The Ultimate Animation Foundations Course
Learn the most important skills in animation.
Learn the fundamentals of 2D animation in a fun an intuitive way. Each class is designed to build your foundational knowledge, step by step, so that you gain the skills you need to tackle your own projects. If you're new to animation or looking for a fresh perspective on classic ideas, this course has you covered.
Learn to think like the great animators
Learn the philosophy behind great motion. This deeper learning will help you make animation that you love. No matter what style of animation you enjoy, these lessons will help you approach even the most challenging project.
Take things at your own pace
You can take your time with the classes or study them intensively. When you enrol you’ll have lifetime access to the course. No subscriptions, no tricks. It’s yours forever to come back to whenever you like. And if you’re not 100% satisfied, get your money back.
See what students are making:
Throughout Animation Basecamp you’ll create loads of fun animations that build your skills and confidence. Many can be completed in an afternoon but you can spend as long as you like on each project.
I’m so happy to share a very small selection of Basecamp student projects here, so you can see what you’re in store for!
Learn 2D animation today!
When you enrol and you’ll be the proud owner of:
Take the guesswork out of learning animation with an expertly crafted course that builds your animation skills step by step.
25 unique guided exercises to learn and practice your new skills.
A bonus FX animation mini Course
Private Community Access.
Software training.
Over 8 hours of bonus “Showcase Critique” recordings to follow and learn from.
All Future Updates.
Lifetime access:
$199
Your very own Animation School
I’ve been lucky enough to lecture at animation schools around the world, but I’ve always been disappointed that I couldn’t reach more students with the big ideas of animation in a deep-dive course.
After developing a new style of teaching specifically for the internet and attracting hundreds of thousands of students to my classes on YouTube, I thought it might finally be time to create my most ambitious class so far - Animation Basecamp. It’s my idea of the ultimate animation foundations course. A structured, full introductory animation class that is far more accessible than traditional animation school, but also able to go much deeper than normal online classes.
The course in a nutshell:
Chapter 1
Animation Magic
You’ll start by learning to move things in fantastical ways. Dive straight in and build your skills with playful animation experiments.
These are really fun exercises that build your animation instincts and confidence in minutes.
8 in-depth lessons covering: timing, rhythm and spacing.
Chapter 2
Getting Real
You’ll learn to fill your animation with believability as we demystify physical motion. You’ll explore the way motion works in the real world so you can bring it into your imaginary worlds.
8 in-depth lessons covering weight, follow through, and energy.
Chapter 3
Breathing Life
Next you’ll learn the classic animation principles designed to breathe life and authenticity into characters and everyday objects. This is where you’ll start to unlock the true magic of animation.
9 in-depth lessons providing a unique perspective on classical ideas like anticipation, overshoot, exaggeration and leading motion as well as pro tips for keyframing, building solid characters and rotating objects through space.
Chapter 4
The Masterclass
In the last chapter you’ll learn to tie all your animation knowledge together into a finished project with a full 2D animation workflow.
This is where you’ll really see your new animation skills shine.
3 in-depth lessons sharing the process for taking your animations to a finished level. From concept to clean up.
New bonus chapter
When you sign up for Animation Basecamp you’ll also get access to a whole new mini-course call FX Animation Starter Pack. This bonus chapter will teach you to animate smoke, energy and explosions!
Community + Showcase Critiques
In Animation Basecamp you’re never on your own. We have a private community feature where you can chat and each assignment has an active comment section to share your work. There are hundreds of student projects to be inspired by.
Each assignment in Animation Basecamp is also accompanied by a “Showcase Critique” where you can follow two students, Shadi and Robin, as they attempt the same assignment you’re working on. You can watch as I give Shadi and Robin feedback based on the creative hurdles they face each week. It’s the perfect way to cement the concepts we explore and also offers you a chance to learn from the common problems students run into as they’re learning animation. There are over 9 hours of bonus content in this section alone!
What students are saying
Do I need to be able to draw well?
One of the reasons many people find animation intimidating is because they are self-conscious of their drawing ability. My dream is to get anyone into animation, no matter their drawing skill or confidence.
A core idea in Animation Basecamp is that Drawing and Animating are treated as separate skills. If you’re able to draw a line, or a blob, you’ll be able to enjoy every class in the course. That’s because I focus on the fundamental ideas behind motion. Whether you’d like to draw an intricately designed anime mecha or a simple ball, each class can be adapted to your drawing level.
Animation Basecamp is the perfect way to start your animation journey or level up to become a skilled 2D animator
FAQ
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Animation Basecamp is designed for everyone from complete beginner to confident animator wanting to pushing themselves. It could be your first time dabbling with animation or it could help you understand ideas you've studied elsewhere more deeply. Ultimately if you sign up and feel like it isn't a good fit in the first 14 days, shoot me an email (alex@alexgrigg.studio) and I can refund you. So no harm in trying it out :)
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I’ll be using an affordable app called Rough Animator ($6.99) which works across desktop computers and mobile devices. I’ll also include a full tutorial on how to use the app so you won’t feel left behind. But that said, you can use any animation program you like. So long as it has basic drawing, timeline and editing features, you’re good to go. You can see a full tutorial on the basics of Procreate Dreams here, and Adobe Animate here.
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The barrier for entry to animation keeps getting lower and lower, which is awesome. You can complete this class using any computer or mobile device that can run an animation program, but I strongly recommend using a device that has a drawing tablet with pressure sensitivity. This could be a laptop with an external tablet or an iPad with an Apple Pencil.
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This course is designed to be accessible to artists at all skill levels. If you can draw a circle and a line you’ll be able to do this course. If you’re an advanced artist, you can push your projects a little further, but at its heart this course is about creating compelling motion.
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This is a self guided course, so personalised feedback is not part of the curriculum. BUT there is an active community area and comment section where you can share your work. You can also follow along with the showcase critiques and watch as two new students receive in-depth feedback from me. This is super useful as we cover lots of the common hurdles students face when they’re first learning animation.
Level up your animation today.
Fancy a free guide?
Do you want to get started in 2D animation but don’t feel ready for Animation Basecamp? You might enjoy Animator’s Starter Pack. This is a free resource designed to give you a head start in your animation study. It includes:
A mini-ebook with my favourite animation exercises to boost your fundamentals.
A cheat sheet of the apps I recommend to new animators.
An educational newsletter with bonus animation ideas.
