Thursday, 10 July 2025

COM7024 Animals & Creatures Starts 7 July 25

COM7024 Animals & Creatures Starts 7 July 2025
For our MA students studying for their Online MA in Animation, Module COM704 (Animals and Creatures) started on Monday 7 July 2025. This is the fourth module tackled by our students on our Online MA in Animation.

COM7024 focuses on animal and creature animation, with an emphasis on the kind of photo-realistic animation in which London VFX houses specialise.  COM7024 PR1 is due on Friday 8th September 2025 at 2pm.

Introduction to COM7024 PR1
Introduction to COM7024 Animals & Creatures with Alexander Williams


About COM7024 
Shark by Adam Sale
In module COM7024 students learn quadruped locomotion, as well as how to animate creatures like birds, spiders and scorpions.  

The practical component of the module is assignment COM7024 PR1 is due on Friday 8th September 2025 at 2pm.

YouTube
A good starting point for tackling this module is to look at what other students have done at our YouTube Playlist. 

Animal and Creature Animation for COM7024 PR1


Start with Research
You should first carry out research, both in order to see what other artists have done and also to help you come up with a workable idea.

Live Action Reference
You may want to find some useful piece of live action reference to base your animation. Try greenscreenanimals.com as a useful resource for live action reference.

Creature Rig
You will also need to make sure you have a dependable creature rig that can be used successfully for your animation. Make sure that the you test the rig carefully before animating with it.  To search for animal and creature rigs, a good place to start is animationbuffet.com.

"Flame" animated by Amedeo Beretta
Grading COM7024 PR1
Students work will be assessed on the following criteria, each being worth 25% of the final grade
  • Creativity and Pre-Production: Creativity – Imagination – invention – innovation – planning - use of thumbnails – storyboards – live action reference 
  • Production: Quality of animation – application of the twelve principles of animation - weight and flexibility – Quality of performance – use of cameras – acting – dialogue & lipsync
  • Post-Production: Texturing – lighting – rendering - titles and credits - sound design 
  • Quality of Outcome: overall success of the shot

2024 Schedule
The schedule for Module COM7024 is shown below:


Assignment Brief
The Assignment Brief for COM7024 PR1 is to create a short animal or creature animated performance. This could take the form of an animal or creature locomotion cycle, or cycles, perhaps with a transition from one to another. 

Your work which should feel believable and should be based on natural observation. 

Tell a Story
Robo spider by Kent Sunde
COM7024 PR1 should ideally include a storytelling element, and a performance. You will likely want to use live action reference for this, and you should show any reference you have used or thumbnails you have created in your final submission. Your shot should be minimum of 6 seconds and a maximum of 11 seconds in length. 

COM7024 PR1 is due on Friday 8th September 2025 at 2pm.  The final submission should be a short piece of animation, around 7-11 seconds long, with the link uploaded to Blackboard (note that Bb does not accept video uploads). It should be accompanied by a single pdf showing your preparation and planning, such as thumbnail sketches and/or storyboards.

PDF Planning Document
The PDF Planning Document should show how you planned the shot. 
PDF Planning by Marc Stevenson
The PDF should include:
  • a link any live action reference you filmed, or used for reference. 
  • Storyboards you used to plan out the shot
  • Thumbnail sketches used to plan your animation (see below). 

Thumbnail Sketches & Planning
Thumbnail sketches are especially useful for planning animation; they allow the animator to plan the shot visually, thinking about what will happen in the shot. 

Submit Your Assignment at Bb
 Look for the submission point under "Submit your Assignment" at Blackboard. Note that Bb will not accept video uploads so please submit a document with a link to the final video.  

Please also a submit a single page PDF showing any live action reference, story boards or thumbnail sketches you used to plan your work. 

Edward Muybridge - still an impotant reference
Resources on Animal and Creature Animation
The main resource for all our online MA students is the animal and creature section of Animation Apprentice, the online school to which all our students have access. Students should study quadruped locomotion, including walks, trots and runs.

In addition, Animation Apprentice has tutorials on bird locomotion, insects (spiders and scorpions), dinosaurs and butterflies. Other important resources include the expanded edition of the Animator's Survival Kit, and Edward Muybridge's work on animal locomotion.

Kiwi animation by Oliver Canovas
Live action Reference
An understanding of the use of live action reference is important. Good animal and creature animation is based at least in part on live action.

Tutorials and Links
To see some more useful resources on how to learn the art of animal and creature animation, follow the links below:

Animal and Creature Animation at Animation Apprentice
Animate a Crab Scuttle
We have many, many video tutorials (hosted by our online partner AnimationApprentice.org) for animating animals and creatures. To get started, see the blog posts below:
For more on the experience of studying at Bucks New University, come and visit us at one of our Open Days, take a virtual tour of one of our animation studios, check out what our students think of our course, and see why we're ranked in the top 12 creative universities in the UK.

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