Introduction to Toon Boom Harmony for Animation of 2D Characters

Interested in learning more about animated loops to bring your characters to life? Illustrator and animator Pedro Alpera can help you do just that as he shows you the ropes of making these brief animations that can easily be shared with the rest of the world.

In this online course, he guides you through the vast capabilities that Toon Boom Harmony offers for creating your own loops, including the use of bones and deformers, making your own rigs, and animating cut-out characters all in the same software.

Start by familiarizing yourself with the Toon Boom Harmony workspace, features, and workflow and configuring your preferences to make it much easier to make your animations. For your first exercise, develop the hierarchy of a face and animate it using nodes.

At that point, you’re ready for your first Toon Boom Harmony project. Pedro animates an astronaut, but you can choose any character you’d like. Prepare your file, add the first bones to bring them to life, and take a closer look at other rigs and curve deformers before adding the final touches to complete your animation.

For your second project—a roly poly, or pill bug—learn to use envelope deformations to add movement to your character’s face and body before animating the arms.

Once both projects are complete, Pedro offers some tips to help you optimize how you work with Toon Boom Harmony. Then, take a look at how color cards work and how to export and optimize animations and how to transfer your characters and items from one Harmony file to another.