Examples:

Used over a series of sessions to produce an animated DVD
(Whalton C of E First School, client: Arts Council Creative Partnerships Northumberland).

Used in one intensive day's work with Gifted and Talented pupils at Stanley School of Technology.

I would be interested to hear if you have any particular requirements.

Hand Drawn Animation
Workshops

Many participants in my cartoon drawing workshops have expressed a wish to learn animation. Now I believe I have overcome many of the difficulties in presenting an animation workshop in which all can participate fully.

Download PDF information sheet

This is a fairly flexible workshop, and can be adapted to various age groups.

The participants produce animations by drawing on multiple sheets of punched A4 paper. These are photographed using a webcam and shown on computer or projection screen as video movies.

The workshop can focus entirely on free creativity, or it can be directed as required to explore a particular theme.

Participants

A maximum of 15 can participate.

Schools: All key stages. Top primary is a good starting level.

Libraries inviting the public: try to keep the age range for each session reasonably narrow,
e.g. 13-16 or 7-11 yrs old.

Facilities and Materials

I work in front of the whole group at first, drawing on a floor-standing plain paper flipchart.
Participants should preferably be sitting at tables.

It is extremely useful to be able to connect my laptop to a digital whiteboard or other large display - so that the whole group can see the capture process and watch the completed movies.

I will provide each participant with an A4 "visible area template", a plastic pegbar to hold their animation sheets in place, and a pencil. I loan these out for the duration of the workshop.

They will draw on A4 2-hole-punched bank paper with ordinary pencils. The fee includes up to one ream (500 sheets) of this special paper, ample for up to 15 people.

The pictures are shot using my rostrum webcam, and then played back on my laptop PC as AVI video files. These completed video files can be saved to a CD-R (or to your USB drive) and left with you at the end of the session.

(You may then play back the videos and even make a DVD from them on any suitable computer.)

Animation Workshop Fees

INCLUDING 1 ream of special paper and one CD-R. Also the use of my camera system, laptop, pegbars, pencils and templates during the session.
NOT INCLUDING travel, digital projector (recommended) or pens/ colouring pencils (optional)

Per day £300 - I regret I am not able to offer full day animation sessions until further notice.
Per half day £200
plus 50p/mile travel expenses from Newcastle upon Tyne.

If the visit, including travel time, exceeds 12 hours, overnight accomodation may be required.

Optional Extras

A webcam is used in the workshop, for speed and for live preview on screen, but the image quality is not great.

If higher image quality is required the animation may be re-shot using a scanner or digital camera. I can do this, but it is a very slow process. (The students may be able to do it themselves after the workshop, using the same free animation program I use - Monkeyjam for Windows).

I can build the finished animations into a DVD Video with titles and menus, and produce as many copies of it as you need.
DVD production won't be possible on the same day.