PORT TOWNSEND — Veteran animation artist Jim Bradrick will offer a new class for young people: “Basics of Animation for Youth: Stop Motion with Your Smartphone or Tablet.”
The class will be conducted from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 23 at Northwind Art School at Fort Worden.
Advance signup is encouraged to guarantee enrollment. The cost is $45.
“With just a few simple rules and tips that Jim will demonstrate, you can be making your own stop-motion animations in a matter of minutes,” noted Diane Urbani, spokesperson for the nonprofit art school.
The class is for students ages 8-17. To learn more or to register, visit the Take a Class page at https://northwindart.org.
“Also called table-top animation, stop motion can be done with a minimum of equipment, including your own phone or tablet computer,” Urbani said.
“What will you photograph in your animation? The answer is almost anything,” Bradrick said. “Toy cars and other vehicles are a popular choice. Dolls that can stand alone can be made to slide along as if skating. You can make two things go around each other, or you can make them collide and fall over. You can have 10 or more things moving at once. Modeling clay can be slowly changed so that it goes from one shape into another. The possibilities are endless.”
Bradrick encourages youngsters to bring their old toys or other small objects so he can teach the process of making an animated movie, beginning with the whole group working together.
“You’ll be animators in no time,” he said.
Bradrick, who lives in Port Angeles, has had a long career with broad experience in 2D animation, illustration, comic books, advertising art and video games. In addition to a variety of freelance commissions, he has worked for Dark Horse Comics, Humongous Entertainment, Microsoft Research, Hidden City Games and Starwave Corp.
With a particular passion for hand-drawn animation, he maintained a popular animation blog called Acme Punched!, creating nearly 200 instructional and informational posts over seven years.
