Spring 2027

2d Animation Studio

A studio course focused on 2D digital animation, teaching students to use software tools to create narrative or fine art videos while exploring the history and current practice of the field.

offering recorded4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Stephen Hilyard

The workload included approximately six hours of weekly video tutorials, intense critiques, and long lectures that some students felt reduced time for in-class work.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Understand the 12 principles of animation.

  • Demonstrate pre-production techniques including mind mapping, story boarding, screenplays, and animatics.

  • Understand common video formats.

  • Understand the techniques involved in the following animation types, 2D digital limited animation, 2D digital full animation, 2.5D digital full animation, and rotoscoped hand animation.

  • Understand the elements and principles of design in the context of the moving image.

  • understand contemporary practice in the field, including the use of image manipulation in fine art, design and entertainment.

  • Incorporate digital imaging techniques into research.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(ART 107, 176, 318, 429, or 529) or (declared in an Art MFA or Design + Innovation MS)

ART 428 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

STEPHEN HILYARD is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2021, Fall 2022, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LAB 001Classroom Instruction0 / 160
LAB 002Classroom Instruction0 / 160

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Stephen Hilyard

Students found the course engaging when they started projects early and sought feedback, noting that the instructor was available to help.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.82 GPA, 95.5% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.86 GPA, 96.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 4.00 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=24 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Stephen Hilyard

The workload included approximately six hours of weekly video tutorials, intense critiques, and long lectures that some students felt reduced time for in-class work.

Past student reviews · Stephen Hilyard

Success required consistent effort and understanding the taught software, as students could not rely on last-minute preparation to pass the course.

Topics

  • History and contemporary practice of digital animation as fine art
  • Design elements and principles applied to moving images
  • Image manipulation across fine art, design, and entertainment sectors

Skills

  • Understanding the 12 principles of animation
  • Applying pre-production techniques like mind mapping, storyboarding, and animatics
  • Executing various 2D and 2.5D digital animation styles including rotoscopy
  • Integrating digital imaging methods into artistic research

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ART 428 · Spring 2027

2D Animation Studio

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:168:001149",
    "course_id": "ART 428",
    "course_uid": "course_fa2e784493e9fee631cac7dd",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "001149",
    "source_subject_id": "168",
    "title": "2D Animation Studio",
    "credits_min": 4,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "08e2fe741b257a5ddb40e4cb434f5491d23f9f947763090eb022ba57357a1fb2",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}