Animation Students - Get Your Free Maya License

For newcomers to the animation industry, and especially for our students starting with us in our next scheduled class, it's important to remember that Autodesk, who make the software Maya, offer an education copy of Maya for free, which can be downloaded from the official Autodesk site.

Autodesk Maya has been the dominant software package in 3D animation for over 20 years. I first used Maya 1.0 on "The Iron Giant", back in 1998.  And today it remains the most powerful package for the creation of 3D animation, still by far the most widely used in industry. 

Joining Instructions for MA in 3D Animation

Joining Instructions September 2022

It will soon be time for our new animation students starting with us at our degree-awarding partner Buckinghamshire New University to get started on their animation journey.  

Below are some Joining Instructions for students starting with us on the Online MA in 3D Animation.

External Projects at Animation Apprentice

Our animators can make you a film

At Animation Apprentice we often get asked if our animation students can take on external projects. Our students are very busy with their own work, but on occasion we can tackle "live briefs" for outside clients, such as the 2022 BAA Ident Awards Challenge.

There are however a few things we need in advance, most important of which is a brief (ideally a single page PDF), explaining what the client wants and expects.  Below is a list of things for clients to think about to make sure that the project is a success. 

New Animation Apprentice Website Launched

Yesterday we launched our new website at Animation Apprentice, the first re-design since we started work in 2012 offering bespoke training for the growing animation and visual effects industries in London, the UK and overseas. 

Since 2012 over 150 students have been trained by us to work in the industry, enjoying successful careers at studios such as ILM, Blue Zoo and Jellyfish.  

How to Solve Technical Problems

Why doesn't it work? Technical problems are the bane of the animator's life - but inevitable whenever you are working with tech tools. In the video above I explain the best approach to solving technical problems; the secret is to get help, but make sure you ask the right questions, and provide the maximum amount of information so that others can help you. Below is a list of solutions to some frequently-encountered technical difficulties.  Remember that every technical problem, no matter how infuriating, has a solution. You are not the first person to face the problem - there is an answer out there somewhere. 

Why Animators Must Fail Upwards

Animators are made, not born.  All of us are likely fail in most of the things that we do, at least at first.  The key to success is to keep at it, and  fail faster.

Great animation doesn't emerge fully formed, it needs to be tweaked, revised and perfected. When you see a Pixar or Disney film, you see the finished, polished result - you don't see the pain the animator went through along the way.

Everything we do can be done better. If you don't keep trying, and practicing, and getting feedback, you will never create anything good.  Your animation does not have to be perfect; you just have to get on with it and keep practicing your craft.

A Very Warm Welcome To Our New Online MA Students!

The world's first online MA in animation

We're excited to welcome all our new students who will soon be starting our online MA in animation, launched one year ago here at Animation Apprentice in partnership with Buckinghamshire New University.

This is a unique degree - the first of its kind - which can be undertaken by students anywhere in the world, leading to a formal qualification in the field.

You will not only learn how to be a professional animator, but you will engage at Masters' level with the underpinning theory and structure behind the art form. So, what is this degree all about, and what can our new students expect?

Is It Better To Study Online Or In a Classroom?

Studying Online. Two screens, one to play the videos and one to do the exercise.

Online study is an incredibly powerful tool. Animation Apprentice founder Alex Williams argues that online study can work much better than traditional classroom study - and for a tiny fraction of the price.  Each student at Animation Apprentice gets to learn at their own pace, watching videos on their own time, and getting bespoke feedback. We asked Alex why online study really is a better mousetrap, and why the results are often better than in a traditional classroom.

Get Ready for Our May 4th Class By Watching Our Free Videos

What is Animation Apprentice all about? And what should our students starting with us on Monday 4th May do to get ready? For a general introduction to the medium, and a beginners guide to the language and the basic principles of animation, watch this series of free videos at Animation Apprentice. Start with The Twelve Principles of Animation, and move on to Keys, Extremes and Inbetweens - the Language of Animation. Like all art forms, animation has its very own special jargon, and you will need to know the basic grammar and some of the key terms. Plus, you'll start to get a good feel for what our course is like and how it all works.

How to Create the Ideal Animation Workstation

An animation workstation

A good workstation is not a luxury - it's a necessity. The dirty secret of the animation and visual effects business is that sitting still and clicking away at a video workstation all day long is bad for your health.

Carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive strain injury (RSI) are serious health problems which affect many people working in the industry.

