Learn how to make hand-drawn animation from start to finish. In this tutorial, animator Kohana Wilson (they/them) walks through the tools, techniques, and principles behind classic paper animation, from your very first drawn frame to a finished animated sequence in After Effects. Whether you’re animating an abstract dot, a dragonfly, or a cartwheeling character, this video breaks down the full traditional animation workflow — from rough sketches to a polished, moving sequence.
You’ll learn:
– The science behind animation — persistence of vision, explained with a zoetrope, praxinoscope, and flip book
– Essential tools: light boxes, peg bars, and paper choices for hand-drawn animation
– Straight-ahead animation — drawing frame by frame in sequence
– Keyframe animation and in-betweening — planning key poses first, then filling in the motion
– Core animation principles: squash and stretch, easing in and out, follow-through, overlapping action, and smear frames
– How to clean up rough animation and scan your frames for digital editing
– Bringing your sequence to life in Adobe After Effects
Artwork references included: Lotte Reiniger, John Canemaker, Winsor McCay, David Ehrlich, Eadweard J. Muybridge, Mary Beams, Maria Lassnig, and William Kentridge.
00:00 Introduction to animation and optical toys
02:42 Tools you need: light box, paper, peg bars
04:16 Straight-ahead animation demo
06:31 Animation principles: squash and stretch, follow-through
13:32 Keyframe animation & in-betweening
20:11 Cleaning up rough animation
21:32 Scanning frames and editing in After Effects
If you’re interested in learning traditional 2D animation, hand-drawn character animation, or the fundamentals every animator should know, this tutorial is for you.
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The comments and opinions expressed in this video are those of the speaker alone, and do not represent the views of The Museum of Modern Art, its personnel, or any artist.
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