Career Advice From Annecy

Annecy Panel "Putting Your Best Foot Forward"

Last week at Annecy (the world's biggest animation festival)  I got the chance to speak on a superb panel discussion organised by the School of Visual Arts (SVA), talking about how animation graduates can best find work in the industry.

The panel discussion was titled:  Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Animation Talent Search. On the panel were recruiters from Pixar, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. It was fascinating to hear these representatives of top studios talk about what they are looking for in fresh talent.

So, what then are the secrets of breaking into the animation industry?

Meet Franklin!

Franklin

We're excited to get to know Franklin, a new free character rig from artella.com. Franklin is aimed at students learning animation and is offered for free download on a royalty-free license.

Franklin joins the growing ranks of free character Maya rigs available to students of animation.

To see a full list of rigs that we recommend here at Animation Apprentice, follow this link.

And to see what Franklin is capable of, watch the video below.

Get Ready For Our July 5th Class!

Summer is here at last. But why head for the beach when you can learn animation? Here at Animation Apprentice we're running a new animation class on July 5th for students who want to kick-start their career in this expanding industry.

In our home city of London, animation production is up 300% over three years, with more growth on the way, and the industry is crying out for studio-ready talent.

Below is a brief list of stuff to get you ready for July 5th. 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.

Still Time to Apply for Our Online MA in 3D Animation!

The world's first online MA in animation

It's not too late! There is still time to apply for our online MA in animation, which launched here at Animation Apprentice in partnership with Bucks New University in September 2015.

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 animate to a professional level, but you will engage at Masters' level with the underpinning theory and structure behind the art form.

Introducing...Loop De Loop!

Here at Animation Apprentice we're excited about Loop De Loop, a bi-monthly animation challenge that's a bit like The 11 Second Club, but with a loopy twist.

Loop De Loop seeks to create "a community of creative folks working together for the greater good of looping animation". Whatever that is.

So, how do students get involved with Loop De Loop? And what's it for anyway?

A Great Free Script To Toggle Control Curve Visibility On and Off

Morpheus

Here is a very useful script for Maya animators, developed by Justin Barratt, and one which we are recommending for all our students here at Animation Apprentice. It's a super-useful tool, used to toggle the visibility of your animation rigs' control curves on and off.

All you have to do is paste the lines of script below in your script editor in Maya (under the MEL tab) and then save save it to a shelf in the usual way. Once you've done this, it should help to speed up your workflow and make you a faster, and better, animator.

The Andy Rig - How To Use It

Meet Andy! Andy (short for "androgynous") is a very flexible rig for character animation, and one that we recommend for student use here at Animation Apprentice.

Andy is useful for both male and female character roles, and can be easily customised.  To get started, you can download Andy for free here at Creative Crash.

How to Get Ready for Our July 5th Class

What kind of preparation should students do before starting our summer class with us on Tuesday July 5th?  It's always good to do a little preparation and get a bit of a head start.

Below is a brief list of stuff to get you under way. 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.

First, here is a short reading list to get you started. We've narrowed it down to two books that we recommend for all our students.

Norman Rig - How to Use It

There are many free rigs available to Maya animators hoping to practice and learn their craft. Norman, Max, Morpheus - all excellent rigs available at no charge and easy to download, all free for non-commercial use.

But beware - all rigs are different and each one has its own quirks. All take time to get used to, and each one has its frustrations.  Norman was one of the first character rigs made available for student use, free on a non-commercial license. Norman is reliable, relatively simple to use, and highly customisable.

Blue Zoo at SIGGRAPH tomorrow in London!

Blue Zoo, one of the UK's most innovative indie animation studios, is the star of the next SIGGRAPH event, on Wednesday May 25 at MPC in London's Soho, at 7pm.

The founders of BlueZoo will be talking about how they nurtured their fledgling company from an idea into a multi-million pound animation powerhouse.  Best of all, the event is completely free!

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!

ChargeSync - Our Latest Nano Film!

