Animation & Computer Aided Design

Children 5 to 10 years

CLASS TIMES:
Tuesday 4pm – 6pm
Wednesday 4pm – 6pm
Thursday 4pm – 6pm
Saturday 4pm – 6pm

Each Summer there are Animation Camps specifically to teach students how to draw digitally, using the skills they have learnt in the drawing class and transferring these techniques using Photoshop and Procreate on drawing pads. These classes are aimed specifically from young teenagers up. Luckily we live in the digital age, an age of opportunity and discovery. We live today in A Digital World, so it is very important to move with the times and teach students how to use creative design programs so they can utilize their drawing skills on different platforms, using digital tools to create and make without constraints.

Why study animation with Students? Because it’s a great vehicle to help them better understand storytelling and sequencing ideas, whether in words or pictures. Simple animation techniques are fun, hands-on projects that incorporate play, creativity and collaboration. Because the underlying processes are the same as for video, animation projects are a powerful way to help kids understand and prepare for more sophisticated media projects.

The fact is that animation, whether a flip-book or full-length Disney movie, is simply telling a story by finding the right sequence of pictures and words. That is a powerful skill for kids to master. Before any animator, filmmaker or video artist begins a project, he or she first does a storyboard to lay out the sequence of actions.
Hand-drawn animation activities are an excellent step to help children become better storytellers and prepare them for a storyboarding project, followed by computer animation, multimedia presentations or video. Start by leading a discussion that helps students explore aspects of a story they may not have noticed immediately, such as how it develops, what’s missing, the use of language, how words and pictures work together, and what the story means to them.

The students work on Mac’s using Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate, Director and  iMovie