Foundations in Modern 20 Animation by Brent Noll

This course skips the pegbars and pencils. You’ll jump straight into Adobe Animate CC and start animating from day one. It’s built around a series of hands-on projects that take you from the absolute basics of motion to a fully finished looping animation. You’ll work like a real clean-up artist, design characters that actually animate well, and build a complete walk cycle using the Richard Williams method. By the end, you’ll have a portfolio-ready looping short and a solid grasp of how modern 2D tools fit into a traditional animation workflow.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Create animations in Adobe Animate CC using drawing tools, symbols, and the frame picker
• Apply the fundamental principles of motion, including squash and stretch, timing, and arcs
• Clean up rough animation and color line art like a professional clean-up artist
• Design animation-friendly characters with turnarounds and consistent model sheets
• Build walk cycles using the four essential poses and Richard Williams’ approach
• Rig simple facial and puppet-style characters with nested symbols and layer parenting
• Composite and finish animations in After Effects and Premiere with lighting and sound

✅ Requirements

• Skills: Basic understanding of drawing and design fundamentals. Completion of Analytical Figure Drawing and Fundamentals of Character Design is recommended.
• Tools: Adobe Animate CC, Adobe Premiere, Wacom tablet (or equivalent)
• Hardware: Drawing tablet, computer capable of running Adobe Animate CC smoothly

📝 Description

This isn’t your grandfather’s animation class. Forget about exposure sheets and peg bars—this course is built around the way modern studios actually work. You’ll start in Adobe Animate CC, learning the tools by doing, not by watching endless tutorials. The first project is a bouncing ball, but by week three you’re already cleaning up rough animation like a production artist. That’s the whole point: you learn by mimicking real studio workflows.

The curriculum is carefully sequenced. Each week builds on the last, so you’re never overwhelmed. You’ll tackle the principles of motion through hands-on exercises, then move into character design with a focus on creating designs that are actually animatable. The walk cycle week is a major milestone—you’ll use the Richard Williams method to construct a seamless loop that you can be proud of. Then comes lip-syncing and basic rigging with symbols, which opens up a whole new way of working.

The final project ties everything together. You’ll develop your own looping animation from storyboard to final composite, learning how to use After Effects for lighting and finishing touches. The course also covers practical stuff like exporting for social media and submitting to animation festivals like Loopdeloop. It’s not just about learning software—it’s about learning how to finish things and put them out into the world.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• Beginners who want to learn 2D animation using modern digital tools rather than traditional paper methods
• Illustrators and character designers who want to bring their characters to life through animation
• Animators with some traditional experience who want to transition to Adobe Animate CC and modern rigging techniques

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Brent Noll is an animation production artist based in Burbank, California. He currently works as a designer on Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty, and his short films have screened at festivals including Loopdeloop, Audfest, Austin Spotlight, Asifa-South, and The Los Angeles Animation Festival. He’s also the co-creator of BAM Animation!, a YouTube channel dedicated to helping young cartoonists learn to draw. Before landing in LA in 2013, Brent worked with studios like Disney TVA, DreamWorks Television, ShadowMachine, BentoBox, and Starburns Industries. He knows what it takes to work in professional animation, and this course reflects that real-world experience.

🏁 Final Result

• A complete looping animation short, developed from your own concept and finished with compositing, sound, and color
• A polished walk cycle using your own original character
• A portfolio-ready demo reel piece that demonstrates your ability to work in a modern 2D animation pipeline

📢 Guys, this is a Group Buy campaign, check the GBC forum thread to get access

You can find the course preview in the download section below.