Character Animation by Muhanad Al Dasoqi

Above is an excellent piece of character animation by Animation Apprentice student Muhanad Al Dasoqi.  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".

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.