Lamp Hop - a Great Addition to Your Demo Reel

Lamp hop by Lisa Springett

A simple lamp hop exercise can be a great addition to your animation demo reel.  One of the most iconic pieces of character animation ever created is Luxo Jr. — the hopping desk lamp that launched Pixar into the spotlight back in 1986. 

The lamp hop is one of the first exercises that students tackle at Animation Apprentice, and a reminder that you don’t need a complex character rig to show personality, weight, and storytelling.  A simple lamp hop animation can still be a great addition to a demo reel - just keep it short and witty - like the example above by Lisa Springett. 

Lamp Hop Compilation by Students at Animation Apprentice

Lamp Hop by Briony Davies

The Lamp Hop Shows You Can Bring Life to an Inanimate Object

Animating a lamp hop is pure performance. The lamp has no face, no arms, no squashy character rig to fall back on. To make a lamp “alive,” you must rely on timing, posing, anticipation, and clear silhouettes. If you can make an object act, think, and feel, you’re demonstrating real animation skill — and studios will notice.

The Lamp Hop Tests Animation Fundamentals
A successful lamp hop requires understanding of animation basics:

• Weight – how the lamp lands and compresses
• Balance – shifting the centre of gravity to sell movement
• Arcs & spacing – clean, appealing paths of action
• Clear staging – creating good clear silhouettes

It’s a deceptively simple exercise that reveals whether an animator understands these core principles.

Creative Storytelling

Lamp hop by Mike Acosta

A lamp hop doesn’t have to be just a cycle — it can be a mini story.  Is the lamp shy? Excited? Angry? Clumsy? Frustrated?  You can express a surprising range of emotions and character types with just a few hops, head tilts, and pauses. A short 5–10 second lamp animation can show acting, intention, and storytelling.

Perfect for Short, Watchable Reel Clips
Recruiters like short, sharp shots that communicate personality.  A successful lamp hop is easy to watch, easy to judge, and looks good on a demo reel.  It shows variety, imagination, and a respect for animation history.

A lamp hop is more than a technical exercise — it’s a celebration of what animation truly is: the illusion of life.

Lamp Hop Exercise

To see more about the lamp hop exercise at Animation Apprentice, read this blog post. 

To find out more about Animation Apprentice, click here for a link to Frequently Asked Questions. To sign up for our November 5th classroom at Animation Apprentice, follow this link.