Animating Birds

Above is a selection of the best animation of birds in motion completed by students at Animation Apprentice. As well as character animation, our students learn the art and craft of animal and creature locomotion, including how to animate quadrupeds, as well as a number of other creatures - including birds.  Being able to master the art of a variety of animals and creatures in motion is an important part of the animator's tool kit.  "Song: Southbound". Music by: CreatorMix.com. Edit by Miguel Teixeira.

Bear Walk Tutorial

Bear walk by Joris Van Laar

All animators need to learn how to animate a quadruped walk cycle.  All quadrupeds walk in more or less the same way, allowing for anatomy (herbivores have less flexible spines than do carnivores). 

To the left is a bear walk cycle animated by Animation Apprentice graduate Joris Van Laar, and below are some useful thumbnails showing how to animate a bear walking.

Dog Run Animation Tutorial

Dog run thumbnails - ASK - simplified 

Every animator needs to learn to animate a quadruped running.  All quadrupeds run in the same way, allowing for anatomy (herbivores have stiffer spines), but it's still helpful to use thumbnails of the actual animal you are animating. 

The dog run thumbnails to the left are taken from the Animator's Survival Kit, the book we recommend all animators buy, but they are simplified to make the basic blocking of the dog run easier and quicker. 

Quadruped Horse Walk Tutorial

Horse walk by Matt Lawson-Hall

We've uploaded a new series of video tutorials on animating quadrupeds, a "Horse Walk Tutorial" using the "Rhett The Clydesdale" Maya Rig, which is free to download.

All animators need to learn how to animate a quadruped walk cycle.  The horse walk tutorial is password-protected but available to all our current students.

Spiders and Scorpions Animation Demo Reel

Above is a compilation of some of the best arachnid animation by our students completed in recent years. Spiders and scorpions might seem hard to animate - but we break down the technique into a series of simple steps, re-using animation curves to get a quick and effective result. Edited by Miguel Teixeira, Song: New Arcade. Music by: CreatorMix.com. 

Crab Scuttle Animation Tutorial

Animate a crab scuttle underwater

In this new animation tutorial we demonstrate how to create a locomotion cycle in Maya with a crab rig, showing how to take a complex motion, break it down - and make it simple.

A crab's sideways scuttle looks complex, but is in fact very easy to animate, by following this basic tutorial.

We start by animating a single animation curve, and then copy it across the crab rig. 

Animals & Creatures Reel 2024

Above is a selection of the best work done on animals and creatures at Animation Apprentice.  The "Animals & Creatures Animation Reel" includes work created by many of our talented students.  Animals and Creatures are tough to animate - the mechanics of the motion need to be accurate and believable, especially so on high end visual effects feature film work.  Congratulations to all our students on their excellent work solving the peculiar problems of animal and creature locomotion and performance.

Animate a Jelly in Motion

Jelly rig swim cycle with caustics

In this beginners' animation tutorial, part of our series on animal and creature animation, we show how to animate a cute "jelly" in motion. The tutorial uses the free "Jelly" rig which you can find here at Animation Buffet - a great source of free rigs for character and creature animation.  

Jelly is a very simple rig - but gives a good range of movement and also facial expressions. 

Animate a Foxy Tail in Motion

In this "Foxy Tail" animation exercise, students learn how to animate a simple ball with a tail, a cute cartoony fox creature that can be used to create some fun cartoony animation, as in the example on the left by Joris Van Laar. 

The exercise uses the free Ultimate Tail Rig, available for download from highend3D.com.

Quadruped Run Tutorial

Horse gallop by Mark Lawson-Hall

In this animation tutorial we show how to animate a quadruped running - in this case a horse.  Every animator needs to understand how to animate quadrupeds in motion; these are the basic "scales" of animal and creature animation.  

The basic gait for all quadrupeds is more or less the same, allowing for anatomy (herbivores generally have less flexible spines than carnivores), so this tutorial can be applied to any four-legged creature, but the easiest way to follow the tutorial is to use the free horse rig - available for download from the Mothman TD website. 

Spider Animation Tutorial

Spider Animation by Mark Lawson-Hall

In this new animation tutorial we show how to create a locomotion cycle with a spider, demonstrating how to take an apparently complex action and, by breaking it down into simple components, we can make the animation much easier.

