2D Animation in the 21st Century
Character design work by student Kessa Dryburgh
The course starts with typical animation exercises—a ball bouncing, a character walking. The first major assignment is to create movement in a digital photograph using Adobe Photoshop tools. By the end of the term, students generate finished animations with music and sound effects that are uploaded to YouTube, then shared in a digital gallery.
Character design work by student Kate Acquilano
Students' instincts and curiosity have already primed their imaginations for animation. Years spent in a digital landscape, creating social media personas and video game avatars, provide fertile ground for using self-created moving pictures to explore everything from fantasies to institutional critiques.
A screenshot from student Kate Acquilano's final critique
While leading the class for the last few years, Lecturer Anneli Goeller (MFA 2019) has been thrilled by the forward-thinking work the students create. "It’s interesting to talk to younger students about these things,” said Goeller. "Younger people are always on the forefront of what’s next.”
A Zoom screenshot from a meeting of 2D Animation
