a digital painting course for animators and illustrators

This class focuses on the study and creation of "color keys". Color keys are production paintings used in feature animation that create a color scheme for the look of the entire animated film. Studying color keys in animation builds a stronger understanding of thematic color and cinematic lighting that will make your artwork resonate more emotionally with your viewers. This class will build your confidence when it comes to creating color inspired imagery.
 Students will have lots of hands on painting practice and will complete two paintings for their own stories by the end of the class.
Students will understand the difference between representational color and color design, how color affects mood, planning color schemes for your paintings and how the time of day affects color.
This course is taught by Daniel Von der Ahe.
 
​Daniel studied art at the Florence Academy of Art. He has taught at Laguna College of Art and Design and Kazone, a portfolio development school for entertainment artists. He works as a portrait artist for the Oakland A's, and a visual development artist for animation focusing on color and lighting keyframes.
This class will be taught synchronously and recordings will be made available for viewing.
The format of this class consists of lecture, slides and painting demonstrations for 1.5 hours.
Student critiques and live review of homework will proceed immediately after for 1.5 hours

This is a digital painting class with demonstrations provided in Photoshop, however students are welcome to use Procreate or any other digital painting program they feel comfortable using. Students should have at minimum a basic understanding of their chosen digital painting program.