Saturday 23 December 2023

"A Christmas Carol" by Richard Williams



If you've got a few minutes this Christmas Eve, why not watch Richard Williams' 1972 Oscar-winning version of The Christmas CarolIt has all the atmosphere of 19th Century London and none of the sentimentality.  It's just twenty minutes long, and was completed at Williams' London studio at 13 Soho Square - a Grade II* listed building which still stands today (it's even painted the same colour).

Tuesday 12 December 2023

Introduction to Character Design

 

In this short video I talk briefly about the basics of character design, how to start with simple basic shapes and work out from there, developing your characters personalities from very simple beginnings.  Character design is very much about contrasts - making characters feel different, and look different - with contrasting personalities. 

Friday 1 December 2023

How to Clean Up Scanned Images in Photoshop


This short video shows how to take a scanned image and tidy it up in Photoshop. The image I am using is an ink cartoon drawing, but this method works equally well for pencil drawings, and also works for images that have been photographed with a smartphone camera.  Why should you clean up your scans? The purpose of the cleanup is to make your scanned images look prettier, to make them ready to send to a client, or to look nice for a presentation. Raw scans look ugly and unprofessional - watch the video above to see how to tidy them up.

Thursday 30 November 2023

How to Use The Shelf Editor in Maya


This short introductory tutorial shows how to use the Shelf Editor in Autodesk Maya. The Shelf Editor allows animators to create buttons on a shelf, permitting the user to select frequently-used control curves such as hands, feet, body and head quickly and efficiently. For most animators working on production, the Shelf Editor is one of the first tools they will use when setting up their character workflow, to ensure they can animate fast and efficiently. 

Monday 27 November 2023

Animating With Maya's Motion Trail Tool



This short video (just three minutes long) shows how to use Maya's Motion Trail Tool. The Motion Trail Tool is very useful for smoothing out the kinks and bumps in your animation, to ensure that your arcs and paths of animation are as smooth and flowing as possible. Bumpy animation curves will create pops and bumps in your animation. The Motion Trail Tool is one way of overcoming these problems and giving your animation an extra polish. 

Thursday 23 November 2023

Animate a Feminine Walk with "Monty"

Exaggerated Feminine Walk with "Monty"
One thing every animator needs to learn is how to animate a character walk.  In this basic tutorial, we show how to take a "plain vanilla" walk using the marvellous "Monty" rig (free for download from highend3d.com) and make Monty walk in a feminine way, like a model on a catwalk.   

The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

Thursday 16 November 2023

How to Fix Knee Pops in a Walk Cycle


In the video above, we show how to fix knee pops in a walk cycle. IK chains can "pop" if the leg on a character gets over extended, so the trick is not to completely extend the leg. Straighten the leg on the contact position, then slightly dial it back and relax it. To find out more, watch the short video above.

Wednesday 15 November 2023

Using AI to Colour 2D Animation with Cadmium App

Cadmium App
Artificial intelligence continues to offer new ways to speed up the animation pipeline and turboboost the productivity of animators. 

One new breakthrough comes from the Cadmium App, a new tool which automates the process of colouring 2D animation.

Cadmium is a creative tool for hand drawn animation. Using machine intelligence, animators can now colour their entire animation sequence from just a few keyframes.

Monday 13 November 2023

History of Who Framed Roger Rabbit



We're enjoying this "Deep Dive Documentary" into the History of the 1988 animated film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".  The documentary is based on a range of source material, including Ross Anderson's well-researched book Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat.   It's a thorough documentary that shows just how many twists and turns Who Framed Roger Rabbit took before finally making it (and even then only just) to the big screen. 

Saturday 11 November 2023

How to Pitch a Cartoon Strip - Queen's Counsel


This is a short video on the subject of pitching ideas - in this case the "Queen's Counsel" cartoon strip that I pitched to The Times back in 1993.  The pitch was successful; the cartoon strip started in The Times in 1993 as Queen's Counsel - it became King's Counsel in 2022.  It's still being published every week 30 years later. 

Friday 10 November 2023

Free Tutorial: Copying & Pasting Curves in Maya

 

In this brief tutorial we show how to copy and paste curves in Autodesk Maya. This short video tutorial is part of our series of beginners' tutorials, and shows how to copy and paste curves in Autodesk Maya. Maya is not especially good at copying and pasting curves; it's a fiddly process and takes a while - but it can be done.

