The Teachers' Animation Toolkit

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Character Sheet 1:
Character Sheet 2:

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The Teachers’ Animation Toolkit
WORKSHEET: GETTING THE BASICS OF MOVEMENT
Teachers’ note:
These drawing exercises have two main objectives. First, they help 
students to start analysing movement and transformation through 
their drawing. Secondly, they help them develop a confi dent and 
relaxed approach to drawing, essential for drawn animation. In 
developing a personal style, students will fi nd a big sketchbook 
very helpful. They can use it to keep a record of their developing 
ideas, and to get used to thinking and expressing themselves 
visually. Invite them to take every opportunity to observe and sketch 
character and movement. In this way they will begin to develop 
a vocabulary of gestures and expressions. Suggest they sketch 
people walking, waving or dancing. If they fi nd drawing anatomy 
daunting, suggest an abstract theme or simpler forms, which focus 
on the expressive power of line, form, shape and colour.
You could begin by using the Drawing Simple Transformations 
handout. Next ask the students to work directly in their sketchbooks. 
An excellent point of departure is to set up a quick character sketch 
activity, working to a strict time frame. Get a stopwatch or a clock 
and set it up next to you. Ask the students to sharpen their pencils, 
and hide their erasers. Give them 1 minute to draw one full fi gure 
character from imagination. Remind them that softer pencils allow 
a faster drawing style, but have to be sharpened more often, which 
can break concentration. A 2B pencil is a good compromise.
Repeat the exercise for 15 minutes or longer, then review the results. 
With each new drawing, ask the students to make their character 
adopt a different pose or frozen movement, such as jumping, fl ying, 
playing golf etc.
Extension work:
For further research invite the students to search the internet for 
inspiration from the following great artists and animators: