If you’re passionate about filmmaking but fancy trying your hand at something new, check out the animation courses on Skillshare today!

You might be an independent filmmaker who’s made their first feature film. Perhaps it went down really well, and you’re keen to get to work on another project. But, if you’re someone who likes to keep things fresh, you might fancy making your next project an animated film.

With so many types of animation, from stop-motion animation to computer generated imagery (CGI), it can be challenging to pick the right one for you. It’s even more difficult when you don’t have much experience in any of them. Fortunately, you can take one of many animation courses available on Skillshare. We’ve listed some of the best available, in order to help you figure out which direction to take next!

Frame by Frame Animation

Frame by Frame Animation:  Fun Tips and Tricks for Non-Animators is a course hosted by illustrator Chris Piascik.

This course will help you to create a simple animation from scratch. With guidance from an expert with over 10 years of professional illustration experience, you’ll learn how to morph two objects into one. Focussing on different skills (wiggle, smear, and morph) throughout the course, the final lesson will see you combine 2 or more skills into one animation.

Animation Principles

Animation Principles: Add Playful Personality To Your Animations is a Staff Pick on Skillshare. The course is hosted by Jake Bartlett, who is a motion designer.

Animation principles are an invaluable set of guidelines for creating more appealing motion in your animations. Whether you’ve had formal training in motion design, or you’ve just figured it all out yourself, understanding and implementing these principles will make a huge difference in the quality of your work. That’s why Jake is so excited to share his knowledge in this course!

Your First Day in Blender 3D

Blender is a free and open-source 3D computer graphics software toolset used for creating animated films, visual effects, art, 3D printed models, motion graphics, interactive 3D applications, virtual reality, and computer games.

Your First Day in Blender 3D, presented by SouthernShotty3D is the perfect place to get started in Blender 3D for the first time! With this course, you will run through the basics of Blender’s interface. First you will be walked through the basics of the interface and navigation. Then end by using what you’ve learned to model a top hat and rendering it in one of the sample scenes!

This course will cover skills traditionally used in animation, motion design, and video game design. You’ll learn the interface, modelling, lighting, rendering, and a bit of animation.  If you’re interested in getting started in 3D, then this is the perfect class for you!

Procreate Animation: Make Fun GIFs & Videos

Procreate Animation: Make Fun GIFs & Videos is an animation course run by artist & designer, Rich Armstrong.

For your project, create at least one looping GIF with 3-10 frames and share it with the class! Upload it to your project space on Skillshare and share any experiments or animation doodles you made! Tell everyone what you learned and what you found most fun about the process.

If you’re stuck, why not animate a saying from your home country or home town? Or maybe a favourite word or saying. And use a style you’re comfortable with!

Create an Ocean Loop in Cinema 4D and After Effects

Last in our animation courses recommendations is Create an Ocean Loop in Cinema 4D and After Effects. This course is hosted by Don Mupasi, aka Visualdon, a freelance visual artist.

In this class, you will learn how to make a cinematic ocean loop animation in Cinema 4D and After Effects. In addition to the technical process, you will also learn techniques for coming up new ideas or expanding your existing ideas.

This class is suitable for users of all levels. Beginners who have not used the software before will be able to follow along. Intermediate to advanced users will be able to learn about or expand their knowledge of how to make looping scenes in Cinema 4D.