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.

Storyboarding for People Who Can't Draw

For all our students storyboarding their short film projects we're recommending the video above by Russell Hasenauer titled "Storyboarding for People Who Can't Draw". It's a useful video because it helps to explain how the storyboarding process can be achieved even by students who don't draw well, or lack confidence in their drawing. Storyboarding is not chiefly about drawing - it's about how you juxtapose shots to tell a story, ideally clearly and simply.  

How to Pitch an Animated TV Series

The Art of the Pitch

Here at Animation Apprentice we don't just teach the mechanics of animation, we also teach the art and craft of creativity and creative thinking.

Every great animation series began its life as a humble pitch - even mighty Peppa Pig started out as an idea in a sketch book.

There is nothing to stop our students creating the next Bob The Builder or Mr Bean.

Why Animators Should Always Tell a Story

Animators are story tellers. Every animation should have an idea behind it, one that tells a story.

Junior animators focus on learning technique - and technique is very important. But it is also important to think carefully about the story behind your shot.

Who is your character, and why are they doing what they are doing?  What is the scene about? What do they want, and what do they fear?  These things are important because if your shots forms part of an interesting story, it will be much more interesting to watch.

Free Storyboard Masterclass on Feb 22nd

Francesca "Chess" Adams

On Thursday February 22nd Escape Studios in London is hosting Blue Zoo storyboard artist Francesca "Chess" Adams, who will be talking about her work as a storyboard artist on TV series such as "Digby Dragon"

Storyboarding is one of the most interesting parts of the pre-production process. It's where drawing meets storytelling.

Storyboard With Panel Forge Pro

At last week's Blue GFX Expo, Blue Zoo’s Tom Box announced that Panel Forge Pro, their new storyboard and pipeline tool, is now available for free for student use.

StoryBoarding is Back at Escape Studios

Storyboarding is back! I'm running a class in storyboarding at Escape Studios in Shepherd's Bush, West London, starting on 21 March 2017. It costs £995 and it's a part-time evening class, designed to fit around jobs and families.

The class is taught by me and (most likely) by Francesca Adams, a very talented Blue Zoo storyboard artist who helped us out last year.  Also like last year, we'll have a live industry brief to give our students experience of what an industry storyboard test is actually like.

Blue Zoo Launches New StoryBoard Software

One of the highlights of last week's Blue GFX Expo was a presentation of Panel Forge Pro (the first public demonstration of the software), a new storyboard and pipeline tool which has now been extensively road tested at Blue Zoo on the Miffy the Rabbit and Digby Dragon TV Series.

Panel Forge uses 3D Layouts – much like its rival Redboard (also developed here in London) – to save time in Storyboarding.  Panel Forge allows board artists to use low resolution 3D assets to help set up camera angles and layouts, and has been used on “10,000 shots” to date.  So, what is Panel Forge all about, and why should our students be interested?

Book Recommendation: Prepare to Board! by Nancy Beiman

Prepare to Board! by Nancy Beiman is the book we are recommending to students of storyboarding here at Animation Apprentice. This is an excellent book from a master animator, who teaches at Sheridan College in Canada. It is arguably the best book you can buy on animation storyboarding.

Nancy Beiman was for many years a supervising animator at Disney (most notably on Hercules) and, like many old-school 2D animators, she does storyboards and character design as well as animation.

There is also a companion site online which has extra resources, and a free downloadable PDF Learning Guide.

Free Redboard Tutorial!

Redboard is a great new piece of animation software, designed to help close the gap between 3D layout and storyboards, and generally to make storyboard artists' lives easier. Instead of starting with a blank piece of paper, or a blank screen, the story artist starts with a 3D layout, and you then draw over the top with a pen. So, it's just like traditional storyboards - but a lot of the 3D camera work and set layout is done for you. This short video demonstrates how Redboard works.

