In Devin’s workshop, we used an open source program called OpenToonz to create animations that we later made into GIFs.  It was a very good introduction to animating digital drawings using tools like keyframes and wire meshes, which help to automate the process.  I had never done animation this way before, so I appreciated the intro.

Our assignment was to make a simple two minute animation using geometrical shapes.  At the end, students in the class would try to guess what the others had done.  The guessing game was fun; it gave us a moment to look closely at our fellow students’ work.

The biggest challenge in Devin’s workshop was learning to use a new program on the fly.  I thought for a bit that I wouldn’t be able to do it in the time I had, so I was going to switch from OpenToonz to Photoshop.  But I went through Devin’s documentation in the slideshow and figured out some of what I needed to do.  As I played with drawing a simple rectangle and then creating the wire mesh and armature for it, an idea for what it could be came into my head just from the process of playing.  Then I asked Devin for help to understand how to animate, and I shared my screen with him so he could see what I was struggling with.  Devin was excellent one on one at explaining what I needed to do.

I think this was a very good introductory exercise because it kept the concept simple by sticking to one basic shape and having us figure out something to do with it.  This would be a great introduction to animation using these programs and methods.  I also think it is a good complement to the lesson I taught on making digital flipbooks by drawing.  I think I would start with that lesson, having students draw on paper and animate the drawings, and then move to this lesson.