Thursday 9 November 2023

How to Use The Layer Editor in Maya


How to use the Layer Editor in Maya. This short video tutorial is part of our series of beginners' tutorials on how to use Autodesk Maya, and how to develop a fast, efficient workflow. The Layer Editor works much like layers in Photoshop - it allows you to put different elements of the shot on different layers, so you can work faster and more efficiently.

Tuesday 7 November 2023

Steve Woodhouse - Founder of Skyline Visuals

Skyline Visuals - founded by Steve Woodhouse
Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice graduate Steve Woodhouse who has founded his own successful architectural visualisation company - Skyline Visuals

Skyline Visuals creates  3D visuals & photomontage for the architecture & landscape industry.  Skyline Visuals "provides effective solutions to assist with planning pipeline and visual marketing".  

Monday 6 November 2023

Oliver Canovas 3D Artist at KAN Engineering

Many congratulations to Animation ApprenticeOliver Canovas who is working as Digital Modelling Engineer at KAN Engineering. 

Oliver Canovas took our Online MA in Computer Animation (the first of its kind) with our Higher Education partner Buckinghamshire New University, graduating with honours.

Friday 3 November 2023

Young Cartoonist of The Year Awards 2023

The Young Cartoonists of the Year Awards are back.  This year the deadline for submissions is 14 January 2024.

Hosted by the Cartoon Museum in London, the annual Young Cartoonists of the Year competition seeks to reward rising cartoon talent. 

Judges include Martin Rowson (The Guardian), Christian Adams (Evening Standard), Banx (FT), Peter Brookes (The Times), Nick Newman (Private Eye), and Matt Pritchard from the Daily Telegraph.  Entry is free. 

Entries can be mailed in (via old school Royal Mail) to the Cartoon Museum,  at 63 Wells St, London W1T 3PT, or emailed to hello@cartoonmuseum.org.  As always, we encourage all our students to enter competitions such as this one. 

Wednesday 1 November 2023

ILM Offers Industry Advice to Animation Graduates

ILM Education Series 2.0

VFX powerhouse Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) is offering a series of free industry panels offering advice for recent graduates looking to break into the animation and visual effects industry.

Known as the ILM Education Series 2.0, ILM is offering two dates, Thursday 9 November at 5pm, and Wednesday 29 November at 5pm. The events are free.

Friday 27 October 2023

Animate a Neon Sign in Maya - Free Tutorial


In this free tutorial we show how to animate a neon sign in Maya. The idea is to create a personal logo for your demo reel, something that has a little more style and invention than a simple title card. Start by creating a logo for your animation reel, then import the logo into Maya, and use the technique described above to turn your logo into neon letters. From there, you can easily animate the letters, render some images, and create a movie file for your demo reel. 

Wednesday 18 October 2023

Animate a Lamp Hopping With Pixo Jr.

In this tutorial we show how to animate a lamp hopping. It's an introduction to character animation, and also a nod to one of Pixar's first animated shorts - Luxo Junior. 

The rig we recommend for this exercise is the Pixo Jr rig - an excellent rig, free for student download at highend3d.com, and the perfect starting point to learn locomotion & mechanics.

Tuesday 17 October 2023

Create a Starry Sky with the Arnold Skydome


In this short video tutorial (just five minutes long) we explain how to create a starry sky in Maya with just a few clicks, using the Arnold Skydome. Using an HDRI night sky texture map (Google one to get started), we can create a night sky effect with little or no effort, using the Arnold Renderer.  To see the step by step plan, follow the outline below. You can find the tutorial video at YouTube here.

Monday 16 October 2023

Using AI to Make Better Animation


In the short video above we offer some suggestions on how to use AI to make better animation.  AI is a powerful tool for the creation of stories and ideas.  Watch the video above to see how to use Chat GPT to generate ideas to make our animation more interesting and inventive. AI represents the biggest technical advance in the animation & VFX industry since 3D animation began to replace traditional hand-animated feature films in the early 2000s. Artificial Intelligence is here to stay - so let's make the best possible use of it.

