artdirector,jeekim Details
Story Development
Adapting a narrative and shaping it into a clear, structured 60-second arc for visual storytelling.
Art Direction Development
Researching references and defining the visual world of the film, including tone, color palette, and stylistic direction.
Production Planning
Translating ideas into a practical production roadmap using shot lists, trackers, and organized workflows.
Designing Cinematic Styleframes
Creating key visual moments that establish mood, composition, and storytelling clarity before animation begins.
Character Animation through Cel Techniques
Animating expressive performances that communicate emotion and personality.
Cinematic Compositing and Final Execution
Combining animation, lighting, color, and effects to produce polished, cohesive final shots.
- Section 01
OT
01. Orientation- Instructor introduction - Class objectives and learning outcomes - What to expect in taking a production from start to finish
- Section 02
Story
02. What Is Visual Storytelling?- Clear understanding of the story is key - Examples of succinct, yet poignant visual stories
03. Turning a Story into a Script- The process of distilling an existing story to its major plot points
04. What Is Storyboarding?- Storyboarding explanantion and its production application - Basic camera framing & movement terminology
05. Storyboarding Your Scene- How to turn a script into a storyboard
- Section 03
Research
06. Importance of Reference Gathering- Shaping your visual world and conveying your vision to the team - Useful sources and techniques for reference gathering
07. Creating the Treatment Deck- What is a treatment deck? - Categorizing your research: art direction, character, and environment - Putting together a pitch deck using your references
- Section 04
Pre-Production: Sketching & Designing
08. Designing for Animation- Design principles for narrative animation: focal point, visual hierarchy, and value contrast - The art of "show, not tell"
09. Designing Your Characters- Factors to consider when designing animation characters - Explore character designs through shape iterations
10. Creating an Animatic- Introduction to animatic and its role as a pulse check - Animatic editing with storyboards
11. Finding the Sound for Your Film- Role of soundtrack and its emotional impact on viewers - Testing different sound tracks
12. Designing the North Star Styleframe- Bringing a storyboard sketch to a fully designed frame - Testing different color palettes
13. Designing the Rest of the Storyboards- Creative decisions overview
14. Color Script- Introduction to color script - Color script creation
15. Shot List & Schedule- The importance of a shot list - Creating a shot list - Creating production timeline and schedule - Organizing files for success
- Section 05
Production: Animation
16. Character Cel-Animation- Introduction to pose-to-pose technique - Demonstrating pose-to-pose with key character moment
17. Character Animation in AfterEffects- Basic character rigging in AfterEffects - Bringing life to character animation within AfterEffects
18. Creating World-Building Assets- Creating background art with camera movements and angles in mind - Cel-animating a background element in the same key scene - Using After Effects to animate a background element in the same key scene
19. Building Conform- Introduction to conform: plugging draft art/animations into animatic - Creating conform with rough draft background art and animations
20. Coloring Character Animations- How to color your animations in Toon Boom - How to create key shadow for character in Toon Boom or Adobe Animate
- Section 06
Production: Compositing & Editing
21. Animating Camera to Create Dimensionality- Camera layer setup and animation
22. Lighting for Visual Storytelling- How to guide the viewer's focus and emotion with lighting - How to heighten emotion with lighting
23. Creating the Illusion of Life with Lighting- Introduction to volumetric lighting and its 3D animation applications - How to emulate volumetric lighting in a 2D scene
24. Color Correcting and Color Grading- How to unify the scenes with adjustment layers
25. Creating Depth of Field (DOF)- Introduction to depth of field and its film applications - How to create a depth of field mask for scenes
- Section 07
Post-Production: Sound Design & Final Touches
26. Designing Sound Effects- Enhancing your worldbuilding with sound effects - How to layer sound effects
27. Finishing Touches- Distinguish your work with the "final 5%" concept - Extra details to elevate the final 5%
- Section 08
Outro
28. Exporting Your Animation- File formats for exporting - Export ratios for different social media platforms - How to make a "version" of your work into multiple formats
29. Final Words- Advice for aspiring artists
This course will use
- Adobe: After Effects, Photoshop
- Toon Boom Harmony (or any cel animation software)
- Google Workspace: Slides, Sheets
Please purchase and install these program(s) for an optimized chapter experience.
*These programs and/or materials will not be provided with the chapter.
