Our list can continue to grow, and we’d love to hear from you if you have an “animation exercise” to add whether for film or video games. So, start practising and bring your animations to life!

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1. Vibrating Phone

   Animate a phone vibrating to a sound effect.  You can easily get a sfx online, and a phone 3d model asset.  You can even just use a plain cuboid, as we are just interested in the animation.  As well as getting it to vibrate which you will need a bunch of keyframes very close together, also get it to move sideways as it would on a table.

2. Falling Leaf

   Animate a leaf falling from a tree, paying attention to how it moves side to side and spins as it falls. This can help you understand how to animate slow, subtle movements.

   Play

3. Car Speeding Off

   A simple exercise in which we are looking to see a realistic increase in speed

4. Falling Block

   This can be a simple cuboid or brick.  We are looking to get some reaction as it hits the ground plane

5. Swinging Pendulum

   Improve your understanding of arcs and easing in and out by animating a pendulum swinging back and forth. Pay close attention to the natural slowing down and speeding up of the pendulum, and maintain a smooth, consistent arc to make the motion believable. (You can get a fantastic visual guide of the 12 principles of animation here: )

   Play

6. One hard ball knocks another

   Have two spheres close to each other but with a small gap.  Get one to roll and lightly knock the other. Animate the reaction,  the ball that gets hit would roll a little away, then slightly roll back again as it settles.  But the ball the first ball would also react and roll back.  Think of two heavy and solid pool or bowling balls.

7. Floating balloon

   Practice arcs, timing, and weightlessness by animating a floating balloon. Pay attention to the balloon’s subtle movements as it floats through the air. Experiment with different wind conditions and balloon shapes to challenge your skills and understanding of weightless motion.

8. Spinning Top

   Animate a top spinning, wobbling, and eventually falling over. This exercise can help you understand how to convey balance and instability.

9. Dominoes

   Animate 3 dominoes falling over.  The first knocks the second and so forth. Practice adding secondary motion

10. Jack in the Box

    This is great for practising animating really sharp snappy movements followed by lots of overlap and settle.  Also animate the lid springing open and overlapping.

11. Arrow Hitting a Target

    Animate an archery arrow hitting a target.  It’s extremely fast and snappy, then animate the bend and wobble in the arrow as it settles to a stop

“Animation is not the art of drawings that move but the art of movements that are drawn.”

Norman McLaren

Remember, these character animation exercises might seem simple, but they are extremely important in developing a strong foundation for more advanced animation. Don’t rush through them, and always try to understand and apply the underlying animation principles. Happy animating!

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1. Simple Ball Bounce

   I cannot recommend enough how this essential exercise will help introduce you to animation principles such as how to add weight, squash and stretch, timing and anticipation.  I recommend always trying this first.  I even created a FREE maya rig for everyone and two in-depth video lessons on how to animate bouncing.

   

2. Ball Bounce Along

   Now that you’ve had an introduction, it’s time to add some forward movement and take it further. This takes more skill. Rotate the ball forward for each bounce then animate it rolling to a stop. Again visit the link in 1. Simple ball bounce to find your free rig and free tutorials on all of this.

3. Character Eye Blink

   Your character’s eyes can close then open, yes this is technically a blink, but is it an appealing blink?Eyes tend to close then hold for a frame or two then open.  The close can be a different speed from the open.  I like to have the close quicker and snappier and the open slightly slower. Pixar is known for actually offsetting two eyes, so one eye is a frame behind the other one.  When played back at normal speed this really adds life to the character

4. Character Head Turn (With Anticipation)

   This may sound very simple, you just turn the head right?  Wrong!  There are some other actions you need to consider to make this appealing.  Anticipation is first.  Try turning the head slightly in the opposite direction it’s going to turn first, this is anticipation, you are building momentum.

   Arcs
   Arcs are another animation principle.  Instead of things moving in an A to B linear way, animate your limbs or objects in an arc formation.  Imagine an arm swinging from the shoulder.

   So with our head, add a keyframe in the middle and get the nose to dip down slightly, then upwards into its destination.

   Push past the end position slightly then return to your final destination.  This is called overlap.  Like the opposite of anticipation

   Here is an excellent article with step-by-step help on animating a characters head turn

5. Character Thinking

   This sounds simple, right?  Well, it’s not that easy to truly convey thought.  We can make a nice deep in thought pose, but you will also need some subtle actions like eye darts.  Is it a worried thinking or a relaxed kind of animated thought process?