Saturday 14 October 2023

Export a Render Sequence in Arnold


In this super simple tutorial we show how to export a Render Sequence in Arnold, in Autodesk Maya. First watch the tutorials on basic lighting setups, such as Lighting in Arnold with Physical Sky, or Lighting in Arnold with Sky Shader, and then watch this video to see how to render out a series of images that can be imported into Adobe Premiere or Blender - or any editing software - ready to export as a movie file.

Friday 13 October 2023

Basic Lighting in Arnold with Sky Shader



In this simple lighting tutorial, aimed at Autodesk Maya beginners, we explain how to achieve a basic lighting setup in Arnold using the Arnold Sky Shader. This is a simple lighting setup, only slightly more sophisticated than the Arnold Physical Sky tutorial - which is as simple as it is possible to achieve in Arnold, and gives good results for an outdoor scene with just a few clicks

Thursday 12 October 2023

Winter Animation Class Starts 6 Nov 2023

Animation by Robin Herrmann
Our Winter Animation Class begins on Monday 6th November 2023.

It's not too late to book a place; all you need to do is visit the main Animation Apprentice site and go through a few simple steps.

If you want to learn 3D animation to a professional level, and start your new career as an animator - your journey starts here.

Wednesday 11 October 2023

Animate a Yellow Beetle In Motion

 

In this tutorial we show how to animate a yellow Beetle in Motion, using the free "Swappable Car Rig with Ubershockies - The AnyCar 3.1.4 for Maya", downloadable here from Creative Crash.  This is a fun, easy to replicate tutorial that is aimed at beginners in Autodesk Maya. 

Tuesday 10 October 2023

Maya Basics - Model & Texture a Cereal Box



In this super basic tutorial we show how to do very basic modelling and texturing in Autodesk Maya and Photoshop to create a Cereal Box. This tutorial is divided into two parts - the Maya part, where we create the box and UV it (above), and the Photoshop part (below), where we do the texturing. 

Wednesday 4 October 2023

Basic Lighting in Arnold - Physical Sky


In this simple tutorial, for Autodesk Maya beginners, we explain how to achieve a super basic lighting setup in Arnold using the settings in Physical Sky. This is as simple a setup as it is possible to achieve in Arnold, and gives good results for an outdoor scene with just a few clicks.

Tuesday 3 October 2023

How to Create a Shot Camera in Maya



In this introductory tutorial for beginners in Autodesk Maya we demonstrate how to create a shot camera.  If you were on a live action set, one of the first things you would do is set up your camera and decide what the shot was going to look like.  But in Maya, because we get a Perspective View for free, animators often forget to create a shot camera.  This is a mistake - we want to make an early decision on what the audience is going to see.  Watch this beginner's video tutorial above to find out how to create a camera in Maya and lock it off. 

Monday 2 October 2023

How to Texture Dice in Autodesk Maya

 

In the free video tutorial above we tackle a super simple modelling and texturing exercise - how to create a die (single of dice), bevel it, and texture it, downloading a texture map from the web. The tutorial is aimed at complete beginners who have never used Autodesk Maya before. In addition, you can follow the steps outlined below, including - for extra sophistication - how to add a bump map (not covered in the video above).

Tuesday 26 September 2023

Thursday 31 August 2023

Wednesday 30 August 2023

Fall Animation Class Starts Sept 2023

Our Fall Animation Class begins in September 2023.

It's not too late to book a place; all you need to do is visit the main Animation Apprentice site and go through a few simple steps.

If you want to learn 3D animation to a professional level, and start your new career as an animator - your journey starts here.

Tuesday 22 August 2023

How to Animate a Bouncing Ball

 

In the tutorial video series below we show how to tackle the entry-level "Bouncing Ball" exercise. Above is a collection of some of the best "Bouncing Ball" exercises completed by Animation Apprentices over the years. Our course at Animation Apprentice, like almost every course in animation, starts with the bouncing ball, as students learn to apply the principles of timing, spacing, paths of action and weight - four of the Twelve Principles of Animation.  Even a simple exercise can be entertaining and interesting with a bit of imagination. 
 

