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​GETTING STARTED IN 2D ANIMATION?
THIS COURSE IS FOR YOU.

Once you have completed this course, you will be able to:

- Have full command over your animation             software

- Apply the principles of drawing in your                 animation
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- Animate a character with confidence

​​- Take an animation concept from idea to             finished render

​- Apply the 12 principles of animation with           confidence

- Be able to draw full-body characters
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- Storyboard an original short story with               sound

 - Access a private academy and personal              mentor

CONTAINED IN THIS COURSE:

In this program, I cover everything from the very basics of equipment and how to use it, all the way through my full animation workflow, in step-by-step exercises that you can learn and apply in your own animation projects. It is the ultimate guide to getting started in 2D animation. The curriculum currently consists of over 110+ training videos (19+ hours) and offers personalized mentorship and feedback in our private Academy group.

DOWNLOADS

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A variety of downloads, templates, documents and source files - including my sound effects, keyboard shortcuts and custom brushes.

VIDEO LESSONS

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Over 110 lessons inside, across 15 chapters. That's over 18 hours of videos for you to stream or download onto any device.

PROCESS BREAKDOWN

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My complete animation production process taught to you step by step - a process which I use professionally to earn a living.

EQUIPMENT

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A full breakdown of the equipment needed to make great animation - recommendations from an experienced professional.

FLASH / ANIMATE

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A step-by-step course to teach you Adobe Flash / Animate.

TVPAINT

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A step by step course to teach you TVPaint. I also provide resources to learn in any major 2D software, so take your pick!

DRAWING FUNDAMENTALS

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Drawing lessons to help you develop your drawings from stick figure to fully rendered bodies.

ANIMATION LESSONS

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I guide you through FOUR of the most crucial animation exercises that every animator should learn.

STORY FUNDAMENTALS

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Learn the story writing / storyboarding principles I used to win international film awards.

ANIMATION WALK-THROUGHS

These hand-picked tutorial series are designed to introduce you to the animation principles gradually. Each exercise is broken into 10-15 videos which you can follow along with at your own pace. It will be like I am right there next to you. By the end of the course, you will have several new pieces of animation to add to your first portfolio.

1) PARTICLE SWARM

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The best exercise for first-time animators. It teaches very important animation principles. You can build your own swarm animation within the first hour of picking up the pen!

2) BOUNCING BALL

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One of the most important animation exercises. I break down this well-known animation exercise to show you the principles and processes behind it  - plus I let you in on some of my own special techniques!

3) CHARACTER WALK CYCLE

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Walk cycles are notoriously difficult to get right in animation, but show you how to apply the principles formed at Disney in a sequence of easy steps (Pun intended).

4) TURN AND AIM

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We take an action shot all the way through from concept to final render, revealing extremely useful principles and practices along the way.
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SOURCE FILES PROVIDED


ASSIGNMENTS TO LAST OVER A YEAR

Included in the course is the Animator's Workbook - a PDF download full of hand-picked animation assignments. You won't be able to find this workbook anywhere else - it is exclusive to this course. When you finish an assignment you can upload it to the Academy group for feedback. Here's a sneak peak inside ↓
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PERSONALISED FEEDBACK IN OUR ​ACADEMY

The fastest way to improve your animation skills is to get direct feedback from your mentor and peers. That's what the Animator guild Academy is all about. Members who enroll as Academy members have their questions answered by a professional. They can also send in their assignments for custom tailored feedback.
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"... An honest, technical and very welcome hands-on exploration into exactly where and how I could improve my animations and storytelling. Refreshing and eye-opening."
​ 
Christopher Wade- Freelance Animator

WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT THIS COURSE?

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​Having taken many courses myself, I believe Getting Started in 2D Animation will be the most efficient course available for learning 2D frame by frame animation. I spent four years and many thousands of dollars in formal education to get my degree in Animation. This course is designed to give you that high-quality training, at a fraction of the cost. Teaching everything you NEED to know, without the fluff. You will have the freedom to learn at your own pace, from any location.
  • Learn from scratch - this course assumes you know nothing yet.
  • Learn from anywhere - stream or download the videos to watch offline.
  • Enough assignments to last you over a year of self-study
  • A huge bundle of downloads, including source files, templates and workbooks.
  • Tailored feedback on your assignments from a practicing mentor
  • An animation course which teaches far beyond the 12 principles of animation - the processes of how to make an entire animated film!
  • Your questions answered by an experienced professional

"This course is better than the $4000 uni course I took.
Would highly recommend."

James Dickson - Animator

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RELEASE DATE

There will be a brief opening sale upon launch. Make sure that you are around for when it goes live!

    ARE YOU INTERESTED?
    ​LET ME KNOW!

    I will shoot you an email when the course goes live so that you can benefit from the opening sale.
Send

MEET YOUR MENTOR


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My name is Howard Wimshurst. I'm an award-winning animator from London
​I have worked professionally for a variety of clients ranging from the BBC to Sam Kolder.
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As a teacher I have produced over 170 video lessons which have amassed a following of over 215 thousand subscribers, but until now, my lessons have been about advanced animation topics. I have never gone in-depth with the basics of how I actually make my animations.

​I'm looking forward to teaching you what took me 8 years to develop on my own.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What software / equipment will I need for the course?
Answer: Chapter 2 of the course gives an in-depth breakdown of hardware and software (including a variety of free software and affordable graphics tablet recommendations). So if you currently aren't sure about software, you can jump into the course and make more informed purchasing decisions after taking the chapter.
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Included in the course is a tutorial series on learning Adobe Flash /Animate as well as a tutorial series on learning TVPaint. As a first software I recommend getting a free trial of adobe animate. It is a very intuitive program which is easy for beginners to pick up.

I guide you through the first two exercises in Adobe Flash/Animate. The walk cycle and turn and Aim animations are demonstrated in TVPaint, but by that point you will be able to follow along in any 2D animation software. In the later parts of the course I also show you how I use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere and Adobe Media Encoder as part of my professional animation post-production pipeline. You can download these industry-standard programs as a 30 day free trial during the course. By the end of the course you will have been introduced to this variety of industry leading software.

What will the course be priced at?
That remains to be announced on the 13th of April. There will be multiple price tiers to choose from, so that you can choose to have extra course benefits or a course which is stripped down to the essentials.

Will I have access to the course / academy for life?
Yes! For one payment you get lifetime membership,
and you will have access to all current content and all NEW content I create in future updates for the course.

How does the Academy Group work?
 The Academy is hosted on a powerful free app called Discord. Upon enrolling you will be sent a private link to the group. For general questions you can take advantage of peer mentoring by posting questions in the chat for others to answer, but you will also have access to my personal discord profile where you can ask me specific questions. Every Friday, students post their work on the discord chat and you will receive custom tailored feedback to help improve your animation at an extremely fast pace! It is up to you how much you choose to participate in the academy. Academy membership lasts six months from the point of enrolling, and you will have the opportunity before that time is up to extend your membership for longer. The number of spaces in the Academy is very limited, so make sure you are among the first to join to ensure that you get in!

How do I know if your teaching style is right for me?
You can check out my style of teaching on YouTube. Watch some of my YouTube videos and decide for yourself. In the course, I have slowed things down and gone in more depth for each concept so that no one is left behind. Some of the videos from within the course will also be made available as free samples.


CONTACT

If you have any questions about the course, or if there is anything which might be holding you back from taking the course,
​feel free to reach out to me, and I will do my best to help you with an answer.
howarddw@hotmail.co.uk
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