Digital Art Archives - Centauri Arts

Tips for Young Artists

Are you the parent of a child or teenager who loves to paint or draw? Here are some suggestions to help you encourage their interest in visual arts: Look for after-school art programs in your community. You may wish to begin with general art classes, moving to a more specific focus, such as illustration, cartoon, printmaking, design, digital art and photography. Art undertaken solely as a creative outlet is important, but as your child gets older, look for courses that include elements of technique that will help them further their craft. Take your child to the art gallery whenever possible. Buy them books on art, and talk about art together. Art is a way to enrich a life – both creating art and enjoying the [...]

December 14th, 2023|Academy, Bloor West Village, Digital Art, Fine Art|

Join us for a NEW hybrid Arts Course in Semester 2: Digital Art & Animation!

Beginning at the end of January 2024, Centauri Arts will be offering its first ever hybrid program – and what better choice for this than Digital Art & Animation? Students aged 11-17 can work on their digital art and animation skills using open source software, either from the comfort of their own home, or in person, together, in our West Toronto studio. Spaces are limited in this 15-week new program, offered on Monday evenings and taught by Aaron Alviano. To hold your spot, go to our application page Digital Art & Animation Develop your digital art skills as you work on fabulous original art! We’ll help you become proficient with open-source sketching and painting programs which offer invaluable tools for digital artists. Explore digital painting, [...]

November 1st, 2023|Academy, Bloor West Village, Digital Art|

Best FREE Animation Software

With most modern animations being created digitally, there is a continual growth in demand for easy-to-use software allowing anyone to make their own animation creations. If you are taking our summer animation or digital art programs, or our year-round virtual classes in digital art and animation, you may be interested in this list of the top 5 FREE animation programs. Top 5 FREE animation software programs 1. Pixilart This is an easy to use web-based program. With a simple layout and easy to understand functions, it is ideal for anyone of any age to use for their first attempt at animation. https://www.pixilart.com/draw 2. Pencil2D Similar to Pixilart, Pencil2D is an animation program that focuses solely on 2D animation. However, since Pencil2D is downloadable, there are [...]

May 12th, 2023|Academy, Digital Art, Digital Art Resources, Resources|

Digital Art and Animation Program This Fall

Our Digital Art & Animation Classes this semester will focus on illustrating, designing and of course animation! We’ll create original characters for video games, abstract illustrations, intricate designs of products, vehicles and buildings, fantasy backgrounds, and simple animations. You’ll learn how to create sprite sheets, colour and shadow rendering, and the difference between frames and layers when animating multiple moving objects. By the end of the semester, you’ll have created so much amazing digital artwork, you’ll have a portfolio to be proud of and a few animations to share with family and friends. Creating Characters for Video Games A popular and growing industry for digital artists is designing and illustrating characters for video games. The Centauri Digital Art and Animation classes will provide kids and [...]

September 16th, 2022|Academy, Digital Art, Fine Art|

Top 5 Free and Open-Source Animation Software Tools

Animation, and animation classes, are hugely popular with teenagers these days: bringing digital artwork to life on the screen can be riveting! Deciding which animation software to use, however, can be tough - especially if you are on a budget. To help you, we’ve assembled a list of some of the best free and open-source animation software tools available to digital artists today. OpenToonz - 2D Animation Software Not only is OpenToonz one of the best 2D animation software available, it has also been used by famous animation studios like Studio Ghibli and Rough Draft Studios. OnlyToonz is user friendly and great for animation students just starting out, but you may need to read through their manual to truly master its features. https://opentoonz.github.io/e/ Synfig [...]

February 2nd, 2022|Academy, Digital Art, Digital Art Resources|

The Best FREE Digital Art Software on the Market!

Starting out in Digital Art can be a struggle for teenagers, especially if they are on a budget. Programs like Adobe Photoshop, Corel Paint, Clip Studio Paint, Affinity Photo or even Procreate are powerful: but they cost money. Thankfully, we all have access to free/open-source Digital Art Software - but with so many free/open-source programs to choose from, it can be difficult to choose between them. To help you, we have put together a list of the Best Free Digital Art Software on the market. KRITA - Digital Painting Program If you are a fan of Photoshop, you’ll like KRITA. With similar layouts, tools and interface, KRITA is an amazing professional digital painting program made and designed by artists. It works on all systems and [...]

January 25th, 2022|Academy, Digital Art, Digital Art Resources, Resources|