Anna Zielinska Animator at Fundamental VR

Anna Zielinska

Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice graduate Anna Laura Zielinska on her job as an animator at Fundamental VR, a company that specialises in medical animation - bringing surgical procedures to life, and helping to teach the next generation of surgeons their life-saving skills.

Fundamental surgery specialises in low-cost virtual reality surgical simulation.  Digital surgical simulations provide medical professionals with low-risk hands-on experience,  resulting in much better patient outcomes.

El Suliman - Lion King Lead Animator

El Suliman

Last week MPC lead animator El Suliman was in London talking about his work on the Disney blockbuster "The Lion King".

El was speaking at Escape Studios, at one of their regular "Evening With" events.  El Suliman was an animation lead on The Lion King, and he animated many of the key shots on the film.

El explained how the animators approached the animation on this hugely complex and ground-breaking movie, which raises the bar for creature animation. 

Summer 2019 Animation Demo Reel

Take a look at some of the great work done by our students over the past year. Congratulations to Amedeo Beretta, Anna Zielinska, Jeton Lakna, Joe Gamble, Lee Caller, Olavo Lins, Oliver Canovas, Tim Milson and Victoria Bailey.

Animating "Venom"

Venom

Troy Saliba, animation director at Double Negative, gave a talk in London earlier this year, to talk about his work on the blockbuster release: Venom.

Troy was my animation director on "Monster House", way back in 2005, so it was a pleasure for me to see him again, and welcome him to London, where he is now working for DNeg in Soho.

Troy's talk was a masterclass in how animators work alongside VFX artists on FX-heavy films, where the final result, with all the FX work added, can often look quite different to the animator's initial keyframe animation.

The result is that, on films like Venom, animation and FX are heavily interlaced, requiring careful collaboration between departments, and plenty of back-and-forth to get the right final result.

Animation Taster Day 7th August

Eagle by Lee Caller

Interested in learning 3D animation, but not sure you want to commit to a whole course? We're running a new Animation Taster Day in London on 7th August, at Escape Studios at 190 High Holborn.

Taster Days are a great chance to learn about character and creature animation, and find out what an animator's job is all about.

You will learn how to use Autodesk Maya and get a hands-on introduction to 3D Animation techniques; the full day costs just £25, and by the end of the day you'll have your own piece of creature animation uploaded to your YouTube channel.  No prior knowledge of Maya - or any software - is required.

Dream On Silly Dreamer

Dream On Silly Dreamer is now available at YouTube - anyone interested in the history of the Disney Studio should watch this film to see how the magic of the Disney Renaissance came about. It's also a window into the making of traditional 2D animation.