Sunday 30 July 2023

150 Animation Exercises to Boost Your Skill

150 Exercises to boost your skills
We're liking this list of 150 animation exercises created by independent animation artist David Mattock at his website Animator Artist Life

David Mattock has created a wide variety of exercises for any animator to tackle, from simple tasks like animating a vibrating telephone or a falling leaf, to complex character animation.  It's a great list, super useful for any animator who might need a little practice or inspiration for what to animate next. 

Thursday 27 July 2023

Animate a Run Cycle With "Heavy"

Human run by Edward Muybridge
In this tutorial we show how to animate a simple, basic run cycle.  

The tutorial uses the "Heavy" Rig which you can download for free at HighEnd3D.com

Animators should be able to master the art and craft of basic locomotion, including walks, runs and jumps.  These are the "scales" of animation, and should be on every animator's demo reel, demonstrating that the student has mastered these basic steps.

Tuesday 25 July 2023

Animate a Jump with "Monty"

 

In this Locomotion and Mechanics tutorial we show how to animate a jump with a simple character, using the marvellous "Monty" rig, free for download at HighEnd3D.com.  The idea is to get a basic jump working, that feels fluid and believable, with weight and balance. You can read more about the Monty rig and how to use it here.

Tuesday 11 July 2023

Animate a Scorpion in Motion


In this Scorpion Animation Tutorial we demonstrate how to animate a scorpion in motion.  Scorpions are fun to animate, and there is a good free rig available online by Kiel Figgins, which can be found here at his official website. Watch the video above for a general introduction to the rig, how to find it, and how the rig works. The scorpion tutorial is similar to the spider tutorial, but a little more complex, as we have to deal with eight legs, two big pincers and also a tail.

Thursday 6 July 2023

Animate a Jelly in Motion

 

In this beginners' animation tutorial, part of our series on animal and creature animation, we show how to animate a cute "jelly" in motion. The tutorial uses the free "Jelly" rig which you can find here at Animation Buffet - a great source of free rigs for character and creature animation.  It is a very simple rig but gives a good range of movement and also facial expressions. 

Wednesday 5 July 2023

Animate a Foxy Tail in Motion

 

In this "Foxy Tail" animation exercise, students learn how to animate a simple ball with a tail, a cute cartoony fox creature that can be used to create some fun cartoony animation, as in the example above by Joris Van Laar.  The exercise uses the free "Ultimate Tail" Rig, available for download from highend3D.com.

Tuesday 4 July 2023

How to Make a Playblast In Autodesk Maya


In the beginner's tutorial video above we show how to make a Playblast in Maya. What is a Playblast? A Playblast is a desktop render, and a way to test your animation to make sure that playback is in the real time, so you can test out the timing and spacing accurately.  Every animator needs to know how to make a Playblast; watch the video above to see how to get the settings right. 

Monday 3 July 2023

Introduction to The Autodesk Maya Interface


The video above is an Introduction to The Autodesk Maya Interface. This video is aimed at complete beginners, taking their first steps to use Autodesk Maya - still the leading software for 3D animation.  To see more videos on the use of Maya for Animators, follow the links below.

Thursday 29 June 2023

How To Import Live Action Reference Into Maya



The video above explains how to import live action reference into Maya.  There are two basic methods; importing a series of individual frames, and importing a movie file. Both can be fiddly - watch the video to see how it is done.  To see more detail on  how to use live action reference to create animation in Maya, read this blog post

Tuesday 20 June 2023

Quadruped Run Tutorial


In this animation tutorial we show how to animate a quadruped running - in this case a horse. Every animator needs to understand how to animate quadrupeds in motion; these are the basic "scales" of animal and creature animation.  The basic gait for all quadrupeds is more or less the same (allowing for anatomy), so this tutorial can be applied to any four-legged creature, but the easiest way to follow the tutorial is to use the free horse rig - available for download from the Mothman TD website

Monday 19 June 2023

Spider Animation Tutorial

Spider walk tutorial
In this new animation tutorial we show how to create a locomotion cycle with a spider, demonstrating how to take an apparently complex action and, by breaking it down into simple components, we can make the animation much easier.

A spider's walk looks complex, but is in fact very easy to animate, by following this simple tutorial.

