Animation Tasting Menu will cover the fundamentals of motion and how you can apply those foundations to a variety of animation techniques. Over four weeks we’ll sort through the various types of animation and why you might choose one over another. Taught in a combination of lectures and Slack discussions, Animation Tasting Menu will expose you to the many different facets of animation, from frame-by-frame, to stop-motion, to keyframes. Although you won't necessarily leave this class with the skills and abilities to animate your dream project, this class aims to give you the basic terms, foundational knowledge, and paths you can follow to start you on your animation journey.

Animation Tasting Menu aims to meet you where you are, whether you’ve never animated anything before, or maybe you’ve animated in one medium and are looking to expand your methods and techniques toolkit. We'll answer questions like: “Why would I use keyframes over drawing each frame?” “How does my animation get that wiggly thing with the lines?” “How can I animate my illustrations?” “What software should I use?” “Why does my animation look so unnatural?” and more.

Come to this class with examples of Instagram clips, movies, UI animations, Dribbble shots, commercials or any other piece of animated content and we’ll discuss what methods the artist(s) probably used to create the works and what you need to do to create work in a similar style. The aim of this class is to give you a sturdy foundation on all the options you have for animation and from there you can choose to specialize and flourish with knowledge of where to go next.

Elliot is an animator, artist, and illustrator. They successfully launched a Kickstarter for a stop-motion short film called Planted (https://vimeo.com/486123057) and were an animation resident at GBH in Boston. They specialize in a broad range of skills and techniques and are excited to share the knowledge they’ve amassed.

Week 1: Motion 101
How do things move and how can we best represent and recreate motion?

Week 2: Traditional Animation
Hand-drawn animation, cel animation...there are a lot of names for it.

Week 3: Stop Motion
Stop-motion, stop-frame, claymation, puppets, etc.

Week 4: Keyframes
Motion controlled by keyframes...useful in everything from After Effects to 3D animation to CSS Animations

We are offering a number of free, need-based scholarships to this course.

Index scholarships are designed to benefit underrepresented groups, BIPOC members of our community, and those for whom the class price is not accessible. These need-based scholarships will go to the candidates who best demonstrate why they should be chosen for the free spot to our class based on the following criteria:

The selected applicants:

• Belong to groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the graphic design and creative industries
• Do not have jobs that would pay for these courses as professional development
• Cannot independently afford the class at list price
• Share our value of intentional community
• The number of selected applicants chosen is subject to the discretion of Index and the instructor, but every course will select at least one.