Finding Work in the 2021 Animation Boom

On 7th July I hosted a webinar - courtesy of Escape Studios - on finding work in the animation industry.  The animation industry is booming right now, with the job market busier than it has been since the 1990s, when "Lion King" caused an explosion in demand for animators.  The animation business is hiring and, since Brexit has reduced the flow of European talent, UK animators are more in demand than ever.  But, standards are high, and you still need to put your best foot forward to find work in the industry.   In this free one hour webinar, I covered the ten key steps every animation graduate needs to take to get hired.  Follow these ten steps, and you'll have your own foot in the door.

James Baxter Animation Webinar at YouTube

On 30 June at I hosted a live animation webinar with legendary Disney and DreamWorks animator James Baxter.  James began his animation career on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and has since worked on dozens of animated films, designing and supervising many memorable characters.  In this two hour webinar, James demonstrates how to take a traditional 2D animation scene from start to finish.

Webinar on Animation Jobs 7th July

Finding work

On 7th July at 5pm (UK time) I'm hosting a webinar courtesy of Escape Studios on finding work in the animation industry.  The animation industry is booming right now, with the job market busier than it has been since the 1990s, when "Lion King" caused an explosion in demand for animators.  

The animation business is hiring and, since Brexit has reduced the flow of European talent, UK animators are more in demand than ever.  But, standards are high, and you still need to put your best foot forward to find work in the industry.  

In this free one hour webinar, I will cover the ten steps every animation graduate needs to take to get hired.  Follow these ten steps, and you'll have your own foot in the door.

James Baxter Animation Webinar 30 June

James Baxter

On 30 June at 6pm Escape Studios is hosting a live animation webinar with legendary Disney and DreamWorks animator James Baxter.  

The event is free, and we are recommending that all our students register and sign up. 

James began his animation career on Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and has since worked on dozens of animated films.  

Webinar with Emmy-Award-Winning Rich Jeffery on 26 October at 10am

Rich Jeffrey

One of my former students, animator Rich Jeffery has kindly agreed to an animation webinar on Monday 26 October at 10am. 

Rich will be talking about his career in animation, what it has been like working on the Australian TV series "Bluey" , which won an International Emmy at the 8th International Emmy Kids Awards this year. 

Rich was animation director on "Bluey" Series One, and director on the Series Two. Rich will be sharing his insights into the animation industry, how we got where he is today, and what students and graduates need to do to succeed.

Webinar: Animation Writer Evgenia Golubeva

Last week I interviewed one of my former students, Evgenia Gurova, who has become a successful writer at Disney Animation.  Evgenia is an award-winning animator, writer and director; she has also forged a career as a writer and independent film-maker, entering her animated films in festivals around the world and winning international prizes for her work. For anyone who missed the live event, watch the video above to find out more about Evgenia and her remarkable career.

Mike Makarewicz "Ask Me Anything" Tonight

Mike Makarewicz

We're delighted to welcome Pixar animator Michal Makarewicz for a webinar tonight at 6pm with our animation students.

Mike is a 17 year veteran animator at Pixar Animation Studios, and Co-Founder of the Animation Collaborative in Emeryville, California.

Mike has generously agreed to give up an hour of his time to talk to our students about animation, breaking into the industry, and what it's like to work on a Pixar film. All questions are welcome.

Linkedin Webinar 7 May 2020

Steve Vasco

LinkedIn is an important resource for animation graduates; in recent years it has become one of the principal ways in which talented animators can get their work notice and - crucially - get hired for that elusive first job in the industry.

Tomorrow Thursday 7 May Escape Studios is hosting a free "Evening With..." event with Steve Vasko from LinkedIn. 

Steve Vasko is the Manager of Customer Success at Linkedin and has over 20 years of experience in high tech industries. In this webinar Steve will explain how to build your personal brand at Linkedin - something we recommend all our students do.