Thursday 15 June 2023

Crow in Flight Tutorial


Our latest animation tutorial shows how to animate a bird in flight - specifically a crow. The tutorial covers how to animate a flap cycle, add refinements, add the animation to a motion path, import a set, and then create an interesting and inventive scene. Birds are one of the many kinds of creatures that animators will be expected to know how to animate; this tutorial demonstrates a simplified approach that gets a strong result in a short amount of time. 

Tuesday 13 June 2023

Animate Dialogue with "Monty" - "Smokin!"


In the simple animation tutorial below we show how to animate a character with no mouth saying a line of dialogue (see animation outcome above).  But how can you animate dialogue and lipsync - with no lips?  The answer is - it's all in the acting and the performance.  If the body language is working, then the audience will believe that the character is speaking - even if the character itself has no mouth.  In this tutorial we animate "Monty" saying a line of dialogue - "Smokin!" - the line originally delivered by Jim Carrey in the 80s hit movie The Mask. 

Sunday 11 June 2023

Animate a Military Walk With "Monty"

One thing every animator needs to learn is how to animate a character walk.  In this latest tutorial, we show how to take a basic walk cycle using the "Monty" rig (free for download from highend3d.com) and make Monty march like a goose-stepping soldier on a parade ground.  

The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

Saturday 10 June 2023

No Audio in Maya Playblast?

Autodesk Maya Playplast Options - select QT
What should you do if you are getting no audio in your Autodesk Maya Playblast? 

If you make a Playblast in Maya and there is no audio, try opening up the Playlist settings and tinkering with the output. 

By default, Maya tends to choose a .avi file, but if you go under Format and change the output to QT instead of AVI, you will often be able to get audio playback.

Thursday 8 June 2023

Animate "Monty" Singing "Oh Yeah"


In the simple animation tutorial below we show how to animate a character with no mouth saying a line of dialogue (see animation outcome above).  But how can you animate dialogue and lipsync - with no lips?  The answer is - it's all in the acting and the performance.  If the body language is working, then the audience will believe that the character is speaking - even if the character itself has no mouth.  In this tutorial we animate "Monty" saying (well, singing) a line of dialogue - "Ohhh Yeahhh". 

Wednesday 7 June 2023

Animate a Run Cycle with "Monty"


In this tutorial we show how to animate a simple, basic run cycle with "Monty".  The tutorial uses the excellent "Monty" rig (which you can read about here)", and which you can download for free from highend3d.com. 

Tuesday 6 June 2023

Animate a Cartoony "Take" with "Mr Buttons"

Reaction shot with "Mr Buttons"
Reaction shots are the bread-and-butter of junior animators.  On a feature film, once an animator has graduated from walk cycles and crowd shots, they get given reaction shots.

In this series of video tutorials, we show how to go about blocking out an animated scene, in this case a reaction shot, or "take", with the cartoony cat rig "Mr Buttons" by Keith Osborn.

Monday 5 June 2023

Animate a "Manly Walk" with "Monty"

Cowboy walk with Monty
One thing every animator needs to learn is how to animate a character walk. In our latest tutorial, we show how to take a "plain vanilla" walk using the "Monty" rig (free for download from Creative Crash) and make Monty walk in a masculine way - with just a few clicks.

The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

Sunday 4 June 2023

Animate an "Angry Walk" With "Monty"

Angry Walk with the "Monty" rig
One thing every animator needs to learn is how to animate a character walk. In our latest tutorial, we show how to take a "plain vanilla" walk using the marvellous "Monty" rig (free for download from Creative Crash) and make Monty angry and grumpy - with just a few clicks.

The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

Saturday 3 June 2023

Animate a Slow, Sad Walk with "Monty"

Animate a sad walk with "Monty"
One thing every animator needs to learn is how to animate a character walk. In our newest tutorial, we show how to take a "plain vanilla" walk using the marvellous "Monty" rig (free for download from Creative Crash) and make Monty sad and depressed - with just a few clicks.  

The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

Friday 2 June 2023

Animate a Basic Walk with "Heavy"

Animate a Basic Walk with the "Heavy" Rig
One thing every animator needs to learn is how to animate a character walk. In our newest tutorial, we show how to animate a simple walk cycle using the "Heavy" rig. (free for download at Creative Crash). The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

The tutorial is designed to be easy to follow, and to use simple thumbnails that show all the main poses in the walk, and can be easily broken down and interpolated. 

