Hey Y'all.

I am publishing while you all work so diligently behind me.

A friend of mine, who is a fellow graduate student has asked if I could do an animation for her thesis film project.

I thought I'd share how I am doing it, although I do warn for all you animation savants, it's pretty archaic and takes elements of the theatre to accomplish certain elements ans movements. (i.e. making waves in an ocean)

1. Using a tablet I draw all my scenes in photoshop. Draw all objects that will be mobile in the animation on a separate page with a transparent background. 

2. Open up Adobe After Effects, click on file and open a new project.

3. Import all the photoshop files and drag them onto the project folder.

4. Next to the "source name" is a little triangle that looks like a backwards play button. Click on that for your drop down menu.

5. Click on the arrow next to where it says transform for your transforming options.

6. Depending on how you want to transform your image be it changing the position, scale,   etc., click on the little icon next to it that looks like an alarm clock. That will automatically set your first keyframe.

7. Move the playhead to where you want the next movement or transformation to begin and adjust the movement accordingly on your viewer, This will automatically set another keyframe.

8. The action that occurs in between is your first animation.