Animation Industry Post-Covid 19 - Free Webinar

Paul Wilkes - Technicolor

Tomorrow Friday 17th April at 12.30pm Escape Studios is hosting a free "work fitness" webinar. The webinar, with a panel of six industry guests, will focus on networking in the animation, games and VFX industries, and what the work landscape will look like once the Corona Pandemic is behind us.

At "Work Fit Townhall: Networking Part 2" Escape Studios will engage in a virtual conversation about making and nurturing professional networks in the Covid-19 era.

Subjects will include soft skills, networking - and (of course) how to find work in a disrupted industry. As ever, we recommend that our students attend events like this one - which is completely free.

Producing Animation Webinar on 23 August

Learn from the producer of Ultramarines

Veteran animation Producer Bob Thompson is hosting a webinar on Producing Animation on Wednesday 23 August.

The webinar, which is completely free, is titled "An Artist's guide to Animation Producers".  

Bob Thompson is an industry veteran with a long and successful track record of producing animated feature films, commercials and VFX projects, including Ultramarines and the Bionicle series.

The purpose of the webinar is to introduce artists to the business side of animation, which artists often don't understand, or tend to ignore.

But a good artist needs to get the business side of animation. After all, producers need artists who can be relied upon to deliver quality work, on time and on budget.
 

Free Character Walks Webinar on 5th June

"Monty" character walks

I'll be hosting a webinar on character walks at Escape Studios at 6pm on Tuesday June 5th.

Character walks are one of the most important parts of the animator's toolkit. It's where you start building a character's personality - how we move says a lot about who we are.

I will be taking a basic walk cycle and showing how, with just a few simple tweaks, you can completely change the character's mood and personality.

Free Rigging webinar Tonight at 7pm

Mike Davies - the man who rigged Smaug

Rigging Supremo Mike Davies, veteran rigger whose film credits include The Hobbit and The Minions, is hosting a free webinar on the art of rigging tonight, Thursday 8 March at 7pm.

If you're interested in learning rigging, be sure to sign up for this free webinar hosted by London's Escape Studios.

If you'd like to register (it is completely free), follow the link here to sign up.

Animation Demo Reel Clinic at Escape Studios on Wednesday 25 May at 5pm

I'll be doing a webinar at Escape Studios on wednesday - all about animation demo reels; how to make them, how to perfect them, and how to use them to land your first job in the industry.

If you're working on you animation demo reel (aren't we all?) and you'd like to make your reel the best it possibly can be - sign up now for the webinar.  Best of all - it's completely free!

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.

Free Animation Webinar Tonight at 5PM!

Spider animation by Steve Woodhouse

I'm doing a live animation webinar tonight, hosted by Escape Studios, at 5pm UK time, teaching students how to do some creature animation using Autodesk Maya.

We'll be tackling spiders - demonstrating how to break down complex motion into simple parts - to get a sophisticated result.

So if you fancy animating some creepy crawlies join me tonight, Wednesday 17th February at 5PM. To sign up, follow this link!

Escape Studios to Host Free VR Webinar on Wednesday 19 August at 6pm GMT

VR Webinar from Escape Studios

On Wednesday 19 August at 6pm Escape Studios are hosting a free webinar, inviting students to step inside the world of Virtual Reality.

The guys from Hamilton&Kidd will take you behind the scenes of their 1 million YouTube hits 360 film for Nissan, from concept, right through to delivery. To sign up (it's free), follow this link.

Escape Studios and MPC to host free webinar tomorrow on careers in VFX. Register now!

Free webinar with MPC

Tomorrow Wednesday 2 July Escape Studios is hosting a webinar on the subject of careers in visual effects. Join them (it's completely free) as they broadcast live from MPC London, with the heads of recruitment at both MPC and Framestore. They'll be giving you a behind the scenes snapshot of their work as recruiters in VFX, the variety of work their company does, and the kind of Artists they hire. In addition, you will have the chance to send them your questions about careers within the VFX industry.