A spider's walk looks complex, but is in fact very easy to animate, by following this simple tutorial.

Crow in Flight Tutorial

Animate a crow in flight

Our latest animation tutorial shows how to animate a bird in flight - specifically a crow. The tutorial covers how to animate a flap cycle, add refinements, add the animation to a motion path, import a set, and then create an interesting and inventive scene. 

Birds are one of the many kinds of creatures that animators will be expected to know how to animate; this tutorial demonstrates a simplified approach that gets a strong result in a short amount of time. 

Quadruped Trot Tutorial

Students at Animation Apprentice master the art of quadruped locomotion, including how to animate a trot. 

A trot is an intermediate gait between a walk and a run, an efficient fast motion that permits speed without using excessive energy. 

Below are three tutorial videos showing how to animate a horse trotting. The password is the same as for all our video tutorials.

Animal Anatomy for Animators

Above is a short video on animal anatomy, a general introduction to how animals are put together, and how and why anatomy matters for animators.  Animal and creature animation can be technically demanding; the use of live action reference is very important as a starting point for how to bring animals and creatures to life.

Bird Animation by Joshua Reynolds

Above is an excellent example of bird animation by Animation Apprentice student Joshua Reynolds, using the "Red Whisker Bird" rig by Truong. Joshua has used live action reference to excellent effect, creating a charming and believable piece of avian animation.  Being able to tackle photo-realistic animal and creature animation is one of an animator's core skills, as studios ramp up production on films with photo-realistic animal animation such as The Jungle Book and The Lion King.

How to Animate Quadruped Transitions

Free tiger rig from Truong

We're adding more animation tutorials to our Vimeo channel, including now a series on how to use the Time Editor (formerly known as the Trax Editor) in Maya to animate locomotion transitions.

The tutorials build our existing tutorials on quadruped locomotion, such as walks, trots and runs.

The transitions tutorial explains how different gaits can be combined using Maya's Time Editor.

Students who want to learn how to animate transitions should first learn to create a successful quadruped walk, trot and run cycle, before attempting to combine them into one piece of animation.

Horse Animation - Free Maya Rigs

Right now we're encouraging all our animation students at Animation Apprentice to make sure they have plenty of horse animation on their demo reels, as one of our favourite London studios crews up for a big horse-related project.

The Animation Apprentice official site (to which all our students have access) has a series of horse video tutorials, teaching students how to animate a walk, a trot and a run.

ILM & "Fallen Kingdom" at the VFX Festival

Fallen Kingdom

One of the highlights of today's VFX Festival at Escape Studios in London was the presentation by Jance Rubinchik, animation supervisor at ILM on the making of Jurassic World, and Fallen Kingdom.

The talk was a masterclass in creature animation, demonstrating how much careful research goes into the creation and animation of the dinosaurs.

The Jurassic World series of movies as are a "balance between science and entertainment", as the film-makers try to keep both audiences and paleontologists happy.

From the point of view of animators looking to tackle realistic dinosaur animation, the lesson is simple: use as much reference as you can, and make sure you use live action reference that is as close as possible to the anatomy of the creatures you are trying to animate. 

How to Plan Animal & Creature Animation

Kiwi animation by Oliver Canovas

Our master's degree animators, studying at Buckinghamshire New University, are currently working on their third animation assignment, DA703 PR1, which involves the creation of a piece of animal or creature animation, combined with a performance.

Animal and  creature animation is among the most challenging work an animator can tackle, because it involves creating believable animation - usually based on live-action reference - and also an element of anthropormisation - making the animal or creature act in a believable way, perhaps including dialogue and lipsync.

So, how should our students plan out a piece of animal or creature animation? Start by watching the 10 minute video below.

Animation Apprentice Goes to Annecy

Annecy, France

I'm heading over to the Annecy Animation Festival next week, checking out the latest developments in our industry at what has become the world's biggest animation festival.

I'll be on a panel tomorrow, tuesday 12th June, talking about how to animate non-human characters, sitting alongside my fellow panelists Alonso Martinez from Pixar, Joeri Christiaen from Thuristar, and independent animator Nicolas Deveaux.