6. Flour Sack Jumping

   You can get a number of great flour sack rigs online like this one:  https://joedanimation.gumroad.com/l/floursackmaya   It is a great rig to start with as it’s not a full biped humanoid, but you need the skill to give it life and make it believable.  Or you maybe a traditional frame by frame hand drawn cell animator, in which case you just draw it.

   

   Start with a jump loop.  Get it to jump up and down. First add your anticipation as he gathers energy for the release into a jump up, and make the impact back down overlap and feel he has weight.

7. Opening a Door

   Practice animating a character opening a door to learn about interaction with the environment. Focus on the character’s hand placement, body mechanics, and anticipation. This exercise will help you understand the importance of weight and force when interacting with objects.

8. Character Nodding in Agreement

   Animate a character from the shulders up nodding in agreement.  You can make this with different emotions, for example, very happy and excited that they are being asked if they want something they really like.

9. Head Shake – Saying No

   This time with no speaking, animate a character saying now, just swinging his head, left to right, but get the arc dip in the middle, and make their expression really sell the idea they are not impressed

10. Stretching Character

    Animate a character stretching after a long day. This will give you insight into conveying the release of tension through body movements.  Just stick with the waist up for now, they can be sat down

11. Shrugging

    Animate a character shrugging. This exercise will allow you to practice articulating the shoulders and upper body.

12. Expressive Eyebrows

    Animate a character’s eyebrows to show different emotions. This can help you understand how even small changes can dramatically affect a character’s expression.

13. Character Clapping Animation

    Animate a character clapping their hands. This will help you practice coordinating both arms and showing impact without sound.

14. Yawning

    Animate a character yawning. This is a good exercise for understanding how a simple action can involve the entire body, not just the mouth and face.  But you can still do this exercise from the waist up only, sat down.

15. Falling Asleep

    Animate a character sleeping and then waking up. This will allow you to practice subtle movements and transitions from a state of rest to alertness.

16. Waking up

    Animate a character sleeping and then waking up. This will allow you to practice subtle movements and transitions from a state of rest to alertness.

    NOTE: If you feel confident, why not animate all the above three in a sequence!

Summary So Far

As you work through these beginner and intermediate animation exercises, remember that practice makes perfect. Be patient with yourself, and don’t be afraid to seek feedback from others. With persistence and dedication, you’ll see improvement in your character animation skills and be ready to tackle more advanced exercises in no time. Happy animating and let’s move on!

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1. Simple weight shift

   A good one to start with a biped, get your character to shift weight.  Good with a female character with her hand on hip, then swap all her weight and pose to the other side

2. Character Turn

   Create a 180-degree character turn to practice weight shift, balance, and smooth transitions. Break down the turn into key poses and study references to create a believable and natural turn. Try adding personality and emotion to make the animation more engaging.

3. Character Getting Up From A Chair

   I encourage you to look at video references or even film yourself going from a seated position to standing.  To make this believable, you will need to shift the weight multiple time forward and back and also sideways.  Push up from the hand on the legs and rotate the clavicle to show weight.

4. Slump In Chair

   Super tired or exhausted slump into a chair from a standing position.  You can add lots of overlap and settling motion at the end like the arms swing to a slow stop.

5. Walk Cycle With Character

   The staple of any animator is to create walk cycles.  Try and push further with expression, mood and emotion, for example walking proud, sad and slow, super cheerful character poses etc.

   

6. Run Cycle With Character

   Now try a run cycle.  The weight shift is much less and pacing very different to walk cycle.  Again, try a standard run cycle, then try adding cartoonish style animation poses.

7. Jump On The Spot

   From a standing position, get your character to jump up and down.  Create a lot of anticipation before take-off.  Another good tip is to always try and offset timings of your limbs.  For example on landing get one foot to impact a frame or two before the other.

8. Answering The Phone

   Character grabbing a ringing phone, is he angry, in a rush, slow and happy? Also a good opportunity to learn about animating constraints.

9. Walking Up Or Down Stairs

   Lots of nice weight shifts needed.  If you’re feeling adventurous, get one hand to use a handrail and the other free.  You will need the arm on the rail in ik (inverse kinematics) so you can place the hand freely and have it locked in place without moving with the body.  But the other arm on FK (forward kinematics so you get nice arcs)  Again, delay the wrist elbow and shoulder one frame from each other.

10. Character Sneaking

    Create a sneaky character animation to explore the subtleties of body mechanics and timing. Focus on the character’s body posture, foot placement, and overall movement to convey a sense of stealth and suspense.