Thursday 1 June 2023

"Double Bounce Walk" With "Monty"

Monty Double Bounce Walk
Every animator needs to learn how to animate a character walk.  In this simple tutorial, we show how to take a "plain vanilla" walk using the marvellous "Monty" rig (free for download from Creative Crash) and give it a sunny, upbeat personality with just a few clicks.  

The video tutorial is recorded in Autodesk Maya, and is aimed at animation beginners. 

Thursday 25 May 2023

How to Animate a Basic Walk with "Monty"

Animate a walk cycle with "Monty"
We've uploaded a new series of video tutorials on how to animate a walk, using the marvellous "Monty" rig, free for download from Creative Crash.

There are four video tutorials of just under ten minutes, showing step by step how to animate a walk cycle. 

The videos are recorded in Autodesk Maya, and are aimed at animation beginners. 

Tuesday 16 May 2023

Quadruped Trot Tutorial

Horse Trot - Edward Muybridge
Students at Animation Apprentice must master the art of quadruped locomotion, including how to animate a trot. 

A trot is an intermediate gait between a walk and a run, an efficient fast motion that permits speed without using excessive energy. 

Below are three tutorial videos showing how to animate a horse trotting. The password is the same as for all our video tutorials.

Friday 12 May 2023

Animal Anatomy for Animators


Above is a short video on animal anatomy, a general introduction to how animals are put together, and how and why anatomy matters for animators.  Animal and creature animation can be technically demanding; the use of live action reference is very important as a starting point for how to bring animals and creatures to life.

Thursday 4 May 2023

Summer Class Starts 3 July 2023

Artwork by Animation Apprentice Graduate Joe Gamble
Our Summer Animation Class begins on Monday 3rd July 2023.

It's not too late to book a place; all you need to do is visit the main Animation Apprentice site and go through a few simple steps.

If you want to learn 3D animation to a professional level, and start your new career as an animator - your journey starts here.

Tuesday 2 May 2023

Bio Motion Lab Walker and Animating Walks

Bio Motion Walker

All student animators must learn how to animate a walk cycle, creating a successful biped walk and then giving it character and personality.

One very useful resource is the Bio Motion Walker from the Bio Motion Lab, located at York University in Toronto, Ontario.

The Bio Motion Walker allows animators to move a range of sliders showing how to make a walk cycle feel masculine or feminine, heavy or light, anxious or calm, happy or sad.  

Animators study live action, and then incorporate - and exaggerate - real life in their work . The Bio Motion Walker is a useful tool for analysing how people walk and move in different ways.  

Friday 28 April 2023

Animation Apprentice Visits Westminster Kingsway

Westminster Kingsway College 
Last week Animation Apprentice visited Westminster Kingsway College to talk to with students and young professionals about careers in animation. 

The event was hosted by Film London to provide aspiring artists with guidance on how to break into the creative industries  and, specifically, into the animation industry.  

Today the animation industry continues to grow, despite Covid and Brexit, boosted recently by expansion of the UK Govt Tax Credit
  

Saturday 15 April 2023

Mark Masters Ranks No3 in 11 Second Club

 

Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Mark Masters on his successful entry into the March 11 Second Club - you can watch his animation "Visitor in Nature" above.  Mark's entry was ranked no 3 in this month's 11 Second Club (out of 126 entries) - a very impressive result.  "The 11 Second Club" competition is a monthly contest in which animators compete to animate the most inventive and entertaining take on a piece of dialogue. Mark Masters is currently taking our Masters' Degree in Animation, delivered with our university partner Buckinghamshire New University.

Sunday 9 April 2023

Marc Stevenson Ranks No 4 in 11 Second Club


Congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Marc Stevenson on his successful entry into the March 11 Second Club - you can watch his animation "Horsin' Around" above.  Marc's entry was ranked no 4 in this month's 11 Second Club (out of 126 entries) - a very impressive result.  "The 11 Second Club" competition is a monthly contest in which animators compete to animate the most inventive and entertaining take on a piece of dialogue.

