Animation Course Listings

This course expands on the fundamentals, applying the basic concepts to further develop skills in locomotion and acting for animation. Students will progress their understanding of motion, weight, and balance, develop pantomime character performance skills, and have their first introduction to animating dialogue. Students will gain a deeper grasp of traditional animation principles and character animation techniques.

This course offers an intense investigation of character design. The objective of this course is to design model sheets of unique and imaginative animated characters. Students begin with preliminary sketches and construction drawing, and continue to develop numerous rotation drawings (turnarounds) of facial expressions and a variety of action poses that are refined and which eventually lead to more finished drawings. A variety of styles are explored. Emphasis is on working from imagination and strengthening drawing skills.

This is a figure drawing course for animators that focuses on gesture and how to capture the essentials of movement, dynamic expression, and the individual model's attitude. A variety of drawing media will be introduced.

This course covers how to effectively portray the essence of a story by means of quick and accurate sketches. Students learn to develop and create a sequential series of staged drawings (the visual script of each scene in a film). A brief overview of script writing is included. The script's plot, situations, and conflict are developed from rough sketches to finished presentations. This course also examines staging, cinematography, drama, action notes, dialogue, pacing, timing, and sequencing the story's action.

This course emphasizes 3-dimensional form analysis: proportion, scale, foreshortening, and weight. Using an economy of line and value, students will strive to capture emotion and expression of animal forms by depicting gesture, manner, attitude, and rhythm. Comparative studies of animal and human anatomy will empower students with strong, imaginative drawing skills. A variety of domestic and zoo animals will be studied and drawn in the studio and on location.

This introductory CG animation course focuses on the tools of industry-leading Autodesk Maya specifically for creating high-performance animation. Students build upon their foundational knowledge of animation tools and processes, progressing from introductory mechanics with simple rigs, and advancing to pantomime acting utilizing a full-character rig. Students will learn to apply animation principles to CG techniques, with instruction emphasizing a traditional approach to 3D character animation for achieving strong personalities and acting.

This course is designed to teach students advanced CG animation techniques by applying traditional character animation principles to CG animation. Students will enhance their approach and workflow while deepening their understanding of Maya animation tools. The course focuses on advancing CG skills in performance and locomotion, progressing to dialogue and character interaction. By the end, students will have produced a polished demo reel showcasing their advanced CG animation capabilities.

This intermediate course builds on foundational animation principles, with an emphasis on developing more complex animation skills. Students will refine their acting skills of conveying emotion with their characters and exploring different character types and personalities in various ways. This course will focus on enhancing the students' animation techniques with nuanced and detailed character animation performance.

In this course students will learn the role of layout in the filmmaking process, with an emphasis on feature films. The course will cover the basics of film cinematography, planning camera mechanics, how to plan and use creative perspective, lighting, and visual storytelling. Students will have the opportunity to plan and create a layout workbook, and to develop a series of key layouts during the semester. The emphasis will be on creative solutions for staging and designing the worlds that animated characters inhabit. The principles taught can be applied to traditional animation, 3D animation, or games. Recommended texts: The Five Cs of Cinematography by Joseph V. Mascelli and Film Directing Shot by Shot by Steven D. Katz. Bring a 9 x 12 sketchbook and a set of cool grey Prism color markers to the first day of class.

Background Painting teaches students to take their drawn environments and background layouts to full color. The course emphasizes the skills and tools needed to emulate traditional painting techniques using Adobe Photoshop.

This advanced course is designed to push the student's ability to give vision to a concept and to visually convey emotional story beats. Emphasis is placed on visual communication with the use of value, design, color, and composition. Artistic growth is encouraged through a series of critiques and demonstrations.

This is a figure drawing course for animators that focuses on gesture and capturing essentials of movement, dynamic expression, and the individual model's attitude. A variety of drawing media are introduced.

This course introduces students to digital approaches to feature-quality animation techniques, focusing primarily on industry-standard software: Toon Boom Harmony, TV Paint, and post-production through Adobe Suite (After Effects and Premiere). The course brings together traditional animation learning and the digital tools utilized in modern animation practices. By integrating these key tools, students will be better prepared for success in their animation studies and creative careers.