    In my early days whilst studying at iAnimate I created an animation mixing sneaking and stair walk animation

11. Jump Over an Obstacle from Standing

    Animate a character jumping from a standing position over an obstacle to help understand anticipation and timing. Consider the character’s physical abilities and the obstacle’s size when animating the jump. Focus on the weight shift, landing impact, and follow-through.

12. Basic Idle Stance

    Create a simple idle stance to convey a character’s mood or emotion through subtle movements. Observe the small body shifts, breathing, and eye movements that make a character appear alive even when standing still. This exercise helps you develop a sense of nuance and attention to detail.

13. The ball and socket chain – tails, ropes etc

    Animate a ball and socket chain, like a tail or a rope, to practice overlapping action and follow-through. Focus on how the motion of the first ball affects the others in the chain. This exercise will help you create fluid, believable motion in more complex character animations.

14. Balancing on a Single Object

    Animate a character balancing an object, such as a book or a ball, on their hand or head. Focus on the character’s body mechanics as they try to maintain balance and the object’s motion as it reacts to the character’s movements. This exercise will help you understand weight perception and balance in character animation.

15. Basic Character Emotion

    Practice animating a character expressing a basic emotion, such as happiness, sadness, or anger. Focus on the character’s facial expressions and body language to convey the emotion convincingly. This exercise will help you develop your character acting skills and add depth to your animations.

16. Basic Character Reaction

    Create a simple reaction to an off-screen event to develop character acting skills. Animate a character reacting to a sound, a surprise, or an impact. Focus on the character’s facial expressions and body language to make the reaction believable and engaging.

17. Simple Object Push

    Practice animating a character pushing an object to understand weight distribution and force. Observe how the character’s body mechanics change depending on the object’s weight and size. Focus on showing the struggle, anticipation, and follow-through in the animation.

18. Character Gesture

    Animate a character performing a simple gesture, like pointing, waving, or shaking their head. Focus on the character’s body mechanics, emotion, and intent. This exercise will help you understand how to convey meaning and emotion through simple actions.

19. The Excited Character

    Animate a character who has just received good news. This can help you understand how to animate joy and enthusiasm.

20. Pancake Flip

    Get some movement into the frying pan as well as the body.

21. Bursting Through a Door

    Up to you to make this a comedy animation or realistic, is the character happy and excited or panicked?

22. Walking With a Crutch

    it might be tricky to animate an injured leg and a limp

23. Tasting Something Disgusting

    Have fun with pushing those facial expressions, tasting something horrible would be a different facial expression to something sharp like a lemon.

    

24. Baseball Throw

    Make sure you gather some video reference as always is very important! wind that body up, lots of anticipation then let rip!

25. Baseball Or Cricket Hit

    Whether you’re in usa or the uk, lots of follow through and impact needed n animating hitting a ball with a bat.

26. Tennis Serve

    Really push that peak pose before the character swipes.  Give that ball some real hang time for more drama

27. Electric Shock Game

    Get a character to play that game where you carefully move a small electric metal hoop along a twisty metal bar, and if they touch it they get a shock!  Show concentration on their face, then suddenly changed to shocked followed by relief of frustration.

28. Laughing

    Can you animate a character laughing? Try a giggle to a laugh out loud, Video reference of real world and animated laughs will be needed. Here is a lecture on animating a laugh by Kenny Roy

    Play

29. Brushing teeth

    You’ll need a good facial rig for this one.

30. Opening a Window

    animate a happy scene of a character opening a window and appreciating the start of a beautiful day.  Best to have the camera outside, so they open the window towards the camera.

31. Face Palm

    A character slaps his own face as if someone said something really stupid.  Get a disappointed feeling into your animaton.

32. Sneezing

    Animate a character sneezing. This helps with timing and showing how a sudden action can affect the whole body. You can make this really comical, have fun with it!

33. Character on a Swing

    This will give you insights into how momentum works.  The posing of the character leaning back and kicking out their legs is important to make this believable.  Find some video references.

Intermediate Summary So Far

As you progress through these intermediate animation exercises, you’ll notice your skills and understanding of animation principles improving. Don’t forget to seek feedback from peers and mentors to help you grow even more. Keep practicing, and soon you’ll be ready to tackle advanced animation exercises. Good luck and have fun animating!

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1. Walk Cycle Variations

   Create different walk cycles to convey a character’s personality, mood, or physical condition. Experiment with confident, shy, tired, or exaggerated walks. Study references and focus on body mechanics, weight shifts, and arm swings to create unique and engaging walk cycles.
   Check out this amazing video reference by Kevin Parry

   Play

2. Run Cycle Variations

   Create different run cycles to portray a character’s personality, mood, or physical condition. Experiment with confident, tired, panicked, or exaggerated runs. Study references and focus on body mechanics, weight shifts, and arm swings to create unique and engaging run cycles.

