Phil Loeffler MoGraph Supervisor at Discovery

Congratulations to Animation Apprentice graduate Phil Loeffler who has been promoted to Motion Graphics Animation Supervisor at Discovery.

Phil has been successfully working as a freelance animator, illustrator and designer for some time, building on the skills he has learned at Animation Apprentice.

Motion Graphics is a key part of the animation industry, an expanding area of jobs, creativity and new business.

Animate a Neon Sign in Maya - Free Tutorial

In this free tutorial we show how to animate a flickering neon sign in Maya. The idea is to create a personal logo for your demo reel, something that has 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. Next animate the letters, render it, and create a movie file for your demo reel. 

Why Animators Must Master The Art of the Title

artofthetitle.com

Part of making any short film is thinking about titles, and typography.  A good title sets the tone and style for the forthcoming film.

For all our students working on titles and title sequences for their short films, we recommend visiting theartofthetitle.com, a website dedicated entirely to the art and craft of movie titles.

Free Webinar in Motion Graphics Tonight

Thiago Maia - head of Motion Graphics

Motion Graphics guru Thiago Maia,  founder of Cookie Studios the hosting a free webinar in Motion Graphics tonight.

Motion Graphics isn't something we teach at Animation Apprentice, but some knowledge of After Effects never did any of us any harm.

The webinar is all about applying the 12 Principles of Animation to motion graphics work, to get more fluid and believable motion graphics.

The webinar takes place at 6pm, and is free. To sign up, follow this link.

Phil Loeffler Animator at Discovery

Congratulations to Animation Apprentice graduate Phil Loeffler who has just accepted an offer as a motion graphics animator and editor at Discovery.

Phil has been successfully working as a freelance animator, illustrator and designer for some time, building on the skills he has learned at Animation Apprentice.

2017 has been a fantastic year for our students finding work in the animation industry. To see some of our recent success stories, follow this link.

Framestore, James Bond, and the Skyfall Title Sequence

Diarmid Harrison Murray was the keynote speaker at last year's BlueGFX Expo in London. He was there to talk about the title sequence for Skyfall, which he directed, tackling the project with a small team at Framestore, one of London's leading visual effects houses.  Diarmid explained in some detail how he and his team managed to pull off the animated titles for the most recent installment in the world's most successful film franchise.

Animation Apprentice Graduate Giuseppe Candido lands job with The Play Studio

Animation Apprentice graduate Giuseppe Candido has landed a job with The Play Studio, a London based creative design agency specialising in motion graphics across multiple media platforms. Giuseppe starts soon as a Junior Visualiser, working the The Pillbox, a creative hub in East London.

How NOT to make a Demo Reel

Shit Showreels Say from Peter Quinn on Vimeo.

Above is a funny video by digital artist Peter Quinn, who has made his own demo reel to satirise some of the most common cliches and unnecessary embellishments on demo reels. Silly graphics, pointless messages like "thanks for watching", spinning globes to suggest an international flavour - all come under fire. In the end, a demo reel is a showcase for your talent as an animator. You don't need to a bunch of fancy graphics to sell yourself, just really solid work, well presented and cut together.