Saturday 8 April 2023

UK Animation Returns to Cartoon Forum

Cartoon Forum - Toulouse 18-21 September 2023
The European film agency "Cartoon", organisers of "Cartoon Forum" and "Cartoon Movie", has announced that UK animation will return to Cartoon Forum this year in a special initiative titled "Animated UK Meets Europe", led by Animation UK, and supported by the BBC, Disney, and other major UK Partners. 

Thursday 6 April 2023

UK Animation Tax Relief Increased to 39%

One less-reported aspect of the Chancellor's Spring budget here in the UK was an increase in the tax relief granted by HMRC for UK animation to a generous 39%

This appears to be in response to lobbying by the UK creative industries, who have long argued that the tax credit encourages UK animation production, and nurtures domestic talent and creativity.

Here at Animation Apprentice we are delighted that the Government is supporting the UK animation industry, and we welcome the news, which will surely boost UK animation production, and create a jobs pipeline for animation graduates in the UK. 

Tuesday 28 March 2023

Andrew Schlussel Talks AI and Animation


In the Ted Talk above, DNEG Animation's Andrew Schlussel explains why, even though AI can now automate many jobs - such as concept art - we should not fear it.  Andrew explains how changes in animation and vfx technology over the years have increased the size of the industry - not shrunk it.  He suggests that AI will be no different, and that the "net sum" of jobs in the Creative Industries will continue to increase, even though certain processes can be done by machine learning.  What should we do with AI instead? - embrace it, and use it

Sunday 26 March 2023

Animation Grad 2.0 by Aaron McGriff

We're liking this article at Linkedin by Pixar animator Aaron McGriff, who talks about what it takes to get hired as an animator straight out of school.

Aaron's top tips are to "start with your demo" reel, and make sure you specialise in the kind of animation you want to do most. Your demo reel for Pixar will not be the same as your reel for ILM.

Aaron's article is thoughtful and full of great advice, and we highly recommend it. You can find the full article here

Tuesday 7 March 2023

2023 Rookies Now Open

All of our graduating students at Animation Apprentice are encouraged to enter The Rookie Awards, the international competition for young creatives. The competition opens today, Tuesday March 7th 2023 - and the final deadline is 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." All our graduating students should enter.

Monday 20 February 2023

"Early Bird" Best Animation for Kids at AniMate

Early Bird wins "Best Animation for Kids" at AniMate Fest
Congratulations to Animation Apprentice graduate Dan Fitzgerald who has won another festival award for his short film "Early Bird".  

Early Bird won "Best Animation for Kids" at the Australian "AniMate" Animation Film festival.

Early Bird is about a bird who catches the early worm - or tries to.   Dan's short film has won many festival awards.


Sunday 19 February 2023

"Johnny Spittoon" Best Animation in Covent Garden

Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice graduate Neil Whitman whose short animated film "Jonny Spittoon" has won the Best Animation Award at the Covent Garden Film Festival. 

Neil Whitman took our 30 week course in 3D animation, learning the art and craft of character and creature animation, building on the skills he had learned as a motion graphics artist at the BBC.

We are delighted that Neil's new short animated film has achieved festival success - this is the latest of a number of festival awards. 

Wednesday 1 February 2023

Using Open AI to Create Story Ideas



AI is a powerful tool for the creation of stories and ideas.  Watch the video above to see how to use the Playground at Open AI to generate ideas for stories and short films.  AI represents the biggest technical advance in the animation & VFX industry since 3D animation began to replace traditional hand-animated feature films in the early 2000s.  Artificial Intelligence is here to stay - so let's make the best use of it we can.

Tuesday 24 January 2023

Spring Class Starts on 6th March 2023

Our Spring Animation Class begins on Monday 6th March 2023.

It's not too late to book a place; all you need to do is visit the main Animation Apprentice site and go through a few simple steps.

If you want to learn 3D animation to a professional level, and start your new career as an animator - your journey starts here.

Sunday 15 January 2023

2023 Animation Demo Reel


Above is our 2023 student demo reel, a selection of the best work done at Animation Apprentice over the last year. The reel includes work by Joshua Reynolds, Robin Herrmann, Lee Caller, Lisa Springett, Francis Lowe, Dan Fitzgerald, Alex Southcombe, Brandon Barwise, Hamill Buyco, Joris Van Laar,  Chantelle Fairburn, Mark Masters and Muhammad Al-Dasoqi.  Congratulations to all of them on their excellent work.

