Intermediate 2D Animation

Mode of delivery: Online

Duration 6 weeks

Start date 25 October 2025

Scheduled Class times 10:00-13:00 each Saturday

In addition to live online classes, participants will need to complete approximately 3 hours per week watching lectures and completing relevant exercises.

 Total Credits Non-credit bearing

Certification Certificate of attendance (students must have attended the complete course and completed in-class exercises. A formal assessment is not included as part of the course)

SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS:

Software: Krita (recommended, free to download) or any preferred 2D animation software

Hardware:

• Windows 10 or latest macOS
• Minimum 4GB RAM (8GB recommended)
• Intel/AMD multi-core processor
• Graphics tablet (e.g., Wacom) strongly recommended
• Webcam and microphone-enabled headset
• Stable internet connection

This course is for students who already understand the basics of 2D animation and want to focus on performance and storytelling. Over six weeks, you’ll develop your animation skills by working with a pre-designed character, exploring how to create believable, expressive movement. Each week explores the 12 principles of animation alongside acting for animation and movement analysis. Students will learn how to create expressive, believable characters by studying how motion reflects personality and emotion. Through hands-on exercises, performance-driven tasks, and drawing practice, the course builds both technical skill and creative confidence in animating movement with purpose.

The following topics will be covered in the course:

1. Shapes in Motion
2. What Leads and what follows
3. Main Action vs Secondary Action
4. Action vs Reaction
5. Acting for Animation
6. Lip Sync

1. Anyone who has completed the Introduction to 2D Animation course
2. Professionals in related sectors to animation – who have experience with animation software
3. Professionals in the animation sector wishing to develop skills in another part of the pipeline
4. 3D animators seeking to improve their 2D animation skills

Whether you’re an animation graduate, a 3D animator looking to strengthen your 2D animation performance skills, or a creative professional wanting to broaden your animation toolkit, this course will help you deepen your understanding of movement, timing, and character acting in 2D animation.

Pre-requisite: Completion of the Introduction to 2D Animation short course or equivalent foundational 2D animation experience.

1. Upon successful completion of the course, you will be able to:

1. Animate believable character motion using intermediate animation principles.
2. Apply effective acting and staging to enhance narrative clarity in animation.
3. Create expressive character performances using facial expression and body language.
4. Analyze and reference real-world motion to inform animation choices.
5. Produce a polished short, animated performance using a provided character design.