Youth Stop Motion Animation Workshop Series
Schedule
Tue Apr 07 2026 at 05:30 pm to 08:30 pm
UTC-04:00Location
1126 N Michigan Ave, Saginaw, MI, United States, Michigan 48602 | Saginaw, MI
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YOUTH STOP MOTION ANIMATION WORKSHOP SERIES
Register here: https://www.saginawartmuseum.org/event/youth-animation-workshop-series/
For Students 8th-12th grade
Tuesdays – 5:30-8:30 PM
Thursdays – 4:00-6:30 PM
April 7
April 9
April 14
April 16
April 21
April 23
April 28
April 30
$150 per student for the entire series.
Registration ends on April 1, or until filled.
This four-week workshop will be led by Central Michigan University’s Animation Professor, Stephan Leeper and CMU Animation Alum. Steve’s professional history includes Commercial Stop-motion Animation, Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, and Layout Supervisor for the children’s video series VeggieTales.
Students in the workshop will design, build and animate 2D cut-out characters for stop motion animation! We’ll begin the workshop by brainstorming for the stories behind our characters. From there we’ll build them in cut paper and animate them into students’ own short films! Films will also be played at the 2026 Youth Arts Festival.
In this four-week workshop, not only will students make an original short film, they will learn a broad range of practices, tips and tricks that they will be able to use in their own animated productions at home.
No previous animation necessary. All tools and resources will be provided, just bring your imagination!
Students preferably attend all dates to be fully immersed in their filmmaking process.
Please note, refunds are not available for this workshop.
Topics to be covered:
Story and Character
Who are these characters and what makes them interesting? Simple drawings and a couple of sentences can be enough to inspire engaging character designs and storylines that can be developed into storyboards for animation.
Paper Puppets and World Building
Once you have designs for your characters and a story to tell, it’s time to start building paper puppets and constructing a world for them to live in.
Animation Production
Lights, camera & action! Finaly, we can start animating!! This is the most time intensive part of the process, but it’s worth when you see the characters come to life!
Postproduction and Sound
This is where the films come together. You’d be amazed at how far a little audio goes towards connecting your audiences emotionally to the images on the screen.
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Where is it happening?
1126 N Michigan Ave, Saginaw, MI, United States, Michigan 48602Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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