Animation - Where To Begin?

[chinaski 10]

Hi,

 

My 11 year old enjoys drawing and has requested a graphics tablet for Xmas as she wants to start animating. I haven't a clue about the hardware/ software required and I'm not 100% confident she does. Undertaking some basic research my feeling is that she is going to require a graphics pad, but this then needs hooking up to a PC and the animation side will be delivered from purchasing or using some free animating software on the pc. Also, I've seen graphics pads with good reviews for £50 on Amazon but also ones for £200+  and I'm not sure whether the extra shillings will be worth it as I doubt she's going to utilise all the functionality as a novice. Also, some come with screens, others not.

 

Can anyone offer any advice on where to start for a beginner?

 

Thanks

[Hadron 10]

There are loads of animation apps online for android & ios. Gacha life seems to be popular for creating stories.

[DeZeus 11]

As a Simpler introduction to creating animation:

Without the needs for Any Apps or Computers, Tablets or Large Expense

 

Make A Small Flicker Book.

 

1: draw from back of a reporters notepad, or pad ideally unlined.

2: draw first picture, say a rocket on launch pad or stick man running.

3: draw on successive pages the images in different positions.

4: repeat on each page being different

5: Flick from back. - This demonstrates how Animation works!

 

Even the most basic drawing package in Windows would work.

Edited November 11, 2019 by DeZeus
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[swarfendor437 14]

On 11/11/2019 at 16:14, DeZeus said:

As a Simpler introduction to creating animation:

Without the needs for Any Apps or Computers, Tablets or Large Expense

 

Make A Small Flicker Book.

 

1: draw from back of a reporters notepad, or pad ideally unlined.

2: draw first picture, say a rocket on launch pad or stick man running.

3: draw on successive pages the images in different positions.

4: repeat on each page being different

5: Flick from back. - This demonstrates how Animation works!

 

Even the most basic drawing package in Windows would work.

Ahhh! Sweet memories of my childhood come flooding back!

 

In Education at School the main Animation Software that appears to be used is 'Scratch' - and this is included in Zorin OS 15's Education edition, a GNU/Linux OS that looks and feels like Windows 7. It also comes with a plethora of Educational Software too - and at no cost - all you need is some hardware that will run it. A pc with 1 GHz processor, 2 Gb RAM and 10 Gb of Storage space as minimum specification.

 

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/editor/?tutorial=home

 

Here are some other ideas:

 

https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/best-free-open-source-animation-software/

 

and there's also a photo type animation that can be created, stop-go:

 

https://listoffreeware.com/list-of-best-free-stop-motion-software-for-windows/

 

Some GNU/Linux alternatives:

 

https://www.junauza.com/2009/09/free-and-open-source-2d-animation.html

 

On GNU/Linux:

 

https://opensource.com/life/16/11/creating-stop-motion-animation-stopgo

 

The last one my youngest used for a college project - so simple to use.