COURSE: Anyone Can Animate!

Main ideas / concepts conveyed

• Promote a beginner-friendly animation course (“Anyone Can Animate!”) that starts from scratch and gradually increases in complexity into more traditional, hand-drawn animation workflows.
• Use free/open-source tools (especially Krita) and encourage learners to check platform availability before paying.
• Teach animation fundamentals in a controlled, step-by-step way:
  • Start with very simple motions (e.g., animating a single letter).
  • Progress through timing control, in-between management, scene planning, layering, and drawing cleanup.
• Strongly critique common online tutorial advice, especially guidance involving:
  • Drawing “through boxes”
  • Overly complicated or “torture-like” exercises
  • Poor or inconsistent fundamentals (e.g., waiting to practice until a future film; misaligned tool/technique guidance)
• Encourage learning through fun and “craic” (joy/enthusiasm) rather than frustration.

Methodologies / instructions (detailed)

Course tooling & setup

• Use Krita (free), available for Mac, PC, Linux, with hints at a tablet version.
• Check platform compatibility before investing.
• The teaching approach is grounded in traditional hand-drawn animation principles similar to major studio pipelines (e.g., Don Bluth / Disney-style).

Animation progression (overall structure)

• Start extremely simple:
  • Animate a capital letter: “I”
  • Use only:
    • A small number of keyframes
    • TWEENS
  • Goal: get the object moving immediately.
• Build complexity in stages:
  • Add intermediate frames in the next step/video.
  • Adjust timing in a later step/video.
  • Teach timeline manipulation:
    • Scale the timeline
    • Move drawings to affect frame rate / spacing

Timing & timeline control techniques

• Use hotkeys to navigate and control the timeline more easily (since manual navigation is a common sticking point).
• Color-code keyframe/point meaning to make the timeline readable:
  • Gray = keyframes
  • Green = bottom point
  • Blue = top point
  • Brown = even lower than the bottom point
  • (and similar logic for additional points)
• Learn timing charts:
  • Even if they look scary, they’re presented as essential “best friends.”
  • Purpose:
    • Draw keyframes first
    • Postpone in-betweens to a second stage
    • Gain precise control of intervals and timing
  • Use timing charts to create:
    • Multiple acceleration/deceleration patterns
    • “Three different types” of accelerations/decelerations based on different timing schedules

Creating motion effects (already-drawn shaking)

• Re-expose already-made drawings to generate a shaking effect, inspired by classic Looney Tunes / Warner Brothers style.

Scene sketching and pre-visualization (planning)

• Before transferring to the final scene, do a full scene plan with sketching:
  • Draw everything on one sheet of paper
  • Plan the scene sequentially (beginning → end)
  • Optionally use lined paper for guidance (horizontal lines)
• Add timing notes and small horizontal time graphs on the sketch:
  • Indicate where intermediate phases should occur
  • Pre-animate the concept mentally using sketches and spherical/organic shape thinking
• Avoid box-based construction:
  • The speaker argues 99% of “boxes” is a mistake
  • Encourages avoiding boxes and using more organic/structural forms instead

Transferring sketches to a full animation scene

• Take the sketch and:
  • Add timing charts correctly
  • Transfer into a real scene with frame-by-frame, key-by-key construction
• Use onion skin as a “light table”:
  • Tweak elements
  • Move pieces
  • Check volumes and placement consistency

Layering workflow for details (example: character eye)

• Start simple with a ball character:
  • ground line + dotted/sphere character + keyframes
• When adding detailed parts (like the eye):
  • Use additional layers as needed
  • In the learning example, keep everything in two layers so mistakes in one part (eye) don’t break the whole body
• Use a “light table” technique for:
  • Eye blink timing
  • Position/volume control

Drawing cleanup and color workflow (mask-based painting)

• In the finishing/painting stage:
  • Ensure lines are clean enough to apply color
  • Fix broken line gaps and detail issues
• Use a mask workflow:
  • Create a small white mask for the character area
  • Paint on the layer attached to that mask
  • Advantage: faster painting than painting all colors on one flat layer
• Supports advanced-looking lighting effects:
  • Gradients can be on separate layers
  • Adjust opacity and blending modes
  • Can create sharp or soft gradients (e.g., shadow under a cloak; soft top gradients)

Walking cycle section (movement + diagnostics)

• Includes a walking-cycle course/video:
  • Uses “classic slides” from prior courses
  • Example: stick man
  • Walking video described as 19 minutes, covering the process start-to-finish
• Focuses on common mistakes and how to correct them:
  • Incorrect foot position is highlighted as a major error source
  • Mark and diagnose foot placement early to prevent cascading errors
• Introduces dot plotting / point tracking:
  • Create a new layer
  • Select a point (e.g., wrist)
  • Place a dot for each frame by moving through frames
  • Use the dot trail to check whether motion matches expected physics
  • Example:
    • Identify a point (e.g., “seventh point”) to adjust
    • Fix a pendulum-like swing motion
    • Detect errors like a joint being “too close” (e.g., “number 17”)
• Addresses motion-path smoothness:
  • Prevent “jagged edges” / kinks in the motion trajectory
  • Symptom: “not working” due to incorrect arcs/periodicity (speaker references missing “a period” and small kinks as likely causes)

Export/rendering

• Export final animation in:
  • MP4
  • PNG sequence (preferred because it is uncompressed)
• PNG sequences can be imported into professional editors:
  • DaVinci Resolve
  • Premiere
  • Final Cut Pro

Additional learning path & follow-up courses

• Mentions follow-ups and platforms:
  • Patreon and YouTube channel memberships
  • Udemy
  • Follow-up course on Tahoma 2D
• Positioning of the learning path:
  • Build courses as a pipeline from beginner to more complex animation work
  • Krita is presented as ideal for hand-drawn animation
  • Tahoma 2D is introduced to cover sound/other limitations (described as similar to OpenToonz)

Lessons / attitudes emphasized

• Start simple and keep momentum—a dead end should motivate action, not stop progress.
• Use structured timing control rather than improvising intervals blindly.
• Plan first, then animate (sketch + timing charts + onion skin).
• Correct motion using diagnostics (dot plotting / trajectory checking).
• Learn fundamentals from professionals, not from “self-proclaimed” internet teachers who mix good and bad advice.
• Use fun as fuel—animation practice shouldn’t feel like torture.

Speakers / sources featured (as stated)

• Don Bluth (referenced as a studio/workplace; “his studio”)
• Disney
• Warner Brothers / Looney Tunes (for the shaking effect style)
• Krita (including krita.org referenced)
• Tahoma 2D
• OpenToonz (mentioned as similar to Tahoma 2D)
• Udemy
• Patreon
• YouTube (channel memberships mentioned)
• DaVinci Resolve, Premiere, Final Cut Pro
• r/arthelp (Reddit community mentioned)
• The instructor/creator (name not explicitly stated in subtitles), with course branding including:
  • “Anyone Can Animate!”
  • animewithdermott.com