Animation Mentor: Free Rig Stewart

You can now head over to Animation Mentor and download one of their free rigs from their new series The Tribe.

Head on over and check it out at the blog.
Enjoy!
JP

Animation Mentor - Acting for Animators

Bobby Beck goes through how thinking about the process of acting is really a part of being an animator. There are some good nuggets in this clip.

You can follow more over at the Animation Mentor Blog.
Enjoy!
JP

found via spungella

Animators Resource Full Interview - Zach Parrish

This is my full interview with Zach Parrish. In this interview, Zach breaks down a series of shots from his time as Animation Supervisor on Wreck It Ralph. He also takes us through some of his blocking techniques, chats about his time with Glen Keane and some of his duties as a Animation Supervisor. Sorry for the occasional Audio overlap...unfortunately it's due to the capture of it. Hope you all enjoy!

Animators Resource Full Interview - Zach Parrish from Animators Resource on Vimeo.

Check out more interviews at:
animatorsresource.blogspot interviews page

See Zach Parrish's work:
zapmyshorts.com

Enjoy!
JP

Animation Mentor Student Showcase 2013

Some great stuff from the students over at AM. It's nice to see the new family of rigs in there too.

Enjoy!
JP

Animation Tips and Tricks: Michal Makarewciz on Polishing Hands

Pixar Animation vet, Michal Makarewciz chat with Animation Mentor about Polishing your Hand Animation. I think this a an easy thing to overlook in your polish pass that can add a ton of life and appeal.

Enjoy!
JP

Animation Mentors New Rigs

Just got the AM newsletter and checked out there new line of Rigs to hit the school. These rigs look like a ton of fun and I am diggin the amount of variety.

 

They are also going to be giving one of these fun characters away free to the public this fall! Stayed tuned to Animation Mentor to find out which one.

Enjoy!

JP

Animation Mentor: Maya Workshop

For anyone that is not in school and trying to animate from home using Maya and have always wanted to fast track your learning curve, here's your chance. Animation Mentor is offering a six week workshop to help you navigate through many aspects of Maya with a focus on animation. Some of the other benefits include a 3yr student version of Maya, a mentor and access to AM's online community.

So head on over and check out if it's for you.
Enjoy!
JP

Animation Mentor Student Showcase 2012

Animation Mentor's new Student Showcase is out. Some really great stuff in here.


 

Have a look around great animation!
Enjoy!
JP

Breaking Down an Animated Shot: Animation Mentor

Looks like a fun day if you are in the area June 30th! Check out the Animation Mentor site for more details.

An excerpt:

"Ever wish you could spend a day with professional animators and watch them break down a shot and detail each step? Well wish no more! Our friends from Pixar, DreamWorks, and Tippett will break down a couple of shots from their feature film work, discuss the challenges they faced, and share how they achieved the final results. And remember to ask lots of questions! Seating is limited — so register today!"

 
Enjoy!
JP

Animation Mentor: Tips and Tricks with Peter Kelly

Hey Everyone

Just watched a quick video from Animation Mentor and Lead Animator at ILM, Peter Kelly about Exaggeration in Animation.

                                 Animation Mentor Newsletter

Some great stuff on how you can put exaggeration in realistic creature stuff as well.
Enjoy!
JP

Animation Mentor Webinar: Timing and Spacing

Hey Everyone

If you haven't heard by now, go over and check out the Free Animation Mentor Webinar on Timing and Spacing with a couple of great Pixar Animators. Victor Navone and Aaron Hartline are two industry pros that do a great job of explaining their process of  timing and spacing. They also lend some good tips and tricks that you can use to make your animation more authentic.

 

Timing and Spacing

You can check out a couple of other posts by them:

Animation Referance: Aaron Hartline

 

Animating a facial "TAKE"

 So check it out and enjoy!
JP

Tips on Body Mechanics

The Animation Mentor Newsletter came today and it had some small tips on body mechanics from Wayne Gilbert. An animator that I feel is one of the best at explaining and breaking down simple planning for working through your body mechanics exercises. Lots of what he says can be found in his book on his site www.anamie.com. You can sign up for the newsletters here. They are always a good resource and great updates on the industry.



