Video Intro

Watch this short video to see what you will learn in this course.



6 Hours of On-demand Training

Enroll today for instant access to over 30 detailed video lectures focusing on animation basics for complete beginners.

  • All artwork and source files provided

  • Written instructions and special Follow-Along instructional videos for each leasson

  • Go at your own pace

  • No design or drawing skills needed

  • Build fun stuff

Start Learning Animation Today

Animate CC is the industry-standard tool for 2D animation for broadcast, web, and social media.


I’m going to show you how to build short 2D animations that can be exported as video or animated GIF that can be easily shared via email or social media. 

Whether you want to make cows with rocket packs fly, make an animated e-card for mom for Valentines day, or add a little visual pizazz to your marketing campaigns this course will show you how. 

The most comprehensive  Animate CC Course for beginners available

This isn't the type of 1-2 hour course you'll get bundled into a subscription. I'm not just going to walk you through one project and say I'm done. You'll build 10 fun projects with my step-by-step guidance.

We're going to start at the beginning and build up to more complicated concepts together. 

Unlike other courses (or countless free youtube videos), I don't expect you just to watch me and magically learn. I provide detailed instructions in video and written form for each exercise. 

The only way you are going to learn is by doing it yourself. If you get stuck along the way, I'm here to help. I provide email suport to all my students and typically respond within 12 hours.

Once you learn the fundamental concepts of animating with Animate CC, you will be amazed at how much you can do!

Watch Sample Videos (no registration required)

Get a taste of a typical lecture and my special Follow-Along instructional videos

I present this material as if I was sitting with you doing a one-on-one training. In a typical lesson I will clearly explain:

  • how files are set up
  • what we will be learning
  • how to do it


A typical video lecture is 10-15 minutes long. 

What sets this course apart from all the others are my Follow-Along videos. I know what it's like to read a book or watch a video and then have no idea how to do it for myself. 

The Follow-Along videos are usually only 2-3 minutes and show THE EXACT STEPS you need to follow. 

I invite you to watch the BOTH the lecture and Follow-Along videos below to get a sense of how easy this will be.

Typical Lecture

Follow-Along Instructions

Download source files and instructions: GTI-Sample.zip


Instructor(s)

Expert Instructor

Carl Schooff

Learning how to create animations with Flash (now Animate CC) 20 years ago literally transformed my career and I’m hoping to help create a similar result for you. I learned very quickly that I could build really cool animations for big clients without any formal design training or programming background.

To this day, watching something that I create move across the screen still brings me joy, regardless of how simple it is.

Career Highlights

  • I’ve been both an Adobe Certified Expert and Certified Instructor for Flash Professional (now Animate).
  • I’ve taught hundreds of students animation in classroom settings at Noble Desktop in NYC.
  • Created instructional videos on youtube that have over 1 million views (SnorklTv and GreenSock).
  • Instructed 1,000s on how to use the GreenSock Animation Platform (GSAP) as GreenSock’s Geek Amabassador.
  • Created GreenSock's Official Training book and video course.
  • I run a healthy blog that has served 200k+ readers across the globe.
  • Corporate training, seminars, and conferences.
  • Articles published in .Net Magazine, Tuts+, and css-tricks.com.


Despite the decent credentials what people appreciate most is my “down to earth” style.  Watch some of my free videos, I think you’ll get a sense of my style very quickly. Hopefully we’re a good fit.

Does making a bunch of cows with rocket packs fly across the screen sound like fun to you? If so, I think you'll feel right at home.

My 3 Rules of Effective Training

  • Keep it fun

    Learn to animate explosions, creatures, cows with rocket packs, nachos, aliens, ufos and tons of silly stuff.

  • Keep it simple

    Build a strong foundation through short, modular lessons that focus on the basics.

  • Hands-on!

    The only way to learn is by doing things yourself. This course is packed with hands-on exercises.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome to the course!

    • How to use this course

    • Important note about updates to Animate CC
  • 2

    Introducing Animate CC

    • Getting Started with Animate CC

    • Interface Walkthrough

    • 3 Types of Animation

    • Creating Your First Classic Tween

    • First Tween Follow Along
  • 3

    Understanding the Timeline and Keyframes

    • Chapter Intro

    • Understanding the Timeline (keyframes, frames, blank keyframes)

    • Keyframe Boot Camp

    • Blank Keyframe Boot Camp
  • 4

    Project: Stop-motion Animation

    • Chapter Intro

    • Stop-motion Nachos Animation: Watch me build it

    • Stop-motion Nachos: Follow Along

    • Export to Video

    • Upload to Twitter from Adobe Media Encoder
  • 5

    4 Essential Animations

    • Chapter Intro

    • Enter > Pause > Leave

    • Pulse

    • Spin

    • Erratic Animation
  • 6

    Project: UFO with Alien

    • Chapter Intro

    • UFO with Alien: Watch me build it

    • UFO with Alien: Follow-Along
  • 7

    Project: Simple Image Gallery

    • Chapter Intro

    • Surf Gallery: Watch me build it

    • Surf Gallery: Build it!
  • 8

    Understanding "platform type"

