Time to Enter the 2020 "Rookies"

At Animation Apprentice we encourage all of our students to enter The Rookies Awards, the international competition for young creatives, which opened on 7th March, and closes on 1st June.

The Rookies was founded in 2009 to "showcase the most talented student designers, illustrators, film makers, animators, developers, digital artists, and launch them into the career of their dreams."

This year the deadline is 1st June 2020, so there is plenty of time to start crafting a great project.

"Molesworth" Teaser by Uli Meyer

MOLESWORTH_TEASER_TRAILER from Uli Meyer on Vimeo.

Something to cheer up any animator in these dark times is the new teaser/trailer by Uli Meyer for his feature film "Molesworth", based on the original books by author Geoffrey Villans, and memorably illustrated by cartoon genius Ronald Searle. It's a beautiful example of what can still be done with 2D animation, bringing to life the wit of the original books and the brilliance of Searle's illustrations. What animator wouldn't want to animate at least one shot on the movie?

Soft -vs- Hard Accents

Hard -vs- soft accents.

What is the difference between a hard accent and a soft accent? In animation terms, a soft accent eases in, and a hard accent bounces back.

Take a look at the image to the left, taken from The Animator's Survival Kit (all our students should have a copy; if you don't have one, you can buy it here).  It shows someone pointing, both as a hard accent (past the extreme point, bouncing back) and a soft accent (settling in to the extreme pose.

The difference is one of emphasis. In the top example, someone might be pointing vigorously, shouting "over there!!" and pointing quickly.

In the bottom example. someone might be pointing slowly, with their hand settling in to the final pose. They're not shouting, they aren't in a hurry.

Business as Usual at Animation Apprentice

What - us worry?

Covid-19 may be causing a good deal of bother around the globe, but fortunately for us and our students, Animation Apprentice is a digital online school, with no bricks and mortar facilities to worry about.

For now at least, it's business as usual. Our students continue to work from home, and we will continue to send feedback and support our students in our online classrooms.

How to Use the Amy and Sam Maya Rigs

Amy and Sam

Amy and Sam are two new rigs for Maya made by Gabriel Salas, and released to the animation community. The rigs are not free but are priced competitively at $15. They are good rigs - though it can be hard to get the eye direction looking right (see below).

Sam and Amy are Asian-American characters through which Gabriel hopes to "balance the limited choice in terms of race that animators have when picking a character rig, so that they have the tools to generate more racially diverse content in their animation exercises".

The rigs include diffuse textures for the body and shoes, and you can find them on Gumroad.  Sam is available here and Amy can be purchased here. Both rigs are priced at $15, and are for educational use only. 

So, how do our students get the most out of Amy and Sam?

What Kind of Laptop Should Animators Buy?

"What kind of laptop should I buy?" is a question that we are often asked at Animation Apprentice, by students looking to buy suitable equipment to learn the art of computer animation. .

It's a tricky question to answer, because computer specifications change all the time and - of course - it all depends on exactly what you want to use your laptop for.

But, let's say you want to buy a decent laptop capable of running Autodesk Maya, for computer animation and to render out your shots.

What sort of laptop should you buy, and how much do you need to spend? Animation tutor Amedeo Beretta offers some advice to our students.