Volume 1: What is composition and design. Images and their content. Storytelling in images. The purpose of images: illustrations, comics, development art. The look of a film reversed. Deconstructing the animated short-film Duck Amuck. Objects and information. The frame itself.

Magnetism of the frame. Creating different frame-shapes. The rectangular frame and its forces. Open and closed frame. On-screen and off-screen space. Case-study: on and off-screen space in Koji Yamamura¿s Atama Yama (2002). Aspect Ratios. Aspects of Design.

Volume 2: What is character design. Job of a character designer. Production pipeline of an animated feature film. Storytelling & drama. Personality. Message or theme. Pose. Shape.

Form. Line of action. Anatomy. Weight. Forces. Tension and compression. Contrapposto. Movement & twist.

Pivot point. Balance & tension. Silhouette. Perspective. Foreshortening. Tangents. Light & shadow. Vectors & directions.

Facial expressions. Extroverted & introverted pose. Negative & positive space. Size relationship and body ratio. Contrast & texture. Line quality. Readability & simplicity. Believability.

Composition of pose and image. Colour. Folds & fabrics. Attire and accessories. Character turn-around.