Animating With OpenToonz
My latest course - currently being created
This is a course I have been wanting to create ever since I started working with OpenToonz over 4 years ago. And I am excited to be finally bringing it to completion in 2024.
It is available currently at at 40% discount (full price will eventually be $50) as the final course is still not 100% finished. Part 1 is complete, and Part 2 is almost complete. Another part may be added at a later stage. But before then, even more material will be added, so there is a lot more to come before I can call it finally "complete".
However, there is currently enough material in the course to get you going on your OpenToonz journey, so if you think you would want it (and why wouldn't you), then take advantage and secure the course at this discounted price before it is complete and goes to full price in 2024.
It is going to be a great course, so please do yourself a favour and secure yours whilst this discount is available, as once the course is 100% complete this discount will forever fall away.
What's in the Animating with OpenToonz course
"Animating with OpenToonz" will cover everything an animator needs to know about OpenToonz, from setting it up, and all the basics, all the way to more complex techniques and tools that one can use to really let OpenToonz show its' power. This is a very hands-on course, leaning more to the application of OpenToonz, rather than just all the theory of it.
So the project that I take on, and encourage the animator to do to, is central to the course. In between every project video, there will be technical explanation videos that go through what we have just used in more detail. So even if the animator does not do the project, she will be able to follow all the technical theory that goes into the creation of the project. It comes with downloads needed for the project plus some locomotion templates to make the animation of certain parts much easier.
The course is currently about 3/4 finished - I expect it will be 100% finished by April or May 2024. But it is open for enrolment and the first 3/4 of the course is live and available. Because it is only 3/4 of the way finished (in other words the first scene and half the second scene of the 2 scenes is finished) I am offering it at a special 40% discounted price to it's anticipated price when it is finished. It will go to the 100% price at full completion, mid 2024. So if you are interested, I strongly encourage you to get in early and save yourself some $.
There are a few sections to the course, and it covers:
1. Basics - installing, FF Mpeg, Tools and workplace windows etc.
2. Drawing - the 2 main methods; vectors & raster, and how to use them to the full
3. Animating - covering the various methods and techniques OpenToons offers
4. Advanced Tools & Techniques - we dive into some of the more advanced parts of OT
5. Extra Tips & Techniques - we look at some creative ways to use OpenToonz
6. Examples & break downs - we work through some finished animation examples, step by step.
The course is broken into a few sections;
1. Basics - covering all the basics you need to get going with OpenToonz
2. Scene 1 - we start creating straight away in Scene 1, from drawing to animating.
3. Scene 2 - the creation continues in a second scene, as we explore more of OpenToonz.
(There may be a Scene 3 at a later stage...)
4. Then we tie it all up by putting the scenes together to create one flowing piece of animation. We add sound effects in editing, and the project is done!
5. In between each part of the creation there are videos on the specific part of OpenToonz that we are covering in that part of the creation, so the student can see specifically and in more detail what we are using and how we are using it.
6. There is a section at the end of each scene covering what we have learnt and what we have used, just to once again reinforce the tools of OpenToonz and how we have used them.
The course is available on Pre-Order at a 40% discount to it's anticipated price when it is 100% complete.
The Painter On Safari
"The Painter On Safari" is my most current movie, currently in production.project. I started work on it in late 2020, and I expect to be working on this 30 minute short for another few years. At this stage the goal is to finish it late 2025 or possibly early in 2026.
I have put a lot of work into this film, and it will require even more work and time to get it to where I am satisfied with it. I am aiming to make it a much better film than it's predecessor, "The Painter In Paris", that was produced in 2020.
In tandem to making this short film, I am creating a course on "Making A Short Animated Movie", and this will be based on the creation process of "The Painter On Safari". Together they will take up most of my time in 2024 & 2025, no doubt, but I hope at the end of this time I will have both a film and a course I can be proud of.
If you are interested in joining this course whilst the film is still in development, be sure to check it out as there is currently a big discount available for anyone who joins the course early. This is hopefully going to be a great short film, my best so far, and the course built around it is going to be full of very valuable and interesting information and material, and I think it will be worth a good look at.
So be sure to check it out!
Part 1, 2 & 3 have completed
Below is part 1 of the movie.
This is the first part of the 8 part movie. There are still a few details that need to be ironed out in this part, before the entire movie (all 8 parts) is put together, but we will go through all this detail in the course.
Locomotion Course Bundle
I have bundled 2 of my earlier courses into one
To create more value, and to increase the students over all learning experience, I have taken 2 of my very first courses, namely "The Walk Cycle Course" and "The Dog Run Cycle Course" and packaged both into one bundle, the Locomotion Cycle Bundle. I have also added some extra "bird flight" templates to the bundle, and more content will follow in time.
If you have purchased either course individually, you will now have access to the other, at no additional cost to you. Along with all the benifits that go with purchasing a course from James Whitelaw Animation, i.e. Lifetime access, and new material being added over time.
It goes without saying that you will also have access to all the Templates, existing and the new ones that come, that go with these 2 courses.
Also, as this is a bundle of locomotion type courses, there will be more courses added to this bundle in future, as they are made. So Even if you do not yet own this course, it makes sense to secure it for the future value that will be added.
Looking ahead
I have another, BIG project in the pipeline...
After I complete "The Painter On Safari" I will be starting an adventure series that I have been developing for quite some time, years in fact, called "Moonlight Adventures".
It is set in Paris, and is about 2 teenagers and an eccentric Professor, and the adventures they get up to, and the exotic destinations they travel to. I am very excited about this project, but it's going to be BIG! So big that I pitched it to the Annecy MIFA 2021 film market to try and get some assistance in the production, as to produce the whole series myself will be impossible. At this stage, my plan is to create the "pilot" episode myself, and then engage help from a bigger studio with the production rest of the series.
This is an adventure series close to my heart, and I can't wait to get going with it. I think it's going to be great, but it's going to take a HUGE amount of work to see the light of day.
So I will keep you posted on progress. I expect to start work on it in 2026 at this stage.