Learning Character Animation

The fundamentals of great character animation are rooted in posing your model in a way that reads true, animating from pose to pose to mimic natural movement, and simulating convincing dialogue. Start here to learn the skills all beginning animators need to know to bring their characters to life, regardless of software or style. Author and animator George Maestri first teaches you how to position your model and create realistic poses that tell stories and consider balance and weight. Next, you'll take those poses and animate between them in what's called pose-to-pose animation. Then you'll get your character moving in a basic walk cycle, add expression to the face, and incorporate dialogue. Finally, you'll learn how to tie all the fundamentals together in a scene complete with pose-to-pose animation and dialogue.

Learning objectives
Telling stories through posing
Creating a strong line of action in poses
Animating seating to standing poses
Adding anticipation and follow-through
Making your character walk
Animating the head and face
Animating basic phonemes
Animating a scene