ASIFA Hollywood Helps Rescue Thief Artwork

Some good news at last for Richard Williams' lost masterpiece - The Thief and The Cobbler.  LA animation chapter ASIFA-Hollywood has donated the not-insignificant sum of $20,000 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences to assist with the curation and documentation of a big chunk of the movie's original production artwork.

Dinosaur Locomotion Tutorial

Dino walk by Mark Lawson-Hall

Our latest tutorial at Animation Apprentice shows how to animate a dinosaur in motion. The tutorial uses the free Dino rig by Harry Geoghegan, available for free download at Creative Crash.

Following the tutorial, novice animators can create a believable dinosaur walk cycle and performance. To get started, watch the theory video below.

Chuck Jones Animation Tutorial

In this excellent 13 minute animation tutorial, actor and director Ron Howard introduces the work of animation legend Chuck Jones, the creative master behing the Road Runner and Bugs Bunny. There are other great voices here too - such as Disney animation stars Glen Keane and Eric Goldberg (the latter the author of the excellent "Character Animation Crash Course" - one of the books on our rstudent eading list).  The video is a great introduction to the basic principles of animation, such as anticipation, squash and stretch, secondary action and overlapping action. We're recommending it to all our students.

Bring Your Own Animation Monday 21st November

The Lukin - BYOA!

"Bring Your Own Animation" (BYOA) is an animation event that takes place every month in London.

This month it is being held on Monday 21st November at 6.30pm at the Lukin pub, 4 Conway Street in central London W1T 6BB.

Anyone can bring their animation or just come along for drinks.  If you are a student, or a professional who's working on a shot or a reel, bring your work and get feedback from Professional Animators.

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.

"Creating Open Worlds" by Ubisoft at BAFTA on 9 November

BAFTA is a superb resource for all our students with easy access to central London. The BAFTA clubhouse is at 195 Piccadilly, and increasingly BAFTA is supporting not just film and TV but the games industry as well.

On Wednesday 9 November, BAFTA is hosting a games event titled "Creating Open Worlds", hosted by games titan Ubisoft.

This will be an amazing chance for animators with an interest in video games - a rapidly expanding sector - to meet the creative team behind Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Watch Dogs 2 and Steep. Tickets aren't free, but at £7.50 it's cheaper than a movie, and far more rewarding.

Sean Danischevsky at Escape Studios Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Thursday 3rd November, Escape Studios is hosting a free evening with Sean Danischevsky, a visual effects supervisor with over 20 years' experience working in film and television. Highlights of his career include Dark Knight, Batman Begins and Harry Potter.  Sean has worked for some of the biggest studios in London including Double Negative, The Mill and Framestore.

Events like this are a great way to find out how big VFX movies actually get made, by the people who made them. The event is free, so come along on thursday to Escape Studios' MidTown campus (190 High Holborn in London) and find out the secrets behind some of the biggest VFX hits of recent years.

Plus, there will be free beer and pizza!

Animation Apprentice at VIEW

Dan Sarto, Byron Howard, Simone Giampaulo and Conrad Vernon

Animation Apprentice was in Italy this week participaing in VIEW, the 17th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference.

VIEW takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin), and yesterday I was there running a one-day workshop in Maya, demonstrating some cool creature animation techniques.

Meanwhile, plenty of big hitters in the animation and VFX industries were giving talks and sitting on panels, including my old DreamWorks colleague Conrad Vernon (Sausage Party) and Byron Howard (Zootopia).

Dishonored 2 at BAFTA on Saturday 22 October

BAFTA is a great resource for our students studying in or near London. The BAFTA clubhouse is at 195 Piccadilly, a short walk from Piccadilly tube station and Green Park.

On Saturday 22 October at 5.30pm BAFTA is hosting the creative team behind the game Dishonored 2 - an amazing chance for any of our students interested in getting into games animation to meet the creative team behind this blockbuster game, and get to know the talent that put it together. Tickets aren't free, but at £7.50 it's cheaper than a movie.

Free Careers Webinar with Framestore Tonight from 6.30pm - 7.30pm

London's Escape Studios is hosting a Careers Webinar with Framestore Tonight from 6.30pm - 7.30pm. Framestore are a multi-awarding studio, one of London's leading centres for visual effects excellence. The webinar is all about careers in the industry, specifically focusing on demo reels and how to break into this competitive but highly rewarding industry.

Cartoon Movie 2017: Submit Your Project by 25 November

Do you have an idea for an animated feature film project you'd like to get off the ground?  If so, you should submit it to Cartoon Movie!

