150 Animation Exercises to Boost Your Skill

150 Exercises to boost your skills

We're liking this list of 150 animation exercises created by independent animation artist David Mattock at his website Animator Artist Life. 

David Mattock has created a wide variety of exercises for any animator to tackle, from simple tasks like animating a vibrating telephone or a falling leaf, to complex character animation.  It's a great list, super useful for any animator who might need a little practice or inspiration for what to animate next. 

Animate a Run Cycle With "Heavy"

Human run by Edward Muybridge

In this tutorial we show how to animate a simple, basic run cycle.  

The tutorial uses the "Heavy" Rig which you can download for free at HighEnd3D.com. 

Animators should be able to master the art and craft of basic locomotion, including walks, runs and jumps.  These are the "scales" of animation, and should be on every animator's demo reel, demonstrating that the student has mastered these basic steps.

Animate a Flour Sack Leap With Weight

Flour Sack Suicide

In this animation tutorial we show how to animate a Flour Sack hurling itself from a great height.  

The purpose of the tutorial is to create the illusion of weight and balance, by animating the flour sack landing, bouncing, and settling on the ground. 

The tutorial uses the Rockin' Rooster Flour Sack rig, downloadable from high end3d.com. 

Animate a Jump with "Monty"

In this simple Locomotion and Mechanics Tutorial we show how to animate a jump with a simple character, using the "Monty" rig, free for download at HighEnd3D.com.  

The idea is to get a basic jump working, that feels fluid and believable, with weight and balance. You can read more about the Monty rig and how to use it here. The tutorial is aimed at animation beginners in Autodesk Maya. 

Scorpion Animation Tutorial

In this Scorpion Animation Tutorial we demonstrate how to animate a scorpion in motion.  Scorpions are fun to animate, and there is a good free rig available online by Kiel Figgins, which can be found here at his official website. 

Watch the video below for a general introduction to the rig, how to find it, and how the rig works. The scorpion tutorial is similar to the spider tutorial, but a little more complex, as we have to deal with eight legs, two big pincers and also a tail.

Animate a Jelly in Motion

Jelly rig swim cycle with caustics

In this beginners' animation tutorial, part of our series on animal and creature animation, we show how to animate a cute "jelly" in motion. The tutorial uses the free "Jelly" rig which you can find here at Animation Buffet - a great source of free rigs for character and creature animation.  

Jelly is a very simple rig - but gives a good range of movement and also facial expressions. 

Animate a Foxy Tail in Motion

In this "Foxy Tail" animation exercise, students learn how to animate a simple ball with a tail, a cute cartoony fox creature that can be used to create some fun cartoony animation, as in the example on the left by Joris Van Laar. 

The exercise uses the free Ultimate Tail Rig, available for download from highend3D.com.

How to Make a Playblast In Autodesk Maya

In the beginner's tutorial video above we show how to make a Playblast in Maya. What is a Playblast? A Playblast is a desktop render, and a way to test your animation to make sure that playback is in the real time, so you can test out the timing and spacing accurately.  Every animator needs to know how to make a Playblast; watch the video above to see how to get the settings right. 

Introduction to The Autodesk Maya Interface

The video above is an Introduction to The Autodesk Maya Interface. This video is aimed at complete beginners, taking their first steps to use Autodesk Maya - still the leading software for 3D animation.  To see more videos on the use of Maya for Animators, follow the links below.