Crafting a Killer Demo Reel - with Kevin Richards

Kevin Richards Teaching

Kevin Richards is one of my former animation students, currently working as a Lead Animator at the new Aardman Animation TV Series "Pop Paper City".  As a production lead, Kevin spends a good deal of time reviewing animation reels and making hiring decisions on new talent.  

In this guest blog below, Kevin offers his tips on how to put together a great demo reel that will ensure you land that crucial first job in the animation industry.

Autumn Class Starts 5 September 2022

Animation by Joris Van Laar

Our September classroom is now taking applications, and the new autumn class begins on Monday 5th September.

It's not too late to book a place; all you need to do to get started is head over to our main site and fill in a brief form.

If you want to learn 3D animation to a professional level - your journey starts here.

"Young Animator of the Year" Awards Closes 4 Sept

Young Animator of the Year Competition

There is still time to enter the Young Animator of the Year Competition.  The Competition, created by Access VFX and supported by Screen Skills, BAFTA and the BAA Awards, is judged by professional animators, winning films will be announced and premiered at

Entry must be completed by September 4th. You can find more about it here: https://younganimator.uk/competition #animation #YAYUK

"Journey of Life" Wins "Best Micro Short" Award

Journey of Life wins Best Micro Short

Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrmann whose short film "Journey of Life" has won "Best Micro Short" at the Dreamachine Film festival.

"Journey of Life" was written, produced and directed by Robin, currently studying for his MA in 3D Animation with our degree-awarding partner Buckinghamshire New University.   

"Journey of Life" has won many festival awards. 

"Jonny Spittoon" Wins Best Animation Award

Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice graduate Neil Whitman whose short animated film "Jonny Spittoon" has won the Best Animation Award at the Folkestone Short Film Festival. 

Neil Whitman took our 30 week course in 3D animation, learning the art and craft of character and creature animation, building on the skills he had learned as a motion graphics artist at the BBC.

We are delighted that Neil's new short animated film has achieved festival success. 

"Artifact" Wins Best SciFi at Future of Film Fest

 Artifact "Best Sci-Fi" at Future of Film Fest

Congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Kristis Bandzevicius whose animated short "Artifact" has won "Best SciFi Film" at the Future of Film Festival. 

"Artifact" is an animated short film written, produced and directed by Kristis, currently studying at Animation Apprentice for his MA in 3D Animation.   This is the sixth festival award for Artifact. 

Animate "Monty" Doing Riverdance

Animate "Monty" Riverdance

We've uploaded a new animation tutorial - how to animate a character dancing. The tutorial shows how to employ live action reference, and uses the free Monty rig, which you can read about here.  

The purpose of the tutorial is to learn how to import live action reference footage into Maya and use it to create believable animation.  You can find the tutorial, which is free for all our students, at our Vimeo Channel.

"Mouse: Impossible" Best Creative at Halicarnassus

Mouse: Impossible Best Creative at Halicarnassus Fest

Congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrmann whose short film "Mouse: Impossible" has won "Best Creative" at the Halicarnassus Film Festival.

Mouse: Impossible is a new short film created by Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrman.  "Mouse: Impossible" was written, produced and directed by Robin, currently studying for his MA in 3D Animation at our degree-awarding partner, Buckinghamshire New University.  This is the third award for "Mouse: Impossible".

Horse Rearing Tutorial Using Live Action Ref

Horse Rearing Tutorial with Live Action Reference

We've uploaded a new animation tutorial to our expanding Vimeo tutorial channel - how to animate a horse rearing up - using live action reference.

The purpose of the horse animation tutorial is to learn how to import live action reference footage into Maya and use it to create believable animal animation.

You can find the tutorial, free for all our students, at our Vimeo Channel.

Mouse: Impossible - Best Student Film in Milan

Mouse: Impossible Best Student Film in Milan

Congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrmann whose short film "Mouse: Impossible" has won an award for Best Student Film in Milan.

Mouse: Impossible is a new short film created by Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrman.  "Mouse: Impossible" was written, produced and directed by Robin, currently studying for his MA in 3D Animation at our degree-awarding partner, Buckinghamshire New University.  

"Journey of Life" Best Student Film in Hollywood

Journey of Life Best Student Film in Hollywood

Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrmann whose short film "Journey of Life" has won award for Best Student Film at the Hollywood Gold Awards.

"Journey of Life" was written, produced and directed by Robin, currently studying for his MA in 3D Animation with our degree-awarding partner Buckinghamshire New University.   "Journey of Life" has won many festival awards. 

