By David Knight, Illustrator & Animator
Animating Illustrations in After Effects
Course description
Ever just want to jump right into After Effects but feel it's way too complicated? This is the perfect time for you to start!
You'll be learning how to bring an illustration to life using this fabulously creative program. Firstly, we'll take a quick tour around After Effects so you can get to know the interface and from there we'll import and convert an Adobe Illustrator file for use in After Effects and then use it to do some very simple animation so you can get used to keyframing and the timeline. After that it's time to set up the main project using the illustration supplied along with the class and then you'll be learning about the pen and shape tools by creating some simple objects which you will then animate for use in the main illustration later on. During the class you will also learn about: Layer Styles Effects Expressions Masks Precomposing & Parenting Layers Using the Speedgraph Adding Textures & Stylisation Exporting to Video
This class is perfect for anyone new to animation and will provide a solid and broad grounding in After Effects so you can move on confidently and create your own work or start animating other people's projects. Animation is also a great way to get your work noticed.
See you in Class & don't forget to download your class project files!
About The Class Project:
You'll be learning how to animate an illustration using the composition supplied with the class whilst also adding animated elements of your own using the creative tools in After Effects. The main illustration consists of three different characters with foreground and background elements that can all be animated. Whilst the movements you will be animating are essentially uncomplicated, this process will help you to get more familiar with keyframing and you will also learn about using effects, expressions, adding stylisation and much more as you progress. This should provide you with enough confidence to move on to creating your own work or animating other people's once you have completed the class, whilst also providing you with the essential skills you will need to get to grips with After Effects. The aim of this project is to whet your appetite by giving you a little snapshot of the endless creative possibilities animation can provide. I’ll also be sharing my own process and providing tips and tricks along the way.
Course overview - 40
A class project overview
Getting familiar with the After Effects interface
Importing files into After Effects
Preparing files for After Effects
Introduction to the main project
Learning how to use the creative tools in After Effects
Create using the pen tool
More creative tools in After Effects
Start to animate the characters in your project
Animate the owl's body
Continuing with the Owl character's animation
Start to animate the owl's features
Begin to animate some of the scenery
Animating more of the scenery
Start to animate the character under the tree
Continue animating the character under the tree
Animate the character's head
Watching the leaf fall
Using the speedgraph in After Effects
Start to animate Mr Fox
Animate Mr Fox's ears
Animating scale to add more interest
Animating Mr Fox's eyes
Adding more detail to Mr Fox
Use an effect to animate Mr fox's tail
Animate the ferns
Animate the leaves on the tree
Animate the tree branches
Adding interest to the moon
Animating the stars
Adding textures
Adding texture to the hill
Add shadow and animate some of your textures
Adding tone to the animaton using masks
Add some tone to Mr Fox
Adding tone to the owl
Add tone to the background and sky
Finishing touches
Render & export your animaton to video
After thoughts!
Learners who have already enrolled in this course
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