Teaching ➤ Animation @ HNU
Arts 118 Intro to Animation - Course Description
This course introduces learners to storytelling, character design, and interactive animation. It includes commercial aspects of web animation (banner ads and games), motion graphics, and interactive art. Students will learn about different animation styles and techniques and develop skills in planning, storyboarding, and producing their short animated stories or interactive media.
Technology covered: Adobe Animate, P5.js.
Technology Covered:
Students learn the basics of 2D animation and storytelling process: how to create an animated video from start to finish. Topics include scriptwriting, storyboarding, motion graphics, walk cycles, character design, interactive animation, and more! Students graduate from this class with a professional animation reel for their next career step.
Teaching Philosophy
I proposed and developed the class with the goal of introducing students to a range of animation techniques and career opportunities. I demonstrated the process of creating animated video from start to finish: the promotional trailer for this class served as a demo. ART 118 included both storytelling and interactive animation components. Students chose a topic of interest and developed an animated story for the final project.
You will find a variety of final projects here, from action movies to music videos!
Final Project - Instructor Demo
Student Animations
Kya Cook, Holy Names University, Spring 2023 Interactive animation - How do you Oreo?
Lena Quad, Holy Names University, Spring 2023 Resilience.
Regina Parra, Holy Names University, Spring 2023 Learn Golf
Amber Calceta, Holy Names University, Spring 2022 "But I'm a Creep"
Dena Farantos, Holy Names University, Spring 2023 The Impact of Technology on Student's Lives
Aaron Green, Holy Names University, Spring 2023 Damages to Your Ears from Using Headphones
Ana Bonila, Holy Names University, Spring 2023 Basketball 101
Final Presentation
Kya Cook, 2023
"My target audience is anyone who likes Oreo cookies. The purpose of this project is to create a fun and silly Oreo commercial that captures the eyes and attention of many. I made sure to add the right colors to the Oreo brand. There has never been a commercial where there is a series of ideas on how to enjoy Oreos. This commercial was created for fun. l wanted to mess with the Adobe software to understand how it works. Even though there is no lip sync, the video still conveys a story. I mostly focus on visuals than audio because that is what most Oreo commercials do.
Most of my animation effects were drawn and copied and pasted to other layers. I used existing animated objects to help me understand better. When doing the transition scenes, I used the alpha tool to fade out to white. I used the motion tween for the fading. I used the same tool when fading in and out the phrases in each scene. There was a 360-rotation tool used to roll the cookie on the screen and have it flip into the fryer basket and milk. My favorite tool is the motion tween. I do not have to keep drawing an item in a different position. The tween does that for me.
I do not know what else I would like to learn in animation. Maybe I can learn how to use the masking tool. Most of my challenges revolved around submitting it through Filezila and having to deal with the program crashing. Overall, this was a fun course."
Lena Quan, 2023
"Intended Purpose: I wanted the plant to reflect that no matter what you are going through in life, you are not alone. You can still grow and continue, just like the potted plant does when overcoming hurdles. Never, ever quit. Weather changes are the plant's hurdles. The barriers for the person observing can be anything, such as school, work, etc. As a result, the title of my animation is "Resilience."
I created all of my animation effects by using Adobe Animate. I used the wrap pen tool, text boxes, paint tool, etc. My favorite tool and technique was the paint tool. The reason why is because I really liked playing with the colors. I wanted the colors to be bright and happy colors to match my message of resilience. For the most part, this class was for fun and to expand my knowledge of animation. Prior to this class, I had absolutely no knowledge of animation. So, the most valuable thing I learned in this class was to take time and how to utilize animation tools.
I still need practice with the walk cycle and character movements, so I would like to learn more about these. My first challenge was animating the two potted plants. My second challenge was adding music to my animation. Even with these challenges, I am extremely happy with my results. I would like to thank Professor and all my classmates for your wonderful feedback and suggestions. I hope everyone has a great summer break!
Regina Parra, 2023
My target audience for my video is basically for anyone who wants to know the basics of golf, and I made sure to make it short and simple so that people could understand it without making it confusing.
I made this video just for fun although I really liked my final project and I think other people would so it could help me show of my skills.
The most valuable thing I learned in class was to be patient and trust the process. As the weeks went by I saw my animation coming together to create something really good. At first I was kind of hopeless and nervous but with time and patience I realized J am able to do so.
It was hard for me to get my ideas straight and figure out things but in the end I was able to come up with something really good. Sometimes I would get stuck and then I didn't know how to deal with it but I would figure things out eventually. I am very pleased with my final animation specially because I was very nervous about the class. specially because it wasn't in person which makes it harder for me, but I think I did a good job.
Overall the final touches for my animation made it even better and I am honestly very proud of what I was able to create in the class.