The best animation classes near me

If you are a high school student looking to learn the basics of animation in preparation to create your own content or to start working towards a degree in fine arts, starting early is your best option. In this summer animation program, you’ll get immersive, live instruction in the techniques and tools that professional animators use to create complex digital 3D assets and effects. In this course, students will learn how to use Adobe After Effects to create a host of different animated effects, including title cards, 3D models, and animated web assets. This course is a hands-on introduction to animation skills and techniques that you will develop in your college-level training and professional animation work. This course will also help you develop a portfolio of sample works that can be a significant boon when applying to art schools and other professional training programs.

High school students interested in learning more about the full process of digital animation and post-production work can consider enrolling in the Summer Video Editing & Motion Graphics Program offered by NextGen Bootcamp. This accelerated course will provide students with an introduction to the basics of video editing and motion graphics design, utilizing industry-standard applications like After Effects and Premiere Pro. Students will learn important animation techniques that can be utilized to create stunning post-production effects, and they will get hands-on experience working on exercises that can be used as the basis for a demo reel that can accompany job and college applications.

Another option for those looking for animation training is a private tutoring session or individual training seminar. These training sessions give students the most control they can get over their animation education since they are one-on-one and focused on the specific skills that the scheduling student wants to learn. This can range from focused instruction on an aspect of After Effects that is giving you trouble to a personalized walkthrough of an important step in a project that you are working on. These lessons also give you a chance to get focused feedback on the specific projects that are important to you, giving you even more control over what path your animation training takes. These courses are also good for serving as supplements to more robust animation training courses since they will allow you to get more focused training on issues that are giving you trouble in your broader courses. Students can also sign up for multiple private training sessions in order to ensure that they get all of the focus and attention they need.

If you are running a business or overseeing a team of employees, there are a lot of good reasons to consider focused, corporate training options to provide your team with the skills they need to work on complex animation projects. Whether you are looking to build up a digital marketing team to produce animated online content or you are hoping to get your existing team members more familiar with applications like After Effects. These classes can be customized to fit the needs of your team, so whether you are looking for a one-day crash course in After Effects or offering an immersive multi-day training bootcamp, there are options available to help ensure that you get your employees the training they need. These courses can be held at your corporate office or in a private digital classroom for distance learners and attendees to join. If you are looking for a more flexible way to provide your employees with training, you can purchase discounted group vouchers for any training program offered, giving your employees the option to train on nights or weekends.

While there are many subsets of animation and even more styles of animation, the basic premise they all share is the creation of the illusion of motion. Animation projects aim to take static images, whether hand-drawn sketches, digital assets, or clay figures, and give them the illusion of motion, weight, and depth. While each style of animation has its own techniques and traditions, all of them aim to create fluidity and realistic motion.

Today, most animation work has at least some digital component to it, both to save time and money and to create more nuanced animated assets and drawings (for example, computers are used to create realistic hair and water movement at a level of detail that would have been impossible before the development of these applications). This means that learning animation today is going to involve learning a few different digital applications, like Adobe After Effects, to make the process easier and more efficient.

In addition, while animation has usually been understood in terms of Disney movies and Saturday morning cartoons, recent developments in technology have made almost all VFX and special effects into animated digital assets added to a scene in post-production. This means, for example, that all of the titular tornadoes in Twister were animated assets. Likewise, everything from the armor in Ironman to things as subtle as digitally superimposed cell phone screens in television shows constitutes animation, so the field is wide open. It even includes things like video character design and animation.

There are many reasons that you would want to consider learning animation skills, particularly if you are interested in working in a creative field or industry. Almost all major television, film, and internet productions utilize animation to one degree or another, and there are plenty of jobs available in fields like advertising, game design, or even public activism. Being able to communicate ideas in visual space is at the heart of most aspects of animation, and learning these skills will help you find a career in the arts.

In addition to helping you learn new career skills, learning animation can also help you expand your creative canvas, letting you work on more complex projects or produce art that you wouldn’t have been able to make otherwise. Owing to the long history and varied forms of animation, you can be sure that you’ll find a style or method that appeals to your creative sensibilities and offers you an opportunity to explore creative opportunities that you might never have considered. It is also a good skill to learn if you are interested in creating your own content online, since learning how to add professional-looking animated assets to the content you create can help you stand out in the increasingly crowded online marketplace.

Finally, learning animation is important if you want to stay on the cutting edge of visual design technology, and it is a great place to leave your mark as an innovative pioneer. Think about what computer animation and design looked like even a decade ago and consider how quickly the technology has grown and advanced in the interim (to say nothing of the massive leaps that exist compared to the very early days of computer graphics). Learning motion graphics and digital animation techniques will be the first step towards starting to develop and refine the technology and techniques that make the field evolve.

Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects is the most commonly used motion graphics design application that is commercially available, and it is a staple part of the work of most animators. This application allows for the design and rendering of post-production effects and assets and facilitates their easy integration into existing video projects. Adobe After Effects is an easy-to-learn program that offers users a wide range of tools that allow for more complex animation work. After Effects is also very accessible. Computing power has moved so quickly that your phone can run a mobile app version of After Effects, which has more power and capabilities than what was once cutting-edge tech (at the turn of the millennium, the industrial computers used by Pixar on Toy Story 2 took 6 hours to render a single frame, today, a desktop PC could handle that load in less time).