3. Character Getting Up From A Chair

   I encourage you to look at video references or even film yourself going from a seated position to standing.  To make this believable, you will need to shift the weight multiple time forward and back and also sideways.  Push up from the hand on the legs and rotate the clavicle, shoulders

4. Jump With a Twist

   Animate a character jumping and twisting in the air to understand complex body mechanics and weight distribution. Focus on the character’s anticipation, take-off, rotation, and landing. Experiment with different jump heights and twist speeds to challenge your skills.  Could it be a dancer jumping to a ta-dah! Or a presenter of a show even?

5. Lifting a Heavy Object

   Animate a character lifting a heavy object to practice weight perception and body mechanics. This animation exercise can be difficult to make fully believable. Focus on the character’s struggle, anticipation, and follow-through. Experiment with different object weights and sizes to see how the character’s body mechanics and reactions change.

6. Carrying a Heavy Weight

   Animate a character carrying a heavy object, such as a suitcase or a box. Focus on the character’s body mechanics, weight distribution, and the object’s impact on their movement. This exercise will help you understand how to convey weight and effort in your animations.
   
   Note:  ‘lifting a heavy object’ and ‘carrying a heavy weight’ can be combined into one animation if you are feeling confident!

7. Complex Skateboarding Trick(s)

   Animate a character performing a complex skateboarding trick or sequence of tricks. A skateboarders balance changes and shifts rapidly and often, as they shift their weight to counterbalance landings, and movements. You will need to watch a lot of reference
   

   Here is a fantastic lecture on balance covering a lot of how a skater’s balance changes

   Play

8. Pushing a Heavy Weight

   Animate a character pushing an object, such as a door or a cart, to practice weight distribution, force, and balance. Focus on the character’s body mechanics, expressions, and reactions as they exert effort on the object. This exercise will help you understand how to convey force and interaction in your animations.

9. Emotions and Expressions

   Animate a character expressing a variety of emotions, such as happiness, sadness, anger, and surprise. Focus on facial expressions and body language to create a believable performance. Experiment with subtle differences in expression to improve your acting skills.

10. Quadruped Walk Cycle

    Animate a four-legged walk cycle to understand quadruped body mechanics and timing. Study real-life animals like cats, dogs, or horses to create a convincing walk cycle. Pay attention to weight shifts, foot placement, and body movement.

11. Character Leap

    Animate a character leaping forward to practice anticipation, weight, and balance. Focus on the character’s take-off, airborne motion, and landing. Study references and experiment with different leap styles and distances to challenge your skills.

12. Interact With an Object

    Animate a character interacting with an object, such as picking up a glass or opening a book. Focus on hand placement, weight, and the character’s reaction to the object. Study real-life references and experiment with different objects and interactions to enhance your skills.  If you need help with parenting, you can watch my free tutorial on how to pick up an object here   

13. The Staggered Step

    Create a character animation with staggered steps, as if the character is walking on uneven terrain or moving through a crowd. Pay attention to weight shifts, foot placement, and balance. This exercise will help you develop an understanding of complex body mechanics.

14. Character Driven by Music

    Create a character animation that is influenced by music or a beat. Focus on the character’s movement, timing, and rhythm to match the music. This exercise will help you develop a sense of timing and create more dynamic animations. ( reference: https://www.animatorisland.com/animating-to-music/  )

15. The Object Transformation Morph

    This one is mainly for 2d hand drawn animators, because you will need some clever rigging to set this up for 3d.  Animate an object transforming into another object, like a bouncing ball turning into a cube. Practice using the principles of squash and stretch, anticipation, and timing to create a smooth and believable transformation.

16. The Trip and Fall

    Animate a character tripping and falling to understand body mechanics, weight distribution, and balance. Focus on the character’s anticipation, stumble, and recovery or impact. Experiment with different trip scenarios and fall outcomes to challenge your skills.

17. Tightrope Character Balance

    Animate a character balancing on a narrow surface, such as a tightrope or a beam. Focus on the character’s body mechanics, weight shifts, and balance as they struggle to maintain their position. This exercise will help you understand how to create tension and suspense in your animations.

18. The Slow Motion Animation

    Create a slow-motion animation to develop your understanding of timing, spacing, and body mechanics. Animate a character performing an action, such as jumping, running, or throwing, in slow motion. Focus on the gradual progression of the character’s movement and the nuances of their body mechanics.

