Cultivating kids interests to learn 2D animation

The evolution of education and technology has allowed today’s kids to explore and gain ample opportunities to ‘flex’ and ‘stretch’ their creative muscles. PIEX Education’s tailor-made animation programs for kids combine creativity, teamwork and technology, such as their 2D animation design course which can help kids learn 2D animation. This in turn helps them to foster their creative and critical thinking skills, while learning to better understand narratives and story-telling.

So if you wish to get your kids interested in learning 2D animation, check out and read the following sections below to see the different reasons why they’d love being part of PIEX’s online 2D animation course.

Why storytelling is important when kids learn 2D animation

Story-telling has been part of the age-old tradition of sharing and telling each other stories passed down from generation to generation. That said, we use a variety of means and languages, including different types of mediums to do so. Animation therefore, is one of those great means and methods in how we can share our stories with others. It balances discipline, artistry, and originality perfectly. This includes bringing “plot lines and complex topics” seamlessly together through movement and detailed animation. 2D animation as such, are and have been great formats in telling stories, because they can make stories come ‘alive’ with vivid and highly colourful images  (Polyashko, 2021). 

Thus, to be part of an animation and design course where kids get to learn 2D animation, kids will become inspired and get engaged with storytelling. This means that when creating their characters that they animate 2D in, they will also get to come up with their story through constructing their first rough draft, which engages those kids who love to write. Kids also get to create a storyboard as part of their ‘storytelling’ which is not only educational, but highly fun and engaging as well.

Furthermore, when it comes to the “visual elements” in animation, which include “shape, color, line, value, texture, space, and form”, animators often combine these together to form a visual narrative or story (Dutson, 2013). Thus, when kids learn 2D animation for instance, they will learn to unite each of these ‘visual elements’ seamlessly to tell their stories. 

Getting kids started with drawing to learn 2D animation

When talking about starting to create an animation, the characters are often first hand–drawn on paper to design and sketch the kind of images we would like to animate 2D in initially. As such, these animations can be a “caricature” or be drawn in any other artistic style. Thereafter these can be transferred to the computer to continue with further animating the drawn characters and objects using a sketching computer tool or any other type of software platform (Fiore & Van Reeth, 2002).

In PIEX’s 2D animation design course, your kids will get to first make reference (sketch) drawings in pencil on paper. Thereafter, they will also get the opportunity to learn about key character poses, using reference images to better understand proportions. 

Furthermore, as far as 2D animation programs for kids are concerned, they will also get to create and draw out a storyboard which will be a fun visual activity for them to do. And after that, they will get to put further work into their character sketches and their animations, including putting it all together in the post-production process to bring their characters and still images to life.

Reading and experimenting to spark kids’ interest

If you want to get your kids started, these animation books are a great reference point to drive interest and engagement to learn 2D animation:

• The Animator’s Survival Kit – A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators by Richard Williams
• Animation for Beginners – Getting Started with Animation Filmmaking by Morr Meroz  
• Animation for Beginners – Basic Principles of Animation for Motion Graphics by Lisa Lee 

What are the different animation styles kids can learn?

When it comes to animation programs for kids, there are various styles of animation that they can get involved with. 

Here are the different types of animation styles your kids can get exposed to and learn:

Traditional animation

• Disney classics like Cinderella, The Lady and The Tramp and many more for instance, are examples of traditional animation. 
• The subject, characters, objects and scene are hand-drawn for each frame. 
• This style is also known as “2D animation, classic animation, cel-animation or hand-drawn animation”.

Rotoscoping animation

• For kids and adults looking to take their hand-drawn/traditional animations to the next level, computers can be used thereafter where artists trace over every frame of the hand-drawn images to create “life-like animation”.
• Thus, when your kids learn 2D animation, they get to learn drawing and animation techniques all at the same time using this kind of style. 
• Rotoscoping as a result, appeals to kids and gets them interested in “bridging the gap between modern and traditional mediums”, when being part of an animation and design course.

Motion graphics

• These are “infographics composed of animated text, shapes and figures that offer a great way to add emphasis to a point”, such as a song, message or even “end credits” within a film.
• An example of this is the “familiar bouncing ball” that hops from word to the next in a jovial sing-along song”.
• Kids who are interested to learn 2D animation and be part of an animation and design course, including film production, but who are not as interested in creating characters or storytelling development, can get the chance to learn more about motion graphics and how they can stand alone or add to any animation project.

Computer-generated animation.

• Films like Toy Story are one of many examples of computer-generated animation.
• This is also known as 3D animation and is used in many animated films and in live-action movies today. 
• The process of 3D animation consists of three main steps:

• Modelling: This is the storyboard phase of the process where the artist or animator starts constructing the scenes, layout and animation design of characters and so on. 
• This often involves creating characters, backgrounds and objects that you can animate 2D in, starting with hand-drawn sketches 
• This gives kids the “autonomy” to determine the visual elements (as mentioned above) and allows them to embrace and foster their ideas and creativity.
• Layout: Here, artists and animators decide on the look of each character and object they’ve drawn. 
• By doing this step, kids are encouraged to appreciate the importance of each detail in the animation process, thereby better comprehending how to learn 2D animation and design.
• Rendering: This final step is where everything is brought together to form the “final graphic”. 
• This means that kids get to “see their vision brought to life” using the necessary software and platforms that they will be introduced to in their animation design course.

Motion capture

• This approach uses “relatively new technology”, as it is used to capture a “live actor’s performance” and this is then transferred into a 3D character on screen.
• An example of this can be seen in the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, where “Andy Serkis’s ‘Gollum’ character was filmed using motion-capture”.
• This could be an area that kids can explore further with at a later stage in their future animation career aspirations, once they learn 2D animation and the skills that come with being part of an animation design course.

Animation programs for kids are a great means to get kids interested and engaged with animation as it appeals to kids because of the “bright colours and accessible subject matter” kids are able to successfully engage with (Adobe, 2022).

Therefore, if you want to get your kids interested and start to be part of an animation design course where they get to learn 2D animation, and grow further and beyond with their animation career aspirations, or just to develop a fun hobby, then attend an online 2D animation program with PIEX today!

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