The best online animation courses for any skill level

The animation industry is experiencing a boom right now.

Even though the art form has been around for hundreds of years, new technology has made animation more prevalent than ever. More powerful software and computers mean that individuals can now create animations on their own that would previously have taken a whole studio to complete.

This means that if you’re an aspiring designer, learning animation is something you should consider if you want to increase your career options or even just flex your creative muscles. At the same time, if you just want to animate for fun as a hobby, it’s a rewarding and fun pursuit.

Learning to animate on your own can be challenging. There are many different digital tools and pieces of industry software that you can use. Animation is a diverse discipline with several different directions that you can go in depending on what type you want to specialize in.

You could teach yourself animation by diving headfirst into an app and watching online tutorials. Still, a much better way to learn is by taking one of the many animation courses available online.

There are many online courses available, and being online means that you have an abundance of choices. Remote learning is flexible and in many cases, cost-effective. Plus, you get to learn from professional animators.

To help you find a course that suits your needs, we’ve created this handy list that covers all the main areas of the animation field.

Looking for online classes in animation? Here’s what we recommend.

For a good foundation: 12 Principles of Animation with Justin Harrison

If you’re a complete animation noob or someone who knows a little and would like to brush up on your animation skills, then this course is an excellent place to start. Theoretically, you can get into animation without knowing the 12 principles of animation.

Still, you’ll be putting yourself in a much better position to progress if you have a solid understanding of the animation basics.

This course covers basic techniques like squash and stretch, timing, slow in and slow out, exaggeration, and more. It explains how you can use these animation principles to breathe life into your animated characters and objects, and while they aren’t all there is to animation, they are the best place to start.

It’s taught by Justin Harrison, who is currently the Associate Lead Animator at the behemoth Rockstar Games, so you’re in safe hands.

This course is best used with the 3D animation software Maya, although you can use it with other 3D animation applications. It lasts just over two hours and costs $19, which means that it doesn’t require too much financial investment or time. You can take the course through the developers, 3dmotive, or Udemy.

Pricing: $19

For 3D animation: Learn 3D Animation – The Ultimate Blender Guide

The open-source 3D animation software Blender is one of the most popular animation apps out there. As it’s free, it’s an excellent tool for learning how to create 3D models and animations. One of the drawbacks of the app is that it has a steep learning curve, making a course like this one even more relevant.

[Callout: 3D animation is growing in popularity, and there are plenty of opportunities to work in the field of animation.]

If you want to get into this area, jumping into animation using Blender in conjunction with this 3D animation course will set you on the right path. You’ll get to grips with all of the Blender features and animation techniques.

The course is taught by 3D artist and instructor Alex Cordebard, and it lasts around 26 hours, so you know it has a lot of depth to it. One of the advanced aspects of the course is that you will work on hands-on projects throughout and actively practice the skills you are learning.

At a price of $139, it’s not the most affordable, but it comes with lifetime access, so you can go back to it and refresh your memory and hone your technical skills whenever you like.

Pricing: $139

‍For mastering Maya: Maya for Beginners: Complete Guide to 3D Animation in Maya

Do you aspire to work in the film industry? Or would you like to be involved in making games? If your answer to either of these questions is yes, then you will have to get to grips with Autodesk Maya.

Autodesk Maya is considered the industry standard software for 3D animation. If you want to work at a high level in a professional environment and make feature films, then learning how to use this animation app is a must for your career path.

This course is a hands-on creative experience, and you’ll learn how to use Autodesk Maya by creating a project with it. You’ll work on a scene inspired by Dia de Los Muertos (aka The Day of the Dead), where you animate a skeleton, which is pretty cool.

The instructor for the course is Lucas Ridley, a professional 3D animator who has worked on many Hollywood productions, including Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.

The course takes more than 25 hours to complete and covers how to rig, texture, animate, model, use light, use dynamics, and render with Maya. You’ll learn how to build and design 3D objects; how to animate these objects with keyframes; how to add shading, lighting, and texturing; how to rig a 3D character for animation; how to create dynamic special effects; how to construct a full 3D animation sequence and more.

Pricing: $12.99

For creating characters: Simple Character Animation

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When a lot of people get interested in animation, one of the first things they want to do is to be able to create and animate their own characters. If bringing your own animated characters to life sounds like the exact kind of thing you want to do, then this course is a great place to learn the animation basics.

Simple Character Animation is taught by the award-winning director and professional animator Fraser Davidson and covers everything you need to know to get started. The course takes a step-by-step approach and uses a simple walking animation as an example for you to work from. You’ll even be able to export it as a GIF at the end.

You’ll learn how to use Adobe Illustrator to animate and understand what key elements are needed for character design. You’ll also learn how to build and rig in After Effects for animation and how to render your projects when you have finished them.