19. Character in Strong Wind

    Animate a character reacting to strong wind forces to practice body mechanics, weight distribution, and anticipation. Focus on the character’s struggle to maintain balance and the impact of the wind on their movements.  You can try a realistic or a more exaggerated cartoony animation. Check out this awesome student character animator Martin Fischer

    Play

20. Dancing Character

    Create a single character dance sequence to develop your understanding of rhythm, timing, and body mechanics. Study real-life dance references and focus on the character’s weight shifts, foot placement, and overall movement to create a smooth and engaging dance animation.
    Reference:  Top 10 dance numbers in animated movies:   

21. Dialogue Between Two Characters

    Finally, if you’re feeling brave try and animate a conversation between two characters to practice lip-sync, facial animation, and character interaction. Focus on the characters’ mouth shapes, emotions, and body language, as well as their reactions to each other’s dialogue.  Probably best to keep them seated or minimal body movement for now.

22. Long Jump

    In an athletic long jump you have a range of complex motions to animate.  The starting rock back and anticipation, the run, the big air time jump with nice arm movements, followed by the impact, and possibly the get up and walk.

23. Desperate to Pee

    Animate a male character in a cartoony expressionate manner stood outside an engaged public toilet, but he is bursting for a pee!  Exaggerate his body poses and facial expressions, we want to feel his panic and desperation, can you make this animation believable?

24. The Classic Western Duel

    Animate a classic Western duel scene. Pay attention to the build-up of tension, quick movements, and reactions. This exercise will test your skills in animating quick and precise actions, as well as creating suspense.

25. Magic Spell

    Create a scene where your character is casting a magic spell. Pay attention to how the character uses their body to channel the spell and their reaction to the spell’s effects. This is a great exercise to experiment with exaggerated actions and reactions. Abracadabra!

26. Kung Fu

    Animate a single character performing martial arts moves.  Gather a range of references from different martial arts styles.  Perhaps you want to animate a ninja or a shaolin monk.  Push the poses to the extreme, always push further than your real life reference. If confident add a weapon like a sword or staff!
    There is a nice and free ninja character rig here:  https://builtbycolossus.com/store

    And here is a nice kung fu animation by Michał Wojciechowski

    Play

27. The Surprise Party

    Animate a character walking into a surprise party. Capture their initial shock, followed by a variety of emotions. This exercise is a perfect opportunity to play with anticipation and surprise in a fun setting.

28. The Juggler

    Have your character juggle multiple objects. Juggling is a rhythmic action and can help you improve your timing and spacing. It’s also an excuse to make your character do something cool. Who doesn’t love a good juggling act?

29. The Alien Encounter

    Animate your character encountering an alien for the first time. This is a great chance to animate a variety of reactions – surprise, fear, curiosity. Let your imagination run wild with this one.

30. The Sudden Weight

    Your character tries to pick up what looks like a lightweight box but turns out to be extremely heavy. Play with timing and anticipation to create a comedic moment.

31. The Robot Dance

    Make your character do a robot dance! This exercise can be a lot of fun and is a great way to practice stiff, mechanical movements as well as smooth, flowing ones.

32. The Ghost Scare

    Animate your character getting spooked by a ghost. This exercise helps you focus on quick, exaggerated movements. Be as silly or as scary as you want!

33. The Grand Entrance

    Your character enters a room thinking they’re late to a meeting, but they’re actually early. Animate the contrast between their rushed entrance and their slow, awkward realization.

34. The Balancing Act

    Your character is trying to balance on a tightrope or a slippery surface like ice. This can help you improve your understanding of weight and balance.

35. The Pantomime

    Create a scene where your character is trying to communicate something without using words. This can be a fun way to really push your character’s facial expressions and body language.

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1. Parkour Animated Sequence

   Create a dynamic parkour sequence with a character running, jumping, and climbing over obstacles. Focus on body mechanics, weight distribution, and momentum. Use references and study real-life parkour athletes to create an exciting and believable animation.  I remember some time ago when I was learning with the awesome online school https://ianimate.net I created this parkour animation: 

2. A Complex Animal Behaviour

   Animate an animal performing a complex behaviour, like a bird taking off, a dog catching a frisbee, or a horse rearing. Study real-life animal references to understand the unique body mechanics, weight distribution, and timing.

3. The Emotional Monologue

   Create a character animation of an emotional monologue to develop your acting skills and emotional storytelling. Focus on facial expressions, body language, and timing to convey the character’s emotions and create a powerful performance.

