Learn 2D and 3D animation skills

Formal training at animation schools and animation college classes. Many universities and colleges around the world offer animation courses. Check with your local schools to see if they offer animation courses.

Online animation classes are a good way to learn about animation and develop your own demo reel from anywhere in the world. If you are serious about online learning, check out the character animation course offered by AnimationMentor.com. This is an 18 month accredited course run by some of the creative people from Pixar and ILM who worked on animated hits such as Cars, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

Books about learning animation techniques are available, and often come with software to make animation at home. Some books you might find interesting are listed on this page.

Animation school courses can be full time learning in all the latest 2D and 3D animation skills, or can be short college courses on specific formats such as Flash animation or claymation.

Online animation tutorials

There are lots of good online animation classes and tutorials. Some of them are free (like the short Youtube video tutorials below), but the best ones are from professional educational institutions. Check out these online animation and graphics lessons.
There are a lot of online video tutorials for making animation. Here is one for making stop motion animation.

New ways of learning animation: apps for your iPad

New iPad and iPhone app Animation Creator HD from Red Software now gives you the tools at your fingertips (literally) to start animating.

Animation Creator HD matches the process that a traditional 2D animator would use. You draw a frame, draw the next frame with your subject in a slightly different position, and so on. Playing the sequence of images gives the impression of animation. It can be a tedious frame by frame exercise, but the app does give you tools to learn how to make it easier. You can also import photos to help with a scene.

Once you have made your animation, upload it to YouTube or Twitter. Become a publisher!