Animation Essentials: Character Acting with Li Cree

9-week, beginner-to-intermediate-level animation class

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Li Cree

Li Cree is a 2D animator, storyboard artist, and character designer for TV animation. Originally from the bustling city life of New York, Li got her start as an animation intern for Sesame Street and spent the last 6 years honing her craft in both American and Japanese productions. Some of her works include providing animation works for X-Men 97, Castlevania: Nocturne, One Piece, and the hit anime series Jujutsu Kaisen along with providing storyboard works for studios like Marvel, Disney TVA, Nickelodeon and more. Last year, Li launched her first animation foundation course, Mastering the Fundamentals: Beyond the Basics, on Coloso where she discovered a love for teaching and is hoping to further expand her career in education for new emerging artists.

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Class Schedule

Length of Course: 9 weeks

Days: Saturdays starting May 10, 2025; skip July 5, last class on July 12, 2025

Time: 1pm – 5pm Pacific Time

Tuition: US$900

Class Size: 10 students

Format:

• Class meets once a week on Zoom; Zoom class is recorded
• Homework to be uploaded to Google Drive folder
• Students have access to class recordings and other class materials for 12 months after class ends
• Bonus Discord activities: 1) Mid-week Office Hours to receive feedback on homework WIPs – schedule TBD, participation optional but highly recommended, not recorded; 2) Work Sessions to hang out and work on homework together with classmates

Class Summary

This 9-week course’s objective is to teach students how to craft lively and authentic character acting in their animations. We will be going over how to apply the 12 principles specifically through character acting. Students will be given weekly assignments that will be focused on the weekly topics and will be critiqued. In the last 2-3 weeks of the course, students will be given a long-term final assignment of animating a piece of dialogue.

• Week 1. What is Acting in Animation?
• Week 2. Observing Natural Movement
• Week 3. Posing & Breaking the Model
• Week 4. Enhancing Movement and Appeal
• Week 5. Building a Visual Library
• Week 6. Performance Through Dialogue
• Week 7. Inbetweening Techniques
• Week 8. Optional Q&A (No formal class this week)
• Week 9. Final Presentation + Project Critiques

There will be some Week 0 Assignments (incl. viewing and drawing practice) to be completed before the first class, with details shared 2-3 weeks before the start date.

Expected Results

Upon completing this course, students will create a rough tiedown animation that can be used for their portfolio as well as learning acting skills that can be applied not just for 2D animation but also storyboarding.

Prospective Students

Animation artists who want to further push their performance skills to make more appealing character-based animations. This course can also be useful for storyboard artists who strive to work in comedy, drama or any story that relies heavily on unique character acting.

Prerequisites

This is a beginner-to-intermediate-level animation class. In order to have a productive learning experience for all, prospective students need to fulfill the following requirements:

• Must have some basic understanding of the 12 principles of animation and adequate figure drawing / draftsmanships skills
• Must have experience and access to a digital animation program (such as Clip Studio Paint, Toon Boom Harmony, TVPaint, Krita, Procreate, etc.); Li uses Clip Studio Paint EX (Ver 3.0)
• Must have a computer with microphone (camera optional)
• Must be able to access Google Drive to upload homework
• Should be comfortable using Discord to view/upload files and participate in text and/or voice discussions
• Please know that this is a critique-heavy course. It’s very important to finish all of your homework on time in order to receive in-class critiques

Sign up to the waitlist or subscribe to our email newsletter to receive updates. Please make sure you are aware of our operating rules and policies listed on the FAQ page before registering.

Class filled. Get on the waitlist to receive updates!