4. Two Character Fight Scene

   Create a character fight scene to practice timing, body mechanics, and staging. Focus on the character’s anticipation, impact, and reactions to each attack. Experiment with different fighting styles and camera angles to create a thrilling and dynamic scene.

5. Physics Based Animation

   Animate a character interacting with a complex physics-based object, like a swinging rope or a trampoline. Focus on the character’s weight distribution, force, and the object’s reaction to their movements. This exercise will help you understand how to convey realistic physics in your animations.

6. Multiple Characters Dance Sequence

   Create a choreographed shot or set of shots with multiple dancing animated characters.  This could consist of two characters as a dancing couple, or a full dance sequence of multiple characters choreographed similar to a scene from a musical or disney film. 

   You will need to find some suitable music and a lot of reference followed by doing a lot of planning.  Start with basic pre-vis and layout, just to position and set a few key poses of all your characters.  Try and make a few camera cuts for drama, look at cinematic filming techniques.
   Reference:  Top 10 dance numbers in animated movies:   

7. Crowd

   Animate a group of characters performing different actions simultaneously to understand crowd simulation and character interaction. Pay attention to each character’s individual movement and how they interact with one another. This exercise will challenge your skills in timing, staging, and multitasking.

8. Group of Characters Singing

   Animate a group of characters singing together to practice lip-sync, facial animation, and character interaction. Focus on the characters’ mouth shapes, emotions, and body language, as well as their reactions to each other’s singing.

9. Swimming and Diving

   Animate a character swimming to practice complex body mechanics and fluid dynamics. Study real-life swimming references and focus on the character’s weight shifts, body rotations, and interaction with the water.  Try starting with diving into the water, even play with high dives!

10. Character Acting with Multiple Props

    Create a character animation in which the character interacts with multiple props, such as juggling or assembling a complex device. Focus on the character’s hand placement, weight, and reactions to the props, as well as the props’ motion and interaction with each other.

11. The Creature Transformation

    Create a character transforming into a creature, such as a werewolf or a dragon.  This one is probably easier to try in traditional hand drawn animation, as in 3d you will need complex rigs, or perhaps you can play with blendshapes in maya! 

    Practice using the principles of anticipation, timing, and staging to create a believable and engaging transformation sequence. Focus on the character’s facial expressions and body language as they undergo the change.

12. The Musical Instrument Performance

    Animate a character playing a musical instrument, such as a piano, guitar, or violin. Study real-life musicians to capture the nuances of the character’s hand movements, body posture, and emotional connection to the music. This exercise will help you develop your skills in animating characters performing intricate tasks.

13. Two Characters Playing Professional Table Tennis

    Create a fast-paced, high-energy animation of two characters playing table tennis.  Have you seen how crazy games can get in professional ping pong?  Some players end up meters away from the table, diving around and smashing what looks like impossible returns, and the rallies can go on for ages. Again, gather many references, and either make it realistic or go cartoony. You can go ultra comedy and have super stretchy limbs

    Bonus points for using creature characters. How would an Octopus play against a squirrel!?

14. Advanced Dialogue Scene

    Create a complex dialogue scene with multiple characters and emotional beats. Focus on lip-sync, facial animation, and character interaction. This exercise will challenge your acting skills, timing, and staging to create a compelling and engaging performance.

15. Fed Up Father Pushes Child into a Ball Pit

    Animate a comedic scene, a father and mother are at a children’s play center near a ball pit. The child is throwing a tantrum and screaming while the mother walks away, leaving the father to handle the situation.

    With a mischievous expression, the father pushes the child into the ball pit, causing the screaming to stop abruptly and a relieved cheeky smile appears on his face. This character animation exercise should help practise comedy timing.

    

16. The Sitcom Scene

    Animate a scene from a sitcom with at least two characters interacting, focusing on comedic timing, exaggerated expressions, and physical comedy. This exercise will challenge your ability to convey humor and light-heartedness through animation.

17. The Shakespearean Drama

    To be or not to be! Create a dramatic scene inspired by a Shakespearean play. Focus on the emotional depth, body language, and facial expressions of your characters. This exercise will help you explore the nuances of dramatic acting in animation.

18. Film Noir Scene

    Create a scene inspired by the Film Noir genre, emphasizing on high contrast lighting, dramatic poses, and complex character interaction. This exercise will challenge your skills in lighting, staging, and mood setting.

19. The Romantic Comedy Meet-Cute

    Animate a ‘meet-cute’ scene from a romantic comedy. Focus on the body language, facial expressions, and subtle awkwardness between the characters. This exercise will help you convey complex emotions and romantic tension through animation.

