Animation Jobs in the Corona Economy

How do our animation graduates at Bucks find work in the animation industry? It's important not to be too worried by Covid-19.  The virus has certainly changed the jobs landscape, but the good news is that animation continues to flourish. Unlike live action filming, animation can be done remotely, and there is a large and growing demand for fresh animation content.  Here in the UK, many animation studios are still actively looking for talent.  Remote working is booming - consider the case of one of my former students, Dominic Rayner, who took the online course at Animation Apprentice and is working remotely in the UK for a studio in Ireland.

Why Animators Still Need to Draw

Fast sketches to capture a pose

In the old 2D days, life drawing was an essential skill for animators. Today, 3D animation is a blend of creative and technical skills, and life drawing is less important than it used to be.

However, it still helps to be able to draw to a basic level of skill, especially for creating thumbnail sketches which can be used to plan animation.

Nowadays there are many opportunities to learn animation online, at sites such as pixelovely and promo. You can also draw friends and family - models don't need to be nude, and gesture drawing clothed models is just as useful for animation, and in some ways more practical, as most animated characters tend to be wearing clothing.

So, how do animators learn the basics of life drawing?

DA701 Locomotion & Mechanics Starts 28 Sept

Zombie Walk by Amedeo Beretta

DA701 Animation Mechanics is the first module that our new MA animation students (those starting with us in September) will encounter at Bucks.

DA701 is taught primarily in Autodesk Maya, and deals with animation basics, such locomotion and mechanics.

It starts with simple actions such as a bouncing ball, and builds up to more complex physical actions, such as jumps and throws. There are two assignments due: DA701 PR1, and DA701 CW1. DA701 PR1 is due on Friday 11th December at 11pm - don't be late!

"Flame" Wins Best Animation at LISFF

Best Animation LISFF

Many congratulations to BNU animation student Amedeo Beretta, whose short film "Flame", has won Best Animation at the London International Student Film Festival (LISFF).

"Flame" has won multiple awards in recent months, including Best Editor at the "We Make Films Festival" in London and a Five-Star Award at the British International Amateur Film Festival. Flame was directed by Cherelle Owusu, produced by Carolina Xavier, and overseen by Amedeo Beretta.

Module DA704 Starts September 2020

Amedeo Beretta - CG Animation Reel - VFX, Cine, TV from Amedeo Beretta on Vimeo.

Our Master's Degree animation students will soon start their final animation module: DA704. Their final animation assignment, DA704 PR1, is titled "Demo Reel and Final Project" and students are expected to do a piece of character or creature animation, showing the skills they have learned over the last 18 months, and also cut a demo reel that will help them to find work in the animation industry.  The demo reel above is by Bucks New Uni MA animation student Amedeo Beretta.

Webinar with Disney Writer Evgenia Golubeva

Evgenia Golubeva

Join me on 13th August at Noon for an animation webinar titled "From Animation Student to Disney - How Evgenia Golubeva became a writer at Disney TV Animation".

In this free webinar I'll be asking my former student Evgenia Golubeva some questions about her remarkable animation career.

Evgenia is an award-winning animator, writer and director who is currently working as a writer at Walt Disney Animation in London.

Evgenia has forged a career as a writer and independent film-maker, entering her animated films in festivals around the world and winning international prizes for her work. You can sign up for the webinar here.

Charlie and Yip" Wins "Best Animation"

We're proud to announce that Bucks New Uni tutor Alex Williams' short film "Charlie and Yip" has won "Best Animation" at the Film One Fest.

Charlie and Yip is a short film about a kid who takes his pet to school for Show and Tell, with unfortunate consequences.

It's a really a teaser for Alex's indie feature film project "My Haunted House", which is still in development.

Jinng Hwee Tan Animation Reel

Animation Reel 2020 from Jinng Hwee Tan on Vimeo.

Check out the latest demo reel cut by Bucks New Uni MA animation student Jinng Hwee Tan, now an animator at Industrial Light and Magic in Singapore. Jing Hwee Tan's new reel contains some excellent work on many feature films, including Transformers: Age of Extinction, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Hitman: Agent 47, Warcraft, The Great Wall, Skull Island, and Ready Player One. Many congratulations to Jinng Hwee Tan on his continued career success.