4 New Ways to Practice Animation!

Want to practice all those animation skills you've been learning? Try out these four animation exercises I've put together.

Credits-
Made and Voiced by Alex Grigg
Music by Skillbard
Logo by Renaud Futterer
Typeface by Laurie Rollitt and Renaud Futterer

[faramisola]

I first started animating 10 years ago using the magic dot, and it is quite literally the best way to learn timing and spacing. It should be the first thing anyone does way before doing a ball bounce animation

[michaelbricky]

I had an art teacher who always said "Practice makes permanent" as in if you practice something, you not only get better, you retain that knowledge forever. So if you stop drawing for years, but decide to pick up a pencil one day, you may not be the same, but all those foundations you practiced and learned will come back to you.

[Katherine_]

I think the sword to a rose is my favorite. Not only is it a beautiful animation but the animation between the two is complex and can impress your audience quite easily.

[Ishidalover]

This kind of video is perfect for someone like me, who is an artist that knows about basic concepts of mass/shape, and terminology like keyframes and follow through, but has limited experience actually creating or finding an appropriate place to begin after a long time not creating. It doesn't seem so scary to pick back up now. Thanks, Alex!

[lukejournal]

Intro: 00:00
Magic Dot: 0:49
Jelly Jump: 3:34
More Difficult Jelly Jump: 7:28
The Switch: 7:41
The Morph: 12:09
Outro: 14:09

Useful tips at : 3:24 ; 7:15

Don't give up! I'm a hundred percent sure you'll become amazing at animation, just keep practicing!
By the way, here's my favorite playlist to keep myself motivated: you're just happy (on yt)

Happy Practice guys!

[Nerothy]

The "Bwoopr" sound you do when testing out your animation is definitely the most important lesson of all. Joke aside, amazing videos man, keep on the good work. 💪

[pinkiepurplez]

So far, these videos are great! They help focus on the lesson without daunting the student with a presentation that exudes mastery. By that, I mean that sometimes instructor's lessons make the student unconfident in their abilities through showing off their own skill in the lesson. And so I think this is a great balance that helps the student grasp, understand, and be excited for trying it out themselves. Thank you for your generous animation video lessons, ciao ciao!

[RedBlast]

I've been animating for almost 3 years now, and I haven't really had much experience from tutorials. But this, THIS is what's gonna make me better. I'll start simple, and then make more complex things. Thanks, Alex Grigg!

[Celestial_TaterTot]

I’m a teen who’s learning animation, and these are really useful exercises! I’ve done a decent bit of animation before, some MAP parts, walk cycles, etc, but these seem like a great way to work on the fundamentals!

[Kat_Line_Art]

I'm about 3 months into a college animation program, and I think the magic dot is going to be a game changer for me. My profs started with bouncing balls and I just couldn't get the spacing through my head. The dots though are a simpler example that I think are really going to help me, thank you so much 😁

[BrynnExists]

I'm not in high school yet, but I've been trying to figure out animation since 2nd Grade and I can say that these are awesome practices that I now do all the time. Thank you so much for showing them to me!

[azark]

My Summary of the vid :)

# 1. Give a dot LIFE

- Move it in arcs
- Experiment with timing
- Move it close and far from the camera?

# 2. Jelly jump

- Make some jelly bounce, practicing squash and stretch
- You don’t have to draw every frame, can just move it
- Add a 2nd jello on top to practice the objects’ interaction between each other

# 3. The Switch

- Hide a switch from two very different keyframes with motion
- Jump or slide or something else?
- Can also do it with a character to give it pzazz

# 4. The Morph

- Blend two very different keyframes with some interesting transition
- You can get the most creative with this exercise (I personally think)
- Use straight ahead mostly

What can we do to make it interesting in the transitionary state?
- Make it 3d for a moment
- Gooey melt and twist transition
- Add some effects
- Add a different keyframe in the middle while it’s transforming
- Add anticipation, timing, that good stuff

[Pineapplesugr]

Just got a PC and I’ve been absolutely invested in your animation course thank you so much for making these videos💛💛💛

[funlabsdesignstudio]

This is Fantastic!!! When I studied Traditional and 2D Digital Animation in College through VFS here in Canada we had intense pressure learning which takes so much more time because they push you to say nothing out (goes out) but perfection.
Which makes it really hard on you when you're a creator that just wants to delve into it but now, Always Feel like you cannot put out anything but Perfection!!! Thanks for Encouraging that people *CAN* actually, keep it simple to animate for a less stressful positive experience! 🙌🏼🙏🏼

[shruthidarshini]

What I love about this video is that it is very approachable and motivates me to try it out myself while most of the other channels provides animations which makes me second guess my interest in animation.

[arispacegirl]

what an incredible guide!! I've always found animation pretty intimidating, so I usually keep my animations to motion graphics and keyframing pre-made assets, but this video breaks it down so nicely that I feel like just sitting down and drawing out some pretty loops!

[selkrasouza]

I haven’t animated for years, and just got my hands on a new (well, new to me) animation program. The dots exercise is a perfect practice to get a handle of how to use layers and onion skins again, I appreciate how quick it is 👍

[OreoOO]

TBH this is one of the best tutorials on the internet. Presentation and the way you bring the information are fantastic
Hopefully it won't take too much till we see more of your videos

[laurahompus]

Dude, you just helpend me unlock the hidden level in ADHD! I’m so excited!!!
New title for a TedX-talk: how van we use animation principles to help with ADHD executive functions? Break it down into the poses!! Woohooo!

[zaza-xiii]

whos watching this and is not an animator?