Character Animation by Joris Van Laar

Above is a charming character animation shot created by Animation Apprentice student Joris Van Laar.  It's a great example of how character animation can be funny and full of personality.  Joris used the almost-free Kayla rig, which you can read about here, and also created a well-designed set, with appealing textures and lighting.  Having a great character animation piece on your demo reel is an important step in landing that crucial first job in the animation industry.  Animation studios are looking for animators who have good technical skills - but can also create genuinely entertaining work - the animation "X factor".

11 Second Club

A number of our students are currently tackling the 11 Second Club, the monthly competition in which animators compete to bring a line of dialogue to life, testing not just their technical skills but also their powers of imagination. Students must find performance and acting choices that create an entertaining and well-realised piece of animation.

Planning animation

Thumbnail sketches help plan animation

To see more about how to plan character animation, follow the links below:

• How to plan out pantomime animation
• Why Animators Need Thumbnail Sketches
• How to plan a Dialogue Shot
• How to block out and plan creature animation
• How to use the Tween Machine
• How do Pixar Animators plan their shots?
• Pixar Animation Workflow with Mike Makarewicz
• Lipsync & Dialogue Tutorial
• Why animators need snappy timing
• How to Animate Lipsync - With No Lips

Thumbnail Resources

To see some examples of how animators use thumbnail sketches to plan their work, follow the links below.

• Medusa Thumbnail sketches by Milt Kahl
• Thumbnailing Mrs Copperbottom from Robots
• Thumbnailing Baloo by Frank Thomas
• Thumbnailing "Boog" from "Open Season"
• Why Thumbnail sketches need facial expressions (think Emojis)
• Fagin thumbnails by Glen Keane
• "Little Mermaid" thumbnails by Ruben Aquino

To find out more about Animation Apprentice, click here for a link to Frequently Asked Questions. To sign up for our next classroom at Animation Apprentice, follow this link.