The total course length is around one hour, so it’s a good way to dip your toe into animation without investing too much time.

Pricing: You need a Skillshare membership to take this course

For getting to grips with CGI: Animation and CGI Motion

Ok, this course is quite advanced, and you’ll need good existing knowledge in a few areas to dive into it, but no one said making animations look crazy realistic was an easy feat.

You know CGI from the movies, and if you want to know how to do it and how you can work in this area, then Animation and CGI Motion could be a solid first step.

Eitan Grinspun, an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia Engineering and the director of the Columbia Computer Graphics Group teaches it. He’s part of the team that has developed technology licensed by giants like Pixar Animation Studios, LucasFilm, and Disney for their animated films.

The course lasts 12 weeks and will take around 8 to 10 hours per week, so it’s not for the casual learner.

Before starting, you’ll need a knowledge of C or C++ programming, calculus, and algebra. This might sound pretty heavy-duty, but when you look at what you’ll learn in the course, you understand why it’s necessary.

You’ll learn the fundamental concepts of physical simulation and practice coding using a physics simulator, plus learn about the algorithms and equations used in CGI animation. It’s heavy on mathematics, but it then shows how these concepts are applied to create the movements of a dress in the wind or how fluids flow.

Pricing: Free for limited access or $249 for full access

‍For use with an iPad: Mixed Media Animation in Procreate

For drawing and animation, the iPad is a great tool, and there are a lot of apps out there that you can try out. The downside is that you’ll have to wade through many tutorials or spend a lot of time figuring things out on your own to progress.

This course from motion designer and animator Caroline Kjellberg can help you accelerate the process of learning to animate with an iPad by guiding you through the Procreate animation app.

Caroline has used storytelling animation in her work with brands like Beats by Dre and Adobe, so she knows a thing or two about creating animations that appeal to an audience.

Using the Procreate frame-by-frame animation app, you’ll learn how to create a storyboard, shoot your own animation sequence, and design a looping animation using mixed media. The course takes just over eight hours to complete, so it’s fairly in-depth.

What we like about this course is that it gives you an insight into how to work with clients, a skill that will help you if you want to become a professional digital animator.

Pricing: $9.99

‍For aspiring 2D animators: 2D Animation for Beginners

If you want to learn the art of 2D animation, this course is an ideal place to start as it very effectively bridges between traditional forms of 2D animation production and more modern approaches.

The course is taught by Jay Jackson, an experienced animator who has worked on classic animated films like The Little Mermaid and Tarzan.

This course is a little different from the others on this list as it runs in seasons, so you can either join for a course starting in Spring or a course starting in Fall. The places are limited, and it runs in a six-week workshop format.

You can follow the workshops at home in your own time, and then once a week there is a live meeting with your mentor. Plus, the program also includes live Q&A sessions with Jay Jackson.

In this 2D Animation for Beginners course, you’ll learn the basic principles and workflows of 2D animation and dive deeper into the key concepts of emotion and movement in animation. The classic exercises also teach you how to apply posing, timing, and framing to 3D character animations.

You’ll need a digital painting device like a tablet to take the course and an animation app like RoughAnimator or Harmony by Toon Boom. The course is pricier, but the expert input and feedback provide value for money.

Pricing: $899

For stop motion: Stop Motion for Beginners: Create Expert Animations in Dragonframe

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We absolutely love the art of stop motion animation at Vectornator and believe it creates animations with a totally unique character and feel. Clay animation, cut-out animation, and puppet animation are just some of the ways in which you can use stop motion.

If you’d like to learn how to create your own stop-motion animations, then this course is the one for you.

Taught by animator Dina Amin, Stop Motion for Beginners covers everything you need to know to get started, including detailing exactly what equipment you’ll need and how you can generate creative ideas for your animation project.

You’ll also learn about the laws and design principles of animation and what you need to do to set everything up for your own animation.

The course uses the Dragonframe stop motion animation app, which is the industry standard for stop motion and the app used by many major studios, so you’ll need to invest in that as well to take the course. It also covers how to export your projects when they are done and what post-production you can do.

Pricing: You need a Skillshare membership to take this course

Start your animation journey today

We hope this list has helped to inspire you to learn the basics of animation and given you the resources that you need to help you take the next steps.

Let these online courses act as your animation mentor, and have fun on your animation journey.

Hey, all you budding animation students, fancy brushing up on your drawing skills? Learn to draw on Vectornator via our latest tutorials.

There's How to Draw Eyes, How to Draw a Bat, and How to Draw a Rose. Plus, we also have video lessons in the Vectornator Academy!

Join our creative community of designers and illustrators, and don't forget to share your art with us on social media!