Basics of Character Animation with After Effects
A course by Yimbo Escárrega, Animator and Motion Grapher
Learn to bring your characters to life and showcase their true personality
Ready to breathe life into your animated characters? Motion designer and animator Yimbo has extensive professional experience in the field and is ready to help you do just that. His collaborations with brands like Sony, MTV, adidas, and Sprite alongside his 365 Rounds project continue to make him a pioneer in the area of motion design.
In his online course Express Animation for Social Media with After Effects, Yimbo introduces you to the process of developing motion graphics projects in record time for digital platforms. Now, in this online course, use After Effects to discover the basic principles of animation and the techniques you can use to bring your creations to life.
What will you learn in this online course?
37 lessons & 23 downloads
What's included in this course?
Get started by learning more about Yimbo's experience in the world of character animation, his work, and his main influences.
Next, take your first steps in animation by preparing two different projects. In the first one, explore the basics of animating with Adobe After Effects to develop a natural animation filled with personality using features like position, rotation, scale, opacity, Ease In - Ease Out, Anticipation, Follow Through, and Squash and Stretch.
Yimbo then details step by step how to use After Effects to animate an illustration made with Photoshop and Illustrator. After that, put that knowledge into practice and prepare an avatar in Illustrator before using After Effects to add personalized expressions.
Then, it’s time to animate a complete character! Begin your illustration in Photoshop, import it into After Effects, and use Duik to create the skeleton and rig for your character, as well as a template for future animations.
Prepare a walk cycle to take your character for a walk and add details to refine your animation with features like Follow Through.
To wrap up the course, follow along as Yimbo guides you through each stage of developing a promo for your character, including planning, creation, improvement, and final render.
- 99% positive reviews (408)
- 12,616 students
- 37 lessons (5h 48m)
- 23 additional resources (16 files)
- Online and at your own pace
- Available on the app
- Audio: Spanish, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish
- Spanish · English · Portuguese · German · Italian · French · Polish · Dutch · Turkish
- Level: Beginner
- Unlimited access forever
Recommended software & tools for this course
Adobe After EffectsWhat is this course's project?
Prepare several animations for your characters, from the simplest to the most complicated.
Projects by course students
Who is this online course for?
Illustrators, designers, animators, and anyone else interested in learning how to bring their characters to life with Adobe After Effects.
Requirements and materials
Basic knowledge of Adobe After Effects and intermediate knowledge of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are required.
In terms of materials, you need a computer with Adobe After Effects, Illustrator, and Photoshop. If you have the CC 2017 or 2018 version, you can download and use the files that Yimbo shares throughout the course.
New to Adobe After Effects? In that case, we recommend taking Domestika Basics courses to learn how to use the software: Introduction to After Effects.
Reviews
Yimbo Escárrega
A course by Yimbo Escárrega
Yimbo is a designer and motion grapher from Tijuana who has more than a decade of experience in animation. In 2007, he founded Black Dog studio where he worked with companies like Aeroméxico, Sprite, adidas, and Sony Vaio. He then switched roles to animation lead at Pictoline in 2015, adding motion to stories that were shared daily on social media. The experience he gained during his time there gave him the ability to create animation at the speed of light.
Yimbo currently works as a freelancer and regularly collaborates on different projects and with other designers like Eraboy and Charles Glaubitz.
Content
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U1
Introduction
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Presentation
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Influences - Top 5
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U2
Your first animation
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Our first project
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Position
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Rotation
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Opacity and Scale
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Final animation
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Render
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U3
Your second animation
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The principles of animation
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Ease In - Ease Out
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Anticipation
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Follow Through
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Squash & Stretch
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Comparison
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U4
Illustration for animation
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After Effects + Photoshop
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After Effects + Illustrator
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U5
Avatar
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Illustration
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Organizing the project
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Rigging
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It's alive - Part 1
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It's alive - Part 2
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But I do not illustrate in Photoshop
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U6
Complete character
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Illustration
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Importing into After Effects
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Rig of an arm
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Skeleton
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Ready, loop!
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U7
Take a walk!
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Animating the torso
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Animating the legs
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Animating the arms
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Follow Through and secondary animation
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U8
The promo
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Storyboard
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Setting the scene
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How to animate in Photoshop?
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Importing into AfterEffects
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Final composition - Part 1
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Final composition - Part 2
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FP
Final project
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Your own animated character
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What to expect from a Domestika course
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Learn at your own pace
Enjoy learning from home without a set schedule and with an easy-to-follow method. You set your own pace.
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Learn from the best professionals
Learn valuable methods and techniques explained by top experts in the creative sector.
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Meet expert teachers
Each expert teaches what they do best, with clear guidelines, true passion, and professional insight in every lesson.
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Certificates
PlusIf you're a Plus member, get a custom certificate signed by your teacher for every course. Share it on your portfolio, social media, or wherever you like.
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Get front-row seats
Videos of the highest quality, so you don't miss a single detail. With unlimited access, you can watch them as many times as you need to perfect your technique.
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Share knowledge and ideas
Ask questions, request feedback, or offer solutions. Share your learning experience with other students in the community who are as passionate about creativity as you are.
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Connect with a global creative community
The community is home to millions of people from around the world who are curious and passionate about exploring and expressing their creativity.
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Watch professionally produced courses
Domestika curates its teacher roster and produces every course in-house to ensure a high-quality online learning experience.
FAQs
You’ll learn how to animate illustrated characters, apply classic animation principles, organize files for After Effects, and create loops and animations optimized for social media.
This course is designed for people with basic illustration or After Effects skills, ideal for intermediate level, but you don’t need to be an animation expert.
You’ll need Adobe After Effects and Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator to create and animate your character illustrations.
Yes, you can import and animate your own illustrations, plus you’ll learn how to organize and prepare files to make animation easier.
You’ll learn how to set up square formats, create loops, and export animations optimized for digital platforms and social media.
Yes, the course covers strategies to adapt animations to different illustration styles and how to collaborate with other creatives.
You’ll be able to create animated characters, stickers, walk cycles, opacity and rotation animations, and loops ready for social media or professional projects.
Adobe After Effects
Muy buen curso, buen contenido y profesor muy agradable
Excelente curso!
muy buena la explicación 100% ecomendable
Excelente!
Sin duda un curso que recomiendo