The Deadline to submit a feature film project to Cartoon Movie is 25 November 2016.  If your project gets selected, you will be able to pitch it to almost 1,000 animation and industry professionals from forty countries.

Present at Cartoon Movie will be around 200 buyers, including 120 distributors & sales agents.

But why should animation students want to pitch their feature film ideas? Because we think all our students should aim high - you could be the next Walt Disney or Jeffrey Katzenberg - an animation mogul!  Most of all...you'll never find out if you don't try.

Blue GFX Expo is Back! Thursday 17th November 2016

Blue GFX Expo is taking place in London on 17th November 2016. 

Last year speakers included Tom Box from Blue Zoo, one of the UK's biggest TV animation companies, Stuart Penn from Framestore, and representatives from Autodesk showing the latest Maya tools. 

2017 VFX Festival Now Taking Bookings 7-9 February 2017

Save the date! The countdown to the Escape Studios 2017 VFX festival is now officially on.

The VFX Festival is coming back for 2017, and just like last year Escape Studios be showcasing the best of VFX, Animation, Games and Motion Graphics in London.

There is no better way to find out about the latest trends in our industry and - of most importance for our students - who is hiring and for what. Last year all the big London VFX houses showed up - and were actively looking for talent.

Animation Apprentice is going to VIEW!

Animation Apprentice is going to VIEW, the 17th International VFX & Computer Graphics Conference.  VIEW takes place every year in the beautiful Italian town of Torino (Turin), and we'll be there running a one-day workshop in Maya on 26 October, demonstrating some cool creature animation techniques. The class is aimed at complete beginners and requires no prior experience with Maya.

Animation Apprentice Visits Jellyfish Pictures

Jellyfish Pictures in Brixton

Last week some of our London-based students were treated to a studio tour of Jellyfish Pictures, getting a unique behind-the-scenes peek into the workings of a growing animation studio.

Jellyfish are a relatively new kid on the London block, but they have grown from modest beginnings to become a major player in visual effects animation and also TV series work - which is currently booming in our home town.

Thief & The Cobbler - A Moment in Time - NYC

Richard Williams' unfinished masterpiece The Thief and the Cobbler - A Moment in Time - is to be screened in NYC in tonight and on saturday at MOMA - New York's temple of modern art.

The screening was featured in the New York Times - you can read about it here.

To buy tickets to see this rarely-screened film, follow the link to the Moma website here.

Anyone serious about studying animation should see Williams' film at least once. This event is a rare chance to catch a film made utterly without artistic compromise. And of course a chance to meet Williams' himself, who will appear in a Q&A after the film.

Animation Jobs! at creativeheads.net

Finding a job can be a job in itself, especially in the creative industries, and especially when you're just starting out in your career.

One website that is well worth bookmarking (and checking regularly) is creativeheads.net, which hosts a wealth of opportunities - including jobs in animation.

You can narrow your search by keywords, such as "UK", "animation" and so on, so you can quickly find out who is hiring in your neighbourhood. It's a great site, and one we are recommending for all our students who are hunting down their first job in industry.  To find the site, follow this link.

Charge sync is Looking for Investors!

Chargesync, the tech company which commissioned a short film from Nano Films for their new product launch, has now gone live - actively looking for investors at investor.com.  Our students at Animation Apprentice made the short film (see above) for Chargesync as part of our Nano Films project, where we bring in small animation commissions to get our students live industry briefs for real clients.

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?

3 Mills Studios Open House on Wednesday 21st September - Just £5

Stop-motion animation specialists 3 Mills Studios in East London (the folks who brought you Fantastic Mr Fox) are collaborating with Creative Skillset to open their doors on Wednesday 21st September.

For one evening only, visitors will have the chance to pose questions to the animation talent who have worked on some of the biggest TV and film productions right here in London.

Recent productions on site include many and varied projects (not just animation) such as Masterchef, The Royals, The Sound of Music - Live, Jekyll & Hyde and Legend.

On the night you will be also be able to get the inside scoop on live vacancies - such as production jobs, apprenticeships and  runner positions.

What Do Cinesite Look For in an Animation Demo Reel? Eamonn Butler Reveals the Secrets

Eamonn Butler

Last night a number of students at Animation Apprentice attended an animation event in London hosted by Escape Studios, part of their regular “Escape Labs” events – where they investigate the new technology that is driving the animation and visual effects industry.

The guest speaker was Cinesite’s head of animation, Eamonn Butler, who came to talk about Cinesite's expanding animation pipeline - developing and producing their own slate of animated films.

Of particular interest to our student animators was what Eamonn had to say on the subject of animation demo reels: what to do – and what not to do.