20. The High Speed Car Chase

    Create a high-speed car chase scene with characters reacting to the fast-paced action. Consider the character’s body mechanics and reactions inside the moving vehicles. This exercise will test your ability to manage dynamic and fast-paced action scenes.

21. The Emotional Goodbye Scene

    Animate an emotional goodbye scene between two characters. Emphasize the subtle facial expressions, eye movement, and the overall emotional atmosphere. This exercise will challenge your skills in conveying deep emotion through animation.

22. The Heist Scene

    Create a heist scene where characters are planning or executing a complex robbery. Focus on the character’s body mechanics, interaction, and the tension of the scene.

    Perhaps they are trying to navigate through laser security or silently taking down guards. Think Mission Impossible, Oceans 11. This exercise will test your skills in animating suspenseful and strategic scenarios.

23. The Supernatural Encounter

    Animate a scene where a character encounters a supernatural entity. Focus on the character’s reactions, the supernatural entity’s movement, and the overall mood of the scene. This exercise will challenge your skills in animating supernatural movements and creating eerie atmospheres.

24. The Intense Debate

    Animate a scene where two or more characters are engaged in an intense debate or argument. Focus on facial expressions, hand gestures, and body language to convey the escalating tension. This exercise will help improve your skills in animating dialogue-driven scenes with high emotional stakes.

25. The Horror Scene

    Create a scene from a horror movie, focusing on suspenseful timing, exaggerated expressions, and sudden movements. This exercise will challenge your ability to create a sense of fear and suspense through animation.

    

26. The Emotional Reunion

    Create a scene where two characters are reunited after a long time apart. Focus on the emotions, body language, and the slow build-up of the reunion moment. This exercise will help you develop your skills in portraying heartfelt emotions and subtleties in animation.

27. The Slapstick Comedy Scene

    Animate a slapstick comedy scene, with characters performing exaggerated physical comedy. This exercise will challenge your ability to create a sense of comic timing and physicality in animation.

28. The Surreal Dream Sequence

    Create a surreal dream sequence. Focus on the fluidity, exaggeration, and the abstract elements of the dream. This exercise will challenge your creativity and your skills in animating abstract scenarios.

29. The Heroic Rescue Scene

    Animate a heroic rescue scene, where a character saves another from a dangerous situation. Focus on the timing, the dynamics of the action, and the emotional payoff. This exercise will help you develop your skills in animating action and heroism.

30. The Dramatic Death Scene

    Create a dramatic death scene. Pay close attention to the emotion, the body language, and the overall dramatic atmosphere. This exercise will challenge your skills in conveying deep and intense emotions through animation. 

    Don’t just have the character dying but other characters emotionally distraught.  Imagine a loved one dying in their arms, begging them to hold on. 

31. A Heated Argument

    Animate an intense scene of two characters arguing.  Up to you in you want to make this comedy, slapstick or realistic and emotional animation.  Set the scene, perhaps an employee and their boss, Boyfriend and girlfriend, or someone ina store trying to return their goods but not allowed.

    Focus on their facial expressions, gestures, and body language to show their emotions. This is a good exercise to understand how to portray tension and conflict. Check out drama films and series for reference.

32. The daring Rescue

    Animate a scene where one character must rescue another from a dangerous situation. Perhaps it’s a firefighter saving someone from a burning building or a superhero saving a civilian from a falling object.

    This will challenge you to animate action-packed sequences, reactions, and the interaction between multiple characters. Consider studying action sequences from films for inspiration.

33. On Foot Chase Scene

    Animate a high-energy scene where one character is pursuing another. This will allow you to practice creating speed and tension in your animation. Does the character chasing have a weapon, is the runner being shot at?

    Many action films, such as those from the “Mission Impossible” franchise, have excellent chase scenes that you can learn from.

34. The High-Stakes Poker Game

    Animate a tense poker game scene where characters communicate mainly through subtle facial expressions and gestures. This scene tests your ability to convey a lot of information with subtle movements and reactions. Movies like “Casino Royale” could offer inspiration.

35. The Cooking Catastrophe

    Create a humorous scene where characters try to cook together but everything goes wrong. This will allow you to exercise your ability to animate chaos and fast-paced, unexpected events. Animation films like “Ratatouille” can be great references for such scenes.

36. The Heartbreaking Goodbye

    Animate a touching scene where two characters must say goodbye, perhaps at an airport or train station. This will challenge you to convey strong emotions through body language and facial expressions. Check out movies like “Toy Story 3” for reference.

37. The Thrilling Sports Match

    Animate a scene of a high-energy sports match, like football or basketball. This will give you a chance to animate dynamic, fast movements and the interaction between several characters. Sports-themed movies like “Space Jam” can offer some inspiration.

