free animation course starts June 20, 2016

[cynthia]

The Open University is offering a FREE 4-week course called Explore Animation, starting today. The community of students posting online is already very interesting. People of all ages from all over the world are answering the question "What animated film sparked your interest?" Fascinating to read and look at the movies that got people excited about animation on youtube. https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/explore-animation

[jahnocli]

Hey, thanks for posting this! Just enrolled...

[JaMike]

Is it about watching animation or making it? Is it 2D or 3D or stop-motion?

[cynthia]

It's an overview of all animation methods that includes video interviews, theory (squash and stretch, timing etc), watching movies, discussion in a comments section with other students (over 300 from all over), and exercises. You upload your finished exercise to youtube and the instructors make a playlist from the students' videos. The first exercise was making a flipbook bouncing ball to work with squash and stretch and timing. Here's mine: https://youtu.be/tnBAbGTx8Yk I used a pen tablet and photoshop instead of a pad of paper just because it's easier on my neck which is a mess after years of hunching over illustration work.
The 2nd exercise is stop motion using a free app called Animate it Lite. The stop motion sections are by Ardman films who made Wallace and Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. I'm still working on that one. I'd say it's a well-constructed course. My animation experience had been confined to digital puppet animation using Anime Studio and Photoshop, so I'm doing lots of stuff I've never done before. This weekend I bought a pound of plasticine, and made a puppet of the Ardman character Morph https://youtu.be/mKDh4oDagcE, as well as a cardboard ipad stand (template in kit).
Week 2 of the 4-week course starts tomorrow. I think you can join anytime as how much you do is up to the individual.

[JaMike]

Thanks Cynthia.

Just to get it straight, you don't need an iPad to do the course do you?