Friday 13 January 2023

Bouncing Ball by Lisa Springett

 

Above is an excellent example of the "Bouncing Ball" exercise by Animation Apprentice student Lisa Springett.  Our course at Animation Apprentice, like almost every course in animation, starts with the bouncing ball, as students learn to apply the principles of timing, spacing, paths of action and weight - four of the Twelve Principles of Animation.  Lisa's skilled work shows that even a simple exercise can be entertaining and interesting, and can be completed to a demo-reel level of skill.
 

Thursday 12 January 2023

How "APEL" Works

APEL: route to post-graduate study
What is the APEL process, and why does it matter? APEL stands for "Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning", and is the formal recognition of prior learning by UK universities.

Why is it important? APEL is the means by which students who do not have an undergraduate degree can gain entry onto a masters' level course, such as our master's programme in 3D animation.

For example, an animator with ten years' experience in the industry might not realise they can apply for our MA course in animation, because they need a BA first.  In fact, this would not necessarily be true.

We can consider a student's body of work, and their professional career, as a route into post-graduate study, permitting them to meet the necessary qualifications for entry onto a masters' programme.

Wednesday 11 January 2023

Luxo Lamp Hop by Lisa Springett

 

Above is a charming example of a "Luxo Lamp" animation by Lisa Springett, created as part of Lisa's studies at Animation Apprentice, using the Pixo Jr lamp rig.  The lamp hop is part of students' early induction into character animation. Like Pixar's first short film "Luxo Jr", our students have the chance to show emotion and character in an inanimate object with no facial expressions - breathing life into a simple table lamp and creating a fun, entertaining performance - the hallmark of good animation.

Tuesday 10 January 2023

Flour Sack Animation with Joshua Reynolds

 

Above is a fine example of "Flour Sack" animation by Animation Apprentice student Joshua Reynolds, using the free flour sack rig, available for download online.  The flour sack rig is one we like to use in the early stages of learning animation, so that students can get used to the idea of creating the illusion of weight, and also getting a performance from an inanimate object.

Friday 6 January 2023

Storm Trooper Animation by Mark Masters


Above is an excellent piece of locomotion animation by Animation Apprentice student Mark Masters, created as part of his studies on the Animation Masters' Degree at Buckinghamshire New University.  The assignment brief for the first module, DA701 PR1, is to create a short piece of human locomotion, with character and personality. 

Wednesday 4 January 2023

Pantomime Animation with Joshua Reynolds

 

One of the key skills every animator needs to learn is how to tell a story without words, to create "pantomime" animation. The art of pantomime is that, like mime, the audience should understand completely the story being told - without words.   In the example above, by Animation Apprentice student Joshua Reynolds, Joshua tackles the "Phone Booth" exercise, in which the animator must tell the story of a phone call silently, just using body language and expressions, communicating to the audience what the character is thinking and feeling.

Tuesday 3 January 2023

Do You Need a BA to Apply for an MA?




One question we often get asked here at Animation Apprentice is this: "Do I need a BA in order to apply for your MA in animation?". The answer is... "maybe".  Ideally, candidates for our Online MA in 3D Animation, delivered in partnership with Buckinghamshire New University, will already have a BA in an arts-related subject.  However, those without a BA can still go through what is called the APEL process - APEL stands for "Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning". APEL is the formal recognition of prior learning by UK universities, and is the means by which students who do not have an undergraduate degree can gain entry onto a masters' level course, such as our master's programme in 3D Animation.

Sunday 1 January 2023

2023 New Year's Resolutions for Animators

Fuochi d'artificio
Happy New Year to all our students!  The New Year brings new challenges but also opportunities - the animation and VFX industries continues to thrive, with remote working now fully established as an alternative to the traditional in-house commute. 

This year, top of our list of New Year's Resolutions, is to experiment with the new Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as  OpenAI and MidJourney.  AI is changing the face of the animation industry in a way that challenges everything we do, but also offering new opportunities.