38. Public Speech

    Create a scene where a character is giving an important speech to a crowd. This is a good exercise to understand how to portray nervousness, confidence, and public speaking mannerisms. Movies like “The King’s Speech” can be excellent references.

39. The Romantic Confession

    Animate a scene where a character confesses their feelings to another. This will challenge you to convey the nuances of love and vulnerability through animation. Romantic films and series are good sources for reference.

40. The Mystical Ritual

    Design a scene where characters perform a mystical ritual or a spell. This will allow you to experiment with special effects and elaborate, synchronized movements. Movies like “Harry Potter” or “The Last Airbender” could provide inspiration.

41. The Epic Battle

    Design an epic confrontation scene. This could be a sword fight, a magical duel, or a superhero showdown. This exercise will challenge you to create dynamic, exciting, and fast-paced sequences. Epic animated movies like those in the “Kung Fu Panda” or “Avengers” series can be good references.

42. The Underwater Exploration

    Create a scene where characters are exploring underwater, encountering various sea creatures, dealing with buoyancy, or perhaps finding a sunken treasure. This allows for animating in a different set of physics, with floating movements and light diffraction. Films like “Finding Nemo” can be excellent references.

43. The Wilderness Survival

    Animate a scene where characters are trying to survive in the wild, like building a shelter, hunting, or navigating through dense forest. This will give you a chance to animate interaction with nature and survival instincts. Refer to survival-themed films like “The Croods” for inspiration.

44. The Grand Celebration

    Design a scene of a grand celebration like a carnival, a grand feast, or a royal ball. This is a good exercise to animate crowd scenes, merriment, and detailed, extravagant movements. Movies like “Beauty and the Beast” or “Cinderella” can serve as excellent references.

45. The Space Adventure

    Animate a scene set in space, with characters dealing with zero gravity, exploring alien planets, or in a spaceship battle. This will challenge you to animate under a completely different set of physics. Space-themed films like “Wall-E” or “Star Wars” could be great for inspiration.

46. Time Travel

    Create a scene where characters time travel, reacting to a completely different era or rapidly changing surroundings. This exercise can help practice transition and reaction animations. Films like “Back to the Future” can be a great reference.

47. The Heroic Sacrifice

    Animate a dramatic scene where a character makes a heroic sacrifice for others, focusing on the intensity of the moment and emotional reactions of other characters. For references, dramatic superhero movies like “The Avengers: Endgame” might be useful.

48. The Silent Conversation

    Design a scene where characters have an entire conversation without words, relying only on their facial expressions, body language, and gestures. This can be a challenging exercise to show how much can be conveyed without dialogue. The short film “The Present” is a beautiful example of this concept.

49. The Miniature Adventure

    Inspired by “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids“, animate characters navigating an everyday environment at an ant’s scale. Blades of grass are trees, droplets of water are giant orbs, and common insects become huge threats. This exercise challenges your understanding of scale, perspective, and physics while promoting creativity in the design of miniature adventures.

Remember, these exercises are not just about animating movements; they’re about telling a story through those movements. So put your creativity to the test and bring these scenarios to life. Happy animating!

FINAL THOUGHTS

And there you have it – a comprehensive library of animation exercises whether 2D or 3D animation, Character and Creature animation, designed to take you from beginner to expert! We’ve journeyed from the basics of animating inanimate objects and simple movements, all the way to complex character animations and highly emotive, action-packed scenes.

Remember, each exercise in this guide isn’t just a task to be checked off; it’s an opportunity to learn, grow, and hone your craft. Animation is a field that values constant learning and exploration. It’s about storytelling, making inanimate objects and characters come to life, and most importantly, having fun in the process.

The variety of exercises provided here ensures there’s always something new to challenge you, whether you’re just starting out or you’re an experienced animator looking to step up your game. We’ve covered a lot, but there’s still so much more to explore.

So keep these exercises handy, revisit them, and see how you progress over time. You’ll be amazed at how far you’ve come with consistent practice and dedication. Always remember: every master animator started with the simple action of making a ball bounce.

No matter where you are in your learning animation journey, keep pushing your boundaries, making mistakes, and learning from them. The world of animation is waiting for you to make your mark!

I can’t wait to see the incredible animations you’re going to create. Until then, keep those creative juices flowing, and happy animating!

Would you like to try AI-assisted character animation? check out this review on a game-changing new tool called Cascaduer

Learn how important Human Anatomy knowledge is for character animation in this in depth guide here