An Introduction to The Art of Storyboards

Storyboarding is a vital part of the animation process, and in the old 2D days of traditional animation, many animators did both. Nowadays, with drawing skills less necessary for 3D animation, storyboarding has tended to separate out into a different discipline. But even animators who don't like to draw should understand a bit about how the storyboard process works. This short ten minute video explores what storyboards are all about - and what the different kinds of storyboards are.

Free Storyboarding Webinar Hosted by Escape Studios on Wednesday 30 March at 5pm

Escape Studios is hosting a free animation webinar on the subject of storyboarding, and I'll be taking the opportunity to demonstrate some shiny new software - Redboard.

Redboard is a great new piece of kit, developed in London's Soho, that allows storyboard artists to integrate the storyboard process with the 3D Layout dept. It's a kind of hybrid technology - part previz, part storyboard.

It was created by animators who were frustrated by the problems caused when storyboard sketches got turned into actual shots in the 3D layout dept - and things began to go wrong.  Redboard is a way to control the storyboard pipeline from the start, making choices about camera and cinematography up front.

Redboard - a Better Way to Storyboard?

As everyone knows, animation starts with a hand-drawn storyboard process, then goes to 3D Layout, and finally to animation.  

But what if you could combine the storyboard process and 3D Layout, to make your animation pipeline work faster, with fewer mistakes? 

This is what Redboard, a new animation and pre-via storyboard software, aims to do. And best of all, it actually works.

Pixar Story Process Revealed

Ever wondered how Pixar artists pitch their storyboards? In this excellent video, we see the awesomely talented Joe Ranft pitch the opening sequence for Toy Story. It's a great insight into how animated films get made, where sequences are worked over and re-worked in the story department long before animators get their hands on them.  When animators worked on paper by hand, many used to move fairly seamlessly between the story dept and the animation dept. Now that our tools are digital, this is less common, but being able to tell a story in pictures is still a great skill for any animator, digital or otherwise.

Where Does Creativity Come From? John Cleese Explains

John Cleese knows a thing or two about creativity, which is presumably why he was invited to give this talk in the video above. Trouble is, identifying where creativity comes from is like trying to analyse what makes a great poem. We all know it when we see it - but how to define it? And what does the great man conclude? I'll leave you to watch the (short) video to find out the answer.

Five Steps to Write a Great Story

Titles to Love Me Love Me Love Me by Richard Williams

How do you write a great story? You can't make a great film without one, and yet one of the most common mistakes made by rookie film-makers is to start making the film before the story is figured out.

In fact, it's not just novices who fall into this trap - Hollywood does it all the time. But with a little forethought and planning, you can start off your project with a great story. After all, story is the most important part of any film. As Pixar's John Lasseter put, "the three most important ingredients in a Pixar film are: 1. Story, 2. Story, and 3. Story". So, how do you make sure you get it right?

So You Want to Make an Animated Film?

Making your own animated film isn't as easy as it sounds. The most common mistake made by newbies is to underestimate the amount of work involved. Everything takes longer, and is harder to achieve, than you expect. That said, it's not an impossible dream to make your own short, especially if you plan well and work smart. The trick is to plan it out properly, doing all the steps in the right order.

Pixar and the Twenty Two Rules of Storytelling

John Lasseter famously described the three most important things about film-making as "One: story. Two: story. Three: story". Obviously, Pixar do a bunch of other stuff really well too, like, say character animation. But there is no doubt that great stories are at the heart of their work and their success. So what can we learn from Pixar about great story telling? Fortunately, Pixar are not guarded about their secrets. Recently, these "22 rules of storytelling" were tweeted by Pixar Story Artist Emma Coats.

Story Masterclass with Frank Gladstone in London on 16th August - just £6!

Lupus films, the folks who brought you The Snowman and The Snowdog, are running a one day masterclass with animation industry veteran Frank Gladstone on August 16th in London - for just £6. Anyone who is serious about story telling in animation should attend - I'll most likely be there myself, furiously taking notes. Frank is a world-class talent whose credits include some of the biggest hits in animation history. I attended his month-long story seminar at Lupus last year. Full details below: