Quest to learn 2D animation in After Effects Pt.1

With a span of 11 weeks we are to choose an area that we would like to improve on via self study. Wanting to increase my chances of working in an industry which created children animated shows I had decided that the area would most likely either be 2D or 3D animation. Looking back at my coursework I was fairly confident that with enough motivation I could increase my abilities in using Maya outside of class with small side projects that I would think about during my free time. Looking to 2D though I had only really practiced with Adobe Flash. Thinking that I could also work in Adobe Flash outside of this course I had started to think about what other alternatives were there when it comes to the production of 2D animation, these include:

• Traditional method of using 3-hole punched paper with a light desk.
• Toon Boom Studio
• Flipbook
• Autodesk Maya
• Adobe After Effects
• Adobe Photoshop

Traditional was the first method to come to mind, considering that all other methods derived from this one. But having time to stew on this allowed me to think of how expensive and difficult this would be considering the alternatives could not only produce the same results but to allow extra polish and the ability to redraw where necessary. Toon Boom would have been a good choice if we had access to it via campus computers since I've come to understand that this program is quickly becoming the industry standard when it comes to the tool of choice for cartoon production. Flipbook is a simple easy program to use but felt the time would be wasted on a program which has been discontinued for years. Maya came to mind once I learnt that South Park uses this for their show, and while I didn't decide to go with this choice it is an area which I wouldn't mind exploring at some point in the future. Photoshop would have been a better contender if it had a better animation layout. After Effects was the program of choice after some thought and considerations. It would allow me to get more practice into a program which I was interested in, I was fairly confident that I could not only produce some nice looking animation with tweens similar to flash but maintain an aesthetic that I would of had access to by using Photoshop and their brushes. And coming to understand how After Effects was used in the advertising sector it would allow me to create opportunities for employment. 

With After Effects as the chosen program some of the goals I would like to achieve are:

• Learn how to create 2D animation in After Effects
• Document the methods used and pipeline
• Refine animation intended for broadcast
• Create 2 original characters.