Stop Motion Animation Workshop

Stop motion animation workshop in Vila Nova de Gaia for anyone who has ever wanted to bring their own drawings to life. Running every Monday for five weeks with two hours per session, this course led by Ilustração Sol takes you through an accessible and expressive creative process that combines illustration with black pen and watercolour, character development, movement through framing and intentional distortion, and the Stop Motion Studio app to capture everything frame by frame. Open to ages 16 and over with no previous experience needed.

Each session builds on the last across the five weeks. You begin by developing your character using Dixit cards as a creative prompt to discover the short story that will shape your animation. From there you learn how to illustrate your character with black pen and watercolour, how to plan and frame movement through intentional distortion, and how to capture each step using the Stop Motion Studio app with a mobile tripod available in the studio. The focus throughout is on the details that make the magic of movement happen, not on technical complexity but on expressive, personal and genuinely surprising results. The process is as much about discovering your own creative language as it is about the animation itself.

What you’ll learn

🎞️ How to develop a character and a short story using Dixit cards as creative prompts

🎞️ Illustration techniques using black pen and watercolour for animation

🎞️ How to create movement through framing and intentional distortion

🎞️ How to use the Stop Motion Studio app to capture your animation frame by frame

🎞️ The details and decisions that make stop motion movement feel alive and expressive

What’s included

✏️ All illustration materials and watercolours for the full five-week course

✏️ Access to mobile tripod and Stop Motion Studio app support in the studio

✏️ Full guidance from Ilustração Sol across all five sessions

✏️ Dixit cards for creative story development

✏️ Your finished stop motion animation to keep at the end of the course

What you leave with

A finished stop motion animation built from your own illustrations and your own story, developed across five weeks of creative exploration and genuinely expressive making.

I am the creative mind behind Ilustração Sol, a space where art, imagination and self-expression meet. Through illustration I explore emotions, symbols and stories that live between the visible and the invisible, working across drawing, textures and experimental techniques that blend illustration with storytelling and creative writing. Beyond creating, I share my process through workshops and artistic experiences, encouraging others to explore their creativity, develop their own visual language and transform ideas into meaningful creations. Ilustração Sol is more than a project. It is a journey of discovery, transformation and artistic freedom.

Duration two hours per session across five consecutive Mondays. Takes place in Vila Nova de Gaia. Open to ages 16 and over. No prior experience needed.