Animation Summer Camp Series – 2025
Creating an animation is a long and complicated process that requires several techniques and many different animators working on a single project. In order to bring the animation process to the scale of our summer camp, we are dividing the animation process into three sections: Writing and Boarding, Key Animation, and Ink & Paint. By the end of these three camps, campers will have collaborated with one another and the animation expert instructors to create a single, 30-second animation. While this may seem like an incredibly short project for three weeks of hard work, it shows the reality of how complex the editing process is. Sign up for any one of the phases of animation, or sign up for all three camps to get a full picture of how animation works.
At the end of the summer, we will host all campers at the Script to Screen Film Festival, where all stages of the animation process will be screened for campers and families to see how it all comes together.
SAVE ON MULTIPLE CAMPS
Must be purchased at the same time, discount will appear in cart
Animation 1: Writing & Boarding
Familiarize yourself with the early stages of developing an animation. This camp takes campers through the processes of conceptualizing, writing, storyboarding with Toon Boom’s Storyboard Pro, and compiling a rough animatic of an original animated short. Campers during the Writing and Boarding camp will create the basis of the story that campers over the next two weeks will continue to work on. At the end of the summer, all stages of the animation process to create this short will be screened at the Script to Screen Film Festival.
- Schedule/topics covered:
- Story development
- Character design
- Environment design
- How to use Toon Boom’s Storyboard Pro
- Creating thumbnails
- Understanding shot composition
- End of camp: campers will have developed a completed animatic
Animation 2: Key Animation
Learn how to bring still images to life with keyframe animation. Take the storyboards from the previous animation camp into the next phase of the animation process. Familiarize yourself with Toon Boom’s Harmony, the software used for cleaning up and adding movement to the figures and environment in the animation. In the next camp, final touches will be made on the animatic, and all stages of the animation process to create this short will be screened at the Script to Screen Film Festival at the end of the summer.
- Schedule/topics covered:
- Basic principles of animation – e.g. ball bounce, flag wave, and walk cycle
- How to use Toon Boom’s Harmony
- Keying
- Cleaning up the animation
Animation 3: Ink & Paint
Complete the final touches of the animation process. Take the rough animatic that has been created in the previous two animation camps, and add the color, details, and sound to complete the full animation process. Learn how to use After Effects to implement visual effects, practice color grading, and find the perfect music to add to the animation. At the end of the summer, all stages of the animation process to create this short will be screened at the Script to Screen Film Festival.
- Schedule/topics covered:
- Basics of the ink & paint process – adding color and final details to an animation
- How to use After Effects
- Compositing scenes
- Color grading, VFX
- Special Effects
- Adding music
- Finalizing the short film
Questions? Check out the Summer Camps section on our FAQ page.