skills. If they need to stop for the day, they can pause the video and resume at the same place at their earliest convenience.

In addition, video tutorials tend to be free, meaning there is no sunk cost involved in learning motion graphics skills. Students aren’t locked into a specific training regiment and can easily move to a different kind of video tutorial. Students enrolling in a motion graphics course may feel obligated to continue, despite not finding their training productive. However, changing to a different tutorial or dropping the process has no direct cost in the context of a video tutorial.

Finally, because there is a large market for online video tutorials, students will have plenty of options to choose from when looking for video tutorials. This means that students have more control over the specific kinds of tutorials they use to learn the fundamentals of motion graphics rather than being forced to choose from a more limited set of options for professional training courses that fit their needs and schedule.

Types of Motion Graphics Videos

There are a few types of motion graphics tutorial videos. The most immersive kind of tutorial is the recorded video seminar, which takes a professional online training course and condenses it into a video format. This has the advantage of giving students professional instruction and a feel for what online training may entail.

Noble offers these kinds of video tutorials on the Video Editing & Motion Graphics playlist of their official YouTube page. Here, Noble provides students with free introductory seminars intended to 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 are intended to 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.

A second common video tutorial type is a focused 10-20 minute video that covers a specific topic or element of motion graphics design. This will include videos covering specific topics like how to animate basic shapes in After Effects or using Premiere Pro to insert animation into a video file. These are also the tutorials that Adobe makes directly available to new users of their programs since they are a useful way to quickly introduce students to new concepts surrounding a program like After Effects. Plus, the algorithm commonly used by platforms such as YouTube prioritizes this kind of video, meaning that many options are available for students hoping to learn this way.

A final kind of video tutorial is a process-oriented video in which creatives guide users through the process of completing a specific animated project. These tutorials are best suited for students who are familiar with the tool being used, as they often gloss over concerns about how to use a program like After Effects. They are, however, ideal for students who want to see the process of digital animation.

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.

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How Difficult is It to Learn Motion Graphics?

Motion graphics training is among the more challenging creative design skills to learn because the processes are varied and intricate. For example, Premiere Pro and After Effects are more complex design programs than programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. While the skills are accessible, the initial learning curve can be high, and completing elaborate projects can be challenging. However, once a student is comfortable with motion graphics design programs, they will find themselves able to work on all kinds of creative projects.

There are no formal prerequisite skills to learn before beginning motion graphics training. Still, the tools are more hardware intensive than some graphic design programs, meaning prospective students should check to ensure they can run the appropriate programs. In addition, while not strictly required, knowledge of Illustrator and Photoshop will significantly ease the learning process of a few elements of motion graphics design. Students interested in building things like digital logos, animated infographics, or web animations may wish to consider looking into the graphic design training courses offered through Noble.

The direct cost of learning motion graphics is the cost of the digital design applications, most commonly After Effects and Premiere Pro. Both of these applications are available through an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Adobe does offer users a brief free trial period with both programs. After that expires, users must pay a monthly subscription fee to access the programs. Each program costs about $21 a month to license, though an Adobe After Effects subscription comes with access to Cinema 4D. All applications in the Adobe Creative Cloud can be licensed as a package for a monthly fee of about $55.

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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.