Animating Quadrupeds - with Michael Schlingmann

Quadruped Locomotion Tutorial from Felix Sputnik on Vimeo.

Above is an excellent, clear tutorial on how to animate quadrupeds, recorded by veteran animator Michael Schlingmann, who I worked alongside many years ago on the animated epic The Thief and The Cobbler.  To learn how to animate quadruped locomotion, watch Michael's video above.

"Mouse: Impossible" Wins Best Animation Award

Mouse: Impossible  wins Best Animation at GEFF 

Congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrmann whose short film "Mouse: Impossible" has won an award for Best Animation at the Golden Eagle Film Festival.

Mouse: Impossible is a new short film created by Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrman.  "Mouse: Impossible" was written, produced and directed by Robin, currently studying for his MA in 3D Animation at our degree-awarding partner, Buckinghamshire New University.  

"Mouse: Impossible"  was completed during the course of Robin's studies, and is currently being entered into film festivals.  This is the film's first festival award.

Introducing "Mouse: Impossible"

Herrmann_Robin_DA703_HQ from Rob in on Vimeo.

Meet "Mouse: Impossible", a new short film created by Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrman.  "Mouse: Impossible" was written, produced and directed by Robin, currently studying for his MA in 3D Animation at our degree-awarding partner, Buckinghamshire New University.  "Mouse: Impossible"  was completed during the course of Robin's studies, and is currently being entered into film festivals. 

"Artifact" Wins "Best VFX" in Singapore Fest

Artifact wins Best VFX at Singapore Film Carnival

Congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Kristis Bandzevicius whose animated short "Artifact" has won "Best VFX" at the Singapore World Film Carnival. 

"Artifact" is an animated short film written, produced and directed by Kristis, currently studying at Animation Apprentice for his MA in 3D Animation.   This is the film's fifth festival award. 

How to Animate a Skip - with Michael Schlingmann

Skip Animation Tutorial from Felix Sputnik on Vimeo.

How to Animate a skip - with Michael Schlingmann. Above is an excellent, clear tutorial on how to animate a skip, recorded by veteran animator Michael Schlingmann, who I worked alongside many years ago on the animated epic The Thief and The Cobbler.  A skip is a hard thing to animate; it is an eccentric gait and doesn't conform easily to the formula of a walk or a run.  To learn how to animate a skip, watch Michael's video above.

How to Animate Lipsync - with No Lips

"Monty" dialogue by Rich Jeffrey

The first dialogue exercise tackled by students at Animation Apprentice is how to animate a character speaking a line of dialogue - with no mouth.  Students almost always look skeptical at this idea - how can you animate Lipsync with no lips? 

The answer, of course, is that it's all in the acting and the performance.  If the body language is working, then the audience will believe that the character is speaking - even if the character itself has no mouth.

What Kind of Laptop To Buy in 2022

What kind of laptop should I buy?" is a question that we are often asked at Animation Apprentice. 

Computer specifications change regularly and much depends on exactly what you want to use your laptop for.  But let's say you want to buy a laptop capable of running Autodesk Maya, for computer animation and to render out your shots.

What sort of laptop should you buy, and how much do you need to spend? Animation Apprentice graduate and animation teacher Amedeo Beretta offers some advice to our students.

Why Animators Need Handles

Adobe Premiere

What are "handles", and why do animators need them? "Handles" are a technical term used in video editing to describe the process of adding a few frames to the start and end of every shot. This means that each shot in the film is slightly longer than it needs to be, allowing the editor to adjust the cut by a few frames in either direction to make the edit smoother.

An editor working with, say "four frame handles", has an extra four frames at the start and end of every shot. Working with handles means that animators have to do a little extra work, but it gives the editor flexibility with the final edit. 

Jim Van Der Keyl Live Action Reference

Above is a lovely piece of live action reference by animator Jim Van Der Keyl who I worked with many years ago on Brad Bird's classic animated film "The Iron Giant". Jim, like many animators, used live action reference to help create the best animation possible with the most believable acting choices. In this case, he ended up being nominated for an Annie Award for his hard work. 

Journey of Life Wins Best Director

Journey of Life wins Best Director (Short Film) at FOFA

Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice student Robin Herrman whose short film "Journey of Life" has won award for Best Director (Super Short Film) at the Future of Film Awards.

"Journey of Life" was written, produced and directed by Robin, currently studying for his MA in 3D Animation with our academic partner Buckinghamshire New University.  The film has won many festival awards.