So check it out. More on body mechanics to follow. An older post with some more on Wayne Gilbert here.
Enjoy

Free Animation Mentor Webinar with Eric Goldberg

The time has come for another Animation Mentor free webinar!! This time CEO/Founder Bobby Beck will interview the brilliant veteran animator Eric Goldberg about his new book. Along the way I'm sure that he will add some great animation tips and it should be a great webinar. Also if you haven't picked up his book, Character Animation Crash Course...I highly recommend it. It is probably one of my favorite educational tools. If you have not hit up Animation Podcast either Eric did a podcast there a while back that was great! You can check that out here.




Enjoy!

More Animation Tools

A friend pointed me in the direction of this site the other day and WOW! There are more animation tools out there than I realized. I guess as more and more people enter our industry there will be more tools made for the various programs that we use. TradigiTools has made scripts for Maya that will make life that much easier and our workflow that much faster. It is equipped with various tools like, a tweener that actually highlights your breakdowns with green ticks and keep the normal red, Timing incrament tools so you can automatically select how many frames you want or need between Keys and a Redundant key remover. There are quite a few more options and they have it setup in all nice drop down menus. Have a look at there Promo Vides to see for yourself..click here. Animation Mentor has also gotten together with them in promoting their tools. I honestly feel more schools should invest in this and let their students enjoy some of the tools that will be available to them as they hit the industry. So check them out and enjoy.

Screen shot.

Animation Mentor Weinar on "Living the Dream!"

Just wanted to let everybody know that there is another FREE Animation Mentor Webinar coming up. It's a webinar of two animators in the industry working at Dreamworks and ILM about getting a great job after graduating hosted by Mentor Kenny Roy Founder of Arconyx Animation Studios. Should be a good one.



Register now.
Enjoy

New Animtion Mentor E-Book

I don't think That I've posted on this yet...but Animation Mentor puts out FREE EBooks every now and again. This one is on "How to become an Animator." It also follows with some bonus material Industry Report. They have put together a few in the past as well and are all available for download at animationmentor.com. Or you could just click here and go to their Resources Page, it has lots of good stuff for free.




Enjoy!

Another Note on Posing

Just wanted to throw in another resource for ya. This book Simplified Drawing for Animation by Wayne Gilbert is another great resource for learning and really constructing poses for your animation. He breaks them down in really easy to follow ways that make sense and it seems to be an invaluable resource to add to your collection. Here are a few inserts from his book that you can find on the site. You may remember him from the free Animation Mentor webinar not to long ago. If you missed it here's the link.

So check it out...some of the best $$ you'll spend.
Enjoy

Animation Mentor Free Webinar

Hey everybody. The time has come for another free Animation Mentor FREE Webinar. This one features a brilliant animation producer in Don Hahn. The webinar is a little different in which Bobby "Boom" Beck and Don will discuss the life, work and teachings of Disney legend Walt Stanchfield. Bobby Beck the CEO of Animation Mentor is a former Pixar animator and I have joined his webinars in the past in which he brings tons of great knowledge and enthusiasm! This should be lots of fun and a rare treat of two great industry specialists getting together to share some stories and experiance. So sign up now and enjoy!

Animation Mentor Free Webinar

Every now and again Animation Mentor offers a free webinar by animation professionals in various subjects. I've attended all of them and they each have been great in their own way. They are always worth the time and if you can't get in on the live one you ca always check out their replay list here. This one features two professional animators, Wayne Gilbert and Keith Sintay speaking on Planning and Workflow...which happen to be two very important stages in the animation process. You can also check out their personal sites under the Animation Websites list here. So hope to see you there!



Enjoy!