Cinema 4D

The sister program to After Effects, Cinema 4D, is part of the same subscription and license, meaning that if you are working with After Effects, you’ll likely be pairing it with this application. Cinema 4D is a modeling and rendering application that lets you create complex 3D assets and utilize them across different Adobe Creative Cloud applications. This kind of application is essential for producing the kinds of effects and assets that we most commonly associate with digital Vfx, ranging from things like particle effects to digital 3D modeling. Cinema 4D operates a “lite” version running on After Effects infrastructure, which allows users access to the Creative Cloud (and the tools to run it) and easy access to an affordable and functional 3D rendering and modeling application.

Autodesk Maya

Autodesk Maya is a 3D animation, modeling, and rendering application used by professionals across many fields. In an animation course, students will learn how to use Maya to create complex assets and bring them to life with advanced rigging and animation tools. It’s an excellent tool when working on character animation, environmental modeling, or special effects, as the toolset allows you to achieve high levels of detail. Maya is mainly known for its use in large-scale productions, so learning it can help you break into industries that require 3D modeling.

Blender

Blender is an open-source 3D animation suite that offers professional-grade features at no cost. In an animation class, students typically learn about Blender's capabilities, which include modeling, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, and even video editing. Blender is widely used in indie game development and smaller studios due to its affordability, and learning to work with it can provide you with a flexible tool to create professional-grade animations without the cost barrier of other programs. This makes Blender ideal for freelance animators or anyone interested in exploring animation without investing in expensive software.

Adobe Animate

Adobe Animate is a 2D animation tool that is used to create vector-based animations for web and mobile platforms. In a class focused on Adobe Animate, participants gain experience creating interactive animations and even building interactive games. Adobe Animate is also used in the advertising industry to create animated explainer videos, so learning it can open up opportunities in digital content creation. Its integration with the Adobe Creative Cloud makes it an excellent complement to other design tools and incorporates animated assets into your larger projects.

Autodesk 3ds Max

3ds Max is another popular modeling and animation tool that is most often used in architectural visualization and film. Students pursuing animation training may learn how to design detailed models and integrate those models into animation sequences. The program is utilized for its strong modeling and rendering capabilities, making it an essential tool for anyone looking to work in industries that require high-quality visual effects. Mastering 3ds Max allows creative professionals to develop everything from simple assets to photorealistic environments that truly bring animation projects to life.

Video Editing

In order to make use of the assets produced in After Effects and Cinema 4D, they need to be edited into a finished project (almost always using Premiere Pro since it is the Adobe video editing application). Video editing is the art of cutting and modifying raw film footage in order to create meaning through the alterations. In the context of animation, this will either mean stitching together the individual frames of animation to create the illusion of movement (when each frame is run at 24 fps) or adding digitally created assets into the raw footage. For animators, the primary function of learning video editing is practical, teaching you how to insert the animations you create into the relevant content.

Animation theory and history

It goes without saying that learning how to become an animator will necessarily require you to learn more about animation. The concepts of animation date back to some of the earliest prehistoric art forms, and technology has been utilized to create the illusion of motion since at least the 16th century in Europe (and likely earlier elsewhere in the world). Animation, as we mostly know it today, originated around the turn of the 20th century and has been evolving ever since. While you won’t need a master’s degree in the history of animation, you’ll want to understand how we went from early animated shorts to the big-budget effects we see today, and you’ll want to understand how these shifts in technology have changed the way that people look at animation.

Graphic design applications

It is likely that if you are creating your own animated content or you plan to add animated effects to your other content, you’ll likely want to learn the basics of graphic design and have an understanding of the tools and techniques that underpin 2D static design. If you are working with After Effects and Premiere Pro, it is likely that you will use tools like Photoshop and Illustrator to create additional assets, title cards, and designs for your projects. 

Film and television

Unsurprisingly, the majority of animators find work in film and television, either as animators or as motion graphics artists. Virtually every project in the industry will use some measure of digital animation effects, whether it is creating an entire CGI dragon for a show like House of the Dragon or digitally altering the lighting in an episode of Bridgerton. Likewise, movies utilize animation for digital special effects and wholesale creation of 3D models, ensuring that there is no shortage of tasks for skilled animators looking to find work in the industry. There are also numerous traditional animation studios in the industry that are producing groundbreaking, award-winning content, especially as more and more streaming services begin to release their own animated content. 

Online content

Beyond traditional film and television studios, online content producers (individuals and studios) frequently rely on animated, digital effects to keep their content engaging and professional looking. These projects range from adding title cards and effects to YouTube and TikTok videos to releasing animated shorts for small streaming platforms or for other distribution. If you are looking to create your own content online, learning animation can help you stand out from the rest of the crowd, and the industry is a great place for aspiring artists and animators to get their foot in the door while getting real-world animation and design experience.

Advertising and marketing

The advertising industry also frequently makes use of animation in order to better sell their products and communicate with customers. This ranges from simple things like creating graphics, effects, and titles for a commercial that is primarily live-action (but needs to include something like a company logo or a phone number) to more recognizable animated advertising campaigns, like those associated with cereal mascots and other animated characters. Animators working in advertising are more likely to find work either as freelancers or as contractors, but this also affords them greater control over the kinds of worth that they are doing.