    • Understanding Platform Type / Doc Type
  • 9

    Symbols

    • Chapter Intro

    • Editing symbols

    • Editing symbols follow-along

    • Creating symbols

    • Creating symbols follow-along

    • Nested Animations

    • Nested animations follow-along

    • Graphic vs Movie Clip
  • 10

    Nested Animations Practice

    • Chapter Intro

    • GTI wheel Spin

    • GTI wheel spin follow-along

    • Rocket flames

    • Rocket flames follow-along

    • Rocket Cow

    • Rocket Cow: follow-along
  • 11

    Drawing Basics

    • Chapter Intro

    • Merge vs object mode

    • Drawing 1: Strokes, fills, paint bucket, ink bottle and more

    • Drawing 2: Pencil, brush, paint brush and brush modes

    • Drawing 3: Basic shapes, Primitives, and PolyStar
  • 12

    Working with Text

    • Chapter Intro

    • Creating text

    • Text pulse animation

    • Text pulse animation follow-along

    • I love you

    • I love you follow-along
  • 13

    Shape Tweens

    • Shape Tweens

    • Shape tween follow-along
  • 14

    Project: Chicken Meets Bomb

    • Chicken Meets Bomb

    • Chicken meets bomb follow-along
  • 15

    Motion Guide

    • Motion Guide

    • Motion Guide Follow Along

Student Reviews

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
Loved the lessons!
I've searched high and low for tutorials online for beginners and NOBODY comes close to carl. It's broken down into palatable modules. Great follow-alongs. 5 stars!
Jonathan Dias
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
Excellent
After following so many boring videos and courses on Animate CC I searched on google for "fun animate cc course" - and this is the only one of all I ever tried I'm really having fun with..
Boris Nicolai
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
WOW! Just wow!
I feel like I am about to cry! Thank you for being such an incredible instructor. You make learning Adobe Animate easier than learning the alphabet.

You are AWESOME!!
Tiara White
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
Really clear and comprehensive course
Can't praise it enough.
stephen Chadwick
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
Best intensive course from zero to one hundred
This is an absolutely fantastic course, I haven't use Adobe Animate since it was Adobe Flash Professional CS5 (back in 2010) this course helped me keep on track and refresh knowledge also it showed me how to approach the thing in a different way taking advantage of the new feature of the software.

Highly recommended to beginners and users of previous versions.
Pablo Zuniga
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
One of the best courses I've ever taken.
As a beginner, I've learned sooooo much. Super job, Carl. I was amazed how clear your instructions came across, logical and consistent. Look forward to other courses you might teach.
Gayle Fuller
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
I highly recommend it!!
This is the best course to learn Adobe Animate!

Carl’s sequential mini follow-along videos help you build upon your skills without getting frustrated. He shows you how to add sound, gives you .fla files to use with video tutorials, and teaches you how to export your animations as .mp4 videos and .gif files.

As an ABSOLUTE beginner, I really appreciated Carl making his course simple and easy to understand.
Nancy Iler
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
Excellent for Beginners
Even though I have taught Flash/Animate for a number of years, I thoroughly enjoyed the course. I picked up a few tips and a bunch of good projects. If you want to learn the basic mechanics of animation in a fun, easy-to-learn format, I highly recommend this course!
Karen Rhodes
⭑⭑⭑⭑⭑
👏 👏 👏 👏
This class exceeded my expectations

Absolutely the best class in Adobe Animate I found so far!

Keeps it simple and clear with easy to follow steps.

I now have more confidence in using this amazing program!
:0)
Romeo Soebrati

Frequently Asked Questions

What software do I need?

You will need Adobe Animate CC:) Animate is included in Adobe's Creative Cloud. If you are a student or creative professional with a Creative Cloud subscription, you already have Animate CC. You will need Adobe Media Encoder to compress your videos, but that gets automatically installed with Animate. 

To download Animate CC and learn more about what it can do visit: Animate CC on Adobe.com

This course was created using Animate CC 2019. Many of the lessons apply as far back as to Flash Professional.

With the release of Animate 2020 some minor UI changes have been introduced.

What skills do I need?

You just need some basic competence with computers: opening files, saving files, using the mouse. 

Do I need to know how to draw good?

Absolutely not. There will be some lessons where I teach the basic drawing tools, but 90% of the focus of this training is on animation. I will be providing all the creative assets.

Do I need to know other programs?

Nope. Familiarity with Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or Sketch will help but is by no means necessary.

Do I need to know web development stuff like HTML?

Not at all. Although Animate CC is great at outputting HTML5 canvas animations, all the projects in this course are created to be output as single gif or video file that can be easily shared via email or social media. You do not need to know any HTML, JavaScript, or CSS. The goal of this class is to eliminate as many technical barriers as possible and make animation fun for everyone.

-------------------

Questions about this course?

Shoot an email to carl@snorkl.tv I'll be happy to help.