Would You be Interested in Workshops?

I love the idea. Do I need to be any good to join? Or can I suck? :p

Anyway I don't have any animation software right now...(except for my recently downloaded Personal Learning Edition of Toon Boom Digital Pro. I'd use that for this workshop, but the watermarks get in the way quite bad)

So, I'd love to be a part of the character design workshop if that's okay. :)

If I could jump into a class like this I would have to start at the very basic levels. Is there a fee for this.

I have a whole lot more questions but you are a teacher so I will wait and see what developes.

ZacharySupina, there is some very cheap software out there and some free ware as well.

I'm quite the beginner. But I'd love to do anything. Whether it be a storyboard workshop, character design, animating humans, etc. Anyway, I don't really have any questions, as I'd like to just jump into it.....

However, I do have a question about structure. Will it be set in scheduled chatrooms where a bunch of us share drawings an animations, then, from the input we get from everyone, we go back and edit, or work on a new one?

Or will we do it this way (the way I'd rather do it personally), which is just have a sticky thread, and let people come and go, post drawings/animations with specific goal in mind? Since everyone lives with different schedules, (and lives in different time zones), this method would probably be the most comfortable.

Or perhaps, we could have assignments posted on a sticky thread, then we get each other's AIM/MSN contact...and we can IM eachother with ideas, input support, and project updates.

These are just a few ideas...and I'm not honestly sure what kind of thing you have in mind Larry...but, this could be a lot of fun.

Hi Larry,

I think this is a great idea and would love to participate. My concerns would be timezones, if the class was live and on USA time I couldn't commit being in the UK. If it was video and forum based then no problem.

I would love to get some 2D animation tutition. I haven't tried the flower sack exercise yet so that would be as good a start as any in my opinion.

Looking forward to hearing more,
Claire.

Although I replied in the Show and Tell forum I'll reply here too (seeing as how there are already replies here, it makes for a fuller discussion on my part).

I wouldn't mind participating. Even though I want to do animation, character design is also something that would be of interest to me. But primarily, animation. And even though I'd like to do 3D, 2D tuition wouldn't be wasted, because it teaches the principles that also apply to 3D.

For me, the fees are the catch. I'm limited on income, and try not to spend too much. My remaining uni grant (I finished university) will be partly used for driving lessons (they just keep getting more and more expensive...). Oh, and timezones, seeing as how I live in England, and can only get on the computer at certain times anyway, seeing as how it's not my computer, it's my brothers.

I think that character design and animation could be combined in some way. What I mean is, part of one of the workshops could be to work on a character design - and the second part could be to animate them. I suppose this idea would fall into character animation as a whole.

I'm wondering how this program will be different than many of the others out there already. What differentiates this program from something like Animation Mentor, or for that matter, merely doing a Google search on "half filled flour sack" or "character design" and finding web sites that discuss these topics? If it's cost, there are tons of books out there that address these topics and plenty of sites (including this one) where one can post work for critique, so how would this program set itself apart? If it's instruction, then who is on tap to lead these classes? Is it just Larry, or are others involved too?

The topics mentioned in the first post are good starting points, but only starting points. What comes after that? The handful mentioned have a "first semester at Sheridan" feel, which is fine, but then what? If there is to be an out-of-pocket cost associated with this after the first few free classes, I'd think you'd want to have a curriculum at least sketched out before you went too far with this idea. Asking potential students what they want to learn is a great way to augment the curriculum, but designing the structure is the job of those who know what topics are important to cover and in what order - students "don't know what they don't know".

Finally, is this an "animation" course or a "2D" course? Can students work in any medium they choose, or will drawing be required? Which begs another questions - if drawing is required, is a portfolio necessary for admission, and are drawing skills taught as part of the curriculum?

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but so far I've seen a lot of "how" answers - forums, uploads, video lectures, podcasts, etc - and not a lot of "what" or "why". If I were a student, I'd want to know what I was getting for my time and money, which is exactly the advice that's given on this site every time someone asks how to select a school. Ironically, I've seen very little so far that talks about that aspect.

I like the idea.
I, like most of the other people expressing interst so far, am a beginner (at 36 years old and all!)

I think it would be great to be able to have a structure that entailed assignments and excersises that we could go away and do (perferably with long deadlines for beginner classes and perhaps tighter schedules for the more advanced classes to reflect what might be expected in the industry)

Set times for discussion and interative learning would be great too (being in Australia I have issues with time zones also)

It would be great to pick and choose projects/assignments/workshops perhaps on a kind of pay per view basis.

I'd love to see some really basic ideas and fundementals that can progress into more advanced method and technique.
eg:
1. basic bouncing ball/sliding brick advancing into techniques that take into account things like force, friction, magnetism and surfaces
2. drawing Average Joe Bloggs advancing into drawing Joe Bloggs with attitude
3. walking stick man advancing into stick man walking with attitude
4. sitting/standing/lifting/bending advancing into dancing/fighting/leaping/acrobatics
5. classic scene structure and camera placement advancing into dollying/tracking/panning/special effects

These are just a few ideas of the top of my head.
Does this type of learning appeal to anyone else?

This might be complex, but, I'd like to see a beginners guide to animating 2D humans. Or would that be too hard to teach?

I think it is a good idea and could be very useful. It does remind me a lot of acmeanimation.org. Unlike AM, acme is a community-based website. They provide "challenges" with reference material and also allow members to post personal projects. There are professionals and students organized into different levels of experience and skill that critique the work. They also have videos and broadcast into classrooms. Usually these videos feature professional animators speaking on a specific aspect of animation. There is a yearly fee to join, though. One good aspect of acme that you might take as inspiration is the point system -- users earn points by critiquing others' work and spend points to post their own. This way people can't take advantage of the system without also making a contribution.

Sounds to me like you're itching to teach again. Maybe you should come back to SCAD. How's next quarter sound? ;)

I think this is a great idea Larry.

A few other ideas could be:
heavy box push
Light box push
walk cycles
waiting for something, like a bus
opening a box or present
character walks

Also an intro workshop would be good too for beginners. These can be simple ball bounces, and deal with arcs, weight, squash and stretch, timing, and spacing. Of course everyone wants to jump into the character animation exercises but these begining exercises are so important to develop and hone.

Aloha,
the Ape

I'd be interested. I'm looking for something to bridge the gap between school and low-level professional.

I am definitely interested!! I'm in my freshmen year at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I am intending on majoring in animation. I'm doing all my foundation classes now so no animation classes for me yet. These would be great to get a head start and really starting learning and developing my skills! Any chance for me to learn some animation is very much welcomed!