Hand-Drawn Digital Animation: Bring Illustrations to Life
A course by Yukai Du
, Illustrator and Animator
Transform your unique drawings into playful motion graphics with Photoshop, After Effects, and Animate
- 100% positive reviews (185)
- 6006 students
- Audio: English
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
Transform your unique drawings into playful motion graphics with Photoshop, After Effects, and Animate
- 100% positive reviews (185)
- 6006 students
- 26 lessons (6h 8m)
- 26 additional resources (7 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: English
- English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Polish, Dutch
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
Recommended software for this course
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Animate
Adobe PhotoshopThrough illustration and animation, you have the power to translate complex topics into playful visual languages. Yukai Du specializes in creating digital illustrations and animations that look hand-crafted. She helps brands to visualize the message they want to communicate with their audience and has worked with clients including Adobe, Spotify, WeTransfer, and MTV.
In this course, Yukai teaches you how to combine the art of illustration with 2D animation to create striking digital artwork of your own. Are you ready to bring your illustrations to life and start animating your ideas?
What will you learn in this online course?
Course table of contents
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U1U1. Introduction
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U2U2. Research and Development
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U3U3. First Steps on Photoshop
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U4U4. Animating with Adobe Programs
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U5U5. Rendering and Sharing
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FPFP Final project
Begin by getting to know illustrator and animator Yukai Du. She takes you behind the scenes of her creative journey before sharing the artists and influences which have inspired her career.
Explore how to compile references for your artwork using keywords from a brief. Then, narrow them down and use your images to create a mood board with Keynote or Google Slides. Find out how to extract the color theme from your mood board using Adobe Colors.
Sketch your initial ideas on paper in the form of a storyboard as a starting point for your animation. Yukai then talks through digitizing, refining, and organizing your drawing in a storyboard template in Photoshop. Experiment with adding color to your work before finalizing your key designs and cropping them in different frames.
Time to start animating! Begin by analyzing your frames, looking at how to animate each part, and preparing your assets in Photoshop. Then set up your project in After Effects and animate the character, shapes, and background. Import your work into Animate to create frame-by-frame transitions before putting the finishing touches to your animation.
Learn how to export your final animation in different sizes and formats to share on social media or in your portfolio. To finish the course, Yukai shares her tips for promoting your work on different platforms.
What is this course's project?
Create a 2D animation featuring a character of your choice using Photoshop, After Effects, and Animate.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
This course is for anyone with an interest in illustration and animation or who wants to learn more about Photoshop, After Effects, and Animate.
Requirements and materials
Previous experience with Photoshop is required.
You will need a computer with Photoshop, After Effects, and Animate.
New to Adobe After Effects? In that case, we recommend taking Domestika Basics courses to learn how to use the software: Introduction to After Effects.
Reviews
Yukai Du is a Chinese-born illustrator and animator based in London, UK. At just 15 years old, she began training at GuangZhou Academy of Fine Arts where she learned to work with acrylic and still life paintings, pencil drawings, and sculpture. From there, she went on to study animation at college, where her traditional art skills were put into practice. It was there that she discovered her passion for creating craft-like illustrations and animations, and she later moved to London to pursue a Master’s degree in those art forms.
After graduating, she worked at various studios in the UK, including M-I-E and Bliink. Since then, as a freelancer, she has collaborated with well-known brands including The New Yorker, Spotify, The Guardian, MTV, Adobe, Apple, and WeTransfer. Her work has also been recognized by Adobe Design Awards, 3x3 International Illustration Awards, and more.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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About Me
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Influences
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U2
Research and Development
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Compiling References
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Creating a Mood Board
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Colour Palette
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U3
First Steps on Photoshop
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Thumbnails
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Creating a Storyboard
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Adding Colours
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Style Frames 1
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Style Frames 2
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Style Frames 3
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Style Frames 4
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U4
Animating with Adobe Programs
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Preparation for Animation: Basic Knowledge and Analysation
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Preparation for Animation: Photoshop Assets 1
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Preparation for Animation: Photoshop Assets 2
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Adobe After Effects 1
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Adobe After Effects 2
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Adobe After Effects 3
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Adobe After Effects 4
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Adobe Animate / Flash 1
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Adobe Animate / Flash 2
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Adobe Animate / Flash 3
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Adobe Animate / Flash 4
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Finishing in After Effects
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U5
Rendering and Sharing
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Rendering Different Formats and Sizes
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Posting on Social Media and Portfolio Platforms
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FP
Final project
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Hand-Drawn Digital Animation: Bring Illustrations to Life
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
Domestika's courses are online classes that provide you with the tools and skills you need to complete a specific project. Every step of the project combines video lessons with complementary instructional material, so you can learn by doing. Domestika's courses also allow you to share your own projects with the teacher and with other students, creating a dynamic course community.
All courses are 100% online, so once they're published, courses start and finish whenever you want. You set the pace of the class. You can go back to review what interests you most and skip what you already know, ask questions, answer questions, share your projects, and more.
The courses are divided into different units. Each one includes lessons, informational text, tasks, and practice exercises to help you carry out your project step by step, with additional complementary resources and downloads. You'll also have access to an exclusive forum where you can interact with the teacher and with other students, as well as share your work and your course project, creating a community around the course.
You can redeem the course you received by accessing the redeeming page and entering your gift code.
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Animate
Adobe Photoshop
martha_elena_gonzalez
Muy buena maestra, explica paso a paso y me encanta como organiza el flujo de trabajo de la animación. Si no tienes expriencia con los programas de diseño explica el uso de cada herramienta con ejemplos claros.
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hylialesly
me esta gustando mucho la técnica que usa, sigo en la etapa de boceto y estoy tomando nota detalladamente, muchas gracias!
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chicamatilda
muito inspirador!
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laurianne
Super excited when I saw this course as this was the next step I wanted to take with my illustrations!
solarguindegui_2020
Thanks to Yukai Du I learned new tools, styles and her ways makes everything looks easier. Amazing!