Introduction to 2D Animation in After Effects
A course by Laura Dajana KroschewskiGraphic Designer
A course by Laura Dajana Kroschewski, Graphic Designer
Learn to bring charming characters and emotive scenes to life using fundamental animation techniques
Want to bring your illustrations to life but need a little help getting started? In this online course, graphic designer and digital artist Laura Kroschewski teaches you to transform your drawings into short 2D animations. The aim of her ironic and charming pieces is to put a smile on the face of anyone who sees them. With Laura as your guide, learn to build characters and give them unique personalities that make them simply unforgettable.
Get ready to animate your art! Laura starts with an introduction to digital illustration and shows you her own process for developing compelling little shorts. Following her expert advice, create a template for your sketches before exploring Adobe After Effects to help you tell your story how it deserves to be told, using keyframes and stop motion. By the end of the course, you'll have all the tools to add movement to your designs and release their full storytelling potential!
What will you learn in this online course?
15 lessons & 20 downloads
The characters
7 minutes, 58 seconds
Personality
6 minutes, 59 seconds
The plot
11 minutes, 34 seconds
First contours
14 minutes, 1 second
Motion sequences in single images
17 minutes, 43 seconds
Color and shading
19 minutes, 46 seconds
What's included in this course?
Begin the course by getting to know Laura Kroschewski, who talks about her career so far as a freelance illustrator and digital artist, and why she decided to go down this professional path. Discover how she learned to create attractive animated video clips with limited resources and communicate without words.
Get straight into your project by deciding on your two characters! Do some rough sketches and use this process to start building their personalities and compose a fun little story that's charming and exciting to watch. After reflecting on the different elements that can be included in your drawing, define the plot in a storyboard.
Next, draw the initial poses and each movement frame by frame, from the outlines to the color and shading. Laura also teaches you to prepare movement sequences for later on and tells you which file types are best for exporting your illustrations.
Now it's time to get animating! Explore two different animation techniques, one using keyframes and the other stop motion. With your teacher's expert guidance, see how to use effects and tools in After Effects and configure your file, import images, and create an output clip.
Add the finishing touches with audio, which you can create from scratch or edit in. To wrap things up, Laura shows you how to render your piece and export it as a video file so it takes up less space.
Recommended software & tools for this course
What is this course's project?
Use stop-motion and keyframe techniques to create a 2D animation of around 15 seconds that tells the exciting story of two characters or personified objects.
Who is this online course for?
Anyone looking for an introduction to 2D animation interested in shorts and digital illustration, whether a professional or an avid fan.
Requirements and materials
No previous knowledge is required to take this course.
You need a pencil, some paper, a graphics tablet or an iPad, and an illustration software that works with layers (Laura uses Adobe Photoshop) as well as After Effects.
Reviews
- 9 months ago
Mir gefällt dieser Kurs sehr gut, die Erklärungen sind detailliert und leicht verständlich für Anfänger wie mich, die Animationen erstellen lernen möchten.
- 3 years ago
Super schöner Kurs. Man kann sehr gut folgen und dabei selber gut ausprobieren, der Zeichenstil ist einfach, daher kann jeder ihn für sich übernehmen.
- 3 years ago
The course is combining learning the technical skills of After Effects with the fun of using your own ideas and characters turning it all in an animated story!
- 3 years ago
buen curso
- 3 years ago
Excellent style of the artist but the course is disappointing because this is just "look how I do this", without detailed explanations of the processes.
She also shares her work on her Instagram page, where she has more than 52K followers. Her creations, which are mostly digital, range from short animations and GIFs to posters, caricatures, and commercial book illustrations. She also designed the decoration for a public children's park and even a mural for Frankfurt's busiest train station. Her clients include brands like Samsung, Coca-Cola, Adobe, Bose, Amazon Prime Video, Tod’s, and L’Oréal.
Content
- U1
Introduction
- About me
- Inspiration
- U2
The story
- The characters
- Personality
- The plot
- U3
The illustration
- First contours
- Motion sequences in single images
- Color and shading
- Preparing files for After Effects
- U4
The animation
- Introduction to After Effects
- Keyframes and stop motion
- Animation of the main part
- More tips for After Effects
- U5
Sound, render and export
- Sound
- Render and Export
- FP
Final project
- Introduction to 2D Animation in After Effects
What to expect from a Domestika course
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.
Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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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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FAQs
This course is aimed at advanced beginners and creatives with basic digital illustration skills who want to expand their abilities in 2D animation and character design.
Basic knowledge of Photoshop is helpful but not required. Some experience with After Effects makes starting easier, but the course teaches animation step by step.
The course primarily uses Adobe Photoshop for illustration and Adobe After Effects for 2D animation. Adobe Audition is used for sound editing.
You’ll learn how to create digital illustrations, develop characters, animate with After Effects, design storyboards, and prepare your work for social media.
Yes, you’ll learn how to design unique characters and produce animated promotional clips and illustrations specifically tailored for social media, especially Instagram.
The course covers drawing animals, human features, fantasy creatures, facial expressions, gestures, and developing distinctive character traits for 2D animation.
You’ll learn how to prepare illustrations in Photoshop, organize layers, and seamlessly import and work with them in After Effects for animation.