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Dan Root

Lecturer

Computer Arts and Technology

Dan Root is a Lecturer on the Animation and Animation & Visual Effects courses at Norwich University of the Arts. Dan teaches and practices a variety of 2D animation, from motion graphics to hand drawn, frame-by-frame animation to video game animation.

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A bearded man stands in a classroom, wearing a blue "BKLYN New York City" t-shirt, a yellow cardigan, and black jeans. He poses with a relaxed expression, hands in his pockets, surrounded by desks and computer monitors.

Dan specialises in 2D FX and video game animation and runs an award-winning YouTube channel that studies animation in video games. He has been animating since 1996 in various analogue methods, such as flipbooks and paper animation, before moving onto digital animation in 2007. He has animated in the games industry as an FX artist and has hosted many talks on video game animation for conventions, festivals and other events. Dan is currently writing a book on video game animation.

A collage of animated scenes: an exploding game console, a flaming figure, a woman in a purple field, a baseball game, a simple cartoon character walking, abstract white shapes on black, a red car hitting a log, and colorful light bokeh on black.

My main approach to animation is to observe. Observing how things move is the main way to interpret that into animation. Everything else is stylisation and process. I’m a big advocate for experimentation, exploration and studying from life as I think these things are the ‘fuel’ for your creative engine.

One of my interests within animation is how video games are animated, as they have an additional set of fundamentals that need to be followed as well as traditional animation principles. This thread of research, which began as a YouTube channel, has led me on a path of enquiry that has connected me to industry professionals and provided me with opportunities to work within the games industry as an animator.

I love animating weird and wonderful characters and exploring visual effects, like fire, water and fairy dust. I enjoy the process of figuring out my own methods for capturing and stylising the illusion of movement. My practice has allowed me to work with other professional animators and game designers.

Forthcoming

  • ‘Game Animation for Beginners’ – a book on how to animate for video games, including interviews with industry professionals
  • The Big C Game Project – animation designer

Practice

  • 2018 – Wireframe Magazine – Article on the history of Mega Man
  • 2020 – YouTube Silver Play Button – Award for hitting 100k subscribers
  • 2021 – Uplink Con Talk – Online talk about video game animation
  • 2021 – FX Chamber – 2D FX animator
  • 2022 – Agora Community Talk – Talking about animation in video games
  • 2022 – Sonic 2 HD Project – character animator
  • 2023 – Ember Knights – video game FX animator
  • 2024 – Post Graduate Certificate of Higher Education – Fellow

Other academic activities

  • 2014 – 2016 Animation Workshop Tutor – Signals Media Centre
  • 2022 – We Ae Playgrounds – animation conference
  • 2023 – Animation Consultant – Forust Studios, Game Studio
  • 2024 – Course Outreach – London Excel Centre
  • 2025 – Develop Brighton – video game developer’s conference

Dan’s website (opens in a new window)

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