Our students at Animation Apprentice have just completed their latest freelance commercial project: Chargesync.  Chargesync is a tech company that makes electricity storage devices that people can put in their homes, saving money on their electricity bills and helping to reduce their carbon footprint as well. The purpose of the film is to help electricity consumers understand exactly what it is that Chargesync do. Animation is a wonderful tool for taking complex ideas and getting them across in a simple, clear way. And this film was a great way for our students to get paid experience of working on a live freelance job - for a great company with a great message.

How To Load 3DS Max Files Into Maya

Visit a website like Turbosquid and you will find plenty of cool stuff, much of it free, to help you with your animation. You might want to download a set, or a prop, something to make your shot come alive, and quickly - you don't want to waste precious animation time modelling complex props and sets.

But what if the only available file type for download is a 3DS Max file? Max is a popular platform for learning animation and, while is it much less widely used in industry than Maya, there is lots of great free content out there in the 3DS Max format. So, what we need is a way to import 3DS Max files into Maya.  Fortunately, it's pretty easy when you know how.

Studio Library - Tool To Manage Poses in Maya

Autodesk Maya has its weaknesses, and one of these is the difficulty of copying and pasting your animation from one character rig to another.

Maya also lacks a user friendly interface for saving out and re-using your character poses.

Fortunately, the free Studio Library tool now offers Maya animators a Python script for managing poses and transferring animation in Maya.

Pete Nicholson - Animator at King Bee Animation

We're delighted to congratulate Animation Apprentice student Pete Nicholson who has just landed a job with King Bee animation, based at the historic Elstree Studios in Borehamwood, just outside of London.

Pete got the job after doing an internship at King Bee; a tried and tested route into the industry. Internships are often - in effect - a kind of prolonged interview process. Which, in this case, had a happy ending.

Pitch Your Idea for a TV Series at Cartoon Forum!

What is Cartoon Forum? And why should animators know about it? Well, Cartoon Forum is Europe's biggest TV pitch-fest for animation, so if you have an idea for a TV series in your head, Cartoon Forum is the place to pitch it.

The deadline to submit your TV project is 11 May. So, you have just one week to sharpen your pencils, fill out some forms - and make your pitch perfect.

What Is "Safe Title" And "Safe Action"?

Red is unsafe. Safe action is in yellow. Safe title is in green.

What Are Safe Title and Safe Action?  And why do animators need to know? The answer is that an understanding of the language of cinematography and film is part of what our students learn on their professional journey.

After all, animators are film-makers, and we need to be familiar with industry standard terms. We need to know not just about animation but also about cameras; how to use them and what to do with them.

So, what exactly, do the words "safe action" and "safe title" mean?

Get Ready For Our May 9th Class!

What kind of preparation should students do before starting with us  at Animation Apprentice on May 9th?  It's always good to do a little preparation and get a bit of a head start.

Below is a brief list of stuff to get you under way. 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.

First, here is a short reading list to get you started. We've narrowed it down to two books that we recommend for all our students.

Eleven Rig - How to Use It

One of the most popular rigs used by our students, often for entry into the monthly Eleven Second Club Competition is the Eleven Rig, available for free download at the Resources page of the club.

"Eleven" is a great, well-tested rig and perfect for getting a really nice character performances. It's good for lipsync, body poses, and facial expressions. It's also relatively easy to learn and reasonably logical in its setup.

Eleven does, however, have a few quirks. So, what are they and how can we solve them?

Still Time To Sign Up For Our May 9 Summer Class!

There is still time to sign up for our new class beginning next week on Monday 9 May 2015.  We believe that we provide the very best animation training in the world, for the lowest possible price.

Our students at Animation Apprentice are finding jobs with leading studios like Blue Zoo and Jellyfish Pictures, proving that our teaching methods work.  So what's stopping you? Sign up now and kick-start your animation career!

Careers Spotlight - Animation Apprentice Goes to Annecy!

Beautiful Annecy

Animation Apprentice will be at Annecy animation festival this summer, attending the world's biggest animation festival to take a look at the current state of the animation industry, spot the latest trends and - most important of all - figure out what skills our students need in today's market, and who is hiring.

I'll be one of the speakers at the School of Visual Arts (SVA) panel at Annecy, sharing the stage with Pixar and Nickelodeon, and talking about the current state of the industry and how we can help our students to find jobs and kick-start their careers in the global animation industry.