The purpose of this course is to finalize a short film idea that will be executed in the senior year. This course will provide experience in the process of choosing a short-film idea and developing it into a story that is clear, compelling, and entertaining. Students learn storytelling and filmmaking techniques and explore several ideas before choosing a final film. Students in this class will be evaluated on their scripts, designs and animatics with sound.

The most advanced of the animation courses, this class builds on complex concepts of full animation technique. Students will also learn collaboration skills, culminating in a group film created from concept to final color film. Additionally, the course introduces digital, paperless approaches to the full animation technique, utilizing industry-standard TV Paint software.

Thesis 1 begins animation production of the students' animation films developed in Directing for Animators, concentrating on creating and completing 50% of their film animation. The course focuses on communication, character personality, acting, storytelling, and entertainment. Students will be required to participate in weekly dailies, presenting their work and incorporating instructor feedback. Emphasis is placed on developing industry-standard production skills, high-quality animation, meeting deadlines, and managing production schedules. Active engagement and effective problem-solving are crucial for advancing through this intensive course.

Thesis 2 continues the animation production process begun in Thesis 1, with students completing the remaining 50% of their film animation. The course emphasizes finalizing animation sequences and refining the overall flow of the film, while adhering to production management. Students are required to meet their final goals, demonstrating an advanced level of craft and technique.

This course is taken in the last senior semester and teaches the techniques necessary to bring a film to final color and sound. Principles include digital ink & paint, backgrounds, compositing, and high-quality presentation polishing. All students will complete soundtracks for their films with Foley, sound design, and final mixing. Finished films will be encoded to theatrical DCP (Digital Cinema Package) standards and each class member will prepare the necessary publicity materials for submission to online festival platforms.

This course is an introduction to drawing the human form that explores observational and imaginative drawing techniques using graphite and charcoal. Students work from the draped and undraped model. Emphasis is on accurate representation of the figure utilizing observation with the elements of gesture, measurement, construction line, volume, proportion, and surface anatomy. Materials include graphite and charcoal.

This course is an exploration in story structure and the incorporation of classic storytelling techniques/archetypes in the medium of film.

This introductory course covers the principles of classical, full animation technique on paper, dimensional constructive drawing techniques as well as the analysis of action and movement in the natural world. Students explore these concepts through exercises which isolate the core principles being taught. Students will learn the fundamentals common to all animation techniques.

This course introduces the students to the complex interface of Maya, one of the leading software programs in animation and graphic design industries. Students will learn how to navigate Maya's interface exploring basic modeling, rigging, lighting, texture, and camera set-up.

This class focuses on representing the construction of a 3D object in a 2D image. The class will cover the basics of observational drawing, traditional drawing technique, perspective, and foundational design for concepting and building objects in game art. The class introduces one, two, and three point perspective to accurately construct the appearance of 3D forms. Other topics covered are camera lenses and field of view, the importance of camera placement, and placing shadows based on light sources through perspective guides. Throughout this course, students will learn the role of drawing and design in the game industry. Students will build a sketchbook composed of lessons, observational drawings and original illustrations over the course of the semester. The emphasis will be on building their visual library so they can effectively express their own ideas.

This course concentrates on preparing students to enter team-based creative environments with emphasis on digital portfolio and reel development, communication skills, industry networking opportunities and success strategies for collaborative projects.

This is an introductory-level course designed for students to develop or enhance their 3D modeling skills.   Instruction will focus on the artistry needed to create compelling, "feature-length-quality" characters, while showing how to design and implement geometry best suited for rigging and animation.   Students may focus on character or background geometry for their projects.  Students will be introduced to new software tools and techniques based upon professional practices utilized by top studios in the industry.

This internship lab provides students with a supervised, practical learning experience in a work setting that is relevant to their major. Through virtual assignments and workplace projects + training the student will apply what they have learned in their LCAD classes in order to solidify professional goals, test possible career choices, build their networks, and gain a better understanding of employer expectations. This lab is to be taken concurrently with an internship for-credit and is designated as CREDIT/NO CREDIT for up to three (3) units of academic credit. This lab may be repeated one time for credit (a total of 6 units)