So why don't we hear more about it? Because people don't like to talk about it. Employers don't talk about it because they don't like being sued. Employees don't talk about it because they fear if they admit to having problems they will lose their job and perhaps their career. So get educated and make sure you have a healthy workstation.

Getting Ready for Our January Class - How To Get Started

Winter Draws On. Photo: Wikipedia

What kind of preparation should students do before starting with us at Animation Apprentice on 5 January 2015?  Needless to say, we don't want to spoil your holidays, and it's always good to have a proper break, but it's worth casting half an eye forward to the New Year and thinking about some of the things you might do to get ready for our new course. Below is a brief checklist of stuff to get you started. It's not comprehensive, and you don't have to do all of it, but tick off a few of the things on this list and you will be a making a great start on your animation career.

Assets at Animation Apprentice - What Rigs Do We Use On Our Course?

Morpheus - endlessly flexible

We do not design and build our own rigs here at Animation Apprentice - there are just too many excellent free rigs and sets provided by Maya enthusiasts for student use. This helps keep our costs down - savings which we pass on to our students. We point our Apprentices to the very best freeware rigs from the web and show you where to find them. In the end though, it is up to our students to find the rigs that they most enjoy animating with. There are so many; all have their strengths and weaknesses. Below is a list of some of the best, and where to find them.

How Does Animation Apprentice Work?

What's Under The Hood? Image: Wikipedia

What, exactly, is in our course at Animation Apprentice? The full 30 week Course (plus a free bonus week!) includes 5 Modules, each of which builds on the one before, gradually improving your skills as you grow in confidence as an animator. The idea is that learning should be incremental, and that at the end of each exercise you should have a "eureka" moment that takes your work to the next level. By the end of the 31 weeks, our animators should have the skill and confidence to tackle any animation challenge.

Sign Up Now For Our Free Newsletter!

Sign up now - it's free!

You can now sign up for our free Animation Apprentice newsletter by following this link and entering your email address - you will receive our fortnightly mailshot in your inbox without having to check here at the blog for updates. We'll keep you posted on our next classes, the latest free rigs available online, jobs we think are worth applying for - in short anything and everything you need to know to kick-start your career as an animator. Our newsletter is completely free, and you can opt in or out at any time.

Still Time to Sign Up for Our Class Starting on Monday 3 November!

The clock is ticking to sign up for our new class beginning on Monday 3rd November 2014. We are working hard to make sure that we provide the very best animation training that money can buy, for a price that is far more affordable than traditional education. We're even cheaper than the vast majority of our online competitors. If you find someone who offers a better deal - let us know. We'll beat it on quality and on price.

What Makes Animation Apprentice Different?

Welcome to Animation Apprentice

Nowadays there are lots of places where you can learn animation, both online and in the classroom. So what is it that makes Animation Apprentice unique among animation schools? The answer is - it's all about the way our course is structured, and the personal feedback you get. We don't just give you general notes on how to fix your shot and make it better - we fix it for you. It's like taking your car to a mechanic and getting it back mended, with a video showing you how it was done, so that next time around you can do it yourself, getting better and better all the time.

How Can You Tell If Our Course is Right for You?

free 3D software - yours to try at no cost

A career in 3D animation is not for everyone. A lot of what animators do day to day involves solving software problems, trying to make stuff work on a PC or a Mac, and cursing our computer when it doesn't. Being a digital artist isn't for everyone. One way of finding out if this is something you would like to do for a career is to do a couple of tutorials online. A great place to start is with the 3D software Blender - it's completely free, and there are many free tutorials out there to get you started.

How long does it take to become a great animator?

It is a cliche that practice makes perfect, but in his 2008 book Outliers author Malcolm Gladwell argues that in order for any person to become really good at any cognitively-challenging task, they have to practice a lot. 10,000 hours-worth of practice, in fact.

Meet Alex Williams, Founder of Animation Apprentice

Alex Williams by Woody Woodman

Alex Williams founded Animation Apprentice in September 2012, having spent twenty five years working in the animation industry, and teaching animation at schools and universities including CalArts, Gnomon, Escape Studios, and The Animation Workshop in Denmark. We asked him to talk about what made him want to make the leap from working on production to setting up an online school.

What have our students said about Animation Apprentice?

Spreading The Word

What have our students said about Animation Apprentice? We think we're the best place in the world to study animation, offering the best quality training for the most competitive price. But don't just take our word for it - read what our students have said about our animation course.