Basic Animation using Adobe Photoshop & After Affects

by Ariana Higgins / GitHub: arihiggs89

Tutorial Overview

This tutorial will teach you how to animate an open-source image using Adobe Photoshop and After Effects. This tutorial is for beginners (like me) who want to learn very basic Photoshop (PS) and After Effects (AE) techniques used animation. This tutorial does not require any previous experience with PS or AE - only the willingness to learn!

The World of Animation

Animators produce images that appear to come to life on screen. Their work is found in feature films, commercials, music videos, video games, webites and other media. They may work with drawings, special software, graphics, models and puppets, capturing separate images of each stage of a movement. When the images are viewed at speed, the characters appear to move.

The French artist Émile Cohl created the first animated film using what came to be known as traditional animation methods: the 1908 "Fantasmagorie". The film largely consisted of a stick figure moving about and encountering all manner of morphing objects, such as a wine bottle that transforms into a flower. Since that time, animation has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry and the rapid advancement of technology has made computer animation available to the masses. The animation industry is one of the fastest growing sectors and in recent years, there has been an increased demand for animation & visual effects in video games, movies, and television, providing growth and great pay for skilled animators.

Skills of an Animation Artist:

• Creativity and imagination
• Patience and attention to detail
• Computer literacy and familiarity with graphics software
• Communication and presentation skills
• Ability to meet deadlines and work as part of a team

Animators Specialize In:

• 2D drawn animation
• 2D computer animation
• Stop-frame or stop-motion animation
• 3D computer generated (CG) animation

Now that you know the background, required skills and professional pathways for animation artists, let's jump into the tutorial!

Required Materials for Tutorial:

1. Open-Source Clip Art - this is a copyright-free image repository with thousands of open-source images for free!
2. Adobe Creative Suite - plans and free-trials for Adobe Photoshop, After Effects + more!
3. YouTube Tutorial - My YouTube Channel hosting the tutorial walkthrough
4. Creativity & the willingness to learn!

Process:

1. Download Adobe Photoshop & Adobe After Effects on your device
2. Find an image you would like to animate using the open-source image repository
3. Open my YouTube tutorial playist
4. Watch & follow along as we walk through:

• Pulling an image into Photoshop
• Editing the image into layers for animation
• Saving the edited image in the correct format for manipulation in After Effects
• Pulling the edited image into After Effects for animation
• Adding a fade-in/fade-out for professional quality
• Using basic key-frame techniques to animate the image
• Rendering the animation in After Effects for quality viewing

Resources & Additional Learning

• Adobe Photoshop Learn & Support
• Adobe After Effects Learn & Support
• Fun Projects In After Effects
• Udemy courses on After Effects
• Udemy courses on Photoshop

Thank you for joining me and I hope you learned